Power and Possibility

Power and Possibility
Research on the Education and

Learning of Adults
Series Editors
(On behalf of the European Society for Research

on the Education of Adults)
Emilio Lucio-Villegas (University of Seville, Spain)
Barbara Merrill (University of Warwick, United Kingdom)
Marcella Milana (Aarhus University, Denmark)
Henning Salling Olesen (Roskilde University, Denmark)
Editorial Advisory Board
Michal Bron Jr. (Södertörn University College, Sweden)

Anja Heikkinen (University of Tampere, Finland )
Françoise F. Laot (University Paris-Descartes, France)
Linda Morrice (University of Sussex, United Kingdom)
-RDQQD2VWURXFK.DPLĔVNDUniversity of Warmia and Mazury, Poland )
Angela Pilch-Ortega (Graz University, Austria)
Andreas Wallo (Linköping University, Sweden)
*HRUJLRV=DUL¿VAristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece)
VOLUME 7
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/esre

Power and Possibility
Adult Education in a Diverse and Complex World
Edited by
Fergal Finnegan and Bernie Grummell
අൾංൽൾඇ_ൻඈඌඍඈඇ
This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the
CC-BY-NC 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original author(s) and source are credited.
Cover illustration: Frigate Bird Flying in Samoan Skies, by Andrew Pike, acrylic
on canvas 100 × 150 cm
All chapters in this book have undergone peer review.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at

http://catalog.loc.gov
ISSN 2542-9345
ISBN 978-90-04-41330-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-90-04-41331-3 (hardback)
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Copyright 2020 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

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CONTENTS
7KH(XURSHDQ6RFLHW\IRU5HVHDUFKRQWKH(GXFDWLRQRI$GXOWV(65($ YLL
Acknowledgements ix
Notes on Contributors xi
1. 3RZHUDQG3RVVLELOLW\LQ$GXOW(GXFDWLRQ5HÀHFWLQJRQ2OG7KHPHV
in New Times 1
Fergal Finnegan and Bernie Grummell
Part 1: Taking the Long View of Continuities and Changes in Adult

Education
2. 5HYLVLWLQJWKHFaure Report and the Delors Report: Why Was

UNESCO’s Utopian Vision of Lifelong Learning an “Unfailure”? 17
Maren Elfert
3. Comparative and Global Policy Studies on Adult Education:

.H\3DWWHUQVLQ&RQWHPSRUDU\$GXOW(GXFDWLRQ3ROLF\5HVHDUFK
Marcella Milana
4. ³7KH3ROLWLFVRI5HVSRQVLELOLW\´5HYLVLWHG$Q$QDO\VLVRI3RZHU
as a Central Construct in Program Planning 39
Thomas J. Sork and Bernd Käpplinger
Part 2: The Age of Metrics and the Reconfiguration of Policy and

Practice in Adult Education
5. 7KH5ROHRI7UDQVQDWLRQDO%RGLHVLQ/LIHORQJ/HDUQLQJDQGWKH3ROLWLFV
of Measurement: The Promise and Pitfalls of Outcomes-Based
$VVHVVPHQWLQWR5HFRJQLWLRQRI3ULRU/HDUQLQJ6\VWHPLQ3RUWXJDO
Rosanna Barros
6. 7KH'LVFRXUVHVRI3,$$&5H,PDJLQLQJ/LWHUDF\WKURXJK1XPEHUV
Mary Hamilton
7. The Challenge of Competence Assessment: Problematizing Institutional

5HJLPHV±3URFODLPLQJD3DUDGLJP6KLIW"
Henning Salling Olesen
v
CONTENTS
Part 3: Theorizing Power and Possibility in a Complex World
8. 5HFRJQLWLRQDQG5HGLVWULEXWLRQ5HWKLQNLQJWKH0HDQLQJRI-XVWLFHLQ
Adult Education 87
Lyn Tett
9. 5H,QIXVLQJ$GXOW(GXFDWLRQZLWKD&ULWLFDO)HPLQLVW)UDPHZRUN
Inspiration from Mary Parker Follett 97
Leona M. English
10. (QDFWLQJ(TXDOLW\5HWKLQNLQJ(PDQFLSDWLRQDQG$GXOW(GXFDWLRQZLWK
-DFTXHV5DQFLqUH
Kerry Harman
11. Time, Power and the Emancipatory Aims of Adult Education 117
Michel Alhadeff-Jones
Part 4: Power in a Diverse and Complex World: Learning, Education

and Global Migration
12. 4XHVWLRQLQJ3RZHU5HODWLRQV/HDUQLQJ3URFHVVHVWKURXJK6ROLGDULW\
ZLWK5HIXJHHV
Brigitte Kukovetz and Annette Sprung
13. Embracing Social Inclusion? The Asylum Seeker Experience of

Applying for Admission to Tertiary Education in Australia 143
Karen Dunwoodie, Susan Webb and Jane Wilkinson
14. Nurturing Solidarity in Diversity: The Superdiverse Shop Floor of

Tower Automotive in Ghent 155
Joke Vandenabeele and Pascal Debruyne
Part 5: Making Hope Practical
15. Democratic and Intercultural Dialogue across Universities,

Communities and Movements 167
Linden West
16. The Impact of Transformative Learning on Social Transformations:

A Comparative Study of Participatory Budgets in Maribor (Slovenia)
DQG5RVDULR$UJHQWLQD
0DUWD*UHJRUþLþ
17. Theorizing Adult Education, Power and Socio-Environmental

Change: A Consideration of the Climate Justice Movement 191
Pierre Walter and Jenalee Kluttz
vi
THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR RESEARCH ON
THE EDUCATION OF ADULTS (ESREA)
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European-wide forum for all researchers engaged in research on adult education
and learning and to promote and disseminate theoretical and empirical research in
the field. Since 1991 the landscape of adult education and learning has changed to
include more diverse learning contexts at formal and informal levels. At the same
time, there has been a policy push by the European Union, OECD, UNESCO and
QDWLRQDOJRYHUQPHQWVWRSURPRWHDSROLF\RIOLIHORQJOHDUQLQJ(65($SURYLGHVDQ
important space for these changes and (re)definition of adult education and learning
in relation to research, theory, policy and practice to be reflected upon and discussed.
This takes place at the triennial conference, network conferences and through the
publication of books and a journal.
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tive researchers in the form of thematic research networks which encourage inter-
disciplinary research drawing on a broad range of the social sciences. These research
networks hold annual/biennial seminars and conferences for the exchange of re-
search results and to encourage publications.
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Access, Learning Careers and Identities
Active Democratic Citizenship and Adult Learning
Adult Educators, Trainers and their Professional Development
Between Global and Local: Adult Learning and Development
Education and Learning of Older Adults
Gender and Adult Learning
History of Adult Education and Training in Europe
Interrogating Transformative Processes in Learning: An International Exchange
/LIHKLVWRU\DQG%LRJUDSKLFDO5HVHDUFK
0LJUDWLRQ(WKQLFLW\5DFLVPDQG;HQRSKRELD
Policy Studies in Adult Education
Working Life and Learning
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In order to encourage the widest possible forum for the exchange of ongoing research
DFWLYLWLHV(65($KROGVDWULHQQLDO(XURSHDQ5HVHDUFK&RQIHUHQFH7KHFRQIHUHQFHV
vii
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have been held in Strobl (1995), Bruxelles (1998), Lisbon (2001), Wroclaw (2004),
Seville (2007), Linköping (2010), Berlin (2013) and Maynooth (2016).
(65($-2851$/
(65($SXEOLVKHVDVFLHQWLILFRSHQDFFHVVMRXUQDOHQWLWOHGThe European Journal for

Research on the Education and Learning of Adults5(/$$OOLVVXHVRIWKHMRXUQDO
can be read at www.rela.ep.liu.se. You can also find more information about call for
papers and submission procedures on this website.
(65($%22.6
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forty books. A full list, giving details of the various publishers, and the books’ avail-
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operation with Brill Sense.
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Emilio Lucio-Villegas
Barbara Merrill
Marcella Milana
Henning Salling Olesen
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Editing the book has been a genuine pleasure thanks to all authors who contributed
to the book whose effort, openness and patience is greatly appreciated. We would
OLNHWRWKDQN-RODQGD.DUDGDDW%ULOO_6HQVHIRUKHUZRUNRQWKHERRNDVLWZHQW
through production.
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$GXOWV (65($ DQG LQ SDUWLFXODU LWV VWHHULQJ FRPPLWWHH 2XU VSHFLDO WKDQNV WR
WKH HGLWRULDO ERDUG RI WKH VHULHV (PLOLR /XFLR9LOOHJDV 5DPRV 0DUFHOOD 0LODQD
Barbara Merrill and Henning Salling Olesen, who gave us such helpful feedback
and advice. Our colleagues in the Department of Adult and Community Education in
0D\QRRWK8QLYHUVLW\DQGWKH&HQWUHIRU5HVHDUFKRQ$GXOW/HDUQLQJDQG(GXFDWLRQ
have also been very supportive.
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who made this possible, in particular the members of the Steering Commitee. We
also wish to thank Ewa Kurantowicz, Bernd Käpplinger, Andreas Fejes, Alice
Bennett and KCAT, and in particular Andrew Pike for giving permission to use his
wonderful painting for the cover of the book, Peter Hussey, Mary Jennings, Mira
Dobutowitsch, Meliosa Bracken, Pauline Oxley, Keith Murphy, Letitia Moloney,
0DJJLH 1RRQH (LOLVK 'LOORQ 5RVH *DOODJKHU DQG 5RLVLQ &ODUNH :H HVSHFLDOO\
want to thank Angela McGinn as well as Breda Gibney and the dream team of David
McGinn and Darragh Gallagher.
Fergal wants to offer personal thanks to Fin Dwyer, Maya Finnegan, Tara Finnegan
and Anna Zajko. Bernie gives a special thanks to Liam, Cillian and Fionn O Mochain.
ix
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Michel Alhadeff-Jones is Adjunct Associate Professor in Adult Learning and Lead-

ership at Teachers College, Columbia University (USA), and the Executive Director
of the Sunkhronos Institute (Switzerland). His research interests include: transform-
ative learning, rhythmanalysis, and biographical coaching. He recently published
Time and the Rhythms of Emancipatory Education5RXWOHGJH
Rosanna Barros LV SUHVHQWO\ D 0HPEHU RI WKH %RDUG RI WKH QHZ &HQWUH IRU 5H-
search in Adult Education and Community Intervention (CEAD) of the University
RI$OJDUYH3RUWXJDO6KHLVDVVRFLDWHFRQYHQRURIWKH5HVHDUFK1HWZRUNRQ3ROLF\
6WXGLHVLQ$GXOW(GXFDWLRQRI(65($+HUPDLQEDFNJURXQGLVLQDGXOWHGXFDWLRQ
public policy and social pedagogy.
Pascal Debruyne holds a doctorate in political science, a master’s degree in conflict

and development, a master’s degree in moral sciences and a bachelor’s degree in
social work. He works at the Knowledge Centre for Family Sciences of the Odisee
University College in Brussels and his current research is on family reunion of rec-
ognized refugees and subsidiary protected persons.
Karen DunwoodieLVFXUUHQWO\D5HVHDUFK)HOORZDWWKH'HDNLQ8QLYHUVLW\&HQWUH
IRU5HIXJHH(PSOR\PHQW$GYRFDF\7UDLQLQJDQG(GXFDWLRQ&5($7($XVWUDOLD
Her research interests include progressing the field of refugee resettlement, princi-
pally focusing on career development and the impact access to tertiary education
may have on the lives of refugees and people seeking asylum.
Maren Elfert is a Lecturer in Education and Society in the School of Education,

Communication and Society at King’s College London, and a 2018 National Acad-
emy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research focuses on global gov-
ernance of education and the influence of international organizations on educational
ideas and policies.
Leona M. EnglishLV3URIHVVRURI$GXOW(GXFDWLRQDW6W)UDQFLV;DYLHU8QLYHUVLW\
Nova Scotia, Canada. She writes on critical pedagogy, with particular attention to
feminism in adult education.
Fergal Finnegan is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Adult and Com-

munity Education, Maynooth University where he is a co-director of the doctoral
programmes. His background is in community education and his research interests
LQFOXGH WUDQVIRUPDWLYH OHDUQLQJ ELRJUDSKLFDO UHVHDUFK VRFLDO FODVV HTXDOLW\ DQG
xi
127(621&2175,%87256
KLJKHUHGXFDWLRQ+HLVFRFRQYHQRURIWKH(65($$FWLYH'HPRFUDWLF&LWL]HQVKLS
and Adult Learning Network.
0DUWD *UHJRUþLþ (PhD) is a sociologist and Assistant Professor of Adult Educa-

tion at the Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Arts at the University of
Ljubljana, Slovenia. She has been working with counter-hegemonic movements and
autonomous self-determining communities of the Global South for the last 20 years.
Bernie Grummell is a Senior Lecturer in the Departments of Education and Adult

and Community Education, Maynooth University. She previously worked with the
6FKRRO RI 6RFLRORJ\ DQG WKH (TXDOLW\ 6WXGLHV &HQWUH 8QLYHUVLW\ &ROOHJH 'XEOLQ
She is a co-director of the Doctoral programmes in Higher and Adult Education.
5HVHDUFKLQWHUHVWVLQFOXGHHTXDOLW\DQGLQFOXVLRQLVVXHVLQHGXFDWLRQ
Mary Hamilton is Professor Emerita of Adult Learning and Literacy in the Depart-
PHQWRI(GXFDWLRQDO5HVHDUFKDW/DQFDVWHU8QLYHUVLW\6KHKDVORQJVWDQGLQJLQWHUHVW
in informal, vernacular learning and how communicative resources are built across
the lifespan and her current research is on literacy policy, governance, socio-material
theory, academic literacies, digital technologies and change.
Kerry Harman is Programme Director of Higher Education Introductory Studies,

an access programme at Birkbeck, University of London for mature, low-income stu-
dents. Kerry is interested in academic practices which take marginalized individuals
and groups seriously as producers of knowledge. Her current research examines the
relationship between sensory ways of knowing and the provision of good care in a
homecare context.
Bernd Käpplinger is Full Professor for Continuing Education at Justus-Liebig-

University Giessen in Germany. He is chair of the section Adult Education which
has approximately 500 researchers within the German Society for Educational
6FLHQFHDQGPHPEHURIWKHSUHVLGLXPRI(65($+LVPDLQUHVHDUFKVXEMHFWVDUH
program planning and enterprise-provided continuing training.
Jenalee Kluttz is a PhD student in the Department of Educational Studies at the

University of British Columbia, Canada. She researches adult education and learn-
ing within social movements. Her current projects explore learning that occurs in
solidarity work between climate change, environmental justice, and Indigenous
rights movements in opposition to the fossil fuel industry.
Brigitte Kukovetz is a University Assistant at the University of Graz, Austria

(Department of Educational Sciences/Adult Education). Her research interests in-
clude adult education in migration societies, solidarity and learning processes of
xii
127(621&2175,%87256
volunteers, (institutional) racism and civil society. In 2015 she completed her doc-
toral thesis on unauthorized migration and deportations.
Marcella Milana is Associate Professor at the University of Verona and Honorary

Professor of Adult Education at the University of Nottingham. She researches the
politics, policy and governance of adult education and learning, from comparative
and global perspectives, and is joint editor of the International Journal of Lifelong
Education.
Henning Salling Olesen3URIHVVRUIRUPHU3UR5HFWRU5RVNLOGH8QLYHUVLW\+RQ-

orary Doctor Tampere University has engaged in collaborative research with trade
unions from 1970s. He is the founder of interdisciplinary doctoral school for lifelong
OHDUQLQJDQGHGXFDWLRQUHVHDUFKDQGZDVFKDLURIWKH(XURSHDQ6RFLHW\IRU5HVHDUFK
LQWKH(GXFDWLRQRI$GXOWV±+HLVDIRXQGLQJPHPEHURIWKH,QWHUQDWLRQDO
5HVHDUFK*URXSIRU3V\FKRVRFLHWDO5HVHDUFK+HLV$GYLVRU\3URIHVVRUIRUGRFWRUDO
studies at East China Normal University, Shanghai.
Thomas J. (Tom) Sork is Professor of Adult Learning and Education at the Uni-
versity of British Columbia in Canada and holds an appointment as Distinguished
Professor at the International Institute of Adult and Lifelong Education, New Delhi,
India. His research and writing focus on program planning, professional ethics, and
international collaboration.
Annette Sprung is Associate Professor at the University of Graz, Austria (Depart-

ment of Educational Sciences/Adult Education). Her research and publications focus
RQDGXOWHGXFDWLRQLQPLJUDWLRQVRFLHWLHVUDFLVPVGLYHUVLW\VRFLDOLQHTXDOLW\VROL-
darity, citizenship and learning for democracy. She also operates as a co-convenor of
WKH1HWZRUNRQ0LJUDWLRQ7UDQVQDWLRQDOLVPDQG5DFLVPVRI(65($
Lyn Tett is Professor of Community Education at Huddersfield University. Her re-

search focuses on the factors that exclude adults from post-compulsory education
and the action that can promote social inclusion. Her latest book, edited with Mary
Hamilton, is Resisting Neoliberalism in Education: Local, National and Transna-
tional Perspectives (Policy Press, 2019).
Joke Vandenabeele is an Associate Professor at the Laboratory for Education and

Society (University of Leuven). She has developed her educational research in rela-
tion to the issue of solidarity and the issue of sustainability. In her research, she scru-
tinizes, both empirically and theoretically, how community education emerges from
what people actually do together and how the materiality of a particular practice is
part of this educational process.
xiii
127(621&2175,%87256
Pierre Walter is a professor in the Adult Learning and Education (ALE) program
at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He teaches adult learning theory,
environmental education, and comparative education. His research focuses on adult
learning in the climate justice movement, community-based ecotourism, and decolo-
nizing learning in living history museums.
Susan Webb is currently a Professor of Education at Monash University, Australia.

Her research interests include developing the field and practice of lifelong learning
and widening participation. Particularly, the policy effects and practices related to
access and participation of students in the field of further and higher education, in-
cluding the experiences of migrants and refugees.
Linden West works at Canterbury Christ Church University. He jointly coordinates

WKH(65($/LIH+LVWRU\1HWZRUNDQGKDVZULWWHQZLGHO\RQDGXOWHGXFDWLRQ+LV
new book, with Laura Formenti, Transforming Perspectives in Lifelong Learning
and Adult Education, A Dialogue won the Cyril O. Houle 2019 prize for outstanding
literature in adult education.
Jane Wilkinson LV$VVRFLDWH 'HDQ *UDGXDWH 5HVHDUFK 0RQDVK 8QLYHUVLW\ +HU

research interests lie in educational leadership for social justice employing feminist,
Bourdieusian and practice architectures lenses. She has conducted extensive re-
search with refugee background students in schools and universities. Her latest book
is Navigating Complex Spaces: Refugee Background Students Transitioning into
Higher Education.
xiv
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1. POWER AND POSSIBILITY IN ADULT

EDUCATION
Reflecting on Old Themes in New Times
,1752'8&7,21
,Q WKH HUD RI OLIHORQJ OHDUQLQJ DGXOW HGXFDWLRQ KDV DFTXLUHG D QHZ SURPLQHQFH
(Field, 2006). Across the world the amount of time adults spend in education
has steadily increased and new policy imperatives, linked to notions such as the
‘knowledge economy’ have made adult education and adult learning major topics
of research. Within the body of research which has emerged from the highly diverse
ILHOGRIDGXOWHGXFDWLRQ±ZKLFKLQFOXGHVIRUH[DPSOHVWXGLHVRQEDVLFHGXFDWLRQ
literacy, popular and community education, continuing education, lifelong learning
and higher education as well as learning in workplaces, social movements and civil
VRFLHW\±WKHUHLVDYHU\PDUNHGLQWHUHVWLQTXHVWLRQVRISRZHU
This is not a new phenomenon; in fact, power has been defining and constitutive
theme of adult education scholarship for over a century and is a central concern of
many of the most famous and influential thinkers in the field (e.g., Brookfield, 2005;
Freire, 1998; Lindemann, 1926; Mezirow, 1991, etc.). It is also noteworthy that
when adult education researchers turn to other disciplines for ideas and inspiration,
WKH\IUHTXHQWO\FKRVHWRGUDZXSRQWKLQNHUVVXFKDV%RXUGLHXDQG)RXFDXOWZKRDOVR
foreground issues of power (Käpplinger, 2015; Nylander, Österlund, & Fejes, 2018).
As one might expect given this longstanding interest within a broadly defined
field of research power has been approached in varied ways. Nonetheless, there are
certain recurrent themes, concerns and characteristics which are pertinent to framing
the content and purpose of this collection. The genesis and formation of adult
education as a field of practice, strongly orientated to democratic and egalitarian
YDOXHVDQGWKHVXEVHTXHQWZD\DGXOWHGXFDWLRQKDVGHYHORSHGZLWKLQWKHDFDGHP\
DV DQ µDSSOLHG¶ VRFLDO VFLHQFH 5XEHQVRQ 1\ODQGHU )HMHV PHDQV
that positivistic claims of neutrality and exercises in ‘grand theory’ are rare in adult
education research. There is also relatively little melancholy rumination on the
impossibility of action or change and the desire to produce research that contributes
to progressive change and is relevant to communities, movements and practitioners
UHPDLQVWKHQRUP$VDUHVXOWGRFXPHQWLQJLQHTXDOLW\DQGLQMXVWLFHDQGRUWKHRUL]LQJ
social reproduction, ‘power over’, is complemented with a keen interest in ‘power
to’ that is to explore what is, or might be, possible through adult education.
© KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2020 | DOI: 10.1163/9789004413320_001

This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 License.
)),11(*$1 %*5800(//
Possibility on a macro level has been mainly understood in terms of fostering

DFWLYH GHPRFUDWLF SDUWLFLSDWLRQ 5XEHQVRQ DQG DGYDQFLQJ HPDQFLSDWRU\
politics (Holst, 2011). Adult education from this perspective is linked to wider
democratizing tendencies in society (Williams, 1961). Critical pedagogy and
IHPLQLVPKDYHEHHQWKHPRVWLQIOXHQWLDOOLQHVRIUHVHDUFKDQGLQTXLU\LQWKLVUHJDUG
(Freire, 1972; Hall et al., 2012; hooks, 1994; Mayo, 1999; Newman, 2007; Tett, 2002)
but liberal as well as radical forms of popular education (Langinder, Nordvall, &
Crowther, 2013) and a good deal of work using transformative learning theory also
works within this paradigm (Mezirow & Assoc, 2000).
Interest in democracy from ‘below’ and political possibility on a macro level is
complemented with a concern with the transformative potential of adult education
on the meso and micro levels. This reflects the generally humanistic orientation of
adult education research. Humanism has been articulated in a range of political and
philosophical registers, including ones which are not especially interested in power
and possibility in political terms, and there is a very widely shared interest in tapping
into the ‘hidden’ potential located with human experience, informal learning and
everyday knowledge (e.g. Alheit & Dausien, 2002; Bélanger, 2016; hooks, 1994;
Illeris, 2009; Knowles, 1970; Jarvis, 2009; Pineau, 1986; Tett, 2002; Torres, 1990;
Tough, 1979 etc.). This is typically paired with the argument that much educational
provision fails to recognize this potential or even actively blocks its development. A
recurrent trope of adult education research is the proposition that only by developing
more open and responsive forms of education through innovation in institutions,
program planning, and pedagogy (e.g. Horton, 2003; Tett, 2002 etc.) and ultimately
devising new modes of producing and exchanging knowledge in society can we
realize human potential. We want to suggest this way of construing power and
possibility has been one of the things that has created a common sense of identity and
SXUSRVHDFURVVDYHU\ZLGHDQGGLVSDUDWHVFLHQWLILFILHOG:LWKVRPHTXDOLILFDWLRQV
this can also be discerned in some of the extensive and steadily growing body of
research on workplace learning (e.g. Livingstone & Sawchuk, 2004).
Adult education is now a ‘mature’ scientific field and there is a clear need to
interrogate and empirically explore on an ongoing basis what Malcolm Tight (1999,
p. 1) once called the “mythologies” of adult education, the “powerful and revered
ways of knowing aspects of our world” including these paradigmatic assumptions
about power and possibility. This is what this books seeks to do.
5HIOHFWLQJRQSRZHUDQGSRVVLELOLW\KDVDFTXLUHGDQHZXUJHQF\DQGUHOHYDQFH
in recent years, a period of change and crisis characterized by social acceleration
5RVDVHHDOVR$OKDGHII-RQHVGHHSHQLQJLQHTXDOLWLHV6D\HU
seismic changes in politics and governance, a rise in racism and xenophobia (Fekete,
2018) and grave ecological threats (Latour, 2017). Alongside these socio-political
VKLIWV DGXOW HGXFDWLRQ DV D ILHOG RI SUDFWLFH DQG VFLHQWLILF LQTXLU\ KDV ZLWQHVVHG
significant changes in funding, policy and provision as well. Furthermore, several
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fragmentation and weakening of the field of adult education at the very point when
2
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many commentators argue reflexive forms of adult education are essential (Bowl,
2017; Walters & Watters, 2017).
How can, and should, adult education respond to these changes in the research
field and more widely? Is it time to abandon old paradigms and themes? What sort of
research is being done that illuminates power and possibility in a complex, diverse
and interdependent world? This collection brings together leading researchers in the
ILHOGRIDGXOWHGXFDWLRQWRH[SORUHWKHVHYLWDOTXHVWLRQVWKHRUHWLFDOO\SROLWLFDOO\DQG
practically from multiple perspectives and in relation to varied areas of interest within
contemporary adult education. Specifically, the collection discusses continuities
and changes in adult education research and program development and what was,
and is now shaping and driving policy and the effects this is having on practice.
In particular, it looks at how metrics and the language of competences, standards
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research, learning and literacy. It asks how can we, in the light of rapid change in
economics, politics, the labour market, migration and culture, leading to heightened
social complexity, effectively research and theorize power and imagine democratic
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in the book offer an analysis of adult education which is timely, rich and substantive.
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This collection of essays emerged from the debates and discussions that took place
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Triennial conference. Established in 1991 and consisting of twelve different research
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with academic research on adult education and learning (Slowey, 2016). Its twelve
networks meet annually or bi-annually in different parts of Europe. The Triennial
conferences offer space for the various networks to come together, meet and share
ideas and it has become an important event for adult education researchers globally
(for a review of the major themes at the Triennial conferences up to 2014 see
Kapplinger, 2015).
The 2016 Triennial was the eighth such conference and took place in Maynooth
University in Ireland and was hosted by the Department of Adult and Community
Education. The theme of the conference was Imagining diverse futures for adult
education: Questions of power and resources of creativity. The double focus on
power and future possibilities was chosen through dialogue between colleagues in
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networks as a result of the medium-term socio-political changes mentioned above as
well as the effect of the global economic crisis on adult education in many European
countries.
It was a remarkably vibrant event with approximately 200 presentations and
papers by researchers from 27 countries. These researchers were mainly from Europe
3
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but also came Asia, Australia and North America. The predominance of participants
from the global north and the fact that it was an Anglophone event is worth bearing
in mind not least because one of the themes of this book is the need to think about
adult education in global terms.
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and we cannot in this book, nor intend to, capture the full range of what was covered
in papers, roundtables, performances and workshops. Interestingly, relatively few
papers ‘imagined diverse futures’, the emphasis was more on the reconfiguration of
the field. The papers which dealt with ‘power to’ contextualized these hopes in terms
of a complex realities and challenges in the here and now. Questions of power ‘over’
loomed large in terms of policy change and neoliberal managerialism alongside a
strong interest in power in relation to gender, workplace learning and migration.
In other words, the interest in possibility, that is to say in small and large-scale
empowerment through adult education, was strong but participants wanted above
all to pause and to look carefully at the forces and tendencies at work in the field,
especially in terms of policy. As editors we have taken the main ‘generative themes’
RIWKHHYHQW±SRZHUDQGSRVVLELOLW\LQFRPSOH[DQGGLYHUVHWLPHV±DQGWKHQVRXJKW
contributions to this collection on these themes.
Below we elaborate and offer some further framing remarks in four parts which
follow the structure of the book and reflect on the main ways invited contributors
have taken up the themes of the book. The first part consists of pieces that help
contextualize recent changes in adult education by looking back in time and across
contexts. Part 2 looks at dominant trends in policy and the concepts, practices,
categories and modes of research that are currently shaping practice. In the third part
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and emancipation in complex times is taken up. The fourth part looks at power and
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migration and diversity in workplaces, formal education and civil society settings.
The final part reflects on settings and practices which suggest how adult education
can renew a sense of possibility in personal and social transformation.
TAKING THE LONG VIEW OF CONTINUITIES AND CHANGES

