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What do continuing education and climate protection have in common? In both cases, governments stipulate agreeable-sounding and “ambitious” funding objectives at the multilateral level. The reports that then proceed to examine their implementation progress in more detail on a regular basis sound less agreeable.

The most recent Global Report on Adult Learning and Education, based on data from 159 countries, is no exception. It was presented to the public in Brussels on 5 December. Its key message is that continuing education can—or could—contribute a great deal to social cohesion, sustainable development, economic growth and individual welfare, yet its potential is not maximised anywhere. The list of quoted deficits is long—and for the most part not new. Participation in continuing education: too low, especially in socially disadvantaged groups. The available funding: insufficient. Political measures: too isolated, too vague. Available data base: inadequate. This overall summary cannot even be altered by the numerous “Good Practice” cases from across the world, presented in the report as positive examples of successful initiatives (those from Germany include the GRETA-Kompetenzanerkennungsverfahren). If nothing else, the still low status of political education is concerning in light of current developments. Unlike in basic education and continuing professional education, the report shows almost no progress in political education over the last years. There is still much to do.

Digitalisation as a bearer of hope

“Leave no one behind: Participation, Equity and Inclusion” is the title of the current report. Participation in continuing education was chosen as the thematic focal point this time. It becomes very clear when reading the report that “equity” does not describe the current state of affairs; it is more of an objective that is still far from being achieved. The participation gap, well-known and lamented in Germany as the “Matthäus-Effekt” (“Matthew effect”)—i.e. those who are already educated and privileged participate in continuing education, while those for whom this is not the case are far less likely to attend further education courses—is drastically increasing on the global level. Much hope is pinned on digitalisation to tackle this issue. Digital technologies and the prevalence of mobile devices allow education provision to more flexibly reach wider groups of people willing to learn in principle. However, due to a lack of relevant long-term data, the present global report cannot predict just how successful the efforts to increase the continuing education activity of under-represented groups on a wider basis with the help of these new technologies and the increasing provision of freely accessible teaching and learning materials (Open Educational Resources) will be. It will be intriguing to follow the further development here—perhaps even one of the next global reports in the next three or six years will adopt digitalisation as the key focal point. In any case it will also be necessary to prevent old inequalities simply being continued or even reinforced due to the new possibilities—“digital divide” being the key word here.

Equity must remain on the political agenda

In a global comparison, Germany can think of itself as a top student with a current continuing education participation rate of 54% of the adult population. Yet there is certainly no reason to rest on the laurels of comparatively better data and findings. As the last report on continuing education trends in Germany from 2018 showed, the known divides—age, educational level, gender, professional status, place of residence etc.—exist here in Germany as well. And this is not just the case when looking at participation in traditional courses. This also applies to training activities with digital media. Conclusion: “Participation, Equity and Inclusion” must remain on the political agenda in the technologically advanced country of Germany just as much as in the rest of Europe and all world regions.

Decision-makers should be frequently reminded of (ongoing) bad states of affairs as well as examples of encouraging approaches. This is an essential function of GRALE, the “Global Report on Adult Education”, now already in its fourth edition. The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning has consistently driven this mammoth project forward since 2009. And, unlike with its three predecessors, a German translation of the complete report will be available. This is planned for the beginning of 2020. Here's to the admonitions and proposals of GRALE 4 finding wider resonance in Germany. The report deserves it.

About the author: Susanne Lattke is a Research Associate at the Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung - Leibniz-Zentrum für Lebenslanges Lernen e.V. in Bonn.

You can find other blog posts from Susanne Lattke here:

Kreativsein ist alles – Eindrücke aus einer Recherche im Rahmen des EU-Projektes CIM [DE]

“Slow and steady wins the race, or a Sisyphean task?”