European Developments in Adult Education

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European Developments in Adult Education

• Adult education as economic social policy and
  social movement
• Thursday 9th November 2006
• helen.keogh_at_cdu.cdvec.ie

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Content

• Scope of NVAE throughout Europe
• Policy goals for NVAE
• Frameworks
• policy
• legislative
• administrative
• financial
• qualifications
• quality
• Who is learning?
• Organising the learning
• What are adults learning?

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Scope of Adult Education

• Adult Education as in Non-vocational Adult
  Education (NVAE) the Grundtvig thematic area
• Formal non-vocational adult education
  continuing further recurrent second-chance
  compensatory palliative adult education as
  economic social policy
• Non-formal non-vocational adult education
  liberal popular community socio-cultural
  adult education as social policy social
  movement
• No specific references to
• UCE (university continuing education) or ULL
  (university lifelong learning) although part of
  Grundtvig
• Vocational training Leonardo programme areas

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Policy Goals throughout Europe

• Many countries are aiming to
• increase the quantity quality of adult learning
• promote an holistic approach across all adult
  learning
• promote an integrated approach between multiple
  stakeholders
• Countries are creating frameworks to support NVAE
  policy, legislative, administrative,
  financial, institutional, informational,
  qualifications quality

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Policy framework for NVAE at national levels

• Lifelong learning as
• a vision
• a conceptual framework for thinking about
  education training and
• a guiding principle for provision and
  participation across all learning contexts
• Lisbon Agenda and Education Training 2010
  driving developments in all countries
• In some countries - a range of collateral
  policies, in social welfare training
  employment health . . . .

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Legislative Framework

• No single piece of legislation provides the legal
  framework NVAE weakly regulated in the majority
  of countries
• Adult education as part of legislation on
  general education higher education
  qualifications system quality assurance
  employment welfare health
• Positive or negative . . . . BUT a growing
• Trend towards co-ordination coherence ,
  indeed, integration this is reflected in
  legislation

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Administrative Framework

• No single ministry has the monopoly of
  responsibility for adult learning in majority of
  countries education, training, employment etc.
• A wide range of stakeholders in adult learning
  learners ministries regional authorities
  employers social partners providers -gt
  fragmentation, duplication dilution of impact
• Trends
• inter-ministerial structures mechanisms
• national /or regional co-ordinating bodies
• decentralisation of decision-making
  implementation
• Trends
• Co-ordination at national and/or regional
  ministry level
• Decentralisation

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Financial Framework

• A number of balances to be addressed
• funding HRD (human resources development) and/or
  HPD (human potential development)?
• supply-side and/or demand-side financing?
• intensive (small number) and/or extensive
  financing (greater number)?
• role of the different stakeholders?
• financing as productivity enhancement as
  redistribution an equity mechanism?
• Trends
• demand-side funding ILAa grants vouchers
• stakeholder co-financing
• public funding in cases of market failure
• Adult education as strategic investment rather
  than individual consumption

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Qualifications Framework

• National Trends
• legislation
• national/regional awarding body
• national/regional Framework of Qualifications
  with levels - 1 10 or 1 - 8
• development of specific certification systems -
  literacy languages ICTs
• recognition of non-formal informal learning
  for mainly vocational purposes . . .
  (Communication)
• European Trend
• European Qualifications Framework ( 1 8) - to
  act as exchange mechanism/currency converter

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Quality Framework

• European education training systems to be a
  world quality reference
• by 2010 (European Council, Barcelona 2002)
• Trends
• legislation (formal NVAE)
• information guidance systems
• accreditation of providers (mostly in formal
  NVAE)
• internal quality assurance approaches (formal
  non-formal NVAE)
• external monitoring evaluation /or inspection
  (formal NVAE)
• external assessment of learning outcomes (more in
  formal NVAE)
• self-evaluation by providers (formal non-formal
  NVAE)
• initial continuing professional development of
  adult education personnel (limited but more in
  formal NVAE )
• information gathering systems being established
  to enable evidence-based policy-makin

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Who was learning in 2005 (LFS)? Trends