IN ADULT EDUCATION
The first part of this book takes up the theme of continuities and changes in power
and invites the reader to think about how we arrived at current conjuncture: it
explores what is shifting, what persists and how we might respond as researchers.
The chapters in the part have been chosen because of their wide scope and deal with
three major concerns of adult education: policy, program planning and the evolution
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travelled in adult education policy and program planning in recent years as well as
what endures and situates this in relation to contemporary trends and tendencies in
politics, economics and research. They also introduce two themes explored later in
4
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WKHERRN±WKHWHPSRUDODQGVSDWLDOGLPHQVLRQVRIDGXOWHGXFDWLRQUHVHDUFK±DQG
offers examples of how we might think of the field diachronically as well as how we
make sense of adult education as an international and global enterprise. In a collection
such as this that is necessarily partial, the book offers signposts rather than a map;
the aim is to offer new and suggestive angles of vision rather than a comprehensive
account of the state of adult education which is ably outlined elsewhere (e.g. Milana
et al., 2018; Nylander & Fejes, 2019; see also the various international and national
handbooks of adult education).
In Chapter 2 Maren Elfert explores one of the most widely debated and significant
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conceptualized and articulated in two flagship reports published by UNESCO, the
Faure report in 1972, and the Delors report in 1996. The chapter situates the broadly
humanistic, and perhaps within current circumstances, even utopian, conception of
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cooperation and the reform and development of the welfare state. As is well known
with the neoliberalization of policy and politics, the OECD and World Bank emerged
as the most influential international organization concerned with education. The
philosophical and democratic ethos of UNESCO’s reports are out of kilter with
what became the dominant ideas of the age. Elfert contends that this cannot be seen
as a complete and finished process and argues although this ambitious conception of
lifelong learning has not been enacted on a policy level, they remain highly influential
for practitioners and researchers as a resource of hope and is what she terms an
“unfailure”.
This is followed by Marcella Milana who in Chapter 3 offers an overview of
patterns in comparative research on international adult education policy and their
interactions with national and local policy developments. Milana analyzes the
collective effort by adult education policy researchers to examine the changing
power dynamics between international organizations, national governments and
local communities. Milana identifies research patterns that reveal the pervasiveness
of the dominant neoliberal discourse and its effects on adult education, but also on
its cracks as well as different forms of ‘resistance’ (see also Tett & Hamilton, 2019).
Crucially, she suggests a reflexive awareness of these patterns will enhance the
capacity to do meaningful research in the future. Further she argues that assuming
a multi-scalar or global perspective in policy research provides adult education
scholars with the capacity to trace the influence of the multiple political entities and
agencies involved in shaping adult education policy.
Thomas Sork and Bernd Käpplinger in Chapter 4 take up the themes of the book
from a different perspective by exploring power and programme planning. They
discuss how power in program planning has been a crucial theme in adult education
especially in North America. Drawing on previous empirical research in Germany
and Canada on this topic and reflecting of the influential work of Cervero and
Wilson (1994), they do two significant things. They offer a fascinating overview of
the changing way power has been theorized within adult education and explore how
5
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program planners can generatively respond to the multiple pressures, including from
policymakers, in a way that responds to wider social needs and pressing problems
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IRU SUDFWLFH DQG GLVFXVV WKH FRPSHWHQFHV UHTXLUHG IRU SURJUDP SODQQLQJ WR UHDG
and respond to power. Program planning is, they argue, a type of creative action
which relies on ethical, socio-political and technical competences and which needs
conceptual tools to grapple with visible and hidden forms of power in order to create
new possibilities in adult education.
The first part is intentionally wide in scope and highly layered and thus illuminates
adult education as a complex and evolving field through which dominant, residual
and emergent forces operate. The three authors suggest that to understand power
and possibility in adult education we need to be cognizant of our own history to
discern accurately the fractures and faultlines which run through contemporary adult
education. This is the departure point for a further exploration of power and policy
today which is explored in the second part of the book.
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35$&7,&(,1$'8/7('8&$7,21
From the second world war up until the late 1980s adult education (at least viewed
from much of Europe and North America) was a relatively stable field of practice,
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body of academic work. In Europe adult education as a field of practice and scientific
field was strongly shaped by the imperatives of welfare state capitalism which led to
a period of unprecedented and dramatic expansion in educational provision across
the lifespan. Based on a historical compromise described by Peter Alheit (2005,
p. 391) as a:
… a somewhat unusual alliance between social-democratic reformism and
capital’s drive to modernise both itself and society. What one side envisaged as
an emancipatory opportunity for personal growth, especially for the working
classes, was seen by the other side as the benefits of having the wide-ranging
skills that were considered essential to remain competitive.
From the 1980s this compromise began to unravel due to social and economic
crises and increasing neoliberalization (Brenner, Peck, & Theodore, 2010). The
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that shaped adult education in Europe in the post-war period have disappeared. The
promotion of individualized and competitive forms of culture and politics has had a
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LPDJLQDU\0RUHFRQFUHWHO\PDUNHWVDQGTXDVLPDUNHWVKDYHEHHQFUHDWHGQRZ LQ
many national educational systems (Bowl, 2017). The authors in the collection make
the case that it is the neoliberalization of national and international adult education
6
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policy, and the associated growth of managerial ‘audit culture’, linked to funding
that has most directly impacted on the field. As a result we have seen the emergence
of procedures, measures and practices through which power operates in a subtle
manner to change how program planning, pedagogy and research is conducted and
which cumulatively alter the purpose of adult education.
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53/LQ3RUWXJXHVHDGXOWHGXFDWLRQ&KDSWHUWKHVWDWHDORQJZLWKWUDQVQDWLRQDO
bodies have devised indicators and set goals which have had a profound impact
on adult education. She reveals how educational policy through compulsory targets
and outputs, has resulted in the reimaging of educational work in technical and
administrative terms and the contradictions and pitfalls that this has created. In
a period of crisis and austerity this has centralized control over education while
decentralizing responsibility. This double movement sets tight bounds on what is
deemed possible and Barros argues has neutralized or hampered the development of
critical forms of adult education.
Mary Hamilton in Chapter 6 reveals in her analysis of how people’s own experience
and meanings of literacy are devalued and rendered invisible in international
comparative surveys such as PIAAC. As she argues, such surveys play a significant
role in the establishment of new forms of governance and social regulation on a
global and national basis, where power is exerted through data management and
efforts are made to normalize knowledge in line with neoliberal views of the world,
leading to a narrowing of the educational imagination.
Barros and Hamilton illustrate the operation of the ‘microphysics of power’ and
how this resets the boundaries of possibility in education. In Chapter 7 Henning
Salling Olesen builds on this analysis through a discussion of the notion of
competence. He argues for a critical form of research from a ‘bottom up perspective’
that seeks to explore everyday practices related to competence and learning from
a new perspective. He contends that adult education micro-practices related to the
subjective interests and experience of individuals need to be studied to “trace their
unrecognized potentials” for supporting autonomous action and societal change.
While recognizing current limitations in the bureaucratic conception of competences
Olesen also suggests how this might be reimagined drawing on empirical research in
workplaces and with trade unions.
7+(25,6,1*32:(5$1'3266,%,/,7<,1$&203/(;:25/'
One of the primary aims of the book is to explore whether the paradigms that have
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but is most systematically addressed as a theoretical challenge in the third part of
the book. To do this we invited four authors to reflect on the themes of personal and
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to adult education. The authors approach this through various notions of praxis and
7
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different conceptions of the source of ‘really useful knowledge’. Close philosophical

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It was argued earlier that hidden powers, blocked and unused capacities pushing
against the constraints of tradition and institutional systems have been recurrent
tropes in adult education which are articulated through and sustained by a range
of metaphors of change, expansion and transformation. As we have already argued
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but distinct to this is the way progressive social movements organize and produce
knowledge is changing (Wainwright, 2009). Furthermore, as is the case with social
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about the practical and theoretical limits of progressive ideas (Usher & Edwards,
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structuralists have problematized notions of emancipation which, they argue, are
based on dichotomous models with a clear division between the powerful and the
powerless and draw our attention to the subtle operation of power at all levels of
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much held or resisted as exercised in various ways.
Interestingly, most of the writers invited to explore power and possibility
in theoretical terms occupy a middle ground between early versions of critical
theory and post-structuralism. It is significant that the four thinkers here all argue
emancipatory desires, knowledge and values remain integral to adult education.
In various ways, and to varying degrees, the four authors also acknowledge the
importance of established traditions of thought in adult education but they all
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consensus that theory building is a contingent and contextual activity which should
be approached in a critically pragmatic manner. Each author also is at pains to stress
complexities of identity and praxis in thinking and research; suggesting “we have to
try to engage with a diverse and fragmented culture by means of an analysis that sees
through its own fantasy of homogeneity […] and seeks out complexity (Samuels,
1993, p. 11). Just as significantly emancipation is discussed in relation to multiple
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which were once mainstays in theorizing power and possibility.
Both Lyn Tett and Leona English speak out of long experience of thinking
and working through radical and feminist traditions and suggest ways of
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in a multidimensional manner, drawing on the work of Nancy Fraser. Tett uses
Fraser’s concepts of recognition, redistribution and participatory parity, to analyze
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opened up to adult learners in the context of family literacy. Tett concludes that
participation in critical adult education does empower and enhance participation
8
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DQG DGGUHVV PLVUHFRJQLWLRQ EXW VKH DOVR LQGLFDWHV WKDW HTXDOLW\ UHTXLUHV ZLGHU
efforts at economic redistribution.
In Chapter 9 Leona English makes a case for the importance of feminist analysis
of power and possibility by bringing us back to the work of Mary Parker Follett
±DFRPPXQLW\EDVHGHGXFDWRUZKRVHHPSKDVLVRQFROOHFWLYHDFWLRQDQG
the co-creation of power views democracy as an “ongoing project” and power as an
integral part of human relations. In this reflection on the lessons of the past, English
is also offering a way of thinking through and responding to discussion of identity
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frames this in terms of global challenges and prospects for women and suggests
that to think accurately about power and possibility we need to develop a genuinely
internationalist perspective.
In Chapter 10 Kerry Harman argues that emancipatory possibilities depend on
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Harman argues that increasing diversity and complexity in society has resulted in a
less unified understanding around what constitutes progressive social change and
makes the notion of a universal truth seem much less certain. The idea of vanguard
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RQDGLVWDQWKRUL]RQ±DQGKHUH0DU[LVPDQGFULWLFDOSHGDJRJ\LVVTXDUHO\LQYLHZ±LV
criticized by Harman. Instead it is the immediate practice of emancipation in the here
and now that is being argued for as the basis of emancipatory pedagogy and research.
Michel Alhadeff-Jones in Chapter 11 revisits emancipation and the democratic
ideals of adult education through an analysis of time. Alhadeff-Jones looks carefully
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experience of time and why the multiple and complex rhythms of human activity
needs to be thought about carefully in research on adult learning and development.
He proposes developing a rhythmanalytical approach to adult education to deal
with the complex experience of time. He contends that a scarcity of time, the
strict demarcation of learning activities and the acceleration of aspects of social
life express something significant about contemporary power dynamics, revealing
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competing rhythms of life. Emancipation, he suggests, lies, at least in part, in finding
one’s own rhythm, the appropriation of one’s own time, a proposition which throws
up exciting challenges for adult education.
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Power can be mapped relationally in terms of the possession, use and circulation of
economic, social, cultural and symbolic capitals in social space marked by lines of
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behind the movement of commodities, people, images, symbols, practices and ideas
9
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across social space is crucial to social analysis (Lefebvre, 1992) and as noted earlier
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explore how adult education is responding to this changing and changeable world in
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intercultural exchange. Current transnational flows of people through forced
and voluntary migration fits into a longer-term historical tale of colonialism,
displacement and crises. Power continues to be centrally evident in the policies and
practices of how states manage these population shifts, using immigration policies
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DQGFRQVWUDLQWKHPRYHPHQWRIRWKHUJURXSVRISHRSOH±WKURXJKHPSOR\PHQWYLVDV
border and migration controls, access to welfare and educational supports (Morrice,
6KDQ 6SUXQJ7KLVUDLVHVVLJQLILFDQWTXHVWLRQVIRUDGXOWHGXFDWLRQLQWHUPV
of access and recognition, pedagogical practices and community inclusion (Guo &
Lange, 2015).
In this part of the collection, how power relations, migration and diversity are
mediated in context is explored in three key sites of learning; civil society, formal
education and workplaces. Firstly, in Chapter 12 Brigitte Kukovetz and Annette
Sprung discuss the relationship between solidarity, power and with adult learning,
in the context of migration regimes and within humanitarian refugee relief. They
explore volunteering as an important learning process which responds to human need
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to a sense of the state divesting itself of responsibility in a neoliberal context and that
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citizenship rights. To deal with this ‘doubleness’ of power they argue we need to be
able to link everyday solidarity to a wider analysis of power structures.
In Chapter 13 Karen Dunwoodie, Susan Webb and Jane Wilkinson also identify
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FDVHVWXG\GRFXPHQWVWKHFRPSOH[LWLHVRIHTXLW\DQGLQFOXVLRQIRUFHUWDLQJURXSV
of migrant. It reveals the symbolic violence evident in the apparently neutral
admissions processes and practices of higher education institutions for students from
refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds through the organizational processes and
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that reinforce relations of domination and subordination in higher education access
and participation who applied to attend Australian higher education institution. Like
Kukovetz and Sprung they make the case for multileveled and integrated power
analysis as vital for research and institutional reform.
One of the most important developments in adult education in the past two decades
has been the increasing importance given to workplace learning (linked most often socio-
cultural perspectives and Actor Network theory). In Chapter 14 Joke Vandenabeele
and Pascal Debruyne explore workplace learning in relation to interculturalism and
diversity from a new perspective drawing on the work of Gert Biesta and Sharon Todd
amongst others. They explore the lived experience in a ‘super diverse’ shopfloor
10
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of Tower Automotive in Ghent and the organic forms of undramatic but nevertheless
important forms of solidarity built through cooperation on an everyday level which
reflect workers’ understanding of diversity. Solidarity is practiced in a double sense:
sharing and redistributing material and immaterial resources with ‘newcomers’ and
also taking up the responsibility to renew this world in which we want to live, work
and play together.
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The issues raised by the contributors in this book highlight the challenges facing
adult education and society more broadly. In many respects the collection as a whole
indicates that responding to a diverse and complex world terms of theory, research
and practice is far from easy. While there remains a strong sense of the potential of
adult education we are struggling to make sense of rapid changes inside and outside
of adult education and there is some tentativeness and even anxiety as we look
towards the future.
7KH%ULWLVKDGXOWHGXFDWRUDQGFXOWXUDOWKHRULVW5D\PRQG:LOOLDPVDUJXHG
that making hope practical and despair convincing was a fundamental task in critical
intellectual work. Several of the contributions to the book (Elfert, English, Tett,
Sork & Kapplinger) indicate the history of adult education is in itself a resource
of hope we can draw upon. It is certainly worth recalling that adult education
played an important role in democratizing societies through the elaboration of new
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‘long revolution’ in the twentieth century. But the long revolution has been halted
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and critically build on tradition while finding new ways to reimagine the space
and time of adult education which match the challenges of the current conjuncture
(Alhadeff-Jones, English, Harman, Milana). In several chapters (Olessen, Harman,
Tett, Vandenabeele and Debruyne), it is argued that we need to pay attention to
the power of everyday learning practices as a source of solidarity and change. But
this needs to be framed in theories of power and possibility which pay attention
to macro, meso and micro levels (Milana, Sork and Käpplinger, Barros, Hamilton,
Dunwoodie, Webb and Wilkinson, Kukovetz and Sprung).
But how can such emergent practices alongside a realistic, multileveled and
nuanced theory of power feed into a wider sense of social possibility and where are
WKHVLWHVZKHUHWKLVFDQEHDGYDQFHG"7KLVLVWKHTXHVWLRQWKDWWKHILQDOSDUWRIWKH
book explores. The answer given by the three featured authors is that formal adult
education should link and learn from contemporary social movements, and voluntary
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Linden West in Chapter 15 bridges past and present and explores possible futures
through reflections on his research (West, 2016) in a British post-industrial city to
illustrate how a politics of hopelessness breeds racist and xenophobic politics, but
also how we can begin to restore hope. He contends that we have:
11
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«UHVSRQVLELOLWLHVDVFLWL]HQVDFDGHPLFVDQGHGXFDWRUVWRTXHVWLRQSRZHUIXO
QHROLEHUDOWUHQGVDQGWRLOOXPLQDWHWKHLUH൵HFWVDQGKRZWKH\FDQEHUHVLVWHGLQ
processes of democratic, dialogical community education … how intercultural
and community education can help forge new collective resources, at a time
when cultural super diversity seems, for many, a threat.
He argues that we can draw on the history of adult education in imaginative and
practical ways and seeks to create the conditions for careful dialogue and solidarity
across settings. Here adult education is envisaged as a type of dialogical practice
which takes place across a multiplicity of formal and informal settings in support of
a reflexive democracy.
,Q &KDSWHU 0DUWD *UHJRUþLþ H[SORUHV FRXQWHUWHQGHQFLHV DQG DOWHUQDWLYH
practices to neoliberalism, through case studies of the impact of experiments in
participatory budgeting (PB) in Argentina and Slovenia. PB, in its optimal form,
creates a system of co-governance in which self-organized citizens and engaged
FLYLF VRFLHW\ FDQ H[HUW SXEOLF FRQWURO RYHU WKH PXQLFLSDOLW\ *UHJRUþLþ H[SORUHV
how creating and nurturing authentic, democratic, learning communities that aspire
towards democratization of existing governance systems empowers citizens but also
creates learning opportunities for city councils. Of particular interest is the claim that
increasing participation in society is a deep form of learning which is transformative
on a personal level but also leads greater solidarity and informed collective action.
Like West she proposes critical dialogue across learning spaces as a source of
transformative power.
It is fitting that a collection that explores the dialectic between local and global and
power and possibility in complex times finishes with a chapter on climate change. In
Chapter 17 Pierre Walter and Jenalee Kluttz explore learning in and from a climate
justice movement led by indigenous people in North America. They argue that what
is called for is a complete paradigm shift away from anthropocentric perspectives.
The earth and non-human relations are moved centre stage and they argue for careful
reflection on one positioning in terms of power in relation to networks of life and in
GLIIHUHQWLDODQGXQHTXDOVRFLDOUHODWLRQV7KH\DUJXHWKDWWKHIRUPRIHQYLURQPHQWDO
education that took place within this movement indicates what might be possible
through a wider ‘decolonializing’ dialogue in which the Earth is viewed as central to
learning, culture, community, identity and human existence.
5()(5(1&(6
Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017). Time and the rhythms of emancipatory education. Rethinking the temporal
complexity of self and society/RQGRQ5RXWOHGJH
Alheit, P. (2005). Challenges of the postmodern ‘learning society’; A critical approach. In A. Bron,
E. Kurantowicz, H. Olesen, & L. West (Ed.), ‘Old’ and ‘new’ worlds of adult learningSS±
:URFáDZ:\GDZQLFWZR1DXNRZH'6:(
Alheit, P., & Dausien, B. (2002). The ‘double face’ of lifelong learning: Two analytical perspectives on a
‘silent revolution’. Studies in the Education of Adults, 34±
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Bélanger, P. (2016). Self-construction and social transformation: Lifelong, lifewide and life-deep
learning. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning.
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Bourdieu, P. (1996). The rules of art: Genesis and structure of the literary field. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press; Cambridge: Polity.
Bowl, M. (2017). Adult education in neoliberal times: Policies, philosophies and professionalism. Cham:
Palgrave.
Brenner, N., Peck, J., & Theodore, N. (2010). Variegated neoliberalization: Geographies, modalities,
pathways. Global Networks, 10±
Brookfield, S. (2005). The power of critical theory. Liberating adult learning and teaching. San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
&HUYHUR50 :LOVRQ$/Planning responsibly for adult education: A guide to negotiating
power and interests. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Fekete, L. (2018). Europe’s fault lines: Racism and the rise of the right. London & New York, NY: Verso.
Field, J. (2006). Lifelong learning and the new educational order. London: Trentham Books.
Guo, S., & Lange, K. (2015). Transnational migration, social inclusion, and adult education: New
directions for adult and continuing education (No. 146). Wiley.
Holst, J. (2002). Social movements, civil society, and radical adult education. Critical studies in education
and culture series. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.
Knowles, M. S. (1970). The modern practice of adult education: Andragogy versus pedagogy. New York,
NY: Association Press.
Hall, B., Clover, D., Crowther, J., & Scandrett, E. (2012). Learning and education for a better world: The
role of social movements5RWWHUGDP7KH1HWKHUODQGV6HQVH3XEOLVKHUV
hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York, NY & London:
5RXWOHGJH
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Jarvis, P. (2009). Learning to be a person in society/RQGRQ5RXWOHGJH
Käpplinger, B. (2015). Adult education research between field and rhizome—a bibliometrical analysis of
FRQIHUHQFHSURJUDPVRI(65($European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of
Adults, 6±
Langinder, A., Nordvall, H., & Crowther, J. (2013). Popular education, power and democracy. Leicester:
NIACE.
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Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Lindemann, E. (1926). The meaning of adult education.1HZ<RUN1<1HZ5HSXEOLF,QF
Livingstone, D. W., & Sawchuk, P. (2004). Hidden knowledge: Organized labour in the information age.
7RURQWR*DUDPRQG3UHVV/DQKDP0$5RZPDQ /LWWOHILHOG
Mayo, P. (1999). Gramsci, Freire and adult education. Possibilities for transformative action. London &
New York, NY: Zed Books.
Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Mezirow, J., & Assoc. (2000). Learning as transformation. Critical perspectives on a theory in progress.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
0LODQD 0:HEE 6 +ROIRUG -:DOOHU 5 -DUYLV 3 (GV The Palgrave international
handbook on adult and lifelong education and learning. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Morrice, L., Shan, H., & Sprung, A. (2017). Migration, adult education and learning. Studies in the
Education of Adults, 49±GRL
Newman, M. (2007). Defining the enemy. Adult education in social action. Sydney: Centre for Popular
Education UTS.
Nylander, E., & Fejes, A. (Eds.). (2019). Mapping out the research field of adult education and learning
(Lifelong Learning Series). Cham: Springer.
13
)),11(*$1 %*5800(//
Nylander, E., Österlund, L., & Fejes, A. (2018). Exploring the adult learning research field by analysing
who cites whom. Vocations and Learning, 11±GRLV]
Pineau, G. (1986). Time and lifelong education. In P. Lengrand (Ed.), Areas of learning basic to lifelong
education SS±2[IRUG +DPEXUJ81(6&2,QVWLWXWHIRU(GXFDWLRQ 3HUJDPRQ3UHVV
5RVD+6ocial acceleration: A new theory of modernity. New York, NY: Columbia University
Press.
5XEHQVRQ.7KHILHOGRIDGXOWHGXFDWLRQ$QRYHUYLHZ,Q.5XEHQVRQ(GAdult learning
and educationSS±2[IRUG$FDGHPLF3UHVV(OVHYLHU
6DPXHOV5The political psyche. /RQGRQ 1HZ<RUN1<5RXWOHGJH
Sayer, A. (2015). Why we can’t afford the rich. Bristol: Policy Press.
Slowey, M. (2016). Comparative adult education and learning; Authors and texts. Florence: Firenze
University Press.
Tett, L. (2002). Community education, lifelong learning and social inclusion. Edinburgh: Dunedin
Academic Press.
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perspectives. Bristol: Policy Press.
7LJKW 0 -XO\ ± Mythologies of adult/continuing/lifelong education. Paper presented
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http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/000001021.htm
Torres, C. A. (1990). The politics of nonformal education in Latin America. New York, NY: Praeger.
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teaching projects. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
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Wainwright, H. (2009). Reclaim the state: Experiments in popular democracy 5HY HG. London,
New York NY & Calcutta: Seagull Books.
:DOWHUV6 :DWWHUV.5HIOHFWLQJRQWKHJOREDOUHSRUWRQDGXOWOHDUQLQJDQGHGXFDWLRQ in the
“post-truth society”. Adult Education Quarterly, 67±
West, L. (2016). Distress in the city: Racism, fundamentalism and democratic education. London:
Trentham Books.
:LOOLDPV5The long revolution. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
14
PART 1
TAKING THE LONG VIEW OF CONTINUITIES AND
CHANGES IN ADULT EDUCATION
0$5(1(/)(57
2. REVISITING THE FAURE REPORT AND

THE DELORS REPORT
Why was UNESCO’s Utopian Vision of Lifelong Learning an “Unfailure”?
As John Field (2000) remarked, lifelong learning is a “beautifully simple idea”

(p. vii). Lifelong learning as a policy concept came to prominence in the 1960s in
the context of accelerating post-war social transformation and economic growth that
UHTXLUHGDJUHDWHUGHPRFUDWL]DWLRQRIHGXFDWLRQDOLQVWLWXWLRQV+RZHYHULWVPHDQLQJ
has changed. In the 1960s and 1970s, especially in the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), lifelong learning (at the time
the term “lifelong education” was in use) represented an emancipatory and rights-
based concept. Since the rise of neoliberalism in the 1980s the meaning of lifelong
learning has shifted to denote the individual’s responsibility to obtain the necessary
skills to find employment in the marketplace (Biesta, 2006). This chapter will shed
light on the reasons for this shift by tracing the history and fate of two flagship
education reports published by UNESCO, which were instrumental in promoting
and conceptualizing lifelong learning as a global educational “master concept”:
Learning to Be (otherwise known as the Faure report), published in 1972, and
Learning: The Treasure Within (otherwise known as the Delors report), published
in 1996. The key ideas in these documents, and the way they have been taken up
LQVRPHTXDUWHUVDQGGLVUHJDUGHGLQRWKHUVLOOXPLQDWHVLPSRUWDQWFRQWLQXLWLHVDQG
changes in thinking about power and possibility in adult education.
81(6&2$1'/,)(/21*/($51,1*
It is fair to say that UNESCO is the international organization that has made the
most significant philosophical and theoretical contributions to the concept of
lifelong learning. But it is important to note that in parallel to UNESCO’s intense
engagement with the concept, especially during the 1970s and the 1990s, the idea
was much discussed in educational circles more broadly, and other international
organizations played a part in bringing it to prominence under different names with
slightly different meanings, such as the OECD’s recurrent education and the Council
of Europe’s permanent education (Kallen, 1979).
UNESCO’s concept of lifelong learning grew out of the organization’s universal
and utopian humanism and was strongly related to the idea of education as a human

0(/)(57
right, entrenched in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (Elfert, 2018).
It was influenced by French and Scandinavian traditions of popular education
and a blend of classical and social democratic liberalism, as well as radical social
democratic ideas, with traces of Marxism especially in the case of the Faure report
(Lee & Friedrich, 2011; Elfert, 2018). In this chapter I will argue that UNESCO’s
humanistic vision of lifelong learning constituted an “unfailure”, drawing on Gilman
(2015), who borrowed the term from Jennifer Wenzel (2009). Wenzel used the term
LQUHODWLRQWRDSURSKHF\WKDWOHGWKH;KRVDSHRSOHRIVRXWKHUQ$IULFDWRNLOOWKHLU
cattle in the late 19th century in the hope that their ancestors would return to drive out
WKHFRORQL]HUV$OWKRXJKWKH;KRVDSHRSOHGLGQRWDFKLHYHWKHLUJRDO:HQ]HOVKRZV
how the supposed failure of the prophecy and the action it ensued has continued to
inspire anti-colonial movements. Gilman (2015) defines the concept of “unfailure”
as “the paradox that many seemingly failed political and social movements, even
though they did not realize their ambitions in their own moment, often live on as
prophetic visions, available as an idiom for future generations to articulate their own
hopes and dreams” (p. 10). On the one hand the humanistic vision of lifelong learning
has arguably lost out to more powerful economistic interpretations of the concept
that dominate education policies today (Bagnall, 2000). In the struggle over “global
governance” in education the Faure report and the Delors report proved unsuccessful
in asserting their worldviews against powerful counter-ideologies promoted by
organizations challenging UNESCO’s authority such as the OECD and the World
Bank. On the other hand, both reports continue to capture the imagination of scholars
and educators. In particular, the Delors report, despite its limited policy influence,
continues to exert a “soft influence” on educators all over the world.15HYLVLWLQJWKHVH
reports shed light on the debates and controversies in the context of their time and
they also tell us a great deal about power and possibility in education policies.
UNESCO’s vision of lifelong learning, as put forward in the Faure report and
the Delors report, had a much stronger citizenship dimension than, for example, that
of the OECD, which emphasized the economic aspect of lifelong learning in terms
of investment in human capital. UNESCO’s interpretation represented what Cropley
(1979) called the “maximalist position,” which involved “a fundamental transformation
of society” (p. 105). The notion of citizenship embedded in UNESCO’s concept of
lifelong learning invoked the right and responsibility of the individual to employ
education for the sake of the betterment of society, and the importance of solidarity
among all the people of the world. Also, in terms of the reports’ views on international
development, they represented a counter perspective to the dominant development
discourse of Western modernization. In particular the Faure report showed a tendency
to supporting endogenous development based on dependency theory.
THE FAURE REPORT
The Faure report emerged from the International Commission for the Development
of Education, established in 1970. UNESCO’s General Conference had charged the
18
5(9,6,7,1*7+(FAURE REPORT AND THE DELORS REPORT
Commission with the task of producing a report on the future of education. The
report was an attempt to (re-)assert UNESCO’s authority at a time when the World
Bank and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) were challenging
UNESCO’s role as the lead agency for education. Thinking about the future of
education seemed timely as Western countries were shaken by student revolts and
civil society movements calling for reforms of the education system; at the same
time the newly independent countries of the South were desperate to rebuild their
education systems. Education was increasingly viewed as a ‘pillar of development’,
which had become an important domain of Cold War foreign policy (Coombs, 1964).
Chaired by Edgar Faure, a French socialist politician who had been appointed
Minister of Education after the 1968 May student uprisings in France, the Commission
produced the report Learning to be, which recommended “lifelong education”
(éducation permanente) as the global “master concept” for education. Lifelong
education had been promoted in UNESCO as an educational paradigm since the
1960s. The concept was concerned with reforming the linkages between education
DQGZRUNZKLFKZDVQHFHVVDU\DVWKHSRVWZDUUHFRQVWUXFWLRQUHTXLUHGPRELOL]LQJ
all potential members of the workforce. But much stronger than the economic aspect
was the citizenship dimension of lifelong education. The post-war democratic project
UHTXLUHGDGXOWVZKRZHUHHGXFDWHGDQGHPSRZHUHGHQRXJKWRH[HUFLVHWKHLUUROHDV
citizens and help to build a new society out of the ashes of World War II.
Compared to similar concepts that were used in parallel such as “recurrent
education”, the Faure report¶VFRQFHSWRIOLIHORQJHGXFDWLRQZDVXWRSLDQ±RUZKDW
&URSOH\FDOOHG³PD[LPDOLVW´±LQVRIDUDVLWHQWDLOHGDFDOOIRUDQHZGHPRFUDWLF
society. The overwhelming message of the Faure report was an unwavering faith in
education as the means to prepare human beings “for a type of society which does not
yet exist” (Faure et al., 1972, p. 13). The report stated “that any undertaking which
aims at changing the fundamental conditions of man’s fate necessarily contains a
utopian element” (p. 163). Lifelong education blended the post-war idealism with
the critical spirit of the 1960s and the humanistic-cosmopolitan worldview that
permeated the report was in tension with human capital theory, which around the
same time fueled what was seen as a more pragmatic approach to educational
planning. The title Learning to be reveals the influence of existentialism on the
report that placed the focus on the human condition and on the role of education for
the development of every individual’s potential.
The Faure report’s vision of the “learning society”, which was a much-debated
idea at the time (e.g. Thomas, 1963; Hutchins, 1968; Husén, 1974), was in line with
other utopian visions spread during the 1960s. On the one hand, the Faure report
was an optimistic document, exuding confidence that the “learning society” would
come true. On the other hand, a spirit of crisis was noticeable as well as the fear that
technocratic forces would alienate and enslave human beings and deprive them of
their freedom and capacity to act. The existentialist theme of the tension between
instrumental rationality and human freedom prevailed not only in contemporary
literature such as Herbert Marcuse’s One-dimensional man, but also in lifelong
19
0(/)(57
learning circles, for example in the writings of Bogdan Suchodolski (1976), who
contributed several background papers to the Faure Commission.
The Faure report needs to be understood in the context of its very particular time,
the 1960s and early 1970s when the dominant economic and social model was the
Keynesian social-democratic welfare state. Education policies were, “in essence,
welfare policies of the state performing a range of social democratic functions”
(Griffin, 1999, p. 331). Edgar Faure was a strong believer in the “social contract”
and he authored a book by that title (Faure, 1973). The attack of the economic sphere
on education greatly preoccupied him (Elfert, 2018, pp. 103, 121). In terms of the
Faure report’s view of development, it anticipated the claims for a New International
Economic Order (NIEO), an initiative put forward during the 1970s by developing
countries to establish a more just economic world order based on redistribution of
resources from rich to poor countries. The report did not refer directly to the NIEO
because it was produced before the time when the NIEO gained prominence but
some of the members of the Faure Commission supported the ideas underpinning the
1,(2VXFKDV0DMLG5DKQHPDIRUPHU0LQLVWHURI+LJKHU(GXFDWLRQDQG6FLHQFHV
in Iran, who brought the ideas of critical theorists such as Paulo Freire, Ivan Illich
DQG(YHUHWW5HLPHULQWRWKH&RPPLVVLRQ
The broader significance of the Faure report lies in it being an expression of a
movement driven by socialist and social democratic forces pushing for democratization
and the regulation of capitalism in the 1960s and early 1970s. Arguably, the NIEO
was another expression of this movement, as was the “Ordnungspolitik” (regulatory
policy) promoted by the German social democratic Chancelor Willy Brandt2; and
WKHUHSRUWRIWKH&OXERI5RPHReshaping the International Order, which took
up the demands of the Third World and the NIEO (Tinbergen et al., 1976, p. 23).
But this social-democratic movement was challenged by market-oriented counter-
forces since the late 1970s. While in 1969, Social Democrats had held government
responsibility in fourteen countries (Van der Pijl, 1993, p. 35), by 1983 the German
political magazine Der SpiegelLQDQDUWLFOHZULWWHQE\5DOI'DKUHQGRUIGHFODUHG
that “we are experiencing the end of the social-democratic century in the OECD
world” (Der Spiegel, 1983). The reactions to the Faure report show that some of
its ideas constituted a provocation for some of its readers. The OECD response, for
example, authored by the American diplomat Edwin Martin, criticized the report
for its “heavy ideological overtones which are inappropriate in a U.N. document
designed to have global significance” (cited in Elfert, 2018, p. 129). Other responses
UHIOHFWHGLUULWDWLRQDERXWWKHUHSRUW¶VFULWLTXHRIWKHVFKRROV\VWHPVXFKDVWKH6ZLVV
response, which noted that the references to Ivan Illich in the report “have not only
surprised but shocked many people” (p. 128).
THE DELORS REPORT: ³/($51,1*72/,9(72*(7+(5´
Learning: The treasure within (the Delors report), the second UNESCO report on
the future of education, was launched by the International Commission on Education
20
for the Twenty-first Century in 1996, in the context of UNESCO’s “Education for
the Twenty-First Century” program. Although larger and much more diverse in its
FRPSRVLWLRQWKH&RPPLVVLRQZDVDJDLQFKDLUHGE\D)UHQFKVRFLDOLVW±RUVRFLDO
GHPRFUDWLF±SROLWLFLDQDQGLQWHOOHFWXDOWKH3UHVLGHQWRIWKH(XURSHDQ&RPPLVVLRQ
DW WKH WLPH -DFTXHV 'HORUV 7KH &RPPLVVLRQ ZDV VLWXDWHG LQ D YHU\ GLIIHUHQW
socio-political context. Education was high on the agenda again following the fall
of the Berlin Wall and the educational demands of new states that emerged from
the collapse of the Soviet Union. Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, the
Delors report propagated lifelong learning as the educational paradigm of the future.
%XW LW LQWURGXFHG D QHZ WHUP ³OHDUQLQJ WKURXJKRXW OLIH´ %H\RQG WKH WHPSRUDO ±
VRPH ZRXOG VD\ WKH YHUWLFDO ± GLPHQVLRQ RI ³OLIHORQJ´ LW LQFOXGHG WKH KRUL]RQWDO
notion of “lifewide”, considering the learning that occurred in all spheres of life and
emphasizing the idea of learning as a “continuum” (Delors et al., 1996, p. 100).
The Delors report adopted a more pessimistic tone than its predecessor did.
The democratic and participatory society based on freedom, creativity and
solidarity imagined in the Faure report had not come about. The first chapter of
WKHUHSRUWZULWWHQE\-DFTXHV'HORUVKLPVHOIVWDWHGWKDW³WKHSUHYDLOLQJPRRGRI
disenchantment forms a sharp contrast with the hopes born in the years just after the
Second World War” (Delors et al., 1996, p. 15). The Delors report shared the Faure
report’s concern about a too narrow, economistic view of education. But while the
Faure report was still situated in “the golden age” of capitalism, economic crises
and recessions had hit, and the situation of the developing countries looked much
bleaker than in the late 1960s. The Delors report perceived a crisis of democracy
and a loss of interest in its values in terms of the “widening gap between those who
govern and those who are governed” (p. 55) and pointed to “a crisis in social policies
which is undermining the very foundations of a system of solidarity” (p. 56). The
Delors report was more conformist than the Faure reportDQGGLGQRWTXHVWLRQWKH
foundations of society as much. It exhibited a subtle spirit of disenchantment in
propagating education as a necessary condition for the ability of humans to stand
against an “alienating”, even “hostile” system (p. 95).
Delors’ chapter in the report is titled “Education: The necessary utopia”. Like
its predecessor, the Delors report took a philosophical and utopian approach to the
task of envisioning the future of education, in sharp contrast to the World Bank’s
human capital approach, as exemplified by its report Priorities and Strategies for
Education, published in 1995 and which the Delors Commission discussed at length.
The Delors report DUJXHG WKHUH DUH IRXU SLOODUV RI HGXFDWLRQ ± OHDUQLQJ WR NQRZ
learning to do; learning to live together; and learning to be (Delors et al., 1996,
SS±7KHHPSKDVLVVKLIWHGIURPWKHFaure report’s individualistic “learning
to be” to the more collective perspective of “learning to live together”, which the
Commission regarded as the most important of the four pillars and the guiding
principle of the report (p. 22; see also Carneiro & Draxler, 2008). Elsewhere, I have
argued that the utopian and collectivist stance taken by the Delors Commission was
a reaction to neoliberalism (Elfert, 2018, Chapter 6).
21
0(/)(57
WHY WAS UNESCO’S ‘UTOPIAN’ VISION OF LIFELONG

