Bridging the gap: How stakeholder cooperation can enhance lifelong learning

Conducted across 21 European countries, the RegALE survey highlights the urgent need for better cooperation among policymakers, practitioners and researchers to create a more inclusive and effective adult education system in Europe. Francesca Torlone of the University of Florence discusses the survey results, noting the fragmented state of adult education and proposing solutions.

“A coherent, comprehensive system of adult learning does not exist in Europe currently,” says Francesca Torlone, Associate Professor in General and Social Pedagogy at the University of Florence. She is Principal Investigator of the research team of RegALE, which surveyed adult education actors around Europe to understand the sector’s current situation.

Cooperation between stakeholders – policymakers, practitioners and researchers – is essential for a more integrated, effective and inclusive adult education system. However, the survey showed that this cooperation is characterised by dynamic, flexible and unregulated clusters of organisations and institutions and largely depends on the specific learning demands that need to be met.

This is due to public policies’ difficulty in developing long-term adult education strategies. “The main risk is the so-called ‘learning exclusion equilibrium,’ which places disadvantaged groups outside the political priorities and investments aimed at adult learning and education,” explains Torlone.

This concept refers to an economy trapped in a vicious circle of low added value, low skills and low wages due to weak demand for skills from businesses and insufficient attention from public policies.

“The result is less investment in education for low-skilled adults, whose training is left to the randomness of informal education and learning. This might explain the stagnating levels of participation in adult education in Europe that we have observed in recent years and confirmed with our RegALE survey,” continues Torlone.

Mapping the needs of stakeholders

The RegALE consortium, which stands for Regional Capacity for Adult Learning and Education, launched a survey in 2021 to investigate the challenges and opportunities of the adult education sector at regional and local levels in 21 European countries. The aim was to map the gaps and needs of adult education organisations and stakeholders and to understand how to better promote cooperation between policymakers, practitioners and researchers.

“Only through better cooperation among these stakeholders can we hope to allow regional and local institutions to strengthen the participatory and coordinated mode of governance involving a variety of social actors capable of increasing participation in adult education and learning,” says Torlone, who wrote an article outlining some of the key findings of the survey.

Having submitted an online questionnaire, the RegALE research team analysed data collected and analysed some preliminary interpretations which were then discussed with stakeholders in sessions of international focus groups.

“We focused on nine main aspects to understand how these actors perceive various elements of adult education in their countries, including public policies, adult education organisations, disadvantaged groups, investments and systems,” explains Torlone.

Patchy systems without a holistic approach

It is generally agreed that the countries surveyed are experiencing a favourable time for developing and adopting plans, strategies, regulations and special projects on adult learning.

“However, our respondents have highlighted that the implementation of such strategies is slow to manifest significant, perceptible effects at the local level,” says Torlone.

She explains that most public policies lack a long-term vision, creating patchy systems where projects focus on sectoral aspects of adult education.

“What we need is the adoption of a more holistic approach, a stronger vision at the central level and especially evidence-based policies,” she continues.

We need to adopt a more holistic approach, a stronger vision at the central level and evidence-based policies.

Another aspect that emerged from the survey is the fundamental role of adult education organisations.

“Everywhere – even in countries with weaker democratic systems like Croatia – these organisations play a more relevant role than public institutions and manage to fill the gaps and reach parts of the population that central powers cannot,” says Torlone.

At the same time, the survey observed a trend towards more centralised systems.

“In the near future, respondents – even in countries with strong political decentralisation like Sweden and Germany – expect the number of adult education organisations to be reduced due to centralisation and efficiency processes. This is worrying because the demand for adult learning is expected to grow, and if the most efficient adult education organisations are reduced while public policies remain inefficient, there is a risk of maintaining the current stagnation.”

Disadvantaged adult learners left behind

This is particularly alarming for disadvantaged adult learners, whom Torlone calls the “non-public of adult education” because they have educational needs, sometimes even basic skills needs, but remain excluded from learning opportunities.

