EPALE - Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe

Adult education, global development and the International Council for Adult Education

This workshop will explore the origins, development and current role of the International Council for Adult Education in supporting the right of adults to education, and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The International Council for Adult Education is the global membership body for adult education associations, is recognised by UNESCO as “the international voice” of adult education, and has associate status at the YN’s ECOSOC.

The seminar is led by Professor Sir Alan Tuckett, who is Past President of ICAE, with contributions from its General Secretary Professor Katarina Popovic, and her colleague Ricarda Moschling, as well as from regional and national experts with experience of its work.  The participants – who will mainly but not exclusively be students – should gain a deep insight into the role of adult education advocacy in international policy development processes. For graduates in adult education it is critically important to understand the linkage between local activities and global developments. The workshop is linked with the seminar “The role of adult learning and education in the different perspectives on lifelong learning offered by UNESCO, OECD and the European Union”, which Prof. Sir Alan Tuckett leads for Master students in adult education.

See the programme and flyer.

Please register until Dec 1: go.uni-wuerzburg.de/workshopregistration

Speakers/Moderators are:

• Sturla Bjerkaker, has a long standing involvement in international advocacy.  He was first elected to the ICAE Board in 1998, and he played a key role in its rejuvenation of ICAE after 2000 culminating in a period as Treasurer from 2011-2015. He also served as vice President of EAEA.  In his professional life he led the Nordic Folk High School Academy, and was General Secretary of VOFO, the Norwegian Association for Adult Learning,
• Mats Ehn, has worked for the Swedish folk high school organisations, leading their international co-operation work.  Mats played a key role in the 2011 World Assembly of ICAE. He is a member of the Board of Nordic Folk High School Council and of ICAE,
• Ricarda Motschilnig, is the Policy Officer of the ICAE, and previously worked in a similar role in the European Association for the Education of Adults,
• Niamh O'Reilly, is CEO of AONTAS, the Irish National Adult Learning Organisation, and was an Executive Board member of the EAEA (2011-2017).  AONTAS is a member of ICAE,
• Katarina Popovic, is general Secretary of ICAE and Professor of Adult Education at the University of Belgrade.  Before taking on the leadership of ICAE in 2014, Katarina was a member of the EAEA Board, worked with DVV-International, and led Serbia’s adult education association,
• Sir Alan Tuckett, was for 23 years the CEO of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education in England and Wales.  He was President of ICAE from 2011-2015.

During the winter term 2019 Professor Sir Alan Tuckett is Guest Professor at the Professorship for Adult and Continuing Education of the University of Wuerzburg which is held by Professor Dr. Regina Egetenmeyer. The Guest Professorship is supported by DAAD with means of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.