/($51,1*$1³81)$,/85(´"
It is not easy to assess the actual influence of the Faure report and the Delors report on
HGXFDWLRQSROLFLHVDVWKHUHLVYHU\OLWWOHOLWHUDWXUHRQWKHVXEMHFW5\DQWUDFHGWKH
influence of the Faure report’s concept of lifelong education on Training and Further
Education (TAFE) policies in Australia. Deleon (1996) listed Canada, Japan, Sweden,
Norway and Argentina among the countries that took up the Faure report, but most
of the country activities were limited to seminars and panel discussions, and “most
experiments have been fragmentary and sporadic, with limited resources” (p. 14). Jones
(1992, p. 213) pointed to the report’s influence on the World Bank’s strong commitment
to non-formal education between 1974 and 1979. As a reaction to the Faure report, the
European Commission launched For a Community Policy on Education (the “Janne
UHSRUW´)LHOGS,QSDUDOOHOWKH2(&'¶V&HQWUHIRU(GXFDWLRQDO5HVHDUFK
DQG,QQRYDWLRQ&(5,SXEOLVKHGDUHSRUWRQUHFXUUHQWHGXFDWLRQ&(5,7KH
HGXFDWLRQDOOLWHUDWXUHRIWKHHDUO\VFRQWDLQHGIUHTXHQWUHIHUHQFHVWRWKHUHSRUW
DQGLW³KDVDURXVHGZLGHVSUHDGGHEDWHRQWKH&RQWLQHQW´5LFKPRQGS[LLL,W
is fair to say that the Faure report functioned as a catalytic agent for lifelong learning in
Western countries, but it was too philosophical and impractical to have much influence
on developing countries, which at the time “regarded lifelong education as a luxury of
WKH'HYHORSHG:RUOG´5XEHQVRQS
In terms of the Delors report, the strongest response came from Europe and
Latin America. The Nordic countries organized a conference of the Nordic
Council of Ministers that was directly inspired by the Delors report and attended
by representatives from 18 countries (Elfert, 2018, p. 185). The report sparked
the development of indicators for lifelong learning (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2010;
Canadian Council on Learning, 2010) and reflections on educational reform (see,
for example De Lisle, 1996, for Latin America; Dohmen, 1996, for Germany).
According to Carneiro and Draxler (2008), the Delors report generated initiatives
in 50 countries, and was translated into about 30 languages. However, apart from
the rhetorical and intellectual exercises, little evidence points to actual influence on
policies around the world (Elfert, 2018, Chapter 6). In contrast to the Delors report,
the 1989 OECD report Education and the economy in a changing society “became a
ELEOHIRU0LQLVWHUVRI(GXFDWLRQ´5XEHQVRQS
I would like to suggest several interrelated explanations for the lack of influence
of UNESCO’s two lifelong learning reports. While UNESCO represented the
“powerhouse” for education in the 1960s and to some extent remained so in the 1970s,
in the course of the next decades, as one of the members of the Faure Commission’s
secretariat put it, “the … power centre was shifting across the Atlantic” (cited in
Elfert, 2018, p. 142). The World Bank emerged as the most influential international
organization for education in the developing world and the OECD became the most
powerful shaper of education policies in the industrialized world. Field (2001) noted
that of the various international organizations concerned with adult education, “only
22
the OECD’s proposals appeared to have any concrete influence on governments”

(p. 8). The utopian vision of the Delors report did not offer a strong enough
alternative to the financial and “coercive” power exerted by the World Bank (Chabbott,
1998, p. 212) and the “persuasive” approach taken by the OECD with its focus on
indicators, output measurement and rankings that fit better in the political economy
RIRXUWLPHWKDQ81(6&2¶VQRUPDWLYHSKLORVRSKLFDODSSURDFK5XEHQVRQ
In this regard, it is important to note the “Frenchness” of the reports, both produced
by commissions led by French politicians: The highly philosophical Faure report
exemplified a French endeavour, “the kind of symbolic declarations by the French of
WKHLPSRUWDQFHRI3DULVDQGFXOWXUH´FLWHGLQ(OIHUWSS±7KHVDPH
could be said about the Delors report. Delors told a journalist that he wanted to put
all his authority and good reputation behind “a battle of ideas to be fought and won”
(Henderson, 1993, cited in Elfert, 2018, p. 184). But he fought his battle with tools
that remained caught up in French approaches to philosophy, exemplified by the first
TXHVWLRQKHSRVHGWRWKH&RPPLVVLRQ³ZKDWLVPRGHUQLW\"´S
The rise of other more powerful international organizations and ideas needs
to be situated in the overall shifting ideological climate towards neoliberalism,
defined by Overbeek and Van der Pijl (1993) as a “counter-revolution” to moderate
social-democratic forces and Third World calls for a regulation of capitalism and
redistribution of wealth through the NIEO. In accordance with this view, Gilman
TXDOLILHV³WKHIDLOXUHRIWKH1,(2>DV@WKHUHVXOWRIDGHOLEHUDWHDQGFRQFHUWHG
strategy on the part of leaders in the north, compounded by strategic choices on the
part of the south” (p. 10). To some extent, I would assess the “unfailure” of the Faure
report and the Delors report along these lines. Both reports were out of line with the
market-oriented and divisive ideology that gained the upper hand.
Although their actual influence on policies remained very limited, the message of
both reports continues to resonate. The Faure report, while unknown to the general
public, has captured the imagination of educational scholars until this day. Field
(2001, p. 6) saw the report as a “turning point”, as it marked a shift from the emphasis
on schooling to a broader perspective including less traditional pillars of education
such as non-formal and informal education. Torres (2013) touted the Faure report as
the “humanist educational manifesto of the twentieth century” (p. 15). The Delors
report’s four pillars of education (commonly known as the “four pillars of learning”)
DUHQRWRQO\IUHTXHQWO\FLWHGLQSROLF\UHSRUWVDQGWKHVFKRODUO\OLWHUDWXUHWRWKLVGD\
but they are also used in schools (Elfert, 2018, p. 193). In this respect, the Faure
report and Delors report could be characterized as “unfailures”. They represent an
“unfailure” because their translation into actual policies has been limited but their
influence is notable to this day. Gilman (2015), when discussing the claim made by
many that the NIEO was an “inevitable” failure, argued that “we should always be
wary of ascribing inevitability to outcomes that seemed deeply uncertain to the actors
at the time” (p. 9). Elsewhere, I made a similar point about the Faure report: “Maybe
the ideas and discourses that seem very radical and new …, or in other cases totally
archaic, were not so radical or archaic at the time” (Elfert, 2018, p. 29). Engaging with
23
0(/)(57
these reports opens up a space in which it becomes possible to imagine alternatives

to the prevailing instrumental view of education promoted by the current dominant
economic and political order. In that respect the Faure report and the Delors report
exemplify the limitations, but also the possibility of a utopian vision of education.
NOTES
1
In particular the idea of “learning to live together” from the Delors report continues to inspire
educators. It suffices to do a google search to find some of the numerous examples of reports and
strategies using the phrase, such as a 2013 report on education for conflict resolution published by the
4DWDU )RXQGDWLRQ KWWSVZZZJFHGFOHDULQJKRXVHRUJVLWHVGHIDXOWILOHVUHVRXUFHV/($51,1*
72/,9(72*(7+(5SGI RU D UHSRUW E\ WKH &RXQFLO RI (XURSH RQ FLWL]HQVKLS DQG
human rights education (https://rm.coe.int/factsheets-learning-to-live-together-council-of-europe-
report-on-the-s/1680727be3).
2
Brandt initiated the Independent Commission on International Development Issues that discussed the
NIEO proposal, resulting in the publication North-South: A Program for Survival (Gilman, 2015, p. 7).
5()(5(1&(6
%DJQDOO 5 * /LIHORQJ OHDUQLQJ DQG WKH OLPLWDWLRQV RI HFRQRPLF GHWHUPLQLVP International
Journal of Lifelong Education, 19±
Bertelsmann Stiftung. (2010). Making lifelong learning tangible. The European ELLI-Index 2010.
Guetersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung.
Biesta, G. J. J. (2006). What’s the point of lifelong learning if lifelong learning has no point? On the
democratic deficit of policies for lifelong learning. European Educational Research Journal, 5±
±
Canadian Council on Learning (CCL). (2010). The 2010 Composite Learning Index (CLI). Five years of
measuring Canada’s progress in lifelong learning. Ottawa: Canadian Council on Learning.
&DUQHLUR5 'UD[OHU$(GXFDWLRQIRUWKHVWFHQWXU\/HVVRQVDQGFKDOOHQJHVEuropean
Journal of Education, 43±
&HQWUH IRU (GXFDWLRQDO 5HVHDUFK DQG ,QQRYDWLRQ &(5, Recurrent education. A strategy for
lifelong learning. Paris: OECD.
Chabbott, C. (1998). Constructing educational consensus: International development professionals and
the world conference on education for all. International Journal of Educational Development, 18(3),
±
Coombs, P. H. (1964). The fourth dimension of foreign policy: Educational and cultural affairs. New York,
1<&RXQFLORQ)RUHLJQ5HODWLRQVDQG+DUSHU 5RZ
Cropley, A. J. (Ed.). (1979). Lifelong education: A stocktaking. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education.
Deleon, A. (1996, April). ‘Learning to be’ in retrospect. UNESCO CourierSS±
De Lisle, J. (1998, April). The Delors report within the American context. The major project of
education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Bulletin, 45 ± 6DQWLDJR &KLOH 5HJLRQDO
2IILFHIRU(GXFDWLRQLQ/DWLQ$PHULFDDQGWKH&DULEEHDQ5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSXQHVGRFXQHVFRRUJ
images/0011/001131/113160e.pdf
Delors, J., et al. (1996) Learning: the treasure within5HSRUWWR81(6&2RIWKH,QWHUQDWLRQDO&RPPLVVLRQ
on Education for the Twenty-first century. Paris: UNESCO.
Der Spiegel. (1983, March 21). Vor einem sozialliberalen Zeitalter?5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSZZZVSLHJHOGH
spiegel/print/d-14021261.html
Dohmen, G. (1996). Lifelong learning. Guidelines for a modern education policy. Bonn: Federal Ministry
RI(GXFDWLRQ6FLHQFH5HVHDUFKDQG7HFKQRORJ\
Elfert, M. (2018). UNESCO’s utopia of lifelong learning: An intellectual history 5RXWOHGJH5HVHDUFKLQ
(GXFDWLRQ6HULHV1HZ<RUN1<5RXWOHGJH
24
Faure, E. (1973). Pour un nouveau contrat social. Paris: Seuil.

)DXUH(+HUUHUD).DGGRXUD$5/RSHV+3HWURYVN\$95DKQHPD0 &KDPSLRQ:DUG)
(1972). Learning to be. The world of education today and tomorrow. Paris: UNESCO/Harrap.
Field, J. (2000). Lifelong learning and the new educational order. Stoke on Trent & Sterling, VA:
Trentham Books.
Field, J. (2001). Lifelong education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 20±±
Gilman, N. (2015). The new international economic order: A reintroduction. Humanity, 6±
Griffin, C. (1999). Lifelong learning and social democracy. International Journal of Lifelong Education,
18±
Huntington, S. P. (1996). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. New York, NY:
Simon & Schuster.
Husén, T. (1974). The learning society. London: Methuen & Co Ltd.
+XWFKLQV5The learning society. New York, NY: Frederick A. Praeger.
Jones, P. W. (1992). World Bank financing of education. Lending, learning and development. London &
1HZ<RUN1<5RXWOHGJH
.DOOHQ'5HFXUUHQWHGXFDWLRQDQGOLIHORQJOHDUQLQJ'HILQLWLRQVDQGGLVWLQFWLRQV,Q76FKXOOHU
J. Megarry (Eds.), Recurrent education and lifelong learning. World yearbook of education 1979
SS±/RQGRQ.RJDQ3DJH1HZ<RUN1LFKROV3XEOLVKLQJ
Lee, M., & Friedrich, T. (2011). Continuously reaffirmed, subtly accommodated, obviously missing and
IDOODFLRXVO\ FULWLTXHG ,GHRORJLHV LQ 81(6&2¶V OLIHORQJ OHDUQLQJ SROLF\ International Journal of
Lifelong Education, 30±
2YHUEHHN + 9DQ GHU 3LMO . 5HVWUXFWXULQJ FDSLWDO DQG UHVWUXFWXULQJ KHJHPRQ\ 1HR
liberalism and the unmaking of the post-war order. H. In Overbeek (Ed.), Restructuring hegemony
in the global political economy: The rise of transnational neo-liberalism in the 1980s SS ±
/RQGRQ 1HZ<RUN1<5RXWOHGJH
5DKQHPD0 %DZWUHH9(GVThe post-development reader. London & New York, NY:
Zed Books.
5LFKPRQG : . )RUHZRUG ,Q 7 +XVpQ (GV The learning society SS YLL±[LLL /RQGRQ
Methuen & Co Ltd.
5XEHQVRQ.&RQVWUXFWLQJWKHOLIHORQJOHDUQLQJSDUDGLJP&RPSHWLQJYLVLRQVIURPWKH2(&'
and UNESCO. In S. Ellers (Ed.), Milestones in adult education SS ± &RSHQKDJHQ 'DQLVK
University Press.
5XEHQVRQ.2(&'HGXFDWLRQSROLFLHVDQGZRUOGKHJHPRQ\,Q50DKRQ 60F%ULGH(GV
The OECD and transnational governanceSS±9DQFRXYHU8%&3UHVV
5\DQ5-From recurrent education to lifelong learning. International seminar on the Delors
UHSRUW /HDUQLQJ í 7KH WUHDVXUH ZLWKLQ. Adelaide: Institute of International Education, Elinders
University.
6XFKRGROVNL % /LIHORQJ HGXFDWLRQ ± 6RPH SKLORVRSKLFDO DVSHFWV ,Q 5 + 'DYH (G
Foundations of lifelong education (pp. ±+DPEXUJ2[IRUG81(6&2,QVWLWXWHIRU(GXFDWLRQ
Pergamon Press.
7KRPDV$7KHOHDUQLQJVRFLHW\,Q-5.LGG(GLearning and society. Toronto: Canadian
Association for Adult Education.
Tinbergen, J., Dolman, A. J., & Van Ettinger, J. (1976). Reshaping the international order. A report to the
Club of Rome. New York, NY: E. P. Dutton & Co.
Torres, C. A. (2013). Political sociology of adult education. International Issues in Adult Education
9RO5RWWHUGDP7KH1HWKHUODQGV6HQVH3XEOLVKHUV
Van der Pijl, K. (1993). The sovereignty of capital impaired. Social forces and codes of conduct for
multinational corporations. In H. Overbeek (Ed.), Restructuring hegemony in the global political
economy: The rise of transnational neo-liberalism in the 1980sSS±/RQGRQ 1HZ<RUN
1<5RXWOHGJH
Wenzel, J. (2009). Bulletproof: Afterlives of anticolonial prophecy in South Africa and beyond. Chicago,
IL: University of Chicago Press.
25
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3. COMPARATIVE AND GLOBAL POLICY STUDIES

ON ADULT EDUCATION
Key Patterns in Contemporary Adult Education Policy Research
,1752'8&7,21
This chapter discusses the type of knowledge that comparative and global policy
studies on adult education contributes to adult education research broadly conceived.1
&RPSUHKHQGLQJ WUDQVIRUPDWLRQV LQ DGXOW HGXFDWLRQ WRGD\ UHTXLUHV XV WR ORRN
beyond and across the national scale if we are to comprehend continuities and
changes in adult education policy, practice and research.
Fittingly, regional and global cartographic and mapping exercises are receiving
serious attention on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean (Nylander & Fejes, 2019;
Fejes & Wildemeersch, 2015; Milana, Webb, Holford, Waller, & Jarvis, 2018;
Knox, Conceição, & Martin, 2017). But mapping change and continuities in adult
education research also calls for meta-investigations on what sort of knowledge the
varied traditions of adult education research have contributed to the field, and how
new distinctive bodies of work emerge from collaboration and cross-fertilization
among research traditions.
Adult education researchers increasingly make reference to policy changes that
happen at local, national, European or global levels when describing the background
of, or context for, a study in adult education (see, among others: Waller at al., 2014,
+LQWRQ6PLWK %DUWOHWW 5HHV :DWWV %XW policy research ±
specifically research of SROLF\ 'HVMDUGLQV 5XEHQVRQ LV VRPHWKLQJ
GLIIHUHQW,WLVUHVHDUFKWKDWPDNHVSROLF\LWVREMHFWRILQTXLU\DQGH[DPLQHVhow
policy contributes to change and continuities in the formation of ideas and concepts
about adult education, and in adult education practice.
However, a good deal of policy research must be critically assessed as it (still)
assumes the nation-state as its main unit of analysis, for instance, to appraise the
implementation of a governmental policy, and its effects on delivery systems (adult
education, higher education, etc.) and/or in a locale (a city, a county, etc.). Other
studies compare countries to identify and explain similarities and differences in
national policy developments and implementations, through large-scale surveys on
adults’ participation (e.g. the Adult Education Survey, AES), or adult’s skills (e.g.
the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Skills, PIAAC). This strand of

M. MILANA
policy research builds on a conception of polity as a territorially based community,

ZKHUHDFRXQWU\RUQDWLRQVWDWHUHSUHVHQWVDXQLTXHWHUULWRULDOO\ERXQGHQWLW\
However, policy research has increasingly assumed also a multi-scalar or global
perspective, which acknowledges that a polity may include also non-territorially-
bound political entities or communities that, despite their territorial localizations
are “oriented towards the governance of a common ‘governance-object’” (Corry
2010, p. 159). Elsewhere (Milana, 2012, 2015, 2017), I argue and demonstrate
how adult education has been constructed as such a ‘governance-object’ by global,
QRQWHUULWRULDOO\ERXQGSROLWLHVVHHDOVR'HVMDUGLQV 5XEHQVRQ1HVELW
Welton, 2013; Milana & Holford, 2014; Milana & Nesbit, 2015; Milana, Holford, &
0RKRUþLþâSRODU7KLVGLVWLQFWLYHFRQVWUXFWLRQLWLVDUJXHGHIIHFWVWKHDGXOW
education sector, and particularly supply and demand (Milana & Klatt, forthcoming)
which depends on various factors and on which global governance also impinges.
These include existing laws and regulations, available resources, the positioning of
adult education providers in local, national and global education markets, and adults’
perceptions of what provision is worth their time and money. Exemplary in this
respect is the increased liberalization of the broader education market (Marginson,
1997) that brings about market competition among public and private providers to
reach out to ‘adults-as-customers’.
Hence, there is now a flourishing field of research on the work of intergovernmental
organizations in legitimizing different political interests, through new international
agendas, soft governance mechanisms and the promotion of monitoring culture in
adult education (see among others: Milana, 2013; Panitsides, 2015; Ioannidou, 2007;
-DFREL5XEHQVRQ7HWW
It is this body of work that I refer to in this chapter as comparative and global policy
studies on adult education. In short, it comprises the comparative investigations of
policy that pays attention to policy developments also at European and global scales,
and their interactions with national and local policy developments.
In what follows, I describe the methodology employed to perform a meta-
investigation (Sandelowski & Barroso, 2007) of comparative and global policy
studies on adult education, comprised of a set of fifty-eight academic texts, largely
articles in international peer-reviewed journals published between 2000 and 2015.
Then I present and discuss the four research patterns that emerged from the analysis.
By pattern I mean a fairly coherent and intelligible configuration, which is limited
to the texts under scrutiny, based on the combination of the main unit of analysis,
and the specific research aims. Finally, I assess how these patterns are contributing
to adult education research, and in so doing, to our understanding of change and
continuities in adult education policy and practice.
METHODOLOGY
A meta-investigation is a process of rendering a set of academic publications the

object of reflection and analysis. The analysis is neither causal nor exhaustive and
28
&203$5$7,9($1'*/2%$/32/,&<678',(621$'8/7('8&$7,21
has the purpose of prompting a documented reflection on the “connections between

existing studies […] [and] gaps and omissions in a given body of research [that]
enables dialogue and debate” (Sandelowski & Barroso, 2007, p. 3). The first step of
a meta-investigation is the identification and selection of a relevant set of academic
publications. I started by gathering a few familiar texts to me, then carried out
systematic searches, using different combinations relevant keywords in libraries and
RQOLQH GDWDEDVHV DPRQJ ZKLFK (5,& (GXFDWLRQ 5HVRXUFHV ,QIRUPDWLRQ &HQWUH
I extended my search through the internal search engines of four journals: Adult
Education Quarterly, International Journal of Lifelong Education, International
Review of Education, Comparative Education which were chosen as they specialize in
DGXOWHGXFDWLRQDQGRUFRPSDUDWLYHHGXFDWLRQ5HVXOWLQJIURPWKHVHVHDUFKHVDQGWKH
reading of abstracts, about two hundred texts were first selected initially; however,
from a second reading of abstracts and full texts, I selected those that were pertinent
to my scope. So, for instance, texts dealing with adult education policies in a given
country, which did not adopt a comparative perspective or which did not connect to
the work of intergovernmental organizations, were excluded from my data set.
The second step in a meta-investigation is the adoption of a strategy to analyze
the data set. I used an inductive analytic strategy to synthesize the data so to generate
inferences (Polkinghorne, 1983) that were “grounded in data and not speculative or
abstract” (Schwandt, 2001, p. 125). Such an analytic strategy relies on the researcher’s
knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon under consideration.
7KUHHUHVHDUFKTXHVWLRQVJXLGHGWKHPHWDLQYHVWLJDWLRQ:KDWDUHWKHPDLQXQLWV
of analysis, either explicit or implicit, in comparative and global policy studies
on adult education? What do these studies aim at? Is it possible to identify (and
distinguish between) one or more research patterns?
Procedurally, I employed a two-step strategy: First, I read each of the texts from
my dataset and grouped them on the basis of observed similarities in terms of their
main ‘units of analysis’; then, I considered each of the study’s aim and regrouped the
texts in light of the study’s aim alongside the unit of analysis (as outlined in results
section).
5(68/76
Four intelligible research patterns emerged from the meta-investigation, as reported

below. There are a group of studies which aim to increase our understanding of
shifts in political ideologies and how they redefine the boundaries of adult education
and learning provision (Pattern 1), but also change and continuities in discourses,
agendas and actions that occur across geographical and/or geopolitical territories
(Pattern 2). Moreover, there is a body of work that explicates the dynamic elements
that compose specific systems of governance in adult education, and their effects
on other systems (Pattern 3). Finally, drawing on existing evidence, they also
problematize common political beliefs concerned with the education and learning
of adults (Pattern 4).
29
M. MILANA
Describing Changes and Evolutions along a Temporal Continuum (Pattern 1)
The studies grouped under pattern 1 assume time as the primary unit of analysis and
UHSUHVHQWRIWKHWRWDOQXPEHURIVWXGLHVXQGHUFRQVLGHUDWLRQ7KHLUPDLQDLP
LVWRFRPSUHKHQGH[SODLQDQGFULWLTXHFKDQJHVLQSROLWLFDOLGHRORJLHVWKDWEURXJKW
about perceptible shifts in discourses on, and around, the education and learning
of adults. For the most part, these studies illustrate evolutions (and to some extent
involutions) in policy discourses that occur at ideational level, but also the changes
they produce at normative, administrative and/or financial levels. Such changes can
be of a soft or drastic nature, and pertain to the norms and standards for the education
and learning of adults (normative changes), the organization and control over
education and learning opportunities (administrative changes), and the allocation of
public and private resources to support these opportunities (financial changes). All
of which redefines the boundaries of how adult education and learning opportunities
are provided, who is responsible for these arrangements, who will benefit from them,
and to what end. Historical accounts found in the literature depict the evolutions
in thinking about education and learning of adults by the so-called ‘big actors’ in
education governance, like the World Bank, UNESCO, the OECD and the EU (see
IRULQVWDQFH+ROIRUG 0RKRUþLþâSRODU-DFREL7KHVHVWXGLHVXVXDOO\
begin with the identification of a value-laden policy concept like ‘lifelong learning’,
and go back in history to depict how such concept has been differently signified over
time by one or more intergovernmental organizations or national governments. At
times, they juxtapose governmental powers, ideologies, or actions by single national
and/or local governments (see, for instance, Branchadell, 2015; Milana & McBain,
2014). As a whole this body of literature has brought to light conceptual and policy
changes in the way of thinking about adult education and learning and how this
has provoked normative, administrative and financial alterations in the provision of
education and learning opportunities for adults in different localities.
Comparing Policies by Different Actors, Either at a Certain Point in Time or from

an Historical Perspective (Pattern 2)
Horizontal studies included under this pattern adopt space as the primary unit
RI DQDO\VLV DQG UHSUHVHQW RI WKH GDWD VHW XQGHU FRQVLGHUDWLRQ 7KHVH VWXGLHV
have two main aims. On the one hand, they aspire to comprehend, explain, and
FULWLTXHVLPLODULWLHVDQGGLIIHUHQFHVLQSROLF\GLVFRXUVHVDJHQGDVDQGDFWLRQVDFURVV
geographical and/or geopolitical territories at local, national or international scales.
On the other hand, they purposely use geographical and/or geopolitical lenses
with the aim of focusing attention on, and debating, the complexity of national or
international policy and their practical implications for adult education and learning
(see, for instance, Storan, 2010). A growing number of investigations deliberately
centre attention on political actors with international reach, as their secondary unit
of analysis, examine changes in the governance of adult education and learning,
30
&203$5$7,9($1'*/2%$/32/,&<678',(621$'8/7('8&$7,21
assess the working of specific policy instruments, and debate possible implications
for adult education and learning practices (see, for instance, Moosung, Tryggvi &
1D¶LP3DQLWVLGHV5XEHQVRQ1pPHWK(DVWRQ 6DPSOHV
2015; Tuckett, 2015; Milana, 2012). At times the secondary unit of analysis is
specific programs and/or international implementation plans to which national
governments subscribe; programs and plans that are coordinated at continental or
global scales under the aegis of intergovernmental organizations, yet implemented by
public-private partnerships. Exemplary here is Education For All (EFA), a declaration
that, adopted by UNESCO in Jomtien (1990), and reaffirmed in Dakar (2000), has
turned into major implementation plans covering up to 2015 and beyond (e.g. The
Post-2015 Development Agenda) (see, for instance, Goldstein, 2006). In short, these
studies help us to better comprehend the complexity of global governance in adult
education, and the interplay between local-global dynamics.
Juxtaposing Policies by Intergovernmental Organizations with Those of Their