The RegALE survey also spoke to numerous actors who work with migrants, prisoners or former inmates, women and people who are victims of violence and other socially or economically disadvantaged categories.

“Unfortunately, the situation has not improved in the last 20 to 30 years,” says Torlone.

This is because there is still extremely limited equity in access to adult education due to economic barriers, the lack of progression pathways or outreach activities, and especially the lack of quality and relevance of the training provided.

“There is quite simply no tailoring of the offer, and although our survey has highlighted that adult education covers many aspects, it is still insufficient for the more vulnerable.”

Adult education covers many aspects, but it is still insufficient for the more vulnerable.

Torlone attributes this to a mismatch between supply and demand: on the one hand, there is a lack of knowledge among policymakers, practitioners, and researchers about the educational needs of these people, and on the other hand, these people often cannot express their needs.

“It is rare to see projects aimed at helping people express their needs, yet this is fundamental,” she says.

This is where the role of local institutions, companies and social partners comes in, as they are the main actors who could reach these parts of the population.

“However, four out of five respondents lament the lack of investments. They think that the current funding is adequate to maintain the status quo, but not to expand access to adult education,” she says.

There is a perceived lack of support and guidance everywhere, while practitioners say they need to monitor the needs of the more vulnerable, especially because of the rapid evolution of the workplace and social innovations.

Unifying adult education in Europe

So, in a continent where no state presents a comprehensive adult learning system with shared values, principles, missions, functions and concrete priorities, can cooperation between adult education stakeholders really make a difference?

“One can only hope. A surprising finding of our survey is that not everyone is convinced of the role of internationalisation, especially because of scepticism towards European policies and the often-chaotic process of obtaining funding. Many now question the idea of having a unified European system for adult education,” says Torlone.

Not everyone is convinced of the role of internationalisation.

Nevertheless, this does not mean that internationalisation is unnecessary. Torlone believes that new European initiatives and programmes and the need to address current economic challenges through adult education can be seen as a historic opportunity to strengthen the role of public policies and their ability to promote participation in adult learning.

“It is necessary to encourage the internationalisation of various adult learning stakeholders so that mutual learning paths are developed, their experiences are enriched, and European strategies gain concrete substance.”

Stakeholder cooperation to fill the gaps

One of the first practical steps identified by the researchers is the support of horizontal governance: involving the private, not-for-profit and research sectors in adult education projects could help fill the gaps left by public policies and reach the parts of the population often left behind.

“Professor Paolo Federighi has also identified another idea to promote this cooperation and address the current issues we’ve identified: learning infrastructures,” says Torlone.

Since one of the main issues identified by the survey is that public funding – both national and European – is often short-term and does not address long-lasting issues, Federighi’s idea is to invest in infrastructures rather than individual projects.

“These would be not only material resources but also – most importantly for adult education policy development – services, like counselling, outreach activities and career development offices that would remain on the ground and have long-lasting effects, involving all stakeholders working together.”

One idea to promote cooperation is to invest in learning infrastructures rather than individual projects.

The survey has highlighted many issues in adult education, but Torlone believes there is a great opportunity for change, especially for disadvantaged groups. She explains that the audit has confirmed the six key success factors identified by a European Commission study in 2015: increasing employers’ investments in learning, improving equality of access for all, delivering learning that meets the needs of employers and learners, ensuring high-quality adult learning, and coordinating an effective lifelong learning policy.

“With our survey, we have emphasised the importance of the latter element. Horizontal governance is essential because, as we have seen, the adult education sector in Europe is not coordinated and mainly operates through clusters. We should strengthen existing collaborations to ensure public, private, and social actors work together,” says Torlone.

She concludes on a hopeful note, quoting one of the survey respondents: “Despite all the challenges in our sector, adult education still happens.”

To explore further, view the videos related to this article:

In video 1, Francesca Torlone talks about what should happen for stakeholder cooperation to increase access to lifelong learning.

In video 2, Francesca Torlone discusses what would be the concrete signs of individual and community growth if cooperation successfully increased access to Life-Long Learning (LLL).

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