MAKING  Adult  learning  and  education  (ALE)  VISIBLE  and  VALUED:  

A  global  policy  perspective

Aaron BenavotCREFAL FORUM on Education and

lifelong learning

8-10 May 2018 Patzcuaro, Mexico

EFA GMR and GEM Reports2002-­‐2015:  12  Education  for  All  Global  Monitoring  Reports  (GMR)  2016-­‐2017:  2  Global  Education  Monitoring  (GEM)  Reports

ARGUMENT• Relative to other areas of the education sector, progress in adult literacy, adult basic

education and other opportunities for LLL has languished in most countries: not prioritized in ministries of education, little donor support, little sustained investment by private sector

• And yet, there are many social and political trends that call out for increased investment in adult education and LLL

• Moreover, in 2030 Agenda for SD, the education and training of adults is highlighted in many SDG goals and targets - sometimes explicitly, often times implicitly. A huge window of opportunity for LLL has opened up.

• However, after having led a team that completed a global stocktake of progress in adult literacy and other forms of adult basic education, I am not sanguine about prospects for progress in ALE

• Why? While there are many reasons for the slow progress in ALE, a major reason is the lack of visibility of ALE in current accounts of education

ARGUMENT  (2)• There is a dearth of systematic information about ALE; current information tells an

incomplete picture; and as I look on the horizon, I see few serious initiatives to overcome the lack of comprehensive info on ALE.

• By comprehensive I don’t necessarily mean comparable data. What I do mean are profiles of key issues and aspects of ALE at different levels: national, sub-national, urban, community. For example second chance frameworks, farmer field schools, ABE, TVET, adult professional development

• In my view, if something is not done to rectify this situation, and soon, then we will find ourselves in the year 2030 lamenting once again the lack of progress about opportunities for lifelong learning, especially for out of school youth and adults

• With this in mind I would like to put forward a modest proposal: use crowd-sourcing to create an international ‘wiki of ALE’ based on multiple sources of information and data submitted by multiple stakeholders and vetted by experts

Historical  perspective  

Education for all goal 4: 50% reduction in adult illiteracy rate

EFA  Goal  4:  Very  few  countries  met  the  EFA  literacy  target

Historically,  progress  towards  EFA’s  fourth  goal  was  much  slower  than  improvements  in  other  EFA  goals…  

Worldwide  the  adult  illiteracy  rate  fell  by  only  23%  by  2015,  far  short  of  the  50%  target.  

Only  a  quarter  of  countries  reduced  their  adult  illiteracy  rates  by  50%;  a  further  19%  are  close to  the  target

EFA  Goal  4:  No  movement  in  reducing  gender  gaps  in  literacy

Sub-­‐Saharan  AfricaSubSaharan  Africa,    female

South/West  Asia

Arab  States

World

Source:  UIS  database.

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1990 2000 2010

Adult  lite

racy  rate  (%

)

2015(projection)

In  2015  264  million  adults  in  India  (one  third  of  global  total)  cannot  read  or  write  in  an  official  languageHalf  of  all  women  in  Sub-­‐Saharan  Africa  are  denied  right  to  literacy

745  million  adults  lack  minimal  literacy  skills  in  2015,  of  which  two-­‐thirds  are  women,  a  percentage  virtually  unchanged  since  Dakar.

Measure  literacy  skills  on  a  continuum

Direct  assessmentsKenya’s 2006  survey  was  administered  in  18  languages.  It  showed   far  lower  literacy  levels  than  from  self-­‐declarations.  

Mother tongue programs Mexico developed learning materials in 45 languages to help marginalized groups.

Well planned and resourced mass literacy campaigns

Keep  literacy  programs  relevant In Cameroon farmers  learned  how  literacy  skills  could  help  market  participation

Nepal invested  $35  million  in  a  campaign  and  achieved  huge  increase  in  literacy  by  2011.