Member States, and Assessing Convergence and/or Divergence (Pattern 3)
9HUWLFDO VWXGLHV FRPSULVHG XQGHU WKLV UHVHDUFK SDWWHUQ UHSUHVHQW RI WKH GDWD
set and use system as their primary unit of analysis. Like in pattern 1, these studies
acknowledge the role that intergovernmental organizations play in producing
changes at normative, administrative and/or financial levels, but pay attention to how
this is the result of the interplay between international, national and local systems
of governance. A system refers to a number of things that are connected in dynamic
ways to form a complex whole and that governs an organized society, through laws,
norms, power and language. Hence, these studies aim at unpacking the dynamic
elements that compose specific systems of governance, and investigate their effects
on other systems of governance. Like a matryoshka doll, systems of governance are
vertically nested, while the organized societies they govern are also interconnected.
For the most part, these studies appreciate that the documents intergovernmental
organizations produce, the activities they coordinate (e.g., international conferences)
RU UHTXHVWV DQG LQSXWV WKH\ DGGUHVV WR PHPEHU VWDWHV DUH QRW LVRODWHG EXW UDWKHU
dynamic elements that contribute to the global governance of adult education (see,
IRULQVWDQFH0LODQD)RUH[DPSOH5XEHQVRQDQG1HVELW
examined the process of producing a national report for Canada, in preparation to
the VI International Conference on Adult Education&21),17($XSRQUHTXHVW
by UNESCO. They reviewed how the production process played out in their
national context and juxtaposed the Canadian report with that of a few countries
with similar participation rates in adult education (i.e. Finland, Sweden and the
United Kingdom).
Several studies also take a point of departure in a political notion introduced
and/or sustained by the OECD or the EU, among others, and investigate how it
is concretized within specific national contexts, often by juxtaposing two or more
national systems (see, for instance, Plant & Turner, 2005; Pohl & Walther, 2007;
31
M. MILANA
Cavaco, Lafont, & Pariat, 2014; Papastamatis & Panitsidou, 2009). For example,
Pohl and Walther (2007) examined policy developments within the European Union
to explore the notion of ‘activation of disadvantaged groups’. They discuss different
activation models in place across selected member states, and pinpoint different
activation mechanisms in education, training and the labor market.
Overall the studies under this research pattern have contributed new knowledge
on the rise (and fall) of political notions and their concretizations in terms of new
educational models, services or provisions. Moreover, they have contributed to our
understandings of the impact that global policy-relevant activities have had or may
have at either national or continental scales.
Questioning and Countering Widespread Political Beliefs (Pattern 4)
$IRXUWKSDWWHUQZDVLGHQWLILHGWRFROODWHDOOWKRVHFRQWULEXWLRQVRIWKHWRWDO
work under consideration) for which it was not possible to identify a primary unit of
analysis. These contributions aim at countering dominant political beliefs concerned
with adult education and learning, and at problematizing the social imaginary
it produces as the only way of making sense of society and its practices. A few
clarifications are needed here. First, political beliefs cannot be used as a unit of
analysis, as most academic work that falls under this pattern is not empirical in
nature and most of these contributions can be catalogued as think pieces or discussion
papers which scrutinize political beliefs and claims in policy. For instance, Ahmed
(2010) looks at the policy claims that have increased since the 2009 global financial
crisis that undertaking new educational actions in support of lifelong learning
will offset the effects of the crisis, support sustainable development and help in the
global fight against poverty.
A different yet common political belief is that lifelong learning promotes a country’s
development, independently from its geopolitical positioning in the world system.
By adoption of a postcolonial perspective, and building on available evidence
from Africa, Preece (2009) challenges this and demonstrates how the Global North
sets learning priorities for the South and therefore reduces lifelong learning to basic
education. Further contributions falling under this pattern problematize specific
policy priorities at national, regional and global scales for which there is still limited
evidence, and assess the impact of neoliberal policy, for instance on adult educators
(Bowl, 2014), or on the social inclusion of vulnerable adults (De Greef, Verté, &
Segers, 2012). This body of work may not necessarily contribute novel knowledge
to comprehend change and continuities in adult education policy or practice, but
it helps preserve a space for subverting commonly held policy beliefs about adult
education.
Table 3.1 outlines a summary of the findings in relation to the main units of
analysis used in comparative policy research on adult education, as well as the
strengths and weaknesses, which characterize each of the patterns described above.
32
&203$5$7,9($1'*/2%$/32/,&<678',(621$'8/7('8&$7,21
Table 3.1. Comparison of the four research patterns found in comparative and global policy
studies on adult education and learning
Pattern Unit Aim Strengths Weaknesses
No. 1 Time Comprehend, Policy evolutions (or Limited attention to

Diachronic/ explain, and involutions). internal factors and
Historical FULWLTXHFKDQJHV External factors’ dynamics that also
accounts in ideologies over impact on normative, affect provision
time administrative and
financial aspects
No. 2 Space Comprehend, Complexity of global Lack of attention
Horizontal explain, governance in adult to intra-national
comparisons DQGFULWLTXH education dynamics:
differences at Interplay of a) among different
local, national local-global dynamics institutional layers
or international and b) between
scales state, market and
civil society
No. 3 System Unpack the Political notions and No attention to the
dynamic their concretizations scaling up (from
elements of in terms of new local to global
specific systems educational models, scales) of dynamic
of governance, services or provisions connections and
and investigate Impact of global effects
their effects on policy-relevant events
other systems of at either national or
governance regional scales
No. 4 Political Provide counter- Space for subverting Does not produce
beliefs evidence to a the viewpoints new empirical data
political belief to Open up for new
problematize the UHVHDUFKTXHVWLRQV
social imaginary
it produces
CONCLUSION
Summing up, different patterns in comparative and global policy studies contribute
different types of knowledge to adult education scholarship. Specifically, pattern 1
has given attention to policy evolutions (or involutions) within intergovernmental
organizations, hence helped increasing understandings, among adult education scholars,
of external factors that impinge on normative, administrative and financial alterations
in the provision of education and learning opportunities for adults in different locales.
But it has paid only a limited attention to internal factors such as within country power
relations and other internal dynamics that also affect such provision.
33
M. MILANA
Pattern 2 has helped increasing understandings among adult education scholars,

of the complexity of global governance in adult education, and the interplay between
local-global dynamics. But it has likewise overlooked the potential for deeper
investigations of within-country power relations and other internal dynamics, such
as within-country relations between federal states, regions, suburbs, cities/towns,
and neighborhoods (as relevant by country), as well as by state, market and civil
society.
Pattern 3 has contributed new knowledge to adult education research on the rise
(and fall) of political notions that govern adult education, and their concretization
in terms of new educational models, services or provisions. Besides, they have
contributed to adult education scholars’ understandings of the impact that global
policy-relevant events have had or may have at either national or regional scales.
Unfortunately, research following this pattern has not yet explored the potentials
of exploring the scaling up (from local to global scales) of dynamic connections
among different systems of governance, and their effects. This could be done, for
instance, by placing attention on a country and then examine whether, and if so to
what extent, local and national systems of governance may influence the working of
more complex systems (e.g. the EU), or exploit policy-relevant events with a global
reach (e.g., hosting CONFINTEA) for internal political gains, etc.
Last but not least, pattern 4 has helped adult education scholars to preserve a space
IRUFULWLTXLQJZLGHVSUHDGSROLWLFDOEHOLHIVDERXWWKHDLPDQGYDOXHRIDGXOWHGXFDWLRQ
and learning through the adoption of novel perspectives to make available research
HYLGHQFHµVSHDN¶7KLVLQWXUQDOVRUDLVHVQHZTXHVWLRQVWKDWGHVHUYHDWWHQWLRQIURP
researchers.
Taken together, all four research patterns reflect a collective effort by adult
education researchers with an interest in policy developments to examine the changing
power dynamics between international organizations, national governments and local
communities. This is in line with a traditional concern of adult education scholars to
understand the interactions between power over and power to in relation to people,
and their communities. Yet, it recognizes that such communities have multiplied
and expanded well beyond territorially bound polities. Therefore, assuming a multi-
scalar or global perspective in policy research provides a better opportunity for adult
education scholars to acknowledge also non-territorially-bound political entities as
exerting power over people, and their communities. However, especially pattern 4
opens up new opportunities to handing a different form of power to adult education
scholars, and the academic and practice communities to which they belong and/or
interact with. This is because it creates a space for individuals and collectives to exploit
available research and knowledge to develop counter-narratives to taken-for-granted
assumptions that are mostly based on partial or inaccurate analysis. Moreover, it allows
IRU DVNLQJ GLIIHUHQW VHWV RI TXHVWLRQV LQ WKH LQWHUURJDWLRQ RI DYDLODEOH GDWD KHQFH
to bring to the fore evidence that otherwise would pass unnoticed in mainstream
political debates about the education and learning of adults. This body of work may
not necessarily contribute novel knowledge to comprehend change and continuities
34
&203$5$7,9($1'*/2%$/32/,&<678',(621$'8/7('8&$7,21
in adult education policy or practice, but it helps to preserve a space for subverting
commonly held policy beliefs about adult education.
What can this research achieve when dominant neoliberal discourse, based on
a competitive market approach, positions adult education as any other good that
SURYLGHXWLOLW\LQDJOREDOPDUNHW"5HVHDUFKWKDWIDOOVXQGHUSDWWHUQV±FDQVKHG
additional light not only on the pervasiveness of the dominant neoliberal discourse
and its effects on adult education, but also on its cracks as well as on different
forms of ‘resistance’ (Hollander & Einwohner, 2004). Moreover, such knowledge
can be appropriated by adult education scholars to further nurture pattern 4, thus
to problematize taken-for-grant policy beliefs on adult education. So, providing
counter-evidence to erroneous or limited political beliefs on adult education
constitutes a political space for adult education scholars to use research of policy
to actually stimulate change in policy thinking and new social imaginaries in adult
education.
NOTE
1
This chapter draws on the results of a meta-investigation first presented in Milana (2018).
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4. “THE POLITICS OF RESPONSIBILITY”

REVISITED
An Analysis of Power as a Central Construct in Program Planning
352*5$03/$11,1*$1'32:(5
Adult educators are continually planning courses, seminars and other educational
events. This might be considered by some as primarily a routine and straightforward
³PDQDJHPHQW´ DFWLYLW\ RQO\ YDJXHO\ FRQQHFWHG WR SHGDJRJ\ DQG TXLWH GLVWDQW
from politics and ethics. But planning is far from an interest-free, neutral or solely
PDQDJHULDOSUDFWLFH,WLVDVRFLDOSUDFWLFHDQGRIWHQUHTXLUHVFUHDWLYHDFWLRQSHUIRUPHG
within structured power relations that may be clearly visible or hidden, symmetrical
or asymmetrical. How do adult educators make decisions and act responsibly within
these relations? What helps them theoretically to read and respond to such power
UHODWLRQV":KDWFDSDELOLWLHVDUHUHTXLUHGE\SURJUDPSODQQHUVLQWKHFXUUHQWJOREDO
FRQWH[W RI JURZLQJ LQHTXDOLW\ HQYLURQPHQWDO GHJUDGDWLRQ SROLWLFDO LQVWDELOLW\
forced displacement and economic uncertainty?
7KLVFKDSWHULVEDVHGSDUWO\RQWKHFODLPWKDWSURJUDPSODQQLQJ±DQGWKHFRQFHSWV
DQG WKHRUHWLFDO PRGHOV WKDW XQGHUSLQ LW ± DUH FHQWUDO WR DGXOW HGXFDWLRQ SUDFWLFH
(Käpplinger & Sork, 2014). Program planning has been regarded in the US, Canada
and Germany as a “core competency” in most professional preparation programs for
adult educators (e.g., CPAE, 2008). There is some evidence that it is increasingly
regarded as important in other regions of the world although it may be labelled
differently (Käpplinger, Popovic, Shah, & Sork, 2015).
Nonetheless, there is still no global consensus on its importance or what should
be included in courses on program planning. This sort of cross-national comparative
work is of interest to us because it has the potential to inform policy discussions
about the prospects of globally-transferable competencies.
Our goal in this chapter is to establish the relevance and importance of scholarship
RQSURJUDPSODQQLQJWRTXHVWLRQVRISRZHUDQGSRVVLELOLW\:HGRWKLVE\IRFXVLQJ
primarily on the evolution of power as a central construct in planning theory, and
KRZ SRZHU LV DGGUHVVHG ± RU QRW ± LQ FRQWHPSRUDU\ SODQQLQJ PRGHOV DV ZHOO DV
WKH FDSDELOLWLHV UHTXLUHG RI SURJUDP SODQQHUV :H JLYH SDUWLFXODU DWWHQWLRQ WR WKH
influential work of Cervero and Wilson and acknowledge the influence of feminism,
postmodernism, critical theory, postcolonial studies, and other intellectual currents

7-625. %.b33/,1*(5
that have challenged conventional understandings of what responsible practice

involves in adult education and in related fields.
)25(*5281',1*62&,$/'<1$0,&6
In The Politics of Responsibility Cervero and Wilson (1994a) proposed a theory of

SURJUDPSODQQLQJ±HODERUDWHGPRUHIXOO\LQ&HUYHURDQG:LOVRQE±
that has been used to frame research studies (e.g., Cervero & Wilson, 1996) and
incorporated into planning texts (e.g., Caffarella & Daffron, 2013). Power and
interests are key concepts within this framework which emphasizes the central role
negotiation plays in the responsible design of adult education programs. They define
power (after Isaac, 1987) as “… the capacity to act, distributed to people by virtue
of the enduring social relationships in which they participate” and define interests
(after Morgan, 1986, p. 41) as “… complex sets of ‘predispositions embracing
goals, values, desires, expectations, and other orientations and inclinations that lead
a person to act in one direction or another’” (Cervero & Wilson, 1994b, p. 29).
Numerous case studies carried out in a wide range of contexts have provided rich
GHVFULSWLRQVRIW\SLFDOFRQIOLFWVHQFRXQWHUHGDVYDULRXVLQWHUHVWVDUHQHJRWLDWHG±DQG
SRZHUH[HUFLVHG±GXULQJSODQQLQJHJ%UDFNHQ&HUYHUR :LOVRQ
0DUXDWRQD &HUYHUR5\X &HUYHUR6WXGLHVEDVHGRQWKHLUWKHRU\
make it clear that successful program planners must negotiate in flexible, creative
and imaginative ways within continuously changing contexts and often challenging,
asymmetrical power relations.
Based on our own teaching experience, Cervero and Wilson’s theory seems to
UHVRQDWHPRUHZLWKH[SHULHQFHGSODQQHUV±UDWKHUWKDQQRYLFHSODQQHUV±EHFDXVH
it not only recognizes the central role of power in planning but also because they
LOOXVWUDWH±WKURXJKDZLGHUDQJHRIFDVHVWXGLHV±WKHYDULHW\RIZD\VSODQQHUVFDQ
exercise their power and how power is exercised on planners. It foregrounds the
complex social dynamics that produce the programs made available to learners.
Students who have already worked in organizations can provide several examples
of how power is exercised and interests negotiated within those settings. They are
KDSS\WRDFTXLUHDODQJXDJHWRGHVFULEHDQDO\]HDQGFULWLTXHWKHVHG\QDPLFV1RYLFH
SODQQHUVZKRODFNDQH[SHULHQWLDOEDVHVHHPSULPDULO\LQWHUHVWHGLQDFTXLULQJEDVLF
procedural knowledge and skills. The complexity and lack of a stepwise approach
in Cervero and Wilson’s theory irritates or disengages many novices who are often
seeking an unambiguous ‘right way’ to plan.
Several studies based on their theory have explored specific tactics planners can
use to respond to the power dynamics they encounter. For example, Yang and Cervero
(2001) suggested that planners have access to seven “power and influence tactics”
they can use depending on the political context: reasoning, consulting, appealing,
networking, bargaining, pressuring and counteracting. Their study also categorized
four types of planners based on the tactics employed: bystander, tactician, ingratiator
and shotgun (p. 292) based on the specific configuration of tactics they use. But what
40
³7+(32/,7,&62)5(63216,%,/,7<´5(9,6,7('
is less clear is the degree to which the configuration of tactics used can easily be
changed by planners when they encounter a different set of power relations or when
the power relations shift during planning. In other words, does the planner (with his/
her beliefs, knowledge, social embeddedness, disciplinary background, preferences,
etc.) choose the configuration of tactics or are the tactics determined or limited by
the nature of the power relations encountered?
Cervero and Wilson were not the first to recognize the central role of power in
program planning although they certainly raised its profile within adult education
and added a decidedly critical spin. In a comprehensive study of what was then an
innovative approach to program planning within agricultural extension in the US,
Beal et al. (1966) recognized that power was one of several “social system elements”
(p. 65) necessary to fully understand the dynamics of program planning. Although
by today’s standards their treatment of power might be regarded as narrow or even
naïve, they did look closely at how various forms of power influenced the planning
process.
It must also be recognized that Cervero and Wilson drew heavily from the work of
John Forester who, in 1989, began his influential book, Planning in the Face of Power,
E\REVHUYLQJWKDW³,QDZRUOGRILQWHQVHO\FRQIOLFWLQJLQWHUHVWVDQGJUHDWLQHTXDOLWLHV
of status and resources, planning in the face of power is at once a daily necessity and
a constant ethical challenge” (p. 3). Forester’s primary audience was those working
in community and regional planning, but his book resonated in other fields because it
arrived at a time when “critical theory” was increasingly influencing many scholarly
debates. Forester has been articulate and persistent in promoting participatory
planning processes. In a later book Forester (1999) made the following plea:
Precisely because planning and policy analysis take place in a political world,
planners and analysts need to anticipate and respond to foreseeable relationships
RISRZHUDQGGRPLQDWLRQ3UHFLVHO\EHFDXVHVHYHUHLQHTXDOLWLHVRIZHDOWKDQG
power, opportunity and victimization persist in cities and communities, we
need practically sensitive, politically realistic, and theoretically insightful
accounts of democratizing and advocacy practices. (p. 9)
Such a description and analysis seems valid today and it is perhaps even more
important than ever in the current context of major threats to species survival,
crisis and increasing social complexity. Informed and reflexive program planning
underpinned by a clear theory of power strikes us as a crucial framework for crafting
educational responses to these threats and exploring new possibilities in adult
education.
7+('20$,162)32:(5
Power is often perceived critically as manipulative and something exercised by

oppressors. But power can be also be viewed as a positive source for change. Power
understood as the capacity to act is neither positive nor negative. The sources,
41
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OHJLWLPDWLRQ DQG XVHV RI SRZHU ± DQG KRZ SURJUDP SODQQHUV SRVLWLRQ WKHPVHOYHV
WRZDUGLW±DUHNH\PHVVDJHVZHWDNHIURP&HUYHURDQG:LOVRQ¶VZRUN+RZHYHU
Sork (2000) makes the case that there is more to planning than knowing how to
recognize and deal with power across a variety of domains (see Figure 4.1).
)LUVWO\ SURJUDP SODQQLQJ UHTXLUHV D KLJK GHJUHH RI WHFKQLFDO SURZHVV DQG
YHUVDWLOLW\±WKHWHFKQLFDOGRPDLQ3HRSOHKDYHWRNQRZKRZWRRUJDQL]HLPSOHPHQW
and manage various processes. These range from budgeting/financing, marketing,
target group analysis, needs assessment, scheduling, recruiting instructors, crafting
course announcements, interacting with learners, to planning evaluations. These are
MXVWDIHZRIWKH³NQRZOHGJHLVODQGV´±FRKHUHQWFOXVWHUVRIUHODWHGNQRZOHGJHDQG
VNLOOV ± DERXW ZKLFK SURJUDP SODQQHUV PXVW EH DZDUH *LHVHNH $OWKRXJK
VXFKWHFKQLFDOWDVNVDUHUHTXLUHGLQPDQ\GLIIHUHQWGRPDLQVRXWVLGHRIHGXFDWLRQ±
DQGVRPHKDYHWKHLURULJLQVRXWVLGHRIHGXFDWLRQDOWRJHWKHU±WKH\PXVWEHDGDSWHG
to the contexts within which adults learn.
6HFRQGO\ SURJUDP SODQQLQJ LV D GHHSO\ HWKLFDO SURFHVV ± WKH HWKLFDO GRPDLQ
Program planners have to decide how they deal with conflicting interests and
asymmetrical power relations. Are they trying to solely serve the interests of the
oppressed? Is this realistic in a world of project funding, performance targets, and
the varied institutional interests of providers? Is it always clear in a complex world
who are the oppressed and who are the oppressors? How does one deal with the
inevitable conflicts, dilemmas and paradoxes? Von Hippel (2013) has used the term
antinomy (a paradox) to demonstrate that there are often conflicts which cannot be
mediated leaving program planners to make hard decisions with political and ethical
FRQVHTXHQFHV7KHVHPLQDOZRUNRI)UHLUHLVRIFRXUVHFUXFLDOEXWWKHELQDU\
distinction between “banking education” and the “pedagogy of the oppressed” is not
a sufficiently complex perspective through which to understand the many challenges
RISUDFWLFH5HVSRQVHVWRWKHGLOHPPDVSODQQHUVHQFRXQWHUFDQUDUHO\EHMXGJHGDV
simply right or wrong, good or bad. It is important for planners to reflect critically on
their decisions and to understand that even with good intentions, bad outcomes are
possible. It is not enough to position oneself in the field of good-minded people who
consider their own ideas about what is fair and right as justifying all their decisions
and actions. Programs and pedagogical approaches must understand the complicated
and diverse interests of the many people involved.
Figure 4.1. Three domains of planning (Sork, 2000, p. 185)
42
³7+(32/,7,&62)5(63216,%,/,7<´5(9,6,7('
It is important to note that these three domains cannot neatly be separated in practice.
They are often deeply interwoven and interacting. For example, conducting a needs
DQDO\VLVPD\VHHPWREHSULPDULO\DWHFKQLFDOWDVN±KRZWRGRLWTXHVWLRQQDLUHV
LQWHUYLHZVLQYHQWRULHVHWFEXWLWLVDOVRDVRFLRSROLWLFDODFWLYLW\±ZKRPWRGRLW
ZLWKOHDUQHUVIXQGHUVWXWRUVVWDNHKROGHUVHWF"DQGHWKLFDO±ZKRVHQHHGVFRXQW
and how are they being framed? It is likely evident that all this often leads to conflicts
DQGTXHVWLRQVDERXWZKRWRLQFOXGHDQGZKRWRH[FOXGH&HUYHURDQG:LOVRQ
p. 6) have used the metaphor of “who has a place at the planning table”1 in order to
stress that there are deliberate decisions made that exclude actors with interests in
the program, even when it is considered a highly participatory process. For example,
in community education all people cannot always be involved in planning activities;
there are real practical constraints on the number and diversity of actors who can
be involved in planning. Having too many people involved in planning can lead to
paralysis. This illustrates the dilemmas encountered in practice which are worthy of
more research and of being problematized more fully in the literature.
0$.,1*$',))(5(1&(72&+$1*(2512772&+$1*("
It is a fundamental characteristic of education and learning that they oscillate

between conservative continuity and progressive change. Achieving a balance
between change and continuity is more difficult than some might assume.
How program planners deal with change and conflicting interests is crucial.
Cervero and Wilson raised this issue by recognizing that planners “act in” but
can also “act on” the context. For them, redressing power imbalances detected in
SODQQLQJ±OHYHOOLQJWKH³SOD\LQJILHOG´±LVRQHLPSRUWDQWH[DPSOHRIDFWLQJRQWKH
context. Historical program analysis (Käpplinger, 2018) helps us understand how
much we are the “children of our time”. Decisions made about whose needs are
addressed, what content is included, and how programs are represented in brochures
and on websites all reflect the contemporary political, cultural and economic context.
Nonetheless, like in sociology, it is important to understand exactly how structure
DQG DJHQF\ LQWHUDFW ,W LV HVSHFLDOO\ LQWHUHVWLQJ WR TXHVWLRQ ZKHWKHU SODQQHUV DUH
mainly reactive to the context or where and how they are able to act on the context.
To what extent do they have the power to bring about a change in the context? In
what circumstances does or should this happen? Which skills do planners need in
RUGHUWRPDNHVXFKFKDQJHVLQDSRVLWLYHZD\"$QVZHULQJWKHVHTXHVWLRQVUHTXLUHV
in-depth analysis of the planning process and of the programs that result.
For example, a recent analysis (Käpplinger & Falkenstern, 2018) demonstrated
that health education initiatives focusing on stress and resilience not only make
people alert to the problem, but also reflect providers’ commercial interests. Thus,
adult education is not only reacting to a growing social problem but providers are also
actors with their own (often commercial) interests and could be considered part of the
problem. It is a misconception to think that adult educators can only react defensively
within the constraints of neo-liberal lifelong learning agendas. But we have agency
43
7-625. %.b33/,1*(5
and are therefore often complicit in defining and reinforcing these constraints. The
role of power within daily practice and how to deal with it are important subjects
of study as is how we can exercise agency to overcome constraints.
5('(),1,1*&$3$%,/,7,(62)352*5$03/$11(56
The planning theory of Cervero and Wilson has put power, interests and negotiation
in the foreground, but when you place certain concepts in the foreground, they mask
RU RYHUVKDGRZ RWKHU FRQFHSWV DQG SURFHVVHV WKDW PLJKW EH HTXDOO\ LPSRUWDQW LQ
understanding the complexities of planning (Sork, 1996). We close this chapter with
our current thoughts on the configuration of capabilities that planners must develop
to be effective and responsible professionals in today’s complex adult learning
ODQGVFDSH:H DUH DZDUH RI FRPSHWHQF\ IUDPHZRUNV HJ 5HVHDUFK YRRU %HOHLG
2010) and curricula (e.g. Avramovska, Czerwinski, & Lattke, 2015) intended to
DUWLFXODWHWKHEDVLFNQRZOHGJHDQGVNLOOVUHTXLUHGE\DGXOWOHDUQLQJSURIHVVLRQDOV±
SULPDULO\ WHDFKHUV DQG IDFLOLWDWRUV ± EXW ZH ILQG WKHVH LQFRPSOHWH ZKHQ LW FRPHV
to the role of program planner. In earlier work (Sork, 2000; Käpplinger & Sork,
2014; Käpplinger, Popovic, Shah, & Sork, 2015) we discussed in general terms
the capabilities needed by planners, but we now take this opportunity to extend
our analysis to reflect more fully the complexity of the role and the challenges of
the current age. As we do this, we are also mindful of Gieseke’s (2000) metaphor
of “planners as seismographs” which, although useful in sensitizing us to the
importance of carefully monitoring social, economic, environmental, technological
and other developments as they unfold, it also reinforces a “reactive” posture for
adult educators. Seismographs only register seismic events as they unfold; they are
not predictive of the scope and destructive potential of future events.
We agree with many commentators that we live in perilous times … socially,
politically, economically, environmentally. The current politics of division,
unregulated use of technology, massive forced displacement of people, climate
FKDQJHDQGJURZLQJHFRQRPLFLQHTXDOLW\DUHRQO\ILYHH[DPSOHVRIGHYHORSPHQWV
that signal major problems now and in the future. We use as a reference point for a
more future-oriented perspective on the work of adult educators the Transforming
our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations
(2015) and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (2016) derived from the Agenda.
$OWKRXJKPDQ\HGXFDWRUVIRFXVSULPDULO\RQ*RDO±(QVXUHLQFOXVLYHDQGTXDOLW\
HGXFDWLRQ IRU DOO DQG SURPRWH OLIHORQJ OHDUQLQJ ± WKHUH LV D FOHDU UROH IRU DGXOW
educators in addressing each of the remaining 16 goals. We agree with Steffen
(2016) that, “The implementation of the 17 SDGs by 2030 can succeed only through
societal rethinking and a change in our political and personal patterns of behavior.
This transformation needs a great deal of education, as moral pleas and knowledge
transfer based on facts apparently are not enough” (p. 67). We suggest that the
challenges to adult education represented by the SDGs can only be addressed by
more assertive, politically involved and skilled forms of planning practice.
44
³7+(32/,7,&62)5(63216,%,/,7<´5(9,6,7('
It is beyond the scope of this chapter to propose a comprehensive competency

framework for program planners. Although we understand the role that competency
frameworks can play in forging greater consistency across professional preparation
programs and increasing the portability and recognition of credentials, we are not
convinced that a “globally-relevant” competency framework for adult educators is
feasible given the diversity of sites of practice, interests, and sociocultural contexts.
What we can do is address what we regard as important clusters of capabilities based
on Sork’s (2000) three interrelated domains of planning: technical, social-political
and ethical.
Being Technically-Capable
Power, understood as the capacity to act, is in part a function of being technically

capable. There are many technical aspects of program planning that must be mastered
if planners are to gain the trust of those they work with. Knowing how to conduct
needs assessments, write objectives, prepare budgets and marketing plans, select and
hire instructors, organize instructional activities, and develop evaluation plans are
all mainly technical skills, although decision-making is often normatively informed.
%XWHTXDOO\LPSRUWDQWLVWKHDELOLW\WRUHFRJQL]HZKHQHDFKRIWKHVHLVUHTXLUHGZKDW
their strengths and limitations are as planning tools, and what alternatives might be
best suited to a specific planning situation.
7KH WHFKQLFDOUDWLRQDO PLQGVHW FULWLTXHG E\ &HUYHUR DQG :LOVRQ D VWLOO
leads some to regard planning as a collection of tasks to be completed in a prescribed
order. In fact, some planners work in organizations that insist on using a prescribed
SODQQLQJPRGHOLQWKHPLVWDNHQEHOLHIWKDWWKLVZLOOHQVXUHJUHDWHUTXDOLW\)RUDQ
overview of different planning models, see von Hippel & Käpplinger, 2017).
'RLQJWKLVPD\HQVXUHJUHDWHUFRQVLVWHQF\EXWFRQVLVWHQF\TXDOLW\DQGUHVSRQVLEOH
practice are not necessarily related. And time spent applying a rigid, prescribed
planning process reduces the time that can be devoted to developing more innovative
DQGFUHDWLYH±DQGKLJKHUULVN±SURJUDPV3URJUDPSODQQHUVZKRZRUNRQ³WKHFXWWLQJ
edge” will occasionally suffer program failures, but failures that come about by
trying new, bold approaches to intractable problems and through addressing critical
VRFLDO HFRQRPLF SROLWLFDO HQYLURQPHQWDO DQG RWKHU LVVXHV VKRXOG EH FHOHEUDWHG ±
then made subject to careful reflection and learning to find out why they didn’t work
as planned (Sork, 1991). Many great ideas needed a second or even third try until
they succeeded. As Michael Jordan, the basketball phenomenon, said, “I’ve failed
over, over and over again in my life. That’s why I succeed”. It is a mistake to assume
that a bold, innovative idea will always work out right from the beginning.
Being Politically-Astute
5HDGLQJSRZHUUHODWLRQV±DQGDFWLQJZLWKLQDQGXSRQWKRVHUHODWLRQV±LVDWWKHKHDUW
of this cluster of capabilities. Whether the primary form of interaction in planning is
45
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³QHJRWLDWLRQ´DV&HUYHURDQG:LOVRQVXJJHVWSS±RUVRPHRWKHUVRFLDO

