There are people (some of them policy-makers) who insist that adult educators always complain, and mostly about money. This might be true, and this article will support this idea. 

This is the status quo: general adult education is the neglected stepchild of the education system, and funding is difficult to get. Of course, the situation differs across. The Nordic countries still have a well-developed system, trainers and teachers tend to be organised in trade unions with corresponding salaries. There are other countries, where there is very little to no funding. In some countries, funding goes to CVET, in others to basic skills training, but other parts of adult learning and education are left to the free market. 

What’s wrong with the free market?

Nothing. There’s nothing wrong with adult learning and education through the free market. There are several excellent providers that are for-profit, whether they offer management, yoga or language courses, artistic and creative classes and many more. The question, unsurprisingly, remains about who can access these classes, i.e. who has the money. There are plenty of people who believe that so-called leisure courses (dancing, yoga etc.) should not be supported by public authorities. Sounds reasonable. The problem is that these low-threshold classes are often the pathway to more and other learning, and quite a few people have entered up- and reskilling trajectories with a leisure course. I therefore believe that a broad and affordable offer of adult learning and education is necessary to attract people to learning.

Teachers, trainers and quality

Financing has a direct and immediate impact on teachers and trainers (and other staff) in adult learning and education. As mentioned earlier, in some countries, teachers and trainers tend to have employment contracts and adequate salaries in combination with access to further training. In other countries, none of this exists, at least for certain groups of trainers. Service contracts and no social security or training are the working conditions for too many. In some cases, students are hired for very little money. In others, adult learning and education depend mainly on volunteers (there’s nothing wrong with volunteers, they do an incredible job – nevertheless, courses should be run by professional adult educators with adequate training with volunteers as support.) Some ALE providers try to manage by having larger groups of learners, which has an impact on the quality of learning. Quality is a key topic in adult education, and I assume that we all agree that we want high-quality provision. If we want this provision also to be accessible to a large range of (potential) learners, funding in some form is necessary.

Political (In)dependence

In countries where funding for adult learning and education by public authorities exists, there is always the danger that it is dependent on the political situation. A rather common occurrence is, unfortunately, that an initiative is started, and then is stopped again (an occurrence that can happen after an election or with a new minister). Unsurprisingly, investments, knowledge and know-how get wasted, and adult educators change jobs. A few years later, another initiative is started, but it has to develop everything anew. This stop-and-go approach stands in the way of policy implementation and the further development of adult learning and education systems. It can also create insecurity among learners, as they can’t be certain about the impact of the learning that they are doing. 

Adult learning and education have also been the victims of austerity measures, either directly or indirectly through cuts targeted at their funders (e.g. communes). The attitude mentioned above, namely that people should finance their learning themselves on the free market, is often used in this context. 

Finally, adult education can be impacted by ideological approaches. Our member organisations in Belarus were all closed down a few years ago. Certain EU countries with authoritarian leanings have shifted their support to CVET. One very worrying development has happened in Sweden, which normally is a model country for folkbildning – general adult education. The study associations are threatened by extensive cuts (a third of their public funding). A colleague explained that the current government portrays study associations as ‘dangerous radicals’. In the vast provision of study associations, you will find a few courses that sound radical, but of course, everything else mainstream (and innovative and empowering and beneficial for learners and their communities). Nevertheless, the current government sees the concept and background of study circles as a threat, and so these radical cuts have been introduced. There have been demonstrations and protest actions, so hopefully, the situation can still be improved. 

Civil society for ALE

This leads me to one of my favourite advocacy topics: I firmly believe that a national (or regional, depending on the country) representation of adult education and its providers is necessary. I’m talking about umbrella organisations that fulfil a number of roles for their members. One of them is the representation towards the government and relevant negotiations, another is offering training for adult educators, which could be the organisation of national meetings and conferences etc. I do believe that umbrella organisations benefit the adult education organisations in a country but also the government/ministries. One can negotiate with one organisation, which will also collect and embody the opinions of the different members. 

Umbrella organisations exist in many European countries but again with huge differences among them. Some organisations are well funded and can therefore offer a lot of services to their members, they can run campaigns and support good cooperation (in some countries, for example, there are learners organisations linked to the umbrella). In other countries, there is no funding, and the organisations survive on (usually small) membership fees. This means that everyone is a volunteer, which limits the reach and impact. And there are countries without representation, which, unsurprisingly, corresponds to the lack of strength of the adult education system in the respective state.

Bartering and sharing

There have been many different ways in which adult education organisations have managed to survive under detrimental circumstances.

Scrimping and saving

The director of the language school where I worked a long time ago would do most of the cleaning herself. For conferences, if the accommodation is too expensive, a number of colleagues are sharing rooms. Conference rooms are rarely in fancy hotels but in community centres, libraries and similar buildings. Adult education conferences very often have low participation fees so that more people can attend. 

Again, this is not the case in all countries and all organisations, but for many colleagues, this is the way to be able to continue their work.

Working for (almost) free

Should we talk about salaries? I would love to pay my EAEA colleagues more for the important and excellent work that they’re doing, but it is just not possible (and as I once started crying during negotiations for our funding, I’ll stop talking about our own situation).

I’ve also experienced people reducing their own salaries so that the finances stretch a bit longer. (International Council for Adult Education, I’m looking at you).

Generally, adult education organisations support each other – fees for speaking or articles are not very common. This is quite negative for freelancers, who either cannot afford to provide inputs for adult education organisations. Some of them are willing to speak or write for reduced fees because they believe in the importance of adult learning and education. (And let me add a big thank you here!). On the other hand, low or no fees mean that conference participation, for example, is possible for more people and that we can be more inclusive. 

There are also a number of adult educators who manage with low salaries because they’re idealists and believe strongly in what they are doing (like the freelancers mentioned before). I can’t express enough how valuable they are – they make a lot of adult learning and education possible, and they are the ones making learning more accessible while keeping a high standard of quality. 

Have I now thoroughly depressed everyone? 

In contrast to the negative experiences mentioned above, I have seen a lot of solidarity between adult education organisations and between adult educators, for example sharing resources, exchanging resources and sometimes even finding resources. Peer learning has driven a lot of innovation (also and especially with the help of Erasmus+). 

Can we be more creative?

I recently discussed this with a couple of colleagues from ESREA (our sister organisation in the area of adult education research). Can we find money from somewhere else? Crowdfunding? Other donors? (I have to admit that we’ve had this discussion a few times in the EAEA office. And no, we’re not going to busk in the streets, although it has been considered.)

And now, dear reader, I’d like to ask you:

• What are your experiences with money in adult learning and education? 

• Do you have any ingenious ideas on how to achieve better financing? 

• Have you found a creative way of funding? 

• Do you have good examples of sharing and solidarity?