In this podcast episode, we are celebrating EPALE’s 10th anniversary. EPALE was created as a multilingual, open-membership community for everyone interested in adult learning: adult educators and trainers, guidance and support staff, researchers and academics, and policymakers. The community’s aim has always been to provide high-quality, accurate information relevant to adult learning practitioners and to enable members to connect with and learn from each other.

We believe anniversaries are a valuable opportunity to take stock—to reflect on the past and look towards the future. So, we asked three individuals with diverse perspectives on adult education across Europe - Isabell Kempf, Raffaela Kihrer, and Lidwien Vos de Wael - to do just that. Through voice notes, they shared their thoughts on the fundamental changes they have observed in adult learning over the past decade, as well as the key opportunities and challenges they foresee in the years ahead.

Despite the many societal, environmental, and political challenges we are currently facing - or perhaps precisely because of them - all three believe that adult learning can become an even more powerful force in shaping our society. From building peace, trust, resilience, and social inclusion to strengthening the European project and combating the global climate crisis, adult learning remains essential to our collective future.

You will hear insights and experiences by:

Isabell Kempf, the Director of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in Hamburg, Germany

Lidwien Vos de Wael, a community worker, adult educator and EPALE ambassador from the Netherlands 

Raffaela Kihrer, the Secretary General of EAEA in Brussels, Belgium

Hosted by:

Heini Huhtinen, journalist & EPALE Adult Learning expert.

Read the full transcript of the podcast here!