process, planners must first be aware of how they and their interests are situated in
relation to others. In addition, being aware of their own power and their disposition
to exercise power make it possible for planners to take informed decisions about
how they might best participate. In asymmetrical power relations where the interests
of one stakeholder seem to be dominating the interests of others, planners should
have the ability to either negotiate a more symmetrical relationship or employ
counteracting tactics.
Cervero and Wilson place great confidence in “substantively democratic
planning” as the defining feature of responsible practice (2006, p. 98). And yet,
many of the cases they describe are arguably anything but substantively democratic.
The aim to achieve substantively democratic planning is indeed noble and certainly
consistent with core values found in a great deal of adult education literature. But
DFKLHYLQJDUHDVRQDEOHGHJUHHRIGHPRFUDWLFSDUWLFLSDWLRQE\VWDNHKROGHUVUHTXLUHV
capabilities that may be lacking in many planners, especially those trained in the
technical-rational tradition where power and interests receive little or no attention.
More research is needed to determine the degree to which planners can shift the
influence tactics they employ to match the power relations they encounter. But even
if there are limits to the range of tactics that may be employed, achieving a planning
SURFHVV WKDW LV DGHTXDWHO\ ± UDWKHU WKDQ VXEVWDQWLYHO\ ± GHPRFUDWLF PD\ EH JRRG
enough.
Being Ethically-Responsible
Cervero and Wilson (2001) regard all adult educators as social activists in practice
(p. 12). In introducing a collection of chapters on power in practice, they assert that:
$VNLQJWKHTXHVWLRQ:KREHQHILWV"LVDQLPSRUWDQWWRROIRUXQGHUVWDQGLQJWKH
politics of adult education in any setting. However, out of the struggles that
define the politics of practice comes an adult education program, practice or
SROLF\%\WKHLUDFWLRQVDGXOWHGXFDWRUVKDYHDQVZHUHGWKHHWKLFDOTXHVWLRQ
:KRVKRXOGEHQHILW"SS±
If all adult educators are social activists, then it makes a great deal of sense that
WKH WZLQ TXHVWLRQV RI ³who benefits?” and “who should benefit?” must always be
to the forefront because they frame the political and ethical problematic that might
EHFRQIURQWHGE\SODQQHUVLIWKHDQVZHUVWRERWKTXHVWLRQVDUHGLIIHUHQW7R&HUYHUR
and Wilson, the primary ethical challenge is to ensure that programs support those
who should receive the benefits. But not all adult educators regard themselves as
social activists and not all are in positions to negotiate such matters. Beyond this
³PDFUR´HWKLFDOTXHVWLRQWKHUHDUHPDQ\RWKHUHWKLFDOFKRLFHVWKDWPXVWEHPDGH
while planning programs.
7KHWRROVDQGWHFKQLTXHVFRPPRQO\XVHGLQSODQQLQJSURJUDPVFDQEHDSSOLHG
responsibly but also in ways that violate ethical norms and natural justice. As novice
46
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planners learn the craft, they must also learn the dangers of applying these tools as
LIWKH\DUH³YDOXHIUHH´±ZKLFKWKH\FHUWDLQO\DUHQRW±DQGWKHLUDSSOLFDWLRQKDV
QR HWKLFDO FRQVHTXHQFHV *LYHQ WKH FKDOOHQJHV IDFHG E\ KXPDQLW\ LQ WKH FXUUHQW
age, we may need to push the boundaries of acceptable educational practice in the
name of human survival, but we must do this in a deeply reflective, critical and
responsible way.
CLOSING COMMENTS
In this chapter we have attempted to show how the role of power in program planning
has evolved from early references in the 1960s to the more recent and influential
work of Cervero and Wilson beginning in the 1990s. The work of UNESCO in
Rethinking Education and of the UN and others in identifying the important role that
education will play in addressing the Sustainable Development Goals set the stage
for a radical rethinking about the possibilities of influencing the types of programs
that are planned and who should benefit from them. They remind us that:
We are living in a world characterized by change, complexity and paradox.
Economic growth and the creation of wealth have cut global poverty rates,
\HWYXOQHUDELOLW\LQHTXDOLW\H[FOXVLRQDQGYLROHQFHKDYHHVFDODWHGZLWKLQDQG
across societies throughout the world … These changes signal the emergence
of a new global context for learning that has vital implications for education.
5HWKLQNLQJWKHSXUSRVHRIHGXFDWLRQDQGWKHRUJDQL]DWLRQRIOHDUQLQJKDVQHYHU
been more urgent. (UNESCO, 2015, p. 85)
The need to design and deliver a new generation of programs that address urgent
JOREDOSUREOHPV±ZKLOHQRWLJQRULQJPRUH³ORFDO´FRQFHUQV±KDVQHYHUEHHQJUHDWHU
We believe that technically-capable, politically-astute and ethically-responsible
planners will play key roles in realizing these possibilities. Program planners must
learn to deal with power and to exercise their own power in responsible ways in
order to contribute to a greater “common good”.
NOTE
1
A notion which was later challenged by Butterwick and Sork (2010) with the provocative notion and
metaphor of the kitchen table in order to discuss feminist perspectives within program planning.
5()(5(1&(6
Avramovska, M., Czerwinski, T., & Lattke, S. (2015). Curriculum GlobALE: Curriculum for
global adult learning and education QG HG %RQQ ',( '99 ,QWHUQDWLRQDO 5HWULHYHG IURP
https://www.dvv-international.de/fileadmin/files/Inhalte_Bilder_und_Dokumente/Materialien/
Curriculum_globALE/Curriculum_globALE_2nd_Edition_English.pdf
%HDO * 0 %ORXQW 5 & 3RZHUV 5 & -RKQVRQ: - Social action and interaction in
program planning. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
47
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Bracken, S. J. (2011). Understanding program planning theory and practice in a feminist community-
based organization. Adult Education Quarterly, 61±
Butterwick, S., & Sork, T. J. (2010). The kitchen table: Alternative perspectives on program planning.
In Proceedings of the Adult Education Research Conference. Sacramento, CA: California State
8QLYHUVLW\6DFUDPHQWR5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSQHZSUDLULHSUHVVRUJDHUFSDSHUV
&DIIDUHOOD 5 6 'DIIURQ 6 5 Planning programs for adult learners: A practical guide
(3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Wiley.
&HUYHUR50 :LOVRQ$/D7KHSROLWLFVRIUHVSRQVLELOLW\$WKHRU\RISURJUDPSODQQLQJ
practice for adult education. Adult Education Quarterly, 45±
&HUYHUR50 :LOVRQ$/EPlanning responsibly for adult education: A guide to negotiating
power and interests. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
&HUYHUR 5 0 :LOVRQ$ / What really matters in adult education program planning:
Lessons in negotiating power and interests (New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education,
No. 69). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
&HUYHUR50 :LOVRQ$/$WWKHKHDUWRISUDFWLFH7KHVWUXJJOHIRUNQRZOHGJHDQGSRZHU
,Q 5 0 &HUYHUR$ /:LOVRQ $VVRFLDWHV (GV Power in practice: Adult education and the
struggle for knowledge and power in societySS±6DQ)UDQFLVFR&$-RVVH\%DVV
&HUYHUR 5 0 :LOVRQ$ / Working the planning table: Negotiating democratically for
adult, continuing and workplace education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Forester, J. (1989). Planning in the face of power. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Forester, J. (1999). The deliberative practitioner: Encouraging participatory planning processes.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Seabury Press.
Gieseke, W. (2000). Programmplanung als Bildungsmanagement? Qualitative Studie in
Perspektivverschränkung SS±5HFNOLQJKDXVHQ%LWWHU
Isaac, J. C. (1987). Power and Marxist theory: A realist view. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Käpplinger, B. (2018, in press). Addressing refugees and non-refugees in adult education programs: A
longitudinal analysis on shifting public concerns. European Journal for Research on the Education
and Learning of Adults (RELA).5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSVZZZUHODHSOLXVHSUHBSXEOLVKHGDVS
Käpplinger, B., & Falkenstern, A. (2018). Wann und wie kam „Stress“ in die deutschen
Volkshochschulprogramme? Eine Programmanalyse von 1947 bis 1987. In Spurensuche. Zeitschrift
für Geschichte der Erwachsenenbildung und Wissenschaftspopularisierung No. 27.
.lSSOLQJHU%3RSRYLF.6KDK6< 6RUN7--XQH±6L[EOLQGPHQDQGDQHOHSKDQW
7KHIXWLOHTXHVWIRUFRQVHQVXVRQWKHFRPSHWHQFLHVUHTXLUHGIRUJRRGSUDFWLFHProceedings of the
2015 Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education SS±
Montreal: University of Montreal.
Käpplinger, B., & Sork, T. J. (2014). Making program planning more visible: What to do when they don’t
know what they don’t know. In S. Lattke & W. Jütte (Eds.), Professionalisation of adult educators:
International and comparative perspectivesSS±)UDQNIXUW3HWHU/DQJ
0DUXDWRQD 7 &HUYHUR 5 0 $GXOW OLWHUDF\ HGXFDWLRQ LQ %RWVZDQD 3ODQQLQJ EHWZHHQ
reproduction and resistance. Studies in the Education of Adults, 36±
Morgan, G. (1986). Images of organization. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
5HVHDUFK YRRU %HOHLG Key competencies for adult learning professionals. Contribution to
the development of a reference framework of key competencies for adult learning professionals.
Zoetemeer: European Commission.
5\X . &HUYHUR 5 0 7KH UROH RI &RQIXFLDQ FXOWXUDO YDOXHV DQG SROLWLFV LQ SODQQLQJ
educational programs for adults in Korea. Adult Education Quarterly, 61±
Sork, T. J. (Ed.). (1991). Mistakes made and lessons learned: Overcoming obstacles to successful
program planning (New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, No. 49). San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
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A. L. Wilson (Eds.), Negotiating power and interests in program planning: Learning from practice
48
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1HZ 'LUHFWLRQV IRU $GXOW DQG &RQWLQXLQJ (GXFDWLRQ 1R SS ± 6DQ )UDQFLVFR &$
Jossey-Bass.
6RUN7-3ODQQLQJHGXFDWLRQDOSURJUDPV,Q$/:LOVRQ (5+D\HV(GVHandbook of
adult and continuing educationSS±6DQ)UDQFLVFR&$-RVVH\%DVV
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United Nations. (2016). Sustainable development goals: 17 goals to transform our world5HWULHYHGIURP
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
UNESCO. (2015). Rethinking education: Towards a global common good? Paris: United Nations
(GXFDWLRQDO6FLHQWLILFDQG&XOWXUDO2UJDQL]DWLRQ5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSXQHVGRFXQHVFRRUJ
images/0023/002325/232555e.pdf
YRQ +LSSHO$ 3URJUDPPSODQXQJ DOV SURIHVVLRQHOOHV +DQGHOQ ± Ä$QJOHLFKXQJVKDQGHOQ³ XQG
„Aneignungsmodi“ im aktuellen Diskurs der Programm- und Professionsforschung. In B. Käpplinger,
6 5REDN 6 6FKPLGW/DXII (GV Engagement für die Erwachsenenbildung – Ethische
Bezugnahmen und demokratische VerantwortungSS±:LHVEDGHQ6SULQJHU
YRQ +LSSHO$ .lSSOLQJHU % 0RGHOV RI SURJUDP SODQQLQJ ,Q % .lSSOLQJHU 6 5REDN
M. Fleige, A. von Hippel, & W. Gieseke (Eds.), Cultures of program planning in adult education:
Concepts, research results and archivesSS±)UDQNIXUWDP0DLQ3HWHU/DQJ
<DQJ% &HUYHUR503RZHUDQGLQIOXHQFHVW\OHVLQSURJUDPPHSODQQLQJ5HODWLRQVKLSZLWK
organizational and political contexts. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 20±
49
PART 2
THE AGE OF METRICS AND THE
RECONFIGURATION OF POLICY AND
PRACTICE IN ADULT EDUCATION
526$11$%$5526
5. THE ROLE OF TRANSNATIONAL BODIES IN

LIFELONG LEARNING AND THE POLITICS OF
MEASUREMENT
The Promise and Pitfalls of Outcomes-Based Assessment into Recognition
of Prior Learning System in Portugal
,1752'8&7,21
In a new era of Lifelong learning (LLL) that has been characterized by an increasing
use of metrics, and an analysis of the influential role of transnational bodies, such as
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
and the European Union (EU), in promoting this in adult learning and education
(ALE) is necessary. The restructuring of the regulatory political power of the state,
with a corresponding shift in the relationship between the market, the civil society
and the state marks a major discontinuity in ALE. I want to make the case that this
is a political issue rather than a merely a technical issue. Who decides what should
EHPHDVXUHGKRZDQGZK\DUHTXHVWLRQVRISRZHUDQGKHOSWRGHOLPLWDQGGHILQH
what is deemed possible. And who benefits from these changes? In this chapter I
explore these issues through the case of indicators and outcomes-based assessment
recently introduced in the Portuguese policies and practices of recognition of prior
OHDUQLQJ53/
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An international governmental organization may be defined as “a formal, continuous

structure established by agreement between members (…) of two or more sovereign
states with the aim of pursuing the common interest of the membership” (Archer,
2001, p. 33). These organizations flourished after the Second World War to become
influential actors in the establishment of international and national guidelines,
programmes, evaluations, audits and standards in various aspects of social life.
,Q WKH ODVW TXDUWHU RI WKH WK FHQWXU\ ,QWHUQDWLRQDO 2UJDQLVDWLRQV ,2V EHFDPH
increasingly central actors in shaping education policy. Some of these have taken a
humanistic approach, such as UNESCO, others a more individualized and economy-
centred perspective such as the EU, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) and the World Bank.

5%$5526
UNESCO has been a key IO mainly contributing to the establishment of an

international research field, first based on adult education (AE) and nowadays focused
on adult learning and education (ALE). UNESCO’s International Conferences on
Adult Education, known as the CONFINTEA, and UNESCO official documents
and recommendations have been prominent in constructing the field in international
settings (Ireland, 2011; UNESCO, 1976, 2016). As concepts are not neutral devices,
these changes in terminology in this field, and what this discloses about power and
policy, has been one of my abiding research interest (Barros, 2011a).
The move from ‘adult education’ to ‘adult learning and education’ in LLL policy
marks a paradigmatic shift and is one of the most deeply political processes that have
occurred in recent times on this field (Barros, 2012). In this context, the promotion
of the lifelong learning paradigm is especially linked to the OECD and the EU.
Both IOs produced widely disseminated policy documents, such as the OECD report
published in 1973, Recurrent education – a strategy for lifelong learning, and the
Memorandum for Lifelong Learning, published by the Commission of European
Communities (CEC) in 2000.
In the Memorandum, the concept of lifelong learning is understood as: “any
learning activity with an objective, undertaken on a continuous basis and aimed at
improving knowledge, skills and competences” (CEC, 2000, p. 3). The distinction
is clearly made between two dimensions associated with the concept: one of
them is expressed in the term ‘lifelong’, where “the emphasis is laid on time:
learning during a lifetime, continuously or periodically” (2000, p. 3); and a second
dimension is expressed in the term ‘lifewide’ in all areas of life, which “draws
attention to the dissemination of learning, which can take place in all aspects of
our lives (…), during our leisure time and in our continuing social and professional
life” (2000, p. 3).
The EU is probably the most influential IO in making the concept of lifelong
learning dominant in today’s transnational policies about ALE, which can be traced
back to the European year of lifelong learning in 1996 (Kopecký, 2014). However,
it is the OECD which is the most relevant IO in how outputs are being assessed in
many areas of LLL practices. A crucial part of this has been the development of
international surveys in the 1990s (i) the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS);
and (ii) the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies
(PIAAC), which means nation states increasingly use comparative measurements
and take rankings into account in setting national targets and priorities in ALE.
These IOs are influential and powerful agents and should be considered, together
with the Education Strategy 2020 of the World Bank, as responsible for ushering
in a new lifelong learning era. Competitive globalization is leading states to seek
competitive advantage through the improvement of competencies of working adults,
LQFOXGLQJ WKURXJK WKH UHFRJQLWLRQ RI SULRU OHDUQLQJ 53/ $V D UHVXOW VHYHUDO
international recommendations and national policy instruments for the governance
RI 53/ KDYH HPHUJHG ZLWK WKH H[SOLFLW SXUSRVH RI LQFUHDVLQJ µHIIHFWLYHQHVV¶ DQG
LPSURYLQJOHYHOVRIQDWLRQDOTXDOLILFDWLRQV
54
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7+(5,6(2)7+(32/,7,&62)0($685(0(17$1'
*29(510(17%<,1',&$7256
Central to the reform of the welfare state is a redefinition of the means and purposes
RIJRYHUQPHQWDV/H*DOqVSXWVLW³WKHFRQWHPSRUDU\TXHVWLRQRIPHDVXUHPHQWDQG
TXDQWLILFDWLRQLVSDUWRIWKHDJHQGDRIVWDWHUHVWUXFWXULQJ´S(VVHQWLDOO\
states have changed from being tasked with ensuring the production and maintenance
of key public goods. Nowadays, the new model of social regulation reflects the
WUDQVLWLRQIURPVROLGPRGHUQLW\WRDPRUHOLTXLGIRUPRIVRFLDOOLIH%DXPDQ
In this process the redefined state adopts a strategy of finding consensus between
pluralistic interests, and creates a new set of decentralized mechanisms. This is
linked to new forms of political organization in society, where networks and flows
from heterogeneous sources and different kinds of organizations predominate and
combine to bring local, national and global factors onto the political agenda in new
combinations (de Sousa Santos, 1995). The state, today, serves a meta-regulatory
function (de Sousa Santos & Jenson, 2000) through its role in the selection, co-
ordination, prioritization and control of non-state actors. Through this process
the state has significantly changed both the scope and the form of its own social
regulatory power and a panoply of innovative devices, instruments and indicators
has emerged. Additionally, the EU has, since the 2000 Lisbon Agenda, induced a
new rationality on how to govern (Nedergaard, 2007) by means of New Public
Management (Hood, 1991).
This political turn, presented as a technical enterprise meant to be neutral, is based
on the development and deployment of a vast array of public policy instruments
intended to improve public performance in the name of effectiveness, efficiency and
a decrease on public sector expenditure (Jackson, 2011). This can be understood as
mechanisms of political discipline, allowing the consolidation of a regulatory state
and new forms of domination (Le Galés, 2016). As noted in the introduction this is
GLUHFWO\UHODWHGZLWKWKHTXHVWLRQVRIZKRGHFLGHVZKDWVKRXOGEHPHDVXUHGKRZ
and why.
Therefore, a subtext of the politics of measurement and its focus on targets and
RXWFRPHVLVDPDMRUFRQFHUQDERXWFRQWURO5DGLQ7KH(8FRQWUROVPHPEHU
states’ performances and governs controlling performances of institutions and
LQGLYLGXDOV +RZHYHU WKH LQWHQGHG FRQVHTXHQFHV RI PHDVXUHPHQWV DV SDUW RI DQ
H[SOLFLW DQG LPSOLFLW DJHQGD FRH[LVW ZLWK XQLQWHQGHG XQGHVLUDEOH FRQVHTXHQFHV
(Lewis, 2015).
7+(*/2%$/3520,6(2)287&20(6%$6('$66(660(17,1
/,)(/21*/($51,1*
In the supranational scene, an active role has been performed by EU1 in the production
of lifelong learning policy documents which include precise recommendations and
reporting schedules for member states. Three policy documents are of particular
55
5%$5526
importance in this regard: (i) EU’s 2006 Parliament and Council Recommendation
on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning; (ii) the Council’s 2012 Recommendation
on The Validation of Non-Formal and Informal Learning; and (iii) EU’s 2018
Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning. Together those widely
disseminated documents aim to make the European ‘space’ the most competitive
area in the world.
7KHGRFXPHQWVH[SOLFLWO\SURPRWHFRPSHWLWLYHQHVVHPSOR\DELOLW\HTXLW\VRFLDO
inclusion and active citizenship. The tool used to monitor the achievement of these
goals is the updated 2018 version European Reference Framework, which was first
published in 2006. Through this, the member states are invited to create a system that
allow each citizen to develop a “wide range of key competences to adapt flexibly
to a rapidly changing and highly interconnected world” (2006, p. 13). At the same
time each state must “report on progress through the biennial progress reports on the
Education and Training 2010 Work Programme” (2006, p. 12). In the EU’s 2018
5HFRPPHQGDWLRQWKHDELOLW\WRPRQLWRUSURJUHVVRIPHPEHUV¶VWDWHVLVUHLWHUDWHG
The Commission proposes to develop a scoreboard to monitor the development
of key competences and to provide information on the measures implemented
to support competence development. It intends to develop a proposal for future
European benchmarks in competence development with regard to the next
cycle of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and
training. (2018, p. 12)
The development of competence frameworks that help define learning outcomes
and form a basis for assessment and validation practices is much valued (2018, p. 8),
supported by the results of international surveys, where validation will:
Enable individuals to have their competences recognised and obtain full
RU ZKHUH DSSOLFDEOH SDUWLDO TXDOLILFDWLRQV ,W FDQ EXLOG RQ WKH H[LVWLQJ
arrangements for the validation of non-formal and informal learning as well as
the European Qualification Framework, which provides a common reference
IUDPHZRUN WR FRPSDUH OHYHOV RI TXDOLILFDWLRQV LQGLFDWLQJ WKH FRPSHWHQFHV
UHTXLUHGWRDFKLHYHWKHP,QDGGLWLRQDVVHVVPHQWSOD\VDQLPSRUWDQWUROHLQ
structuring learning processes and in guidance, helping people to improve their
FRPSHWHQFHVDOVRZLWKUHJDUGWRFKDQJLQJUHTXLUHPHQWVRQWKHODERXUPDUNHW
(2018, p. 15)
Those 2006 and 2018 recommendations together with the Council Recommendation
on the Validation of Non-Formal and Informal Learning (2012) created the policy
framework for national states to operate nowadays in the context of the Strategic
Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training (ET2020) and the
Commission Communication on a New Skills Agenda for Europe, COM (2016) 381.
Therefore, the role of EU in developing the new lifelong learning era ties
national states in different ways according to the dynamics operating on the global,
national and local scenes. This next section aims to highlight a set of problems and
56
7+(52/(2)75$161$7,21$/%2',(6,1/,)(/21*/($51,1*
contradictory agendas that recently became apparent in ALE in Portugal where there
has been an attempt to combine recommendations of two main IOs with differentiated
visions and power capabilities, as well as the advent of government by indicators
and outputs in the field of recognition of prior learning national policies.
287&20(6%$6('$66(660(17±5()/(&7,21621
7+(32578*8(6(53/&$6(
Considering that Portugal has a history as an imperial power but has become a semi-
peripheral state (Wallerstein, 2004), its political relationship with the core and the
peripheral world areas has been multifaceted and implied a constant renegotiation
of (colonial and postcolonial) power, legitimacy and sovereignty in the global arena
(de Sousa Santos, 1993). Indeed, shifts in the global economic and political power
UHODWLRQV KDYH IUHTXHQWO\ GLVUXSWHG WKH JRYHUQLQJ DJHQGD DQG WKH HPHUJHQFH RI
counterhegemonic forces on the national scene, which resulted in the hybrid semi-
welfare and semi-neoliberal Portuguese state of today. Particularly since its entry
into the EU, in 1986, the impacts of Europeanization processes have been highly
visible in diverse spheres of Portuguese public policy.
This is clearly reflected in Portuguese ALE where transnational bodies had
a marked impact on the field after 1996, when it became subject to pluriscalar
governance, particularly through European co-financing mechanisms (Barros,
2013a). After the advent of democracy in 1974 up to the 1990s ALE was mainly
‘second chance’ and/or recurrent education. A policy of ALE for the 21st century
was announced, inspired by the 1976 UNESCO recommendation for ALE and based
on recognition of experience. The government’s presence in the fifth CONFINTEA
in 1997, and the Hamburg’s Agenda for the future, influenced the emergence of a
new political program2 in 1999. Adult education and training has been understood,
since then, as:
Ongoing initiatives in the field of education and lifelong learning, intended
WR UDLVH WKH HGXFDWLRQDO DQG TXDOLILFDWLRQ OHYHOV RI WKH DGXOW SRSXODWLRQ DQG
the promoting of personal development, active citizenship and employability.
(Melo et al., 2001, p. 11)
In this context, the year 2000 and 2001 were marked, in Portugal, by the National
Agency for Adult Education and Training (ANEFA3), which introduced new
institutions and educational processes fundamental for the establishment and
LPSOHPHQWDWLRQRIWKH3RUWXJXHVHQDWLRQDOV\VWHPRI53/%DUURVE7KLV53/
system originated a network of centres of recognition, validation and certification of
FRPSHWHQFHV&HQWUHV59&&WRPHHWWKHHGXFDWLRQDOQHHGVRIWKHDGXOWSRSXODWLRQ
revealed by an extensive literacy study (Benavente et al., 1995). However, that
original humanistic vision informed by UNESCO, has given rise to a narrower
IRFXVLQIOXHQFHGE\WKH(8LQZKLFK53/ZDVXQGHUVWRRGDVDVWUXFWXULQJHOHPHQW
of the state’s post-Fordist economic modernization.
57
5%$5526
7KLV QDWLRQDO 53/ V\VWHP DJHQGD ZDV FKDUDFWHUL]HG E\ D VWUDWHJLF YLVLRQ WKDW
tried to address the lack of recognition of competencies within the adult population.
:LWKWKLVVFRSH53/ZDVFRQVLGHUHGDPHDQVWRZDUGVDFKLHYLQJVRFLDOMXVWLFHDQG
an opportunity for vulnerable adults to have recognized and certified skills and
NQRZOHGJHWKDWKDYHEHHQDFTXLUHGRYHUWKHFRXUVHRIWKHLUOLYHVLQYDULRXVFRQWH[WV
,QGHHG 53/ SUDFWLFHV LQWURGXFHG LQ 3RUWXJDO EHWZHHQ DQG IRFXVHG
the process on the adult specificities and on his/her life experience, using tutorial
practices with educators employing different methodologies (such as competences
assessment, life narratives, portfolio building, and others), valuing self (re)cognition
and drawing on this to initiate new educational projects with transformative
SRWHQWLDO,QWKLVSHULRGHYHQZLWKVRPHWHQVLRQV,ZRXOGDUJXHWKH53/SURFHVV
mainly served the project of personal and social emancipation for the most
disadvantaged citizens (Barros, 2013c).
7KHPRGHODGRSWHGLQ3RUWXJDOIRU53/SURFHVVSUHVXSSRVHGWKUHHIXQGDPHQWDO
D[HV RI SHUIRUPDQFH ZKLFK ZHUH VHTXHQWLDOO\ DV IROORZV WKH UHFRJQLWLRQ RI NH\
competences; the axis of validation; and the axis of certification. Thus, the recognition
of key competences was understood as the personal identification process of
SUHYLRXVO\DFTXLUHGFRPSHWHQFHV³ZKLFKVHHNVWRSURYLGHWRWKHDGXOWRFFDVLRQVIRU
reflection and assessment of his/her life experience, leading to the auto and hetero
recognition of their competences and promoting the construction of significant
personal and professional projects” (ANEFA, 2002, p. 15). This axis of performance
was one of the most important for activating a transformation in the perceptions
of the adults about themselves and about the world; the next axis of performance
was the validation of key competences leading to the granting of official status for
individual competences. Procedurally the validation of competences was made, by
an oral presentation of the portfolio to a jury of validation. It was conceived, then, as
a “formal public act undertaken by an entity duly accredited to award certification
ZLWKVFKRROHTXLYDOHQFH´$1()$S)LQDOO\WKHODVWRIWKHVWUXFWXULQJ
axis concerned the certification4RINH\FRPSHWHQFHV7KLVFHUWLILFDWHKDGDQHTXDO
legal value when compared with the regular school certificate. In short, the main
SXUSRVHRI3RUWXJXHVH53/SROLF\DQGSUDFWLFHVGXULQJWKLVSHULRGZDVWRSURPRWH
the visibility of informal and experiential learning, assigning it with a use value, in
educational, social and professional spheres.
7KLV ZDV KRZ 3RUWXJXHVH QDWLRQDO V\VWHP RI 53/ ZRUNHG XQWLO WKH HQG RI
ZKHQDQHZSROLF\IRU$/(DQG53/DSSHDUHGFDOOHGProgram of the New
Opportunities Initiative – INO ± WKURXJK ZKLFK WKH QHZ JRYHUQDQFH
RI$/( ZDV LQWURGXFHG UHSUHVHQWLQJ D PLOHVWRQH IRU 53/ SUDFWLFHV 7KLV PDUNV
a decisive moment in the rise of the politics of measurement and government by
LQGLFDWRUVLQWKH3RUWXJXHVH$/(DQG53/DQGLQWKLVWKHSROLFLHVGHYHORSHGE\WKH
EU, since the Lisbon agenda, were crucial.
The European Area of Education and Training, launched another phase in the
process of Europeanization of the educational and training policies (Barros &
Belando-Montoro, 2013), visible in the Portuguese case through the INO Program.
58
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,DUJXHWKDWWKH,123URJUDPDQGVXEVHTXHQWSROLWLFDOHYHQWVFDQEHLQWHUSUHWHGDV
an effect of this particular supranational agenda (Barros, 2011b, 2018).The strategy
of the INO Program was based on two fundamental pillars, on the one hand, to
give new opportunities to young people through the increase of techno-professional
courses; and, on the other hand, to provide new opportunities to adults by increasing
DVVHWVRI$/(DQG53/SURFHVV6LJQLILFDQWWDUJHWVZHUHDQQRXQFHGLQ'HFHPEHU
WREHDFKLHYHGE\WRFHUWLI\DERXWDGXOWVYLD53/
and 350,000 through other forms of ALE). These unprecedented targets, in the
Portuguese context, had a dual purpose: (i) to expand the democratization of access
to ALE, through a territorial increase of the network of Centres offering ALE and
53/SUDFWLFHVDQGDWWKHVDPHWLPHLLWRFUHDWHPRUHHIIHFWLYHQHVVDQGHIILFLHQF\
LQWKH$/(DQG53/V\VWHPVDJDLQVWDVHWRIFULWHULDWKDWHGXFDWRUVPXVWDFKLHYHWR
ensure financing and keep their jobs. The aim was that people would obtain higher
certification rates in a shorter time.
In this context, several studies have warned that these processes seemingly
WUDQVIRUPHG D FRPSOH[ HGXFDWLRQDO SURFHVV RI $/( DQG 53/ LQWR D VLPSOLVWLF
DGPLQLVWUDWLYHRQH5RGULJXHV 1yYRD,QGHHGDQHZW\SHRIµUHPHGLDO¶
UDWLRQDOLW\DVVRFLDWHGZLWK$/(DQG53/HPHUJHGLQWRWKHSROLWLFDOSXEOLFGLVFRXUVH
since then. Other studies have counselled that educational actors need to remain
DOHUWDQGFULWLFDOWRSUHYHQW$/(DQG53/EHFRPLQJMXVWRXWSXWVDQGVRQHJOHFWLQJ
the personal and social emancipation projects of citizens, in general, and of the
disadvantaged, in particular (Barros, 2014).
A fact, much celebrated, was that through these new technologies of government,
DQGDFFRUGLQJWRGDWDSURYLGHGE\,12WKHµHIILFLHQF\¶RI$/(SDUWLFXODUO\RI53/
system, has been improved rapidly. The total number of adult certificates awarded
EHWZHHQWRZDVYLD53/SURFHVVDQGYLDRWKHU
ALE course) and this number increased between the years 2006 and 2007, to a total
RIYLD53/SURFHVVDQGYLDRWKHU$/(FRXUVH7KHVXFFHVV
was measured by the large number of centres and candidates, in process and already
FHUWLILHG7KXV$/(DQG53/DFTXLUHGDORWRISXEOLFYLVLELOLW\WRWDOO\XQKHDUGLQ
the context of its national history, obtained through marketing campaigns acclaiming
the achievements of the INO Program. However, the other side of this story though
was the high pressure put on educators to achieve targets. Serious dilemmas emerged
UHJDUGLQJWKHQRQPHDVXUDEOHDVSHFWVRI53/SURFHVVDVZHOO
New problems and paradoxes had emerged, from the rapid mass production of
53/ SURFHVVHV IRU 53/ FHQWUHV DQG HGXFDWRUV DV ZHOO DV IRU LQGLYLGXDOV$GXOW
HGXFDWRUVKDYHFKDQJHGWKHZD\WKH\ZRUNWRDYRLGWKHFRQVHTXHQFHVRIQRWDFKLHYLQJ
targets, and time consuming aspects of ALE often became neglected (with a loss
RIHGXFDWLRQDOTXDOLW\WKHDGXOWVZKRREWDLQHGWKHFHUWLILFDWHVIDFHGDVXEVHTXHQW
SUREOHPWKDWWKHUHKDVEHHQDGHYDOXDWLRQRIVFKRROFHUWLILFDWHVREWDLQHGYLD53/
One of the most significant pitfalls of ‘governance by numbers’, has been the
UHSODFHPHQWRIWKHDVSLUDWLRQIRUJUHDWHUVRFLDOMXVWLFHWKURXJK53/E\DQHROLEHUDO
idea of individual competiveness, where adults are expected to be responsible and
59
5%$5526
self-accountable for their ‘employability’. However, as more certified competences