The  STEP  initiative  measures  literacy  on  a  continuum  among  adults   in  urban  areas  in  8  countries:  Armenia,  Bolivia,  Colombia,  Georgia,  Ghana,  Lao  PDR,  Sri  Lanka,  Vietnam  

EMERGENT TRENDS: GROWING IMPORTANCE AND VALUE OF ALE

• Broad global trends accentuate the role and value of adult learning and education (ALE) and lifelong learning:

• Adults are living longer, generating more demand for learning throughout life in diverse settings and formats;

• New technologies, growing automation, and shifting locations of production are impacting the skills needed by, and career trajectories of, workers in evolving labor markets;

• National populations are growing more diverse, partly due to intensified migration, thus highlighting the need for new approaches to promote social integration and solidarity;

• Adults are expected to become more resilience to the effects of climate change, extreme weather and natural disasters; and

• Growing numbers of refugees and displaced peoples increase the need for adult education in emergencies as well as opportunities for (re)training and skill acquisition.

PREVALENCE OF ALE IN 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

ALE is deeply enmeshed in many aspects of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, some explicit, other implicit. Progress in ALE ensures progress in the SDGs and many of the targets and indicatorsUnder SDG4, for example,

• Literacy and numeracy skills among youth and adults (4.6)• Skills for employment, decent work & entrepreneurship (4.4)• Access to higher education, TVET and adult education (4.3)• Knowledge/Skills/Attitudes/Practices for sustainable development

and global citizenship (4.7)

Health  and  well-­‐beingTarget  3.7:  By  2030,  ensure  universal  access  to  sexual  and  reproductive  health-­‐care  services,  including  for  family  planning,  information  and  education,  and  the  integration  of  reproductive  health  into  national  strategies  and  programmes  

Gender  equality:  Global  Indicator:  Number  of  countries  with  laws  and  regulations  that  guarantee  women  aged  15-­‐49  years  access  to  sexual  and  reproductive  health  care,  information  and  education

Decent  work  and  economic  growthTarget  8.6:  By  2020  substantially  reduce  the  proportion  of  youth  not  in  employment,  education  or  training

Responsible  consumption  &  productionTarget  12.8:  By  2030  ensure  that  people  everywhere  have  the  relevant  information  and  awareness  for  sustainable  development  and  lifestyles  in  harmony  with  nature

Climate  actionTarget  13.3:  Improve  education,  awareness  raising  and  human  and  institutional  capacity  on  climate  change  mitigation,  adaptation,  impact  reduction,  and  early  warning

Examples  of  ALE  in  other  SDGS

GROWING  EVIDENCE  OF  THE  VALUE  OF  ALE  AND  INCREASED  NUMBER  OF  NORMATIVE  INSTRUMENTS  ADVOCATING  FOR  ALE

Evidence is accumulating of how learning in school and throughout the life course can stimulate green growth, improve skill acquisition, reduce inequality, generate more open polities, increase social inclusion and promote environmental sustainability.

International interest in ALE may be nearing a tipping point given new normative instruments and policy platforms:

• CONFINTEA and International Conferences on Adult Education;

• the Global Alliance for Literacy (GAL); • Learning Cities; • the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the global targets in SDG4 and other

SDGs; • the Recommendation on Adult learning and Education (RALE); and • the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE).

BROAD CONSENSUS ON DEFINITIONS OF LIFELONG LEARNING AND ALE, WHICH ENCOMPASS DIVERSE POLICIES AND REALITIES

UIL definition of LLL (GRALE): Lifelong learning comprises all learning activities undertaken throughout life with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competencies, within personal, civic, social and employment-related perspectives (UIL, 2015).

UIL working definition (2016): Lifelong learning is rooted in the integration of learning and living. It covers learning activities for people of all ages in all life-wide contexts and through a variety of modalities, which together meet a wide range of learning needs and demands.

ALE definition in RALE (2015): ALE compromises all forms of education and learning that aim to ensure that adults participate in their societies & the world of work. It denotes the entire body of learning processes – formal, non-formal and informal -- whereby…adults… develop and enrich their capabilities for living and working, both in their own interests and those of their communities, organizations and societies

FORMAL, NON-FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATION

Formal education systems usually focus on learners between ages of 5 and 25: Pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary according to ISCED levels

Non-Formal education (NFE): education outside the formal education system which addresses adult literacy, basic education for out-of-school children and youth, life-skills, work-skills and knowledge about general culture [eg, immigrants]…” (UNESCO 2007). Typically NFE programs have clear learning objectives, but vary in duration and whether the acquired learning is certified by social agencies. Strong presence of non-public sector providers. While NFE is found in early childhood programs; most prevalent in programs targeting youth and adults.

