Research should not be totally detached from policy and practice. Good methods and theory need to be developed in connection to the realities of adult education on the ground. At the same time, research needs to be independent. It should not be a servant to policy makers. Most importantly, research needs to be of high quality and have meaning and value. It should provide answers based on the evidence collated, not providing the answers that fit with the politicians’ expectations or agenda. The range of diversity research produces would also be reduced if it continually followed the priorities of the policy makers. Creating an open and honest dialogue between policy makers, practitioners, and researchers is therefore crucial. More...

Inspired by Simon Broek’s latest blog post on formalisation of learning and the plea for mitigating the effort to formalise adult education, I wanted to share some of my own findings. These findings are based on recent research on non-formal learning settings, which support key values of adult learning: individual learning goals and accessibility. More...

Whenever we speak about developing ‘learning to learn’ skills, we should never forget that the ultimate purpose is to enable adults to get the best that they can from their learning. It should also mean that developing learning to learn skills enables learners to update and improve their skills, so that they are able return to learning and progress. When we think about more disadvantaged adult learners, learning to learn becomes even more ambitious in its purpose, as for this group of adults learning must become learnable. So ‘learning to learn’ means actually more than just a key competence for work and life – it actually means a pathway to learning for adult who are struggling with learning. More...

It is well known that in the last decade countries have been developing quality policies and systems for adult learning, and that there is great variety in the systems currently in place. A recent study for the European Commission – of which I was one of the authors – suggests that for those countries that do not have a system or framework for quality in adult learning, three types of responses are available. More...

Estonian Government adopted on 3rd November 2005 Estonian Strategy of Lifelong Learning 2005-2008. Despite the name of the strategy it focuses mainly on developments in adult education. Lifelong Learning Strategy is the fist strategic document fixing states goals in adult education after Estonia re-established its independence in 1991. More...

To rehabilitate more offenders it is necessary to improve prison education. Understanding the special situations of prisoners and prison officers are some of the core competencies that prison teachers need according to the partners of project European Induction Support for Adult Learning Professionals. More...

With MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) chances of finding a specific knowledge for adult individual to master, are really high. MOOCs give free access from the comfort of his home to courses provided by best educational institutions to anyone with an internet connection. More...

Iceland is presently working on its National Qualification Framework and one of the aspects under the biggest discussion is how adult education and training is mapped to the different NQF/EQF levels. As yet, no qualification offered specifically to adults has been mapped against the ISQF because learning providers are still in the process of defining their learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills and competences. More...

If you work in adult learning, you might be forgiven for thinking that the EU's strategy for education and training – known as Education and Training 2020 or ‘ET 2020’– is rather remote from the day-to-day job of educating adults. Launched in 2009, and following on from the preceding ET 2010, it consists of a set of objectives and priorities designed to guide the development of education and training. More...

The launch of the 2015 Commission Work Programme on 16 December has been heralded as marking a new approach towards a stronger focus for the EU on priorities and results. As the first work programme of the new Commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker, it has been designed to send out a signal that far from “business as usual" we are to see a focus on the “big things" like “jobs and growth". More...