do not necessarily correspond to a greater availability of jobs for unemployed
DGXOWVWKHTXHVWLRQRIZKRZLQVDQGORVHVZLWKWKHULVHRIJRYHUQPHQWE\LQGLFDWRUV
becomes key.
7KHHIIHFWVRQWKH53/V\VWHPVKRZVWKDWWKHVLJQLILFDQWTXHVWLRQVDERXWWKHQHZ
policy indicators are not technical but political. From a social justice perspective
WKH53/V\VWHPXQGHUWKHSROLWLFVRIPHDVXUHPHQWVDQGJRYHUQPHQWE\LQGLFDWRUV
DOPRVWEHFDPHDFRQILUPDWLRQPHFKDQLVPRILQHTXDOLWLHVE\GLVWULEXWLQJWRWKHOHDVW
powerful in society certificates which have been devalued due to the scale and rapidity
of their production. The outcomes assessment has implied a significant reshaping
of the educators’ performances and roles, as they have no access to the creation,
decision and control of the measurements system. In the Portuguese case, the rise
of measurements was used as a tool to maintain centralized control of ALE and
53/V\VWHPZKLOHGHFHQWUDOL]LQJUHVSRQVLELOLW\,QWKLVFRQWH[WWKHDGXOWHGXFDWRU¶V
fragile position, without a firmly established professional status, effectively prevents
resistance. Additionally, by focusing responsibility on them legitimated the argument
that any closure of an INO Centre was not a political circumstance but a technical
one related to an underperformance in outcomes-based assessment.
The restructured Portuguese state used the INO Program as a political expedient
WRDGDSWQDWLRQDO$/(WRVXSUDQDWLRQDOUHTXLUHPHQWVXQGHUWKHQHZSROLF\SDUDGLJP
for statistics, in which International Surveys have been giving a remarkable
contribution.
The instrumentalization of educational policy through compulsory targets
and outputs, has resulted in a co-optation of educational work into technical and
DGPLQLVWUDWLYHZRUNQDUURZLQJWKHSUHYLRXVO\RSHQIRFXVRI53/DQGGLPLQLVKLQJ
WKH DWWHQWLRQ WR HPDQFLSDWRU\ YDOXHV :LWK WKH VXEVHTXHQW DGYHQW RI DXVWHULW\
policies the short-term centrally driven targets, with concerns about public sector
expenditure, definitively won at the expenses of long-term educational objectives. As
a result of the global economic and financial crisis, the Portuguese state was severely
monitored according to a new set of criteria and goals. Between 2011 and 2015,
just a residual network of ALE centres remained as Centres for the Qualification
and the Professional Education (CQEP) operated in schools without financing.
Under a political action justified by a public discourse of crisis and austerity, with
policy instruments of external legitimacy, adult education in Portugal, during that
period, disappeared from the political agenda without public resistance. In a sense
just this single fact showed, through the field of ALE, how devices for maintaining
social order succeeded in neutralizing counterforces, by centralizing control while
decentralizing responsibility.
),1$/5(0$5.6
5HJXODWRU\SRZHURIVWDWHVFRQWLQXHVWRPDUNSXEOLFSROLFLHVEXWLWVPDLQUROHQRZ
implies coordination of different kind of interests from actors spread in a pluriscalar
60
7+(52/(2)75$161$7,21$/%2',(6,1/,)(/21*/($51,1*
way. Different national states have thus different capabilities for conducting the
global structured agenda for public policies. In this context, IOs became increased
influential entities, producing comparative measurements and evaluations, and
should be considered together with national bodies in analyses of the dynamics
of power and possibilities in lifelong learning era. These are the mechanisms of a
political turn in Europe, in which the restructuring of states serves to consolidate an
increased regulatory state with new forms of subnational domination, reflecting the
increasing power of IOs such as the EU, with new mechanisms of political discipline
for states and new forms of national domination.
Therefore, the rise of the politics of measurement in ALE comes inscribed in an
agenda that represents a promise of making the European space the most competitive
area in the world. However, tensions and contractions have emerged in national
policies and practices that express important pitfalls of outcomes-based assessment
into ALE. This chapter has highlighted a set of problems and conflicting agendas
LQWKHVSKHUHRI$/(DQG53/LQ3RUWXJDO,IWKHQDWLRQDODJHQGDIRUHYDOXDWLRQ
and assessment on this field, until 2005, was based on a formative rationality and
was mostly concerned with social justice for the most disadvantaged citizens in
accordance with UNESCO’s vision and recommendations; after 2006 evaluation
and assessment on this field came to be based on a summative rationality, mostly
FRQFHUQHG ZLWK REWDLQLQJ D KLJKHU FHUWLILFDWLRQ UDWH RI ORZ TXDOLILHG ZRUNLQJ
adults in a shorter time. Indeed, the advent of government by indicators and
RXWSXWVEDVHGDVVHVVPHQWLQWKHILHOGRI53/QDWLRQDOSROLFLHVZDVXVHGWRHQDFW
an accelerated state post-Fordist economic modernization, under the auspices of
the EU agenda.
NOTES
1
Together with other powerful global actors as: OECD, P21 (Partnership for 21st Century Skills),
World Economic Forum, etc.
2
Action Programme’s knowing +: Program for the development and expansion of adult education and
training, 1999–2006.
3
The role of ANEFA was fundamental in supporting extended partnerships increment with the third
sector. It has had however a short existence: created in September 1999 was closed in September
2002.
4
8QWLOWKH53/SURFHVVFRXOGSURYLGHFHUWLILFDWHVRQO\IRUEDVLFOHYHO\HDUVF\FOH\HDUV
F\FOHRU\HDUVF\FOH,QWKH5/3KDVEHHQH[SDQGHGDVDFHUWLILFDWLRQIRUDVHFRQGDU\OHYHO
(12 years).
5()(5(1&(6
ANEFA. (2002). Centros de Reconhecimento, Validação e Certificação de Competências – Roteiro
Estruturante. Lisboa: ANEFA.
Archer, C. (2001). International organisations/RQGRQ5RXWOHGJH
%DUURV5 %HODQGR0RQWRUR0(XURSHL]DomRGDVSROtWLFDVGHHGXFDomRGHDGXOWRVUHIOH[}HV
WHyULFDVDSDUWLUGRVFDVRVGH(VSDQKDH3RUWXJDOEducation Policy Analysis Archives, 21±
61
5%$5526
%DUURV 5 D Genealogia dos Conceitos em Educação de Adultos: Da Educação Permanente à
Aprendizagem ao Longo da Vida – Um estudo sobre os fundamentos político-pedagógicos da prática
educacional. Lisboa: Chiado Editora.
%DUURV5EDVSROtWLFDVHGXFDWLYDVFRPRSROtWLFDVVRFLDLVPDSHDQGRWUDQVIRUPDo}HVQRPDQGDWR
SDUD D HGXFDomR GH DGXOWRV KRGLHUQD ,Q /XtV $OFRIRUDGR -RDTXLP )HUUHLUD $QWyQLR )HUUHLUD
0DUJDULGD/LPD&ULVWLQD9LHLUD$OEHUWLQD2OLYHLUD 6yQLD)HUUHLUD(GVEducação e Formação
de Adultos: políticas, práticas e investigaçãoSS±&RLPEUD8QLYHUVLGDGHGH&RLPEUD
%DUURV5)URPOLIHORQJHGXFDWLRQWROLIHORQJOHDUQLQJ'LVFXVVLRQRIVRPHHIIHFWVRIWRGD\¶V
neoliberal policies. RELA – European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults,
3±
%DUURV5DAs políticas educativas para o sector da educação de adultos em portugal: as novas
instituições e processos educativos emergentes entre 1996–2006. Lisboa: Chiado Editora.#
%DUURV5E$$JrQFLD1DFLRQDOSDUDD(GXFDomRH)RUPDomRGH$GXOWRV$1()$±8PPDUFR
na europeização da agenda pública do sector. Revista Portuguesa de Educação, 26±
%DUURV5F7KH3RUWXJXHVHFDVHRI53/QHZSUDFWLFHVDQGQHZDGXOWHGXFDWRUV±6RPHWHQVLRQV
and ambivalences in the framework of new public policies. IJLE – International Journal of Lifelong
Education 6SHFLDOLVVXH5HVHDUFKLQJ5HFRJQLWLRQRI3ULRU/HDUQLQJDURXQGWKH*OREH32±
%DUURV57KH3RUWXJXHVH5HFRJQLWLRQRI3ULRU/HDUQLQJ53/SROLF\DJHQGD±([DPLQLQJD
volatile panacea by means of ethno-phenomenological interpretations. Encyclopaideia, Journal of
Phenomenology and Education, XVIII±
%DUURV5$µQRYDSROtWLFDGHHGXFDomRHIRUPDomRGHDGXOWRV¶HP3RUWXJDOFUtWLFDjJRYHUQDomR
neoliberal do sector em contexto de Europeização. Ensaio – Avaliação e Políticas Públicas em
Educação, 26±
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
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$$72&
European Parliament and Council. (2006). Recommendation on key competences for lifelong
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7;7"XUL FHOH[$+
European Parliament and Council. (2018). Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning
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/H*DOqV3Performance measurement as a policy instrument.(3ULQWV±&HQWUHG¶(WXGHV

(XURSHHQQHVHWGHSROLWLTXHFRPSDUH)UDQFH5HWULHYHG-DQXDU\IURP
https://www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etudes-europeennes/fr/publications
/HZLV-7KHSROLWLFVDQGFRQVHTXHQFHVRISHUIRUPDQFHPHDVXUHPHQWPolicy and Society, 34(1),
±
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OECD. (1973). Recurrent education – A strategy for lifelong learning. Brussels: OECD Publishing.
5DGLQ%Challenging the performance movement: Accountability, complexity and democratic
values. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
5RGULJXHV & 1yYRD$ 3UHIiFLR ,Q 5XL &DQiULR %HOPLUR &DEULWR (GV Educação e
Formação de Adultos – Mutações e ConvergênciasSS±/LVERD('8&$)RUPDomR
UNESCO. (1976). Recommendation on the development of adult education – General Conference.
1DLUREL5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSZZZXQHVFRRUJHGXFDWLRQSGI1$,52%B(3')
UNESCO. (2012). UNESCO guidelines for the recognition, validation and accreditation of the outcomes
of non-formal and informal learning. Hamburg: UNESCO and UIL.
UNESCO. (2016). Recommendation on adult learning and education. France: UNESCO and UIL.
5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSXQHVGRFXQHVFRRUJLPDJHVHSGI
Wallerstein, I. (2004). World-systems analysis: An introduction. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
World Bank. (2011). Learning for all: Investing in people’s knowledge and skills to promote development –
World Bank Group Education Strategy 2020. Washington, DC: World Bank.
63
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6. THE DISCOURSES OF PIAAC

Re-Imagining Literacy through Numbers
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The PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies)

is the newest of the OECD’s international surveys aiming to organize the notoriously
diverse area of adult learning in order to make it tractable to comparative analysis
and policy. Such surveys play a significant role in the development of new forms
of governance and social regulation, where power is exerted through data and
efforts are made to normalize knowledge in line with neoliberal views of the world
(see Ozga et al., 2011; Tsatseroni & Evans, 2013). PIAAC has three dimensions:
/LWHUDF\/1XPHUDF\1DQG3UREOHP6ROYLQJLQ7HFKQRORJ\5LFKHQYLURQPHQWV
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comparative surveys, namely the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALL)
and The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). They are also linked with
the school-aged assessments developed through the Programme for International
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the digital aspects of adult skills and, in the pipeline, are further assessments of
personality and social skills that can be added to the mix and will connect the PIAAC
with other survey tools (see World Bank, 2014; Kirsch & Lennon, 2017).
Clearly, this is an ambitious program with the potential to shape understandings
of the field of adult education across many contexts. Grek (2010, p. 403) claims
that PIAAC is a landmark development in international benchmarking in that it is
designed to bring together performance measures from all these surveys in order to
monitor and promote Lifelong Learning (LLL).
7KH 3,$$& LV D SURJUDP RI KRXVHKROG VDPSOH VXUYH\V RI DGXOWV DJHG ±
years, administered by an interviewer in participants’ own homes using a laptop or
pen and paper. For each of the L and N assessments, each respondent is assigned a
score which is transformed into one of six levels from ‘below level 1’ to ‘level 5’
2(&'5HVXOWVDUHSURYLGHGE\WKH2(&'ERWKDVFRXQWU\DYHUDJHV
and in terms of percentages at the different levels. As with other OECD surveys,
D EDFNJURXQG TXHVWLRQQDLUH LV DOVR FRPSOHWHG E\ HDFK UHVSRQGHQW GHWDLOLQJ
demographic and attitudinal information including job-related information such as
pay; the use of and need for skills at work; education and training record; perceived
skills match with employment; educational level of parents; motivation and so on.

M. HAMILTON
This information is used to allocate people to subgroups for analysis and to generate
patterns of relationships between the skills tests and social outcomes.
Twenty four countries reported in the first round, and a further nine in round two,
the results of which were released at the end of June 2016 and integrated with the
earlier survey findings (OECD, 2016).1
The discourse of the PIAAC presents literacy, numeracy and problem-solving
as clearly defined key information processing skills. It offers a simple model of
causality in relation to social reality and its logic is seductive. As O’Keeffe says
“Situating itself in a tradition of labor force surveys designed to measure human
capital, the PIAAC offers an enticing portrait of the adult worker for use by
governments, businesses, universities and training providers” (2016, p. 100).
However, from my perspective as a researcher in the field of adult literacy, it is
important to pause and think about the known diversity of adult capabilities before
we get drawn into the globalizing discourse of the PIAAC. Literacy ethnographies
from many countries and historical periods (Street, 2014) as well as educational
accounts and first-hand narratives from adult learners (see, for example, Barton et al.,
2008) have documented the immense diversity and uneven “spikey” profiles of adult
learners. These are constituted through the diverse contexts of their lives and learning
trajectories and the variety of meanings and activities that “literacy” takes on within
these contexts. There are multiple languages that cannot be fully represented in the
survey samples or through the complex translation of test items. There are large,
mobile populations travelling across national boundaries by choice or to escape
conflict or economic destitution and carrying with them cultural traditions and mixes
which are constantly evolving. Also evolving are communicative practices in relation
to digital technologies. All of these features make literacy a fast-moving target which
defies the necessary methodological constrictions of large-scale surveys.
Given this diversity, my starting assumption for this chapter is very different
from those underlying the OECD’s model. I argue that in order to understand adult
performance on the PIAAC, we should think in terms of ‘practices’ rather than
individual skills: practices which are relational, contested, changing and situated in
the flux of day-to-day activities. I use sociomaterial theory to look critically at and
beyond the discourse of the PIAAC to see how selected aspects of literacy practices
are continually being assembled as part of evolving projects of social ordering. From
this perspective human actions are seen as continuous with the material world of
objects, technologies and tools, and agency is dispersed across these (Edwards et al.,
2015). International surveys can thus viewed as powerful actors in their own right
within the field of adult education (Hamilton, 2012).
1$55$7,9(62)/,7(5$&<
There are many ways in which people have tried to define and explain how literacy
functions in individual lives and in society, asserting its usefulness for the state
and for other social and economic institutions. Over time and in different contexts,
66
7+(',6&2856(62)3,$$&
literacy education has been imbued with a wide variety of aims: religious, moral,
cultural and emancipatory. It has been enlisted to support nation building, wealth
creation and universal human rights. As a term, literacy is elastic and slippery and
it can be made to carry all kinds of hopes, judgements and expectations presenting
heroic stories that result in a heavy burden of expectation on literacy achievement
that is not substantiated by the historical evidence (Graff & Duffy, 2008). These
narratives about literacy are part of what shapes literacy education in different
historical eras and places, affecting our views about who literacy learners are and
ZKDW VKRXOG EH DSSURSULDWH FXUULFXOD 7KH\ FLUFXODWH LQ PDQ\ SODFHV ± LQ SROLF\
documents, in the news and popular media, but also in everyday social interactions
in homes and classrooms.
These narratives of literacy present it variously as a moral and symbolic good,
as an essential component of nation building, as empowerment for individuals and
disenfranchised groups, as a commodified technology for getting things done and
for increasing prosperity.
Different interest groups make use of these narratives for their own purposes
at particular moments of history and change. Each narrative proposes particular
relationships with other factors in individual lives and in society at large. Seen
from this perspective, current attempts by international agencies to organize literacy
through comparative survey tools are revealed as the partial, though powerful,
interventions of particular interest groups.
Situated models using a more complex notion of causation have been developed
(see Street & Lefstein, 2007, for an overview). Scholars of literacy studies have
concentrated on describing the vernacular, everyday practices of reading and
writing, the processes involved as readers and writers use texts embedded in
everyday networks and activities and highlight the indeterminate effects of reading
and writing, that may be both positive and negative for individuals and societies.
They view institutions as selecting and privileging certain practices, and educational
policy regimes are one example of this. This social practice approach to literacy
demands a different methodology for assessment, based on literacy as a situated,
distributed and collective resource, process-oriented rather than an individually
possessed skill (Street, 2014).
:+$7,67+(',6&2856(2)3,$$&"
Like many others (e.g. Tett, 2014), I argue that a technological narrative of literacy
predominates in international surveys like the PIAAC whereby literacy is seen as a
fixed set of information processing skills, that can be measured and precisely defined
by experts, regardless of context. I maintain that the simplistic model of causation
that underlies this approach is misleading and unproductive for policy-makers and
practitioners alike.
I demonstrate the assumptions of this model through the discourse of PIAAC
IRXQG LQ 2(&' SXEOLFDWLRQV ± WKDW LV WKURXJK WKH ZD\V LQ ZKLFK OLWHUDF\ LV
67
M. HAMILTON
discussed and framed using words, numbers and images. As for other international
surveys, copious information is offered by the OECD about the PIAAC programme,
online, in print and via webinars and videos. There are explanations of how the test
is constructed, how the surveys are carried out, the methodological issues arising,
findings for individual countries and policy guidance for them, as well as the familiar
league tables that show participating countries ranked in order of their populations’
achievements in specific subject domains and scores.
As an example, we can look at the press release on the date of publication for
the round two PIAAC results, on June 28th 2016 (see Appendix). This is aimed at
already interested experts and advocates and is straightforward in its expression of
the core features of the survey.
The survey measures adult lifelong skills for employment (“what people know
and how they use their skills at work”). Thus literacy is defined as an economic and
work-related skill while other dimensions or reading and writing are made invisible
and only a particular population (“16–65 year-olds” who are economically active or
potentially active adults) are included.
It is based on an expert technical view of individually tested skills, defined as
information processing and based on cognitive psychometric theory. Again, as I
explain above, this is only one possible way of viewing literacy but it is built into the
survey and thus circumscribes it. It is not possible within this discourse to explore
the notion of literacy and numeracy as relational, distributed practices.
Nation states (or sometimes selected parts of these as in Jakarta, England and
Northern Ireland) are the unit of comparison. “Governments” and “countries” are
the target for policy advice. This invites us to imagine the global world as composed
of these units and obliterates other possible views. For example, a language map
would look very different, as would a cultural map based on ethnic or religious
groupings or even an economic map composed of rich and poor and the distribution
and/or control of economic resources by corporations or governments, all of which
alternatives could be argued to be relevant.
Additional assumptions underlie this statement and the whole enterprise of
comparative testing of adult skills. These are unstated but powerful in shaping
our understanding of the topic. The technological model of skills is re-iterated in
numerous other communications and in promoting it, the OECD creates what John
Law calls “collateral realities”:
Practices enact realities including collateral realities … Collateral realities
are realities that get done incidentally, and along the way. They are realities
that get done, for the most part, unintentionally. They are realities that may
be obnoxious. Importantly, they are realities could be different. It follows that
WKH\DUHUHDOLWLHVWKDWDUHWKURXJKDQGWKURXJKSROLWLFDO/DZSS±
In the case of international assessments, these collateral realities are not so much
unintended as pre-supposed by a specific world view that is not challenged in the
discourse. This world view assumes:
68
7+(',6&2856(62)3,$$&
a single dimension and scale of comparison for measuring skills which implies
there should be an agreed, universal curriculum (see Seller & Lingard, 2015).
This assumption inevitably narrows the range of skills to be tested. As an
example, the items used to measure “literacy” only test “reading” despite the fact
WKDWUHVSRQGHQWVWKHPVHOYHVUHSRUWWKDW³ZULWLQJ´LVWKHPRVWIUHTXHQWO\XVHGVNLOO
at work (OECD, 2016, p. 17).
a view of the nature of problem-solving and of digital competence as an essential
good while presenting a confusion around the issues of print versus digital
literacies.
that large-scale, de-contextualized evidence matters more than situated and local
knowledge for understanding literacy and making policy decisions.
that decisions about development and change should be based on futures imagined
by techno-experts and expressed through data rather than drawing from past
traditions and existing knowledge/wisdom.
Gorur (2011) outlines the steps by which these assumptions and their underlying
values come to be embedded in international assessments like the PIAAC as the
experts make crucial decisions about how to operationalize ideas of literacy and
other areas of practice in order to carry out the survey. She identifies the significant
decision points as: (1) choose items to represent domains of knowledge (2) translate
these across cultures and languages (3) choose a sample to represent the population
in each national context (4) agree on methods of data collection (5) apply statistical
WHFKQLTXHV
As Gorur’s (2011) data shows, the processes of decision-making are often fraught
with controversy and involve many compromises which later become invisible.
These ‘moments of translation’ relate to the “collateral realities” identified by Law
and are the means by which they are achieved.
+2:7+(',6&2856(2)3,$$&&,5&8/$7(6
The OECD’s discourse of PIAAC is picked up and locally interpreted in media

and national policy documents. The OECD’s view enters the public domain via
the materials it produces and promotes which are aimed primarily at journalists,
researchers and government policy makers.
However, the translation of any OECD agenda into national policies is mediated
by many actors including the media, research, advocacy and policy communities.
The “public” consists of differentiated groups with more or less interest in the survey
findings on a given topic. What presence the PIAAC has for general members of the
public will depend most heavily on the mass media and that is why media research
is of particular interest.
We have shown this through our comparative study of the media coverage of
the first round of PIAAC findings, how the OECD Country Notes frame and guide
journalists’ writing in the three countries we researched (Yasukawa et al., 2016). We
69
M. HAMILTON
tracked the media coverage in Japan (a high-ranking country), the UK (median) and
France (low). Our findings (apart from the realization of how challenging it is to do
such work) can be summarized as follows.
The analysis shows how, in each national case, particular aspects of the PIAAC
results were foregrounded, depending not only on the performance measures
themselves, but also on how accounts of the results are assembled to extend national
cultural narratives and debates around education and social policy. PIAAC acts
as a policy intervention initially through framing public awareness of adult skills
and persuasively enrolling key national actors. The OECD itself actively mobilizes
media responses and offers copious (yet selective) resources to guide public
interpretation of the findings. These resources shape media coverage in national
contexts, and provide a credible evidence base that is hardly contested in the ensuing
media discourse. Importantly, the OECD material summarizing complex data that
DUH RWKHUZLVH QRW HDV\ IRU MRXUQDOLVWV WR TXLFNO\ DFFHVV DQG DEVRUE ,W LQHYLWDEO\
directs attention to particular facts and issues in a format that is easy to translate into
press reports and headline news.
Digital media offer new channels for communicating about the PIAAC such
DV7ZLWWHUEXWHTXDOO\LPSRUWDQWWKH\DOVRHQDEOHLQWHUHVWHGDXGLHQFHVWRLQWHUDFW
with the data online to produce their own selection of findings and to craft their
own tables and infographics for use in national contexts. While the expressed
motivation for producing such a plethora of information is to make the data
transparent and accessible to the OECD’s many partners, the result can also be seen
as contributing to a totalizing discourse of adult skills which powerfully colonize
our understandings of literacy and the other domains of learning that are tested.
Moreover, the apparent freedom to analyze the data is itself controlled and limited,
not least by the statistical methods and algorithms used to produce and present the
data (see O’Keeffe, 2017).
The interactive manipulation of data and training workshops offered to
researchers around this, actively entangle audiences in this discourse and the logic
of the surveys and is facilitating a veritable industry of secondary analysis which
consumes increasing volumes of research time and resources. (A Google scholar
search on “PIAAC” in April 2018 gives over 7500 results.)
The policy prescriptions consistently offered by the OECD outline the key features
of educational and training systems that policy makers should attend to and their task
is presented as that of achieving these reforms by adapting to their local context of
education and employment. Beiber et al. (2015, p. 168) summarize this policy advice
as being “composed of political measures such as introducing measurable standards
in relation to students’ reading literacy, and promoting school autonomy in terms
of financing, curricula, and personnel” (see also foreword to OECD, 2016, and the
press release reproduced in the Appendix to this chapter which offers further advice
related to adult skills development).
70
7+(',6&2856(62)3,$$&
,0$*,1,1*/,7(5$&<7+528*+:25'6180%(56$1',0$*(6
I have argued in various publications (Hamilton, 2012, 2014) that the use of numbers
to imagine and measure literacy significantly contributes to the high credibility of
the technological narrative promoted through the international assessments such
as PIAAC, despite its flaws. I use analytical resources from Van Leeuwen (2008),
Lemke (2005) and O’Halloran (2008) to support this argument, who are some of
the few discourse researchers to take up the challenge of analyzing multimodal
discourse including numbers. In summary, their approach suggests that as a mode
of communication, numbers have affordances that fit with the commodification of
literacy because they de-contextualize and objectify the objects and people they
GHVFULEH7KH\HQDEOHTXDOLWLHVVXFKDVEHLQJIXQFWLRQDOO\OLWHUDWHWREHLVRODWHGDQG
to stand in for individual people. O’Halloran shows how the system of mathematical
semiosis or meaning making conceived by Descartes was explicitly designed to
“banish human context, experience and sensuality from truth” in order to offer
XQLTXHDQDO\WLFSRZHUVLQSODFHRIWKHVH2¶+DOORUDQS
The power of numbers is to make possible precise description and manipulation
of continuous relations between entities in time and space in a way that natural
ODQJXDJHLVQRWVRZHOOHTXLSSHGWRGR1XPEHUVPDNHLWSRVVLEOHWRSUHVHQWUHDOLW\
as amenable to prediction and control.
Numerical data facilitate the process of making comparisons through processes
of aggregation and classification. In this process, they render value judgements
LQYLVLEOHDQGRIIHUDQLOOXVLRQRIWHFKQLFDOSUHFLVLRQZKLFKLVZHOFRPHWRSROLF\±
in the words of Latour (2004, p. 231) they render “matters of concern” as “matters
RI IDFW´ 5HVHDUFK VXJJHVWV WKDW WKH SRZHU RI QXPEHUV LV DPSOLILHG LI PRGHV DUH
skilfully combined for communicating messages. Each mode (words, images and
numbers) interacts with the others resulting in expansions of meaning.
The most traditional form of numerical presentation is the use of the matrix
or table which Lemke (2005) suggests offers a very dense and succinct form of
meaning-making which also displays relationships and patterns in a visual way.
3UHVHQWDWLRQVRILQWHUQDWLRQDODVVHVVPHQWGDWDIUHTXHQWO\XVHWKHVHNLQGVRIGLVSOD\
and web-based interactive applications allow audiences to select and shape their
own tables, so seemingly taking control of the information.
Increasingly such tables are combined or transformed into creative visualizations
and infographics which, arguably, enable audiences to absorb information about
literacy from the surveys while by-passing the numbers it is based on. Primitive
forms of these visualizations are in the form of bar charts, scatterplots, graphs and
time series, but color, movement and spatial features are now being used to develop
narratives from the findings (Williamson, 2016).
The developing specialism of data journalism makes sophisticated use of such
visualizations. The well-known appeal of visual images and their capacity to promote
emotionally powerful messages in headline form are useful where audiences are
71
M. HAMILTON
unwilling or unable to engage in a sustained way with the numbing detail of complex
tables or narratives about the intricacies of the skills assessments.
Both Lemke (2005) and Gorur (2011) warn about the dangers of such
disengagement and the importance of opening up the black boxes of numbers if we
DUH WR EH DEOH WR GHYHORS XVHIXO HYDOXDWLRQV DQG FULWLTXHV RI VXUYH\ ILQGLQJV WKDW
FDQEHDSSOLHGLQSROLF\6XFKFULWLTXHVDUHHVVHQWLDOWRUHFRYHUWKHVLWXDWHGGHWDLO
dynamics and relationships that shape literacy practices in all their variety and which
are crucial to making effective decisions in policy and practice for adult learners.
CONCLUSION
The use of numbers to imagine and measure literacy significantly contributes to

the high credibility of the technological narrative of literacy and other adult skills,
despite its limitations (Hamilton, 2012). Uncritical enthusiasm for Big Data is
pervasive across many social policy domains and my argument thus has significance
far beyond literacy and lifelong learning.
Despite their appearance of technical factuality the metrics on which surveys
of adult skills are based are laden with value assumptions about the nature and
meanings of literacy and the goals of adult education. These assumptions are made
by a narrow range of experts, mainly based in the global north and are hidden by
QXPEHUV ZKLFK DUH KDUG IRU OD\ XVHUV WR TXHVWLRQ 3HRSOHV¶ RZQ H[SHULHQFH DQG
meanings of literacy are devalued by this power grab. One of the urgent tasks for
research and practitioners alike is to make visible and to challenge these assumptions
which are colonizing the discourse of adult education, and to demystify the numbers
that veil them. If the power of big data in adult education remains unchallenged, the
result will be a narrowed and impoverished version of literacy learning that will do
OLWWOHWRHTXLSXVIRUWKHGHPDQGVRIOLIHLQDFRPSOH[DQGXQSUHGLFWDEOHZRUOG
NOTE
1
First round countries were: Netherlands; Finland; Japan; Flanders (Belgium); South Korea; Austria;
(VWRQLD6ZHGHQ&]HFK5HSXEOLF6ORYDN5HSXEOLF*HUPDQ\'HQPDUN1RUZD\$XVWUDOLD3RODQG
&DQDGD&\SUXV1RUWKHUQ,UHODQG)UDQFH,UHODQG(QJODQG6SDLQ,WDO\8QLWHG6WDWHVDOVR5XVVLDQ
Federation).
5()(5(1&(6
%DUWRQ',YDQLF5$SSOHE\<+RGJH5 7XVWLQJ.Literacy, lives and learning. London:
5RXWOHGJH
Beiber, T., Martens, K., Niemann, D., & Teltemann, J. (2015) Towards a global model in education? Student
literacy asessments and their impact on policies and institutions. In M. Hamilton, B. Maddox, &
C. Addey (Eds.), Literacy as numbers: Researching the politics and practices of international literacy
assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(GZDUGV5)HQZLFN7 6DZFKXN3Emerging approaches to educational research: Tracing
the socio-material$ELQJGRQ5RXWOHGJH
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*RUXU 5 $17 RQ WKH 3,6$ WUDLO )ROORZLQJ WKH VWDWLVWLFDO SXUVXLW RI FHUWDLQW\ Educational
Philosophy and Theory, 436XSSO±
Graff, H. J., & Duffy, J. (2008). Literacy myths. In B. V. Street & N. Hornberger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of
language and education Vol. 2: LiteracySS±1HZ<RUN1<6SULQJHU
Grek, S. (2010). International organisations and the shared construction of policy ‘problems’:
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and practices of international literacy assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Education, 5(1), 11.
/DWRXU%:K\KDVFULWLTXHUXQRXWRIVWHDP")URPPDWWHUVRIIDFWWRPDWWHUVRIFRQFHUQCritical
Inquiry, 30±
/HPNH-0XOWLSO\LQJPHDQLQJ9LVXDODQGYHUEDOVHPLRWLFVLQVFLHQWLILFWH[W,Q-50DUWLQ
5 9HHO (GV Reading science: Critical and functional perspectives on discourses of science
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OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development). (2016). Skills matter: Further results
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$33(1',;
OECD Press release (http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/improve-skills-to-build-fairer-