• EU25 average 10.8 participation by adults aged
  25 64 4-week reference period
• Range in EU25 from 1.8 to 34.7
• Range in 32 countries (EU25, EEA, BG RO, TR
  HR from 1.1 to 34.7 NO at 19.5
• Substantial cross-national differences in volume
  of education training . . . . BUT
• Remarkable cross-national similarities in
  distribution of education training Mathew
  effect Cf Grundtvig target groups

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Organising the Learning - Trends

• Paradigm shifts, for example
• education -gt learning
• formal only -gt formal, non-formal, informal
• front-loading -gt lifelong
• inputs -gt outcomes
• provider-centred/teacher-centred -gt
  learner-centred (supply side - gt demand side)
• a more symmetrical pedagogy teacher as lead
  learner
• Structuring the learning flexibility
• Sequencing -gt modular unitised
• Personalising -gt tailor-made ILPs (individual
  learning plans)
• Scheduling gt anytime-anyplace

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What are adults learning in NVAE?

• Some combination of the following
• Communication in the mother tongue
• Communication in foreign languages very limited
• Mathematical competence and basic competences in
  science technology (the latter is limited)
• Digital competence
• Learning to learn
• Interpersonal, intercultural and social
  competences and civic competence
• Entrepreneurship (personal community-related?)
• Cultural expression
• Key Competences for Lifelong Learning A
  European Reference Framework (November
• 2005 Recommendation of the European Parliament
  and of the Council )

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Spectrum of Developments

• From To

• policies in place
• legislation in place
• co-ordination of stakeholders
• stakeholder co-financing
• qualifications framework
• quality frameworks
• participation above European
• average
• good information on adult
• learning -gt evidence-based
• policy-making

• limited policy-making
• little or no legislation
• fragmentation
• limited or no public financing
• fragmented qualifications
• limited focus on quality
• participation below European
• average
• limited information on adult
• learning activities so little
• evidence for policy-making

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Why adult learning?

• economic EU Lisbon Agenda, OECD, G7, National
  Development Plans summed up by
• Learning Pays
• Learning a Living
• You earn what you learn
• social political - EU, UNESCO, Council of
  Europe, liberal adult education movements
• personal, social political -, community
  educators - Freire, Mezirow, Rogers

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Adult education as economic or social policy or
social movement?

• Human resources/employability paradigm (HRD) -
  the role of adult learning is to
• enhance individual employability
• promote adaptability in the labour market
• underpin economic competitiveness growth
• The main practical policy is to
• ensure supply uptake of lifelong learning
• ensure relevance of learning content to labour
  market requirements
• determine balance between education and
  vocational employment specific training

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Social Cohesion Paradigm

• Human potential/social cohesion paradigm (HPD)-
  is concerned not only with threats to the economy
  but also with threats to society social
  solidarity
• The main practical policy is to
• ensure supply uptake of adult learning
• support non-formal adult education for personal
  development and social cohesion

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Equality Paradigm

• Equality paradigm - is concerned with redressing
  inequalities in access, participation, outcomes
  conditions in terms of levels types of
  qualifications obtained. Inequalities associated
  with gender -- social class -- ethnicity --
  disability. Relationship between educational
  levels social economic position causes
  concern.
• Major policy concern is to
• ensure that adult learning does not generate
  perpetuate systematic inequalities in access,
  participation outcomes
• address Mathew effect through financing
  targeting etc
• support non-formal adult education for personal
  development and social cohesion

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Adult Education in Norway
Majority of the trends outlined above are
visible in NVAE in Norway majority of the
elements of an effective adult education system
Grubb, N. (2004) IN OECD-KRIVET (2004) Adult
Learning Policies and Practices, Proceedings of
a Joint OECD-KRIVET International Conference,
Seoul OECD-KRIVET (Korea Research Institute for
Vocational Education and Training).
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Responses of the Grundtvig Action past and
FUTURE

• Target groups priority adults
• Themes - adult education formal and non-formal
  as social economy policy as social movement
• overcoming barriers to participation
• financing adult education
• basic skills development
• teaching methodologies
• assessment qualifications recognition of
  non-formal/informal learning
• management of adult education
• quality of adult education including initial
  continuing professional development of AE staff