Advocacy and adult learning policy making

To embed Adult Learning and Education (ALE) into Lifelong Learning (LLL) systems implies the activation of a change process. Many countries have adult learning as a sector on its own, with little connection to education and training as a whole.

The fragmentation into sub-systems is often negative for the learners, for example due to scarce flexibility or lack of prior learning recognition. As a result, people with low education, or with limited time, or with insecure employment find it difficult to access learning opportunities.

To enable everyone to exercise the right to lifelong learning, the review of existing ALE policies to make them more flexible and inclusive becomes urgent.

Advocacy is one instrument in the change process towards new ALE policies, used to raise attention on specific problems with the support of evidence. The European Year of Skills has had such an advocacy role, it succeeded to position ALE at the core of LLL and highlighted that ALE is broader than skills for the labour market.

A #GLAD webinar will explore the Advocacy Coalition Framework, a theory about actors’ capacity to ally and advocate based on common belief systems, by making the case of adult learning policies in the EU.

Register and join on 10 June, 2024, GLAD online seminar on actor coalitions in adult learning – how to influence agenda setting? | Open Space (europa.eu)

The webinar will continue the discussion of high-level representatives of Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo[1], Serbia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Ukraine at the event organised by the ETF, DVV International and European Association for the Education of Adults on 13 March, 2024, in Brussels.

The following points about ALE and LLL were of high importance:

• To extend the right to lifelong learning to all citizens, no matter their age, income and employment status, it is necessary to develop Lifelong Learning strategies, design inclusive policies with targeted action plans, and allocate substantial public funding.
• The involvement and responsibilities of all relevant stakeholders from the national to the local level should underpin the reform of ALE and move towards lifelong learning.
• Good governance for ALE also builds on continuous quality assurance as well as evidence from data collection and empirical analyses, monitoring and evaluation.