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Improve skills to build fairer, more inclusive societies
±3RRUVNLOOVVHYHUHO\UHGXFHDSHUVRQ¶VFKDQFHRIDEHWWHUSD\LQJDQG
more-rewarding job, and have a major impact on how the benefits of economic
growth are shared within societies. In countries where large shares of adults have
poor skills, it is difficult to introduce productivity-enhancing technologies and new
ways of working, which stalls improvements in living standards, according to a new
OECD report.
“Without the right skills, people will languish on the margins of society,
technological progress will slow and countries will struggle in the global economy,”
said Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, launching the
report in Singapore. “Governments must improve their education system and work
with business and unions to develop fair and inclusive policies so that everyone can
participate fully in society.”
As part of its ongoing work to measure and improve adult skills around the world,
the OECD has tested the skills of more than 50,000 16 to 65 year-olds in Chile,
Greece, Indonesia (Jakarta), Israel, Lithuania, New Zealand, Singapore, Slovenia
and Turkey. The assessments of reading, numeracy and problem-solving abilities
measure what people know and how they use their skills at work. This builds on the
2013 Survey which tested the skills of more than 150,000 adults in 24 countries.
6NLOOV0DWWHU)XUWKHU5HVXOWVIURPWKH6XUYH\RI$GXOW6NLOOVILQGVFOHDUHYLGHQFH
WKDWGHYHORSLQJDQGXVLQJVNLOOVLPSURYHVHPSOR\PHQWSURVSHFWVDQGTXDOLW\RIOLIH
as well as boosting economic growth. There was a strong link between a country’s
performance in the survey and in the OECD Programme for International Student
$VVHVVPHQW3,6$IRU\HDUROGVVXJJHVWLQJWKDWKLJKTXDOLW\LQLWLDOFRPSXOVRU\
education is essential for countries to build a highly skilled work force.
The Survey also shows that proficiency continues to improve over time, and
that developing and maintaining skills over a lifetime is affected by participation
LQ ZRUN DQG WUDLQLQJ +LJKTXDOLW\ FDUHHU JXLGDQFH VHUYLFHV FRPSOHPHQWHG ZLWK
up-to-date information about labour-market prospects, are needed, together with
effective active labour-market measures, such as counselling, job-search assistance
and temporary hiring subsidies for low-skilled youth.
74
HENNING SALLING OLESEN
7. THE CHALLENGE OF COMPETENCE

ASSESSMENT
Problematizing Institutional Regimes – Proclaiming a Paradigm Shift?
Adult education has often been perceived as a social practice that had the potential
to change the world. The driver for promoting, organizing and teaching in adult
education has then been informed by the vision of changing the world, and struggles
inside adult education were seen as political struggles. Today it is rather the other
ZD\DURXQG±H[WHUQDOVRFLHWDOFKDQJHVRIWHQGHWHUPLQHWKHQHHGIRUDGXOWOHDUQLQJ
Although adult learning has gained much stronger attention and is viewed as more
necessary on a societal level, the significance of the agency within adult education is
becoming less obvious. In this situation it seems even more important to study adult
education micro-practices and seek to trace their unrecognized potentials for societal
change. Often micro-practices are doing something different from their immediate
and declared functions. Critical research should reveal possibilities not normally
recognized by the agents themselves, it cannot be developed by focussing on the
explicit power relations. It seems easy to be critical on the level of intentions or by
revealing hidden agendas in political discourses and documents. But I think a critical
social science of learning and education should rather seek to discover the possible
implications of everyday life practices and relevant alternatives within the horizon
of individuals’ and professionals’ agency. In this sense a bottom-up orientation may
have exemplary epistemological value.
This perspective underpins my interest in competence assessment and the
EXUHDXFUDWLF SURFHGXUHV LQYROYHG LQ HVWDEOLVKLQJ TXDOLILFDWLRQ IUDPHZRUNV ±
something which at first glance seems to be part of the general economic mainstreaming
of continuing and adult education in service of employment and competitiveness. In
particular, I am interested in exploring the technical challenges in the implementation
of procedures for validation or the recognition of prior learning. On the one hand,
it consists of relatively hidden or unnoticed decisions and bureaucratic initiatives
RQDJHQHUDOV\VWHPVOHYHO±LQWKHJXLVHRIEHLQJµMXVWWHFKQLFDO¶$QGRQWKHRWKHU
KDQGLWLVEHLQJSUDFWLFDOO\DSSOLHGDQGUHILQHGRQWKHOHYHORILQGLYLGXDODJHQWV±
in relation to guidance, admission, administration and fulfilling commitments to
improve institutional inclusivity. I contend that a comprehensive policy for lifelong
OHDUQLQJ±ZKLFKLVDVKDUHGDJHQGDDOORYHUWKHZRUOG±FDQKDUGO\EHLPSOHPHQWHG
without these tools. In the next few years validation of prior learning will be part

H. SALLING OLESEN
of an overall EU strategy of open coordination. Understanding these changes

and considering how, and for what ends, the tools of competence assessment and
validation of prior learning can be developed is at the centre of the themes of power
and possibility in this book. It is also worth studying for the theoretical challenges it
raises: the practical process of validation entails a set of complex assumptions about
the nature of the transformation of life experiences from one life situation to new
ones. In this chapter I present a case to the reader of the importance of this topic.
The idea of Lifelong Learning entails a vision of every individual not only having
access to formal and non-formal education and training throughout the lifetime but
also making use of all the informal learning in everyday life. The driving reason in
the contemporary policy interest in lifelong learning is to mobilize human resources
and competences for economic competitiveness and an increasing skepticism among
business people and bureaucrats towards the formal education and training system.
This has led to a new interest in workplace learning and an increasing emphasis on
OHDUQLQJLQHYHU\GD\OLIH5XEHQVRQ6DOOLQJ2OHVHQ
On the policy level the thinking about lifelong learning has broadened to include
not only education and training, but in principle a multitude of policies related to the
organization of work, labor markets, community development and culture. Already
LQWKHWKHPHRI(65($¶VWULHQQLDOUHVHDUFKFRQIHUHQFHKDGWKHWKHPHRIWKH
Wider benefits of learning, with the aim of widening the discussion of adult and
lifelong learning beyond its previous horizon which was increasingly employment
DQGHFRQRP\(65($7KLVZDVDQHDUO\DQWLFLSDWLRQRIDPRUHLQWHJUDWLYH
approach which has been gaining ground, seeing learning as an integrated dimension
of societal and cultural processes in general, and seeking to highlight and support the
OHDUQLQJGLPHQVLRQVRISROLFLHVLQNH\DUHDVVXFKDVJHQGHUHTXDOLW\KHDOWKSURPRWLRQ
agricultural reform etc. This thinking has been transmitted into international adult
learning promotion, e.g. UNESCO (2016). Integration of policy domains is seen
both as a necessary and productive way to increase learning resources by developing
learning policies for those other important life spheres.
Diverse as they are, these ideas can only be formulated in rather abstract policy
notions like the learning society, learning cities etc. which nevertheless point to
DPRUHKROLVWLFYLHZRIOHDUQLQJ$FFHVVWRHGXFDWLRQDOUHVRXUFHV±WKHDJHQGDRI
Education For All (UNESCO & United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
2UJDQL]DWLRQ±LVVWLOOUHOHYDQWDQGLPSRUWDQWIRUODUJHSDUWVRIWKHZRUOGLQ
WKH *OREDO 6RXWK ± EXW LW LV LQFUHDVLQJO\ EHLQJ TXHVWLRQHG LI WKH LQVWLWXWLRQV DQG
forms of knowledge can just be transferred from “western culture” or the Global
North (Preece, 2009; Torres, 1996). And in the developed capitalist countries
there is also a new trend: instead of just continuing a process of expanding formal
education and specialized knowledge institutions a more comprehensive thinking of
learning and a more open attitude to informal learning is emerging. This complex
and asynchronous historical transformation may either lead to a decline of the role
of formal education and training and knowledge institutions, or to radical reforms,
which will inevitably recognize the importance of informal learning in different life
76
THE CHALLENGE OF COMPETENCE ASSESSMENT
spheres. My idea is that micro-practices are not only symptomatic, but may also be
a key to a reform process and new ways of thinking. Such new ways of thinking
can hardly be promoted by a top-down regulation. In this chapter my focus is on
the challenge of developing a language which is able to embrace learning in formal
education and other institutions and life world contexts in which informal learning
is taking place.
5(*,0(62)&203(7(1&(5(&2*1,7,21
In the developed capitalist world we can see two dominant regimes of recognition each
with their own specific criteria for recognizing competence: work/life competence
applied by business and industry; and scholastic assessment of knowledge and
intellectual skills applied by formal education institutions.
5HFRJQLWLRQ E\ EXVLQHVV DQG LQGXVWU\ XVXDOO\ RSHUDWHV IURP D IDLUO\ EDVLF
instrumental perspective focused on the perceived ability of the subject to function
LQDZRUNVLWXDWLRQ6WDIIVHOHFWLRQSURFHGXUHVDQG+XPDQ5HVRXUFH'HYHORSPHQW
+5'IXQFWLRQVDWWHPSWWRDVVHVVFRPSHWHQFHVLQUHODWLRQWRDVSHFLILFMRE6LPSOH
in principle, but complicated in practice. It could be argued that some of the
short-sighted practices in industry (hire-and-fire) are simply the result of the real
complexity in assessing staff competences combined with relatively low on-the-job-
training costs which enables a trial-and-error approach to recruitment. Vice versa
+5'SROLFLHVZLWKKLJKLQWHUQDOLQYHVWPHQWVDQGRUORQJF\FOHVLQHPSOR\PHQWDUH
benefitting from a huge adaptability of work force which is often not recognized
in theory. Employees learn and adapt more than one can predict or direct. But the
underlying rationale, even with these variations, in business is still orientated to
employability and specific job relevant competence. During recent decades, and
with great variation, internal labor market adaptation and competence development
KDYHFRPHWRSOD\DPRUHVLJQLILFDQWUROH±EXVLQHVVHVLQFUHDVLQJO\PDNHWKHLURZQ
“bilan de competence” (competence accounting).
Unlike this, recognition of learning in the educational system is based on the
documented completion of formal courses. This mode of recognition validates
specific knowledge and skills, and presumes a linear learning structure in which
each element stands on the shoulders of the previous element. In recent decades this
rationale has been modified in at least two ways, Educational systems are no longer
so clearly linear. First, training and vocational education has developed institutional
systems in their own right in many countries. Second, a mix of liberal culture and
the need to mobilize new groups of students have led to a range of new admission
and access pathways to higher education and continuing professional education. It
is my impression however that validation of prior learning is still granted very much
in spite of the main educational structures, and is driven mainly by counsellors and
liberal educationalists, who deal with a minority of students. And last, and not least,
WKHDGPLVVLRQFULWHULDDUHDVVHVVLQJHTXLYDOHQFHRISULRUOHDUQLQJWRWKHWUDGLWLRQDO
core curriculumRIWKHHGXFDWLRQLQTXHVWLRQRUWKHSHUFHLYHGSRWHQWLDOWRIXOILOWKLV
77
H. SALLING OLESEN
criterion within the education program. It is not an assessment of some alternative

competences that might be valued socially or professionally.
With some variations these two regimes of recognition are basically disjointed, and
rather narrow-minded. The introduction of competence assessment does not change
that. Tools for assessment at the individual level have been introduced in European
FRXQWULHV XQGHU VOLJKWO\ GLIIHUHQW KHDGLQJV ± VXFK DV ³9DOLGDWLRQ5HFRJQLWLRQ
of Prior Learning”, “competence assessment”, “learning portfolios”, the Danish
“realkompetencevurdering”, the French “bilan de compétence”, etc. (Alessandrini,
2016; Duvekot, Coughland, & Aagaard, 2017; Salling Olesen, 2018). The assessment
criteria used in these various examples vary considerably and the functions are
also different. In some cases, they are just used for recruitment or for determining
learning needs in relation to specific jobs. But mostly they are used to enable new
SDWKZD\VLQWRIRUPDOHGXFDWLRQ5DSLGFKDQJHVLQWHFKQRORJ\WKHGLYLVLRQRIODERU
and the structure of the labor market combined with cultural detraditionalization
have made traditional career ladders within occupations, industries and institutions
REVROHWHRUOHVVDFFHVVLEOHDQGIRUPDOHGXFDWLRQDOTXDOLILFDWLRQVDUHH[SHFWHGDQG
VHHQDVµVWDQGDUG¶5HFRJQLWLRQRIQRQIRUPDODQGLQIRUPDOOHDUQLQJDVDEDVLVIRU
access to formal education can be seen as a more systematic way of facilitating and
accelerating career shifts and developments.
Often these interventions thereby consolidate the recognition regimes of formal
education. Never the less these interventions can be seen as beginning to fragment.
In order to meet the ambitions of a lifelong learning policy that integrates formal
education and informal learning it is necessary to develop tools and procedures which
are relatively independent both of traditional academic and scholastic curricula on
WKHRQHKDQGDQGODERUPDUNHWVNLOOVUHTXLUHPHQWVRQWKHRWKHUKDQG±ZKLOHLWPXVWDW
the same time make the description of competences understandable in both contexts.
7KHUHDOFKDOOHQJH±ZKLFKLVDOVRWKHRSSRUWXQLW\±LVWKDWWKHQHHGWRRYHUFRPHWKH
LQFRPSDWLELOLW\RIWKHVH³UHJLPHVRIUHFRJQLWLRQ´±ZLOOHQDEOHDFULWLFDOUHIOHFWLRQRI
their different rationales and their limitations. This may open a real chance to move
from an adaptation measure based on the categorization of individuals by two rather
static and narrow set of criteria to an assessment which discovers and appreciates the
potential and hidden capacities of individuals.
3$57,&,3$7,21,1('8&$7,21$1'027,9(6)25/($51,1*
These implications in the shift from ‘access to education’ to ‘lifelong learning’ have
not always been grasped clearly. Most policies aim at coupling the existing regimes
of recognition without integrating them and provide a bureaucratic framework
that can fence the conflicts between the two main regimes outlined above through
TXDOLILFDWLRQIUDPHZRUNV
To unfold the transformative potential in the validation and recognition
SURFHGXUHVUHTXLUHVQHZWKLQNLQJDQGDQHZODQJXDJHZKLFKDGRSWWKHSHUVSHFWLYH
of the individual subject and see validation and recognition not only as necessary
78
adaptation measures but as potential tools for autonomous self-evaluation and

windows to alternative careers and new life perspectives.
The micro-practices of recognition may illuminate the sutures in the repair work,
from which a different approach might arise.
The motives for learning are deeply seated in the entire life situation of each
individual, and dependent on collective social and cultural pathways. Interests in
education and training are widely differentiated in strength as well as direction. The
wide difference in motivation and potential for learning is symptomatically clear in
sociological analysis of participation in formal and non-formal continuing education.
But much of the variation may also be less visible, connected as it is with people’s
life experience, lifestyle and identity, and not primarily related to education and
training. Under these political and social circumstances, the increasing appeal for
learning may be perceived as a promise for new opportunities for some, for others a
VWUHVVIXODWWDFNRQRQH¶VVHQVHRILGHQWLW\DQGIRURWKHUVDJDLQMXVWVRPHWKLQJTXLWH
irrelevant.
I present some cases which illustrate the potential role of competence assessment
in different types of learning. Three Danish doctoral research projects have
addressed the mechanisms of individual competence assessment (IKV) of applicants
to professional bachelor education within a number of areas (teaching, preschool
pedagogy, nursing, physiotherapy, construction) (Mellon, 2018; Salling Olesen,
Aagaard, & Husted, 2017). These professions were previously based on practice-
oriented education and training with a close connection to the field of practice. In
UHFHQW\HDUVHQWHULQJWKHVHILHOGVUHTXLUHVDSURIHVVLRQDO%$DQGWKHVWDQGDUGJDWHZD\
to this is through the final stage of formal education and state exams. However, an
access pathway exists for people who have a lower formal school education and
then some kind of non-academic professional education, called an IKV (Individual
Competence Assessment). The specific admission procedure evaluates whether
students’ individual background can compensate for the absence of formal school
TXDOLILFDWLRQV7KHDVVHVVPHQWSURFHGXUHLQYROYHVDQHYDOXDWLRQRIWKHVHVWXGHQWV¶
“messy” careers, and the education program is expected to integrate this relatively
small group of “deviant” students. Our research investigated these students’ career
shift through a life history approach which explored their life experiences and their
prior education, their decisions for a career shift, their experiences of the education
for a new profession. We focused on the students’ subjective experience of their
identity process in which knowledge and skills were reconfigured and gained new
cognitive as well as emotional meaning, and also paid particular attention to how
the students make use of their non-academic experiences and skills, which can in
some cases be seen as resources in the education and later in the profession (Mellon,
2018; Salling Olesen, Aagaard, & Husted, 2017). A wider purpose of this research
LVWRSUREOHPDWL]HWKHDGHTXDF\RIWKH³VFKRODVWLFWXUQ´LQSURIHVVLRQDOHGXFDWLRQE\
investigating carefully how learning takes place when formal schooling, informal
learning and identity formation are interwoven. We see in this research examples of
WKHFRPSOH[GHYHORSPHQWRIQHZFRPSHWHQFHVRQWKHEDVHRIOLIHH[SHULHQFHV±
79
H. SALLING OLESEN
HPSDWK\VRFLDODQGRUJDQLVDWLRQDOVNLOOVVHOIUHIOHFWLRQ±DQGLQWKLVZD\WKHVWXG\
is a contribution to a general theory of learning.
Whereas the admission to professional educations on the basis of untraditional
trajectories represents a case of validation within the recognition regime of formal
KLJKHUHGXFDWLRQ,ZRXOGOLNHWRVNHWFKRXWDQRWKHUTXLWHGLIIHUHQWGLUHFWLRQWKURXJK
a discussion of the possibilities of using validation procedures of prior learning
within the labor market of skilled and unskilled work. The Danish trade union 3F
has launched the idea that each worker should have the right for a “competence
development plan” or more plainly an “education plan”, based on a “real competence
assessment”. The union’s members are mainly unskilled workers and some groups
of highly skilled workers in manufacturing industry, construction, food processing,
and transportation who are among those who are most vulnerable to economic and
technologically driven structural changes, most often in the guise of globalization.
These workers have very diverse relations to education and training (Kondrup,
2013). The necessity of strengthening the workers individually and collectively in
DULVN\ODERUPDUNHWZLWKLQFUHDVLQJFRPSHWHQFHUHTXLUHPHQWVSUHVHQWVDFKDOOHQJH
WR WKH WUDGH XQLRQ 7KHUH DUH DOUHDG\ TXLWH QXPHURXV ± DQG WR VRPH H[WHQW QRW
IXOO\H[SORLWHG±RSSRUWXQLWLHVIRUFRQWLQXLQJHGXFDWLRQIRUWKHVHZRUNHUV%XWWKH
problem seems to be the fact that they are not based on employees’ interests and
motivations apart from those which are direct and narrow preconditions for their
employment. The union launched the demand that every worker school have access
to a competence assessment, and guidance helping him/her to consider possible
training and education opportunities, future employment outlook, potential career
shifts in the light of his/her life situation and visions for future life.
The idea was that a competence assessment and “education plan” would on the
one hand strengthen workers’ self-recognition of their own capacities. On the other
hand, it should raise workers’ awareness of opportunities immediately or at a later
stage. Such a procedure would have to combine individual and collective rights for
competence assessment with guidance and proactive provision of relevant education
and training related to subjectively relevant career developments. For the moment
there are individual rights but they are limited to adopting a full apprenticeship
RQ XQIDYRUDEOH WHUPV 7KH DOWHUQDWLYHV DUH PRVWO\ QDUURZO\ LQVWUXPHQWDO ± DQG
declining.
The challenge already appears in the policy discourse: The union argues
for an education and training plan, well aware that many members are already
ambivalent to this education, and decline to foreground the notion of competence,
which appeals to workers’ self-consciousness grounded in actual possession of
competences.
INVENTION OF A NEW LANGUAGE OF COMPETENCE
$ ODQJXDJH IRU YDOLGDWLRQ RI SULRU OHDUQLQJ ± DQG LQ D ZLGHU VHQVH IRU OLQNLQJ
GLIIHUHQWDUHQDVRIOHDUQLQJ±PXVWQRWEHFRQILQHGZLWKLQRQHRIWKHH[LVWLQJUHJLPHV
80
of recognition, but must on the other hand be able to integrate and reformulate
the concerns which are their core rationales. In this context the challenge is not
a language issue in a narrow sense, it is a discourse issue. A discourse depends
on language use which is closely interwoven with and reflects societal practices
and realities that cannot be made disappear by inventing a new terminology. This
means that the development of a new language based on the competence notion must
be developed through processes in the societal relations and institutional contexts.
Such new ways of thinking can hardly be promoted top-down, by defining a new
language of regulation. Validation of prior learning can be useful if it enables a
dynamic practice from below.
Norwegian and Danish VPL initiatives have selected the term “competence”, as
can be seen from the terms of “realkompetanse/realkompetence”. This concept has
EHHQ ODXQFKHG E\ HFRQRPLVWV ± ILUVW LQ WKH 2(&' ± DV DQ HOHPHQW LQ DQ RYHUDOO
reconfiguration of the evaluation and description of education. The concept of
competence was picked from social psychology, and transferred to organization
and management theory about work organizations. It was the intention to grasp the
relation between the objective practical functions, in which people are supposed
to apply their capabilities, and the psychological generic nature of learning these
capabilities.
Competence has been promoted as the standard tool in order to describe all
educational and training arrangements to outcome (target) descriptions instead
of input (curriculum) descriptions. The purpose was to enable measurement and
comparison of the efficiency of education. The notion of competence offers a new
and more holistic view of human capabilities, which is in line with lifelong learning,
rethinking the relation between education, training and learning in everyday life.
In the meantime, the new terminology is also used as a governance tool within the
educational systems, and more widely as a mental priming, preparing for a more
market driven management. The use of the terms of competence in the European and
QDWLRQDOTXDOLILFDWLRQIUDPHZRUNVDQGLQJRYHUQDQFHGRFXPHQWVLVXQWLOQRZPDLQO\
a paper exercise. The objective of enabling more flexible cross-national comparison
is obviously obtained on the surface, at least as far as institutional education and
learning is concerned, by using more standardized vocabularies, but the connection
to underlying realities is very loose.
I contend that a language for validation can be based on the notion of competence,
but it will have to be reinterpreted. In the first place this will be a great challenge
for formal education and training: a deeper reconfiguration of educational practices
in line with the outcome description and the notion of competence. Education and
training is still mainly structured around disciplinary knowledge and prescriptive
approaches to professional practice, making little or no use of students’/participants’
experiences and insights from previous learning in other spheres of life.
The main understanding of competencies in everyday language is actually related
to work. But it has a broader meaning than the narrow and one-dimensional job-
RULHQWHGYLHZRIZRUNTXDOLILFDWLRQVVXFKDVLVXVHGLQIRUH[DPSOHODERXUPDUNHW
81
H. SALLING OLESEN
statistics. When economists imported a concept from social psychology it was not
only in order to educate the bureaucracies in formal education systems, they also
intended to provide a framework for a new and more dynamic perception of human
resources in business.
In the 1950s and 1960s both industrial sociology and management realized
WKDW LQGXVWULDO RQHWRRQHTXDOLILFDWLRQ IUDPHZRUN ZDV LQVXIILFLHQW WR LGHQWLI\
WKH TXDOLILFDWLRQ QHHGV ± SDUWO\ EHFDXVH WKH\ FKDQJHG UDSLGO\ SDUWO\ EHFDXVH
WKH\ FKDQJHG TXDOLWDWLYHO\ VR WKDW GLIIHUHQW W\SHV RI QRQVSHFLILF SURFHVVXDO
skills became essential. In the following years discussions were running both in
EXVLQHVV DPRQJ UHVHDUFKHUV DQG SROLWLFLDQV DERXW ³VRIW TXDOLILFDWLRQ´ ³JHQHULF
VNLOOV´ ³6FKOVVHOTXDOLILNDWLRQ´ HWF 2(&' ODXQFKHG D SURMHFW WR LGHQWLW\ WKH
generic factor(s) under the headline of key competence, Definition and Selection of
&RPSHWHQFLHV'H6H&R5\FKHQ 6DOJDQLN
However, this project seems more or less resigned from its original ambitions,
and resulted in the bureaucratic use of the vocabulary in a seemingly general matrix
of all people related to formal education and training.
,Q 'HQPDUN WKH DJHQF\ IRU /DERXU 0DUNHW WUDLQLQJ VXSSRUWHG D ODUJH 5 '
SURMHFWZKLFKVKRXOGGUDZXSWKRVHQHZWUHQGVRIJHQHUDOJHQHULFTXDOLILFDWLRQVWKDW
could hardly be conceived within a narrow job-related training, but were important
for this segment of the work force. In this project we tried to define a concept of
JHQHUDOTXDOLILFDWLRQZKLFKZDVEDVHGLQOLIHH[SHULHQFHDQGPHGLDWHGWKHVXEMHFWLYH
SULRUOHDUQLQJDQGWKHDFWXDOODERUPDUNHWVNLOOVUHTXLUHPHQWV1LFROO 2OHVHQ
2013; Salling Olesen, 2013).
The original competence concept acknowledges the subjective nature of
competencies. This means that the assessment of competence must in principle
include individual experiences and assessment of subjective dynamics of the
individual. Taken to its limits this is both impracticable and in opposition to the
current function of prior learning validation as a legal basis for access to education
and training, and in a few cases to certain jobs or work licenses.
One of the experts who were engaged in the project describes the problem in
the following way: “such scientific plans have often failed in psychology, however.
The underlying multilevel models can be logically reconstructed, but not validated
psychologically. The different degrees of abstraction mean, therefore, a fundamental
DV\PPHWU\ LQ FRPSHWHQFH UHVHDUFK ± KLJK DEVWUDFWLRQ LQWHOOHFWXDOO\ EULOOLDQW
pragmatically hopeless; low abstraction: pragmatically useful, intellectually
XQVDWLVIDFWRU\´ )UDQ] :HLQHUW LQ 5\FKHQ 6DOJDQLN S , WKLQN WKDW
Weinert’s difficulty was connected with the built-in challenge for the development
RID³JHQHUDOHTXLYDOHQW´RIKXPDQFDSDELOLW\$QGWKLVGLIILFXOW\LVDOVRWKHUHDVRQ
that the break-up in dominant regimes of recognition opens a window for new
negotiations of competence, knowledge and power. I shall try to explain.
The validation procedure attempts to interpret and assess the potential for
transforming specific individual life experiences into a capability of changing
perspective in a new professional context, or in relation to the type of study which is
82
the aim of the individual. A suitable language must be able to describe such individual
transformative potential. A language which is sensitive to subjective diversity could
only be established by an elaboration of a more dynamic concept of competence.
The ambition to establish a canon of generic skills that could be measured/assessed
for each individual, and held against criteria of recognition related to one or the other
MRERUDVFKRODVWLFFXUULFXOXPFDQ±DV:HLQHUWUHPDUNV±QRWEHFDUULHGRXWLQD
psychologically valid way. Competencies are established in processes of subjective
HQJDJHPHQWZKLFKDUHLQGLYLGXDODQGVLWXDWHG±WKH\PD\EHJHQGHUHGFODVVEDVHG
HWF±EXWDOZD\VPHGLDWHGLQLQGLYLGXDOH[SHULHQFH7KHLU³WUDQVIHUDELOLW\´UHSUHVHQWV
the cognitive and emotional work of the individual subject which has the nature of
learning, detachment and discovery of something specific.
I do not think there is a theoretical solution to the gap between logical output
categories and psychologically valid subjective transformation. But there is a task
for theoretical and empirical research as well as the accumulation of practical
experiences from conducting validation procedures in practice. I tried with my
two examples to illustrate that such categorization involves a contextualization of
capabilities in relation to societal practice. This contextualization involves something
more than abstract cognitive knowledge, it involves also the subjective significance
of these practices. It is difficult to specify theoretically the “non-cognitive” psycho-
VRFLDOSUHUHTXLVLWHV6DOOLQJ2OHVHQ
In order to become a useful tool also for the legal/certifying part of validation
it will have to enable description of patterns of transformation ± FRJQLWLYH DQG
HPRWLRQDO LQ UHODWLRQ WR FDUHHUV DQG H[SHULHQWLDO WUDMHFWRULHV ± WKDW DUH IRU WKH
time being, in the context) socially acknowledged in practice±WKLVPHDQVWKDWWKH
ODQJXDJHZLOOHPHUJHIURPWKHVWUXJJOHVZLWKLQWKHSUDFWLFHFRQWH[WV±LHPDWWHUV
of professional domains, the relations between professionals and clients, industrial
relations and eventually of politics. This is the real societal space of competence
UHFRJQLWLRQLQZKLFKWKHTXHVWLRQVRIµSRZHUDQGSRVVLELOLW\¶LVJURXQGHGZKHWKHULW
operates with the term competence or not, and, I have presented a broader theoretical
DQG GLDJQRVWLF GLVFXVVLRQ RI WKH TXHVWLRQV LQ 6DOOLQJ 2OHVHQ WR LOOXPLQDWH
different ways of using the notion of competence and the connotations with which a
competence discourse is perceived.
CONCLUSION
5HFRJQLWLRQ RI 3ULRU /HDUQLQJ DQG $VVHVVPHQW RI &RPSHWHQFHV DUH WRROV IRU
the reshaping of adult learning from above, under the heading of competence
GHYHORSPHQW %XW WKH FRPSHWHQFH UHTXLUHPHQWV DUH FRQWUDGLFWRU\ DQG WKHVH WRROV
might also be shaped to enable individual and collective empowerment of learners,
recognizing their own capacities and discovering new possibilities for learning
and career. How they will actually work depends among other factors on the way
of conceptualizing competences in the micro-practices in adult and continuing
education. The task of critical research could be to follow the micro-practices of
83
H. SALLING OLESEN
validation of prior learning carefully, support assessment procedures which enable

the discovery and reflection of learners’/workers’ resources and possible life
prospects, and conceptualize the recognition as a collective effort to make visible
“the potential of people” for individuals. In a time where globalization and increasing
SUHFDULRXVQHVV UHDOO\ UHTXLUHV GHIHQVLYH DFWLRQV LW LV H[WUHPHO\ LPSRUWDQW DOVR WR
create conceptions of worker autonomy which are based in subjective experience
and the actual lives and careers of people, forming the minimal background for a
self-conscious worker identity.
5()(5(1&(6
Alessandrini, G. (2016). Education and transition to work: Promoting practical intelligence. In Education
applications and development IISS±/LVERQ,Q6FLHQFH3UHVV
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European Centre Valuation Priori Learning/VIA University College.
(65($The wider benefits of adult learning. Lisbon: Lusofona University.
Kondrup, S. (2013). Unskilled work and learner identity. In 7th European research Conference (Vol. 26).
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J&RQILJXUDWLRQV LG ('
Mellon, K. (2018). Mellem professionsidentiteter. En livshistorisk undersøgelse af IKV-studerendes
tilegnelse af professionsidentitet i lærer- og pædagoguddannelserne5RVNLOGH
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rela.2000-7426.relae7
Preece, J. (2009). Lifelong learning and development: A perspective from the “South.” Compare: A Journal
of Comparative and International Education, 39±GRL
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O. Kelly (Eds.), Dropping in, dropping out. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
5\FKHQ ' 6 6DOJDQLN / + (GV Defining and selecting key competencies. Seattle/
Toronto/Bern/Göttingen: Hogrefe & Huber.
Salling Olesen, H. (2008). Workplace learning. In P. Jarvis (Ed.), The Routledge international handbook
of lifelong learningSS±/RQGRQ5RXWOHGJH
Salling Olesen, H. (2013). Beyond the current political economy of competence development. European
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P. Sikes, & M. Andrews (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook on narrative and life history.
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Salling Olesen, H. (2018). A critical review of the concept of competence in relation to competence
assessment. In G. Alessandrini (Ed.), Atlante di Pedagogia del LavoroSS±5RPH)UDQFR
Angeli.
Salling Olesen, H., Aagaard, K., & Husted, B. (Eds.). (2017). Livserfaring og kompetenceudvikling.
Individuelle bidrag til livslang læring. Århus: VIA University college.
7RUUHV&$$GXOWHGXFDWLRQDQGLQVWUXPHQWDOUDWLRQDOLW\$FULWLTXHInternational Journal of
Educational Development, 16±
UNESCO. (2015). Education for all 2000–2015: Achievements and challenges. EFA Global Monitoring
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Learning.
84
PART 3
THEORIZING POWER AND POSSIBILITY
IN A COMPLEX WORLD
LYN TETT
8. RECOGNITION AND REDISTRIBUTION

