Adult education and international cooperation: a European perspective

By Enrique Buchichio
ICAE

Uwe Gartenschlaeger is Vice-director of DVV International (International Institute of the German Adult Education Association), Federal umbrella organization of about 1.000 German Folkhighschools.

DVV International is also a member of EAEA (European Association for the Education of Adults) and ICAE (International Council for Adult Education).
Since 1999, Uwe Gartenschlaeger – who is also a member of the EAEA Executive Board – has been working especially on projects in Central and Eastern Europe. Most of his activities in the last decade were closely linked to Central Eastern, South Eastern Europe and the CIS countries. This gave him a broad understanding of the problems of these regions, including the difficulties of their integration into European structures.

Could you give us a glance on the state of adult education in Europe, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe?

The reality of adult education differs a lot across the continent. Whereas the Nordic Countries and most of the countries of Western and Central Europe have a very strong adult education sector with a big diversity of actors, vital civil society engagement and a more or less proper funding scheme, most of the countries in the South and East of the continent suffer from a lack of resources, inadequate legal framework and a fragmentized landscape of actors.
In nearly all countries adult education still face the challenge to reach the marginalized. This is a reality for migrants, ethnic groups, the elderly and several others, by the way not necessarily women, who provide the majority of participants in most European countries. In my country Germany our politicians discovered some years ago that we have a sever problem of illiteracy. Some 4 to 5 million Germans are functional illiterates, and we are lacking concepts on how to access and motivate these people to learn.

What is the role of international cooperation? And what are the challenges that financing for adult education is facing in the aftermath of the European financial crisis?

Most of the international cooperation is taken place in Europe itself. In this context, the European Union is a very special player for us. Since the Lisbon Strategy of 2000, which defined Europe as a Lifelong Learning Space, it provides us with some important conceptual backing, making it easier to advocate for AE on the national and regional level, too. Some of the funding opportunities the EU introduced, like the GRUNDTVIG program specialised on AE, enabled several innovative projects and the possibility of exchange among European adult educators. Initiatives like the common European Qualification Framework challenge us as EAEA and our members to defend the interests of non-formal and informal learning.
During the last years, we can witness a growing interest in cooperation beyond European borders as well. Traditional players like my organisation, dvv international, which currently implements project in more than 40 countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America are accompanied by new initiatives like the Asian European Education and research Hub for Lifelong Learning.
The financial and economic crisis of the last two years affected the adult education sector especially concerning state funding, which declined in nearly all countries. We have to take care that the crisis will not be used to reduce the Lifelong learning concept to vocational training only, a tendency that we can witness in several countries.

As a member of the Executive Board of the EAEA, what are the goals for EAEA in 2011?

Our General Assembly will take place this year in Malmö, Sweden just one day before the ICAE WA. We will elect a new board and a new president.
2011 will be a decisive year for the future of European Union’s Lifelong Learning Policy. The Adult Education action plan as the fundamental document has come to an end, and we face the challenge to develop a new document based on the recently approved new policy document EU 2020. EAEA is heavily engaged in this process and advocates the interests of Civil Society organisations, more than 120 from 43 countries being our members.
On European and national level, our concern is on how to provide evidence on the benefit of adult education. In May, EAEA will present a desk top study on “Wider Benefits of AE”, which is meant as a starting point for a broader discussion on which kind of research is needed to collect data about all kind of outcomes, not only economical.
EAEA is concerned about growing anti-democratic and xenophobe tendencies in several European countries. The European project, too, looses its legitimacy, as the low participation in the recent elections for the European Parliament as well as several opinion pools all over the continent proofs. Therefore, we started a discussion on how to foster a dialogue with the citizens about the values and perspectives of our open, democratic societies. A first project proposal was presented to the Commission.

What expectations do you have regarding the next ICAE World Assembly in June?

I look very much forward to meet all our friends in Malmö. I am sure the GA will be an inspiring market place for networking and new ideas. Besides that, ICAE will raise the voice of the global civil society concerning very crucial topics, which concern all of us: the future of MDGs, EFA and CONFINTEA, the role of ALE in our fight for decent work for all and the crucial issue of sustainable development. I think it is a very good idea to meet in one of the Nordic countries and use the possibility to learn more about the Nordic Folkbildning concept.