One of the core outcomes of the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) held in 2009 was the Belém Framework for Action (BFA). Its signatories committed to monitoring the most recent development stages of adult learning and education (ALE) worldwide on a regular basis, and to present and assess results in a global report.…

This article critically examines how monitoring strategies currently track progress on country commitments to adult learning and education (ALE). These commitments are laid out in three main international initiatives and policy tools: (1) the Belém Framework for Action (BFA); (2) the 2015 Recommendation on Adult Learning and Education (RALE); and…

Civil society organisations were well organised in the sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) held in Belém in 2009, and influential in framing a powerful agenda for transforming adult education. Despite some successes, however, there were also frustrations in the drafting of the Belém Framework for Action (BFA). Drawing…

Despite general agreement that a 21st-century learning society must also be a literate society, there is still a long way to go to achieve a broad consensus on how to achieve this within an explicit lifelong learning vision. The Seventh International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VII -- June 2022) is an excellent opportunity to rethink…

This article submits that while the world continues to view education as a human right, it also persists in depriving an important section of it -- namely "adult learning and education" (ALE) -- of adequate funding. Located within the lifelong learning domain, which facilitates both the resolution of challenges and adjustment to the…

Institutionalised forms of adult learning and education (ALE) such as community learning centres (CLCs) and related models are found in most parts of the world. These are spaces offering opportunities for literacy and skills training, health and citizenship, general, liberal and vocational education, in line with fuller recognition of the meaning…

This article reports on a pilot research project conducted in nine countries of Africa and Asia on some aspects of the impact that teaching literacy to adults has had on the lives of some adult literacy facilitators (ALFs). The small-scale enquiry was implemented by a team of twelve researchers in nine countries (Afghanistan, Botswana, Ethiopia,…

Understanding how individuals learn at work throughout their lives is significant for discussions of lifelong learning in the current era where changes can be unpredictable and frequent, as illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a corpus of literature on the subject of "learning", there is little research or theoretical…

This article analyses the intercultural competence of students from Turkey who participated in the EuRopean Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (Erasmus). Intercultural competence is an important aspect of 21st-century skills and lifelong learning. The study presented here also considered antecedent factors such as…

Although Malaysia is moving towards a universal system of higher education, the issue of participation and access is complex. Related research has tended to focus mainly on socio-demographic aspects and less on the personal and social variables preventing people from participating. The study presented here was an attempt to learn more about the…

The study presented in this article investigated the influence of "lecturer biographic factors" on curriculum implementation in universities in Botswana. Over the last two decades, Botswana has been transforming its education system to improve curriculum implementation in universities, particularly in terms of who should be allowed to…

In 2019, German folk high schools -- "Volkshochschulen" (vhs) -- celebrated the centenary of their inclusion in the Constitution of the Weimar Republic in 1919, an era when they founded local centres in many parts of the country. Ever since, they have played an important part in the adult learning and education (ALE) sub-sector of the…

Over the past two decades, efforts have been made to enrich curriculum studies internationally. Among the field's new theories which have emerged in recent years is "itinerant curriculum theory" (ICT), proposed and developed by João Paraskeva. Its aim is to free curriculum from the dominance of Western discourses and make room for…

The use of technology to facilitate better living and learning is gaining popularity worldwide. More and more older adults are technology users and participating in online learning. While there is ample research examining the factors affecting older adults' behavioural intention to use technology more generally, less is known about their views of…

This article provides a comparative analysis of the ways in which learners are portrayed in researchers' descriptions of adult literacy education policy. Although adult learners are rarely referred to directly in policy or in policy research, a range of assumptions about them may be inferred through close analysis of related research literature.…