Informal education refers to incidental learning that occurs throughout life, not based sequenced learning objectives. Intensity of IE changes over life course

BUT NATIONAL AND REGIONAL INSTRUMENTS TO MONITOR ALE ARE INCOMPLETE

• National level: particular countries have surveys or institutional accounts of lifelong learning or ALE, sometimes including TVET (ex Germany, Estonia) or have created indexes (e.g. Canada: Canadian Learning Composite Index)

• National: Many descriptive and some comparative case studies of ALE policies, programs, participation and financing in academic literature

• Regional: Education at a Glance (OECD) reports annually an indicator of ‘adult education levels’: % of adults (25-64) who have completed secondary or tertiary education levels (educational attainment);

• Regional: PIAAC (OECD) provides overview of adult cognitive skils and participation in education and training (formal and non-formal) over the lifecycle, based on household samples in 37 countries (2011-18)

• Regional Eurostat’s The Adult Education Survey estimates adult participation in education and training (formal, non-formal and informal learning) among adults aged 25-64 living in private households (2007, 2011, 2016). See also the European Lifelong Learning Index (ELLI) that draws from Eurostat data.

• Regional: UIS survey (2013) of enrolment in adult education in Latin America.

INSTRUMENTS AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL TO COLLECT ALE-RELATED INFORMATION

• UIS reports conventional youth and adult literacy rates for about 120 countries based on questions from national census schedules or household surveys (also DHS and MICS)

• UIS reports TVET enrolment: % of youth enrolled in secondary TVET and % of adults enrolled in higher education

• Eurostat (2014) and World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators database (2016) provide information on ICT skills of adults (ex. sending emails with attached files; using basic arithmetic formulas in spreadsheet; finding, downloading, installing and configuring software)

• UIL GRALE monitoring survey of CONFINTEA VI, Belem Framework for Action, based on official country responses to questions covering 5 areas of action: policy, governance, financing, participation, inclusion and quality.

• GRALE3: 139 of 197 countries responded (71%) to at least to some of the 75 questions in survey

LIMITATIONS• All data sources provide, to different degrees, partial information on ALE

and non-formal education, by focusing on select aspects/dimensions of ALE.

• Limited global coverage of ALE–related information – information and data are uneven or lacking in many regions and countries

• Validity and reliability of collected information (ex. GRALE survey) often problematic and difficult to determine

• Lack of over-time data: little information on the extent to which ALE programs, policies and participation levels change over time

• Thus, currently not possible to construct global pool of comprehensive and accurate profiles of ALE and LLL and their outcomes and impacts.

WHY DO WE KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT ALE?

• ALE is voluntary and cannot be mandated by government or official authorities

• Adult motivations for participation in ALE are multiple and change as they age, making provision policies challenging and difficult to coordinate

• Since ALE covers so many diverse programs and learning contexts, it is difficult to count and operationalize them at the national level

• Teaching adults is more challenging than teaching children and youth in school. Adults have multiple life commitments -- to family, work, their parents, community -- which can undermine their regular attendance and commitment to adult education programs.

Possible explanations

WHY DO WE KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT ALE? ADDITIONAL EXPLANATIONS

• ALE covers areas of education and learning that are often not under the authority of, or regulated by, the national ministry of education; thus difficult to get other ministries to coordinate and cooperate in order to provide a comprehensive account of ALE & LLL

• Governments are reluctant to fund ALE, prefer to invest in formal education of children and youth, which is more easily monitored; short-term dividends from investments in formal education are more visible

• Trends in adult literacy and acquired adult skills and competences change slowly; whereas politicians need to show short term gains from their policy priorities before leaving office. Some claim that ALE is less easily understood by politicians, undermining political will and funding.