Rethinking the Meaning of Justice in Adult Education
CONCEPTUALIZING INEQUALITY
This chapter discusses how adult education might contribute to the achievement
RIJUHDWHUHTXDOLW\E\GUDZLQJRQFDVHVWXGLHVRIWKUHHIDPLO\OLWHUDF\SURJUDPVLQ
6FRWODQG:KDWLVPHDQWE\HTXDOLW\FDQKRZHYHUEHFRQFHSWXDOL]HGLQDQXPEHU
of ways. At one end of the spectrum is equality of opportunity where the focus is
RQ WKH DFKLHYHPHQW RI HTXDOLW\ RI DFFHVV WR DQG SDUWLFLSDWLRQ LQ HGXFDWLRQ 7KH
underlying assumption is that education is meritocratic and we live in a fair society
that ensures that people will progress according to their ability (Gerwitz, 1998).
From this perspective socio-economic adversity can be overcome by enabling
access to a wide range of educational opportunities that individuals can take up or
not according to their own motivation. At the other end is social justice where not
only the economic but also the cultural aspects of justice are seen as vital. From this
SHUVSHFWLYHUHPHG\LQJLQMXVWLFHUHTXLUHVQRWRQO\WKHUHGLVWULEXWLRQRIRSSRUWXQLWLHV
EXWDOVRHTXDOLW\RIFRQGLWLRQZKLFKHQFRPSDVVHVUHFRJQLWLRQRISHRSOH¶VLGHQWLWLHV
and their cultural diversity (Keddie, 2012).
Within this broad conceptualization of social justice there have been disagreements
with some authors arguing that, rather than bringing the two aspects of recognition
and redistribution together, the politics of redistribution and recognition are mutually
H[FOXVLYHDOWHUQDWLYHV:ULWHUVVXFKDV*LWOLQDQG5RUW\DUJXHWKDWWKH
focus on recognition serves to distract from the real issue of distributive injustice
because concentrating on identity exaggerates difference rather than emphasizing
commonalities. They suggest instead that recognition should be accorded to
individuals rather than groups because focusing on what people share with
³PHPEHUVRIWUDGLWLRQDOO\GHVSLVHGJURXSV´5RUW\SLVPRUHOLNHO\WR
promote broader political co-operation. Conversely, theorists such as Taylor (1992)
and Honneth (2003) argue that ignoring differences and focusing exclusively on
redistribution can serve to reinforce injustice by compelling minority groups and
identities to ‘fall in line’ with the norms of the dominant group. Therefore, the
struggles over a fairer distribution of opportunities, resources and rights should be
thought of as struggles for recognition.
Nancy Fraser (2003), however, argues that issues of distribution and recognition
interpenetrate. Though they do not fold neatly into one another, they interact causally

L. TETT
and so it is important to be attuned to both dimensions. Treating every injustice

as both economic and cultural, all must be assessed from both outlooks without
reducing one to the other. Key to this approach is what Fraser calls the ‘status model’
of recognition. This model views misrecognition as a matter of social status, where:
“patterns of disrespect and disesteem are institutionalized, for example, in law, social
welfare, medicine, public education, and/or the social practices and group mores that
VWUXFWXUHHYHU\GD\LQWHUDFWLRQ´)UDVHUSS±)UDVHUSRLQWVRXWWKDWVRPH
groups are subjected to both types of discrimination, particularly those from racial
minorities, because they are “discriminated against in the labour market [whilst
simultaneously] … patterns of cultural value privilege some traits … [meaning that
they] are constructed as deficient and inferior others who cannot be full members of
society” (Fraser, 2003, p. 23).
,W LV LPSRUWDQW WR EH FOHDU DERXW KRZ ZH XQGHUVWDQG HTXDOLW\ EHFDXVH LWV
conceptualization strongly influences the policy structures, the pedagogical
approaches and the expected outcomes used in adult education. I consider that
)UDVHU¶V FRQFHSWXDOL]DWLRQ RI LQHTXDOLW\ LV LQYDOXDEOH IRU H[SORULQJ KRZ
education might contribute to social justice because its comprehensive view makes
it more likely that its many dimensions, and their complex entanglement, can be
interrogated and effectively responded to by researchers and practitioners. So, in the
next section, I will use her concepts of ‘redistribution’ and ‘recognition’ to examine
the impact of participation in family literacy education.
5(',675,%87,21$1'5(&2*1,7,21
This section illustrates the impact of maldistribution and misrecognition on learning

lives over the medium-term. It draws on interviews with family literacy learners, all
women, that participated in three different projects in Scotland. All the projects were
based in community settings in areas with high levels of unemployment: project
1 was on the outskirts of a large city in the West, project 2 in a large town in the
East and project 3 in a small town in the North of Scotland. The participants in
the projects were mothers of children who attended the primary schools in the area
who had said they had literacy problems that they would like to work on in order to
help themselves and their children. The research aimed to investigate the impact of
participation on these learners’ lives.
The interviews used an autobiographical approach where learners were asked
to talk about their individual life histories, the circumstances in which they were
currently situated and the impact of their participation in learning. All the projects
were based in community settings and were selected because they represented good
practice. I start with participants’ previous experiences of school to illustrate how
these had influenced their current views of themselves and their ability to learn and
then move on to consider the impact of their programs.
88
5(&2*1,7,21$1'5(',675,%87,21
Schooling
Many participants emphasized the maldistribution of the opportunities available

to them. For example, some learners, slower than the ‘brighter’ children in large
classes, reported that they simply dropped off the teachers’ radar and did not receive
WKHDWWHQWLRQWKDWWKH\UHTXLUHG2QHUHIOHFWHG³,OLNHGP\ILUVWVFKRROEXWWKHRWKHU
kids were better than me … The classes were too big, there wasn’t enough time
to learn what I should have”. Another remembered having difficulties at primary
school. She was very slow at reading but did not feel that the teachers noticed and
she thought that they were: “more interested in the ones that could get on … They
sort of just left me to one side”.
In addition, some people remembered being bullied and this affected their ability
to learn which led a number to stop participating in their schools either by being
physically absent or not paying any attention even if they were there. For example:
“I was bullied so much … I didn’t take anything in and I just used to sit and doodle
all day”. Another learner’s memory of education was dominated by the impact of
EXOO\LQJWHDFKHUV³LI\RXDQVZHUHGDTXHVWLRQDQGJRWLWZURQJ\RXZHUHSXQLVKHG
so I tried to avoid answering anything”.
One learner, however, described school as “a haven [that] provided a chance to
escape from the problems at home” where she was bullied by her older brothers. Few
learners were able to identify a teacher who had recognized their capabilities and
invested time in supporting them which research has shown has a positive impact
on attainment (Bynner & Joshi, 2002). Moreover, hardly any reported that their
parents had helped them with homework or discussed their progress with teachers
and many lacked a stable and supportive family environment. In addition, many said
that they had lived in poverty where “there wasn’t enough money to go round” and
this impacted not only on their academic achievements in their school years but also
on their attainment in adulthood (Schoon & Bynner, 2003).
Not achieving at school had a lasting effect on recognition through its impact on
individuals’ self-esteem. For example, one participant said “I am not very academic;
I have not got a lot of confidence in myself. I scraped through, only got one ‘O level’.
,DPQRWEUDLQ\´$V&KDUOHVZRUWKSS±KDVDUJXHG³EHLQJWROGWKDW
one is not clever is … not something about which one can achieve indifference …
Thus we end up with people defined … as ‘useless’, unable, stupid; lacking in the
dignities given to the privileged”.
These learners’ stories illustrate that the educational opportunities open to them
ZHUHQRWHTXDODQGVRWKH\GLGQRWEHQHILWIURPWKHLUVFKRROLQJWRWKHH[WHQWWKDW
their more advantaged peers did. Clearly many experienced maldistribution in terms
RI WKHLU DFFHVV WR JRRG TXDOLW\ HGXFDWLRQ DV ZHOO DV PLVUHFRJQLWLRQ EHFDXVH WKHLU
teachers, their peers and, in some cases, their parents constructed their skills and
experiences as inferior.
2QH GULYHU RI WKHVH LQHTXLWLHV LV WKH DGRSWLRQ RI SDUWLFXODU DVVHVVPHQW DQG
evaluation regimes. A key influence on how these regimes are implemented is
89
L. TETT
the statistics that are gathered and analyzed by the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) for its international comparisons (Meyer &
Benavot, 2013). The league tables produced by these international comparisons,
such as the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies
3,$$&2(&'DUHXQGHUSLQQHGE\DQHTXDOLW\RIRSSRUWXQLW\DSSURDFK
This is because the focus of the comparison is on the distribution of access to, and the
successful outcomes of, participation in education (Lingard et al., 2014). As a result,
DWWHQWLRQLVSDLGRQO\WRRXWFRPHVUHODWHGWRHFRQRPLFJURZWKVXFKDVTXDOLILFDWLRQV
and not to an education that adapts to the needs of all learners.
So, rather than an education that is inclusive because it recognizes people’s
social and cultural backgrounds, we end up with one that is driven by efficiency and
economic growth. Moreover, the underlying structural and socio-economic factors
WKDW SURGXFHG WKHVH XQHTXDO RXWFRPHV LQ WKH ILUVW SODFH DUH QHJOHFWHG &RQQHOO
2012). It is clear then that learners in these family literacy programs had neither
experienced redistribution nor recognition at school but did their later experiences in
the family literacy programs change this?
Learning in Family Literacy Programs
5HVHDUFKVKRZVWKDWSDUWLFLSDWLQJLQIDPLO\OLWHUDF\SURJUDPVFDQOHDGWRSRVLWLYH
changes in both parents and children (Forté, 2013), but not all programs are
empowering. This is because if it is not recognized that “families’ lives are deeply
VKDSHG E\ UDFLDO FODVV DQG PLJUDQW LQHTXDOLW\´ %DTXHGDQR/ySH] HW DO
SWKHQVFKRROVUHSURGXFHWKHVHLQHTXDOLWLHVE\XVLQJGHILFLWSHUVSHFWLYHVWKDW
reinforce parents’ negative views of themselves. Practices in schools are strongly
connected to issues of ideology and power that result in the view that parents should
fit into the dominant culture rather than that schools should be engaging with the
diversity of parents. For example, Moll (2005, p. 280) argues that there is a focus on
“how parents can accommodate to the routine of schooling, [but not on] how they
can get the school to accommodate their needs, conditions, and desires”. To reverse
WKLV DVVXPSWLRQ UHTXLUHV D YLHZ WKDW DOO SDUHQWV DQG FRPPXQLWLHV KDYH LPSRUWDQW
µIXQGV RI NQRZOHGJH¶ *RQ]iOH] HW DO WR FRQWULEXWH WR HGXFDWLRQ DQG DUH
‘knowledge-rich’ rather than ‘knowledge-poor’. Therefore, pedagogies that build
on, rather than denigrate, the expertise of participants and start from their own goals
DUHPRUHOLNHO\WROHDGWRJUHDWHUHTXDOLW\%DUWRQHWDO
The programs studied did support parents to fulfill their aspirations and further
develop their own expertise as their children’s first educators. One important aspect
of this was the use of authentic assessment situated in real life contexts, which is done
with, not to, participants. Assessment was based on the extent to which participants
KDGEHHQDEOHWRFKDQJHWKHLUOLWHUDF\SUDFWLFHVIURPWKHLURZQEDVHOLQHV±WKHGLVWDQFH
that they had travelled. People’s learning is normally assessed through the use of
standardized outcome-based methods so this different approach was empowering
90
5(&2*1,7,21$1'5(',675,%87,21
EHFDXVHLWHQDEOHGSDUWLFLSDQWVWRKDYHDQHTXDOVD\LQWKHGLUHFWLRQWKHLUOHDUQLQJ
should take based on their own goals.
As a result of these approaches many learners talked about the way they thought
about themselves: “here they build you up and help you to think positively”; “the
staff treat you like a person”. Working together was important because: “being part
of the group has helped me to keep going even when things were really difficult
at home” and “the others knew I didn’t like writing on the flip-chart because my
spelling isn’t good but with their encouragement I did it and after that I felt really
proud of myself”. In addition, because participants felt their knowledge of their
children was valued, they considered that “education was probably something
that I could go back to as an adult. It just made me see things in a different light.
Everything wasn’t awful”.
Others spoke about being respected: “in this program you’re respected as a
person that has a lot of knowledge that others can learn from”. This respect was
created through learners feeling that their issues, circumstances and concerns were
both acknowledged and valued. For example: “here you don’t get judged on what
you can’t do. Instead the tutors help you to find what you can do”. Another said that
she “used to just go to the shops and back to the house but now I’m out doing lots
of things and I’m not isolated any more”. Learners found that their progress made
them feel differently about what they could achieve: “I felt more confident. It made
me a more confident parent with the girls … [and] in what I could achieve myself”.
Using a ‘funds of knowledge’ pedagogy that focused on what learners could do
increased confidence: “the tutor helped me to work out what I could do and then,
once I was happy about that, I worked on what I couldn’t do”. It also involved
participants valuing their own skills. For example, one found that her ability to tell
stories from her Traveller culture meant that she had a much better oral memory than
other people but this skill had been unacknowledged before she joined the group.
For many being part of a group helped with learning: “you’re in with the group
so you get involved … we’ve worked together on making books for the children
and it’s very satisfying”. A number of learners suggested that it was the tutors that
made an impact: “she [tutor] brings stuff out of me and stretches my mind” and “it
motivates me to really try because the tutors are working so hard”.
An atmosphere had been created where learners were treated with respect
within relationships of trust (Feeley, 2014). Having a caring ethos not only enabled
participants’ strengths to be recognized but also helped to create supportive social
networks (Prins, Tosso, & Schafft, 2009, p. 336). Participants in these programs
said that they had changed their dispositions to learning and altered their practices
partly because of these positive caring relationships. For example: “the staff are
DOZD\V DYDLODEOH WR OLVWHQ WR \RXU TXHVWLRQV DQG EHFDXVH RI WKLV \RX IHHO DEOH WR
DVN HYHQ LI \RX WKLQN LW PLJKW EH D VLOO\ TXHVWLRQ´ 6R PRVW RI WKH OHDUQHUV KDG
worked through previous negative learning identities and were much more engaged
in learning so that, as one put it: “now I feel that what I know is of value then I’m
91
L. TETT
much more willing to try anything whereas before I just used to say to myself ‘you
can’t do it’”.
There is evidence here then that participation in the programs brought about
changes in the recognitional aspect of Fraser’s (2003) model of social justice and, as
a result, there are also examples of the redistributive aspect. The learners clearly saw
the recognition of their experiences as a step towards greater redistribution because,
for example, “the tutors trusted us with important tasks like creating the children’s
book so that made me feel that I could get a job where I would also need to be
trusted”. ‘Because the program developed my confidence I went on to apply for
college and now I’m at university and have a new career in front of me’. Most of
the changes that the learners experienced in the employment opportunities that were
RSHQWRWKHPZHUHTXLWHPRGHVWEXWWKLVGRHVGHPRQVWUDWHDV)UDVHUKDVDUJXHGWKDW
the recognitive and redistributive aspects of social justice fold into one another and
DFWLRQQHHGVWREHWDNHQLQERWKVSKHUHVVLPXOWDQHRXVO\WRREWDLQJUHDWHUHTXDOLW\
5(7+,1.,1*62&,$/-867,&(
So far, this chapter has considered how participants in family literacy programs
have experienced two of the dimensions of social justice namely redistribution and
recognition. Fraser also proposed a third dimension that she named ‘participatory
SDULW\¶EHFDXVHLWIRFXVHVRQHTXDOLW\RISDUWLFLSDWLRQLQGHFLVLRQPDNLQJ6KHDUJXHG
that this concept “sets the procedures for staging and resolving contests in both the
HFRQRPLFDQGWKHFXOWXUDOGLPHQVLRQV´S,WVDFKLHYHPHQWUHTXLUHVWKDW
LQGLYLGXDOVSDUWLFLSDWHRQDQHTXDOIRRWLQJLQSURFHVVHVWKDWJLYHWKHPDYRLFHLQSXEOLF
deliberations and democratic decision-making particularly over issues that directly
affect them. So, this aspect of social justice involves making social arrangements that
mean that allSHRSOHDUHHQDEOHGWRSDUWLFLSDWHDVHTXDOVLQVRFLDOOLIH,WLVFRQFHUQHG
DERXWKRZLQMXVWLFHVVKRXOGEHUHPHGLHGDQGUHTXLUHVWKHFULWLFDOLQWHUURJDWLRQRIWKH
ZD\VLQZKLFKHTXLW\LVXQGHUVWRRGDQGSXUVXHG7KLVPHDQVWKDWWKHUHQHHGVWREH
a revaluation of the knowledge, skills and understanding of non-dominant groups so
that rather than providing an education that is considered to be good for them instead
we need to ensure that the curriculum is built around their views.
In the projects I researched curriculum approaches were developed that operated
to support the decision making of the participants. The curriculum was based on the
learners’ concerns and aspirations about their own and their children’s learning and
relationships to their teachers so that education was seen as a co-operative activity
involving respect and trust. The teaching was based on a group process, where
the tutor and students learnt together, beginning with the concrete experience of
the participants, leading to reflection on that experience in order to affect positive
change. As a result, the participants were able to add new and different knowledge and
become the subjects of learning rather than the objects of educational interventions
that were supposed to be good for them. Learning then became a shared endeavor
between tutors and students, a two-way, rather than a one-way, process.
92
5(&2*1,7,21$1'5(',675,%87,21
This approach provided a real incentive for learning because it concentrated on

what really mattered to the participants. As a result, learners commented that they
now saw some of their earlier assumptions differently. For example: “I see how my
school teachers tried to put me down and now I’m involved in a family literacy project
so that I can help other parents to be a bit more challenging”. Another example was
from the only male in one of the groups who acknowledged that he had come to see
that he had a very gendered approach to his life. “In my family the girls did all the
housework and I was just allowed to go out with my friends and I kind of carried
this over in my family life too but now I’m the one at home looking after the kids
I can see how sexist I used to be”. These examples show that the learners became
more reflexive about their experiences and had found ways to reconstitute previously
internalized injustices. As one participant put it: “learning can open your eyes to what
you are good at and means that you are willing to take risks in trying to make changes
both for your children but also in the community”. Participants had become more
confident about challenging the social injustices they had experienced: for example,
“I speak out more at home if I think things are not fair’ and ‘I’m more confident in
challenging the teachers’ views about my child”.
Engaging in participatory processes in implementing and evaluating programs,
being in a safe and open space to discuss, dissent and agree on the best courses of
action, and integrating different views, fosters dialogue and enables the recognition
RIGLIIHUHQFHDQGGLYHUVLW\%DTXHGDQR/ySH]HWDO7KLVIRUPRIHGXFDWLRQ
PHDQW WKDW SDUWLFLSDQWV ZHUH HQDEOHG WR WDNH WKHVH H[SHULHQFHV RI HTXDOLW\ RI
decision-making and participation into their families and communities. In addition,
a few learners were able to participate in the broader political arena, where the power
imbalances and negative discourses they experienced could be most effectively
challenged. For example, participants in one project reported that they were taking
action to tackle racism in their community as a result of shared experiences in their
group. They commented:
Kurshid told us about how bad the racist graffiti that was all over our community
made her feel and so we saw that we should all do something about it. We
had got a lot of strength from working together in this group and so we are
challenging the Council about why they haven’t done anything to clean it up.
It’s hard work as they aren’t very responsive but we are determined that we
will just carry on until they agree to our demands.
For this group then, an issue that they had come to understand through sharing and
reflecting on their experiences together had resulted in action that focused on the
SROLWLFDOOHYHO7KHLUDFWLRQZDVGULYHQE\HTXLW\FRQFHUQVHQDFWHGLQVROLGDULW\WKDW
gave them a voice in resolving issues that were located in their community but had
far wider implications politically. Thus a conceptualization of social justice that is
based on ‘participatory parity’ can and should be a goal for adult education if it is to
prioritize the voices of those that had previously been excluded.
93
L. TETT
CONCLUSION
,Q WKLV FKDSWHU , KDYH DUJXHG WKDW WKH GRPLQDQW µHTXDOLW\ RI RSSRUWXQLW\¶
FRQFHSWXDOL]DWLRQRIHTXLW\WKDWDVVXPHVWKDWZHOLYHLQDIDLUVRFLHW\LVVHULRXVO\
flawed. Instead, I have used the social justice lens offered by Fraser (2008) and her
concepts of recognition, redistribution and participatory parity, to think through
ERWK WKH HQGXULQJ LQHTXDOLWLHV H[SHULHQFHG E\ OHDUQHUV DQG DOVR WKH GHPRFUDWLF
possibilities opened up to them. In particular, I have shown the importance of using
pedagogical approaches that build on the knowledge that participants bring as well
as using a distance-travelled method of assessing progress based on the learners’ own
goals. This social justice approach to adult education has led to positive changes in
the recognitive sphere whereas learners had previously experienced institutionalized
patterns of disrespect and lack of esteem in both the education system and in
their everyday interactions. I have also highlighted how issues of distribution and
recognition interpenetrate causally because learners have pointed out how increases
in their self-confidence, brought about by being treated with respect, have enabled
them to go on to further and higher education or to gain employment thus enabling
some action in challenging economic discrimination. Creating a democratic
curriculum so that learners are seen as having the right to make decisions about their
lives has led to action at the family, community and political levels so changes have
DOVREHHQPDGHLQPRYLQJWRZDUGVPRUHHTXLW\LQWKLVVSKHUH$OOWKLVDGGVXSWRDQ
education that shifts the focus onto the systemic and contextual factors that operate
to limit democratic participation whilst simultaneously ensuring that individuals’
personal and social circumstances do not interfere with their potential.
A great deal of research has shown that there have been dramatic rises over the
ODVW GHFDGH LQ LQHTXDOLW\ LQ LQFRPHV DQG ZHDOWK WKDW KDYH QHJDWLYH FRQVHTXHQFHV
for society as a whole (Piketty, 2014). Set alongside this the evidence presented
here that participation in family literacy programs does lessen social injustices may
seem trivial. However, educating in socially just ways through creating learning
environments that enable participants to have the necessary material and human
resources to achieve their goals, to have their cultural experiences respected and
their views acted upon is an important step on the way towards achieving greater
social justice.
In the light of this there are a number of implications for adult education arising
IURPXVLQJWKHOHQVRIVRFLDOMXVWLFHUDWKHUWKDQWKHGRPLQDQWHTXDOLW\RIRSSRUWXQLW\
lens. First it provides a way of conceptualizing the impact of participating in
literacy programs that goes beyond the usual assessment method of only measuring
increases in narrow literacy skills. This is because it demonstrates the importance
of social justice as a positive outcome of participation. Second this perspective
challenges the individual deficit view of literacy learners. Instead the focus is on the
GHPRFUDWLFDVVXPSWLRQWKDWSHRSOHDUHHTXDOLQDYDULHW\RIGLIIHUHQWZD\VEXWVRFLDO
structures operate to deny social justice to some whilst privileging powerful others.
Third participation in democratic decision-making is foregrounded as an important
94
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outcome of learning and thus enables more active challenges to contest at both the
economic and cultural levels leading to greater participatory parity. Whilst education
LVQRWDSDQDFHDIRUDOOVRFLDOLOOVDQGFDQQRWDORQHFRPSHQVDWHIRUWKHLQHTXLWLHVRI
VRFLHW\,KDYHGHPRQVWUDWHGWKDWLWFDQPDNHDGLIIHUHQFHLQFUHDWLQJPRUHHTXLWDEOH
conditions for those that have already experienced the greatest injustice.
5()(5(1&(6
%DTXHGDQR/ySH]3$OH[DQGHU5 +HUQDQGH]6(TXLW\LVVXHVLQSDUHQWDODQGFRPPXQLW\
involvement in schools. Review of Research in Education, 37±
GRL;
%DUWRQ',YDQLF5$SSOHE\<+RGJH5 7XVWLQJ.Literacy, lives and learning. London:
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%\QQHU- -RVKL+(TXDOLW\DQGRSSRUWXQLW\LQHGXFDWLRQ(YLGHQFHIURPWKHDQG
birth cohort studies. Oxford Review of Education, 28±GRL
&(5,Teaching, learning and assessment for adults: Improving foundation skills. Paris: OECD
Publishing.
Charlesworth, S. J. (2000). A phenomenology of working class experience. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
&RQQHOO5-XVWHGXFDWLRQJournal of Education Policy, 27±
Feeley, M. (2014). Learning care lessons: Literacy, love care and solidarity. London: Tufnell Press.
Forté, K. S. (2013). Educating for financial literacy: A case study with a sociocultural lens. Adult
Education Quarterly, 63±
Fraser, N. (1998). Heterosexism, misrecognition and capitalism: A response to Judith Butler. New Left
Review, 228±
)UDVHU16RFLDOMXVWLFHLQWKHDJHRILGHQWLW\SROLWLFV5HGLVWULEXWLRQUHFRJQLWLRQDQGSDUWLFLSDWLRQ
In N. Fraser & A. Honneth (Eds.), Redistribution or recognition? A political-philosophical exchange
SS±/RQGRQ9HUVR
Fraser, N. (2008). Scales of justice: Reimagining political space in a globalising world. Cambridge:
Polity Press.
Gewirtz, S. (1998). Conceptualising social justice in education: Mapping the territory. Journal of
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Gitlin, T. (1995). The twilight of common dreams: Why America is wracked by culture wars. New York,
NY: Metropolitan Books.
*RQ]iOH]10ROO/ $PDQWL&Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households,
communities and classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
+RQQHWK$5HGLVWULEXWLRQDVUHFRJQLWLRQ$UHVSRQVHWR1DQF\)UDVHU,Q1)UDVHU $+RQQHWK
(Eds.), Redistribution or recognition? A political philosophical exchange SS ± /RQGRQ
Verso.
Keddie, A. (2012). Educating for diversity and social justice/RQGRQ5RXWOHGJH
/LQJDUG 5 6HOODU 6 6DYDJH * & 5HDUWLFXODWLQJ VRFLDO MXVWLFH DV HTXLW\ LQ VFKRROLQJ
policy: The effects of testing and data infrastructures. British Journal of Sociology of Education,
35±
Meyer, H.-D., & Benavot, A. (2013). Pisa, power and policy: The emergence of global educational
governance. Oxford: Symposium Books.
0ROO / 5HIOHFWLRQV DQG SRVVLELOLWLHV ,Q 1 *RQ]iOH] / 0ROO & $PDQWL (GV Funds
of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities and classrooms SS ±
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OECD. (2013). OECD skills outlook 2013: First results from the survey of adult skills5HWULHYHGIURP
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Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the twenty first century. London & Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
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Prins, E., Toso, B. W., & Schafft, K. A. (2009). “It feels like a little family to me” social interaction
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±GRL
5RUW\5,V³FXOWXUDOUHFRJQLWLRQ´DXVHIXOQRWLRQIRU/HIWLVWSROLWLFV"Critical Horizons, 1(1),
±
6FKRRQ, %\QQHU-5LVNDQGUHVLOLHQFHLQWKHOLIHFRXUVH,PSOLFDWLRQVIRULQWHUYHQWLRQVDQG
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Press.
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9. RE-INFUSING ADULT EDUCATION WITH A

CRITICAL FEMINIST FRAMEWORK
Inspiration from Mary Parker Follett
This chapter argues the necessity to create space for a critical feminist perspective
not only for the good of adult education but for the good of the global community
as well. Feminist theorizing, especially around issues of power and collective
change, can contribute greatly to our creation of this space, especially to understand
women’s learning and activism within the larger international sphere and contribute
to the global project of active citizenship. Such theorizing, inspired by giants such
as hooks (2000), needs to be reclaimed as a part of the adult education toolbox so
our conversations and dialogue