• Overall, ALE provision is less standardized and less easily captured by categories employed in existing monitoring instruments

IDEALLY, WHAT KINDS OF INFORMATION IS NEEDED TO MONITOR ALE & LLL?

• Definitions and conceptions of ALE and position within LLL• Official ALE regulations, laws and policies in place, regardless of provider (for profit

and non-profit)• Overall investment (funding) in ALE by government, private sector, civil society; • Actual provision of ALE – both formal and non-formal frameworks and programs• Differential access and participation rates in ALE among different youth and adult

populations; • The quality of ALE programs especially background of educators;• Completion rates of ALE participants; • The outcomes of ALE participation (e.g. literacy, numeracy, skills for work, target 4.7

knowledge and skills) and their sustainability over time and the life course• Assessment of impact of ALE on society, economy, polity and environment

IDEALLY WE NEED INFORMATIONAT DIFFERENT LEVELS

Monitoring  ALE  opportunities  in  life  and  work  to  assess:Macro: Global and regional patterns

Macro: National patterns and trends

Meso: Urban areas and ‘Learning Cities’

Meso: Community-based programs or community learning centers

Meso: Workplaces/ Employer-sponsored training programmes

Micro: Individual or household participation

A MODEST PROPOSAL• Proposal: Develop over a 4-6 year period a dynamic, digital, global online platform

showcasing national ALE and LLL profiles through crowd-sourcing activities –resulting in a type of wiki of ALE

• Phase 1: Acquire seed money to learn about past efforts to create an international digital platforms reporting national information on education and education systems (e.g, IBE’s World Data on Education; EU’s EURYDICE; World Bank). Conduct a brief literature review to identify key aspects or components of ALE.

• Phase 2: Build a comprehensive template of ALE to be circulated to, and tested by, potential contributors and experts. The template would serve as a means of compiling information on ALE in different contexts and settings and would define categories of information needed to fill out each national ALE profile.

A MODEST PROPOSAL (2)

• Phase 3: Have academics, researchers, policy analysts, consultants, NGOs and government sources submit contributions, large or small, on different aspects of the overall template. Focus on a limited number of countries from different regions. Establish a networked community of practice consisting of experts who work collaboratively on-line AND meet once or twice a year (in person) to assess the accuracy of the submitted information, before it is placed on-line, and help steward and improve the initiative.

• Phase 4: Revise template, secure additional funding, and scale up WALE project. Make it dynamic: set up a mechanism to update, revise and validate informationplaced on WALE. Discuss ways to communicate and disseminate information about the platform to diverse stakeholders. Demonstrate and assess the use value of WALE.

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONSThe continuing dearth of systematic and comparable information and research on ALE undermines policy enactment and implementation as well as government funding; it effectively marginalizes adult learning and education for another generation.

Concerted and innovative efforts are needed to build up a comparative and international database on ALE and LLL, which could be used to shine new light on key issues and challenges facing ALE.

I believe that CREFAL can and should play a central role in these efforts. CREFAL has a deep understanding of each country’s specific history and education context, which is critical for ensuring valid and reliable profiles of lifelong learning opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Thank You!

Aaron Benavot

Professor, Global Education Policy

University at Albany-SUNy

abenavot@albany.edu

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION• Synopsis of my arguments• Global monitoring of progress in adult literacy 2000-2015• Emerging interest in ALE and LLL• LLL and ALE: definitions and conceptions• Existing instruments to measure and monitor ALE at different levels • Limitations• Why do we know so little about ALE? Initial reflections• Ideally, which aspects of ALE should we expect to collect information and data,

some of which may be comparable? • A modest proposal: Create a ‘wikipedia of ALE’ based on multiple sources of

information and data submitted by multiple stakeholders and vetted by experts

OUTLINE OF 2ND PART

Part 2• Ideally, which aspects of ALE should we expect to collect

information and data, some of which may be comparable?

• At which levels of analysis? Micro-meso-macro• A modest proposal: Create a ‘wikipedia of ALE’ based on

multiple sources of information and data submitted by multiple stakeholders and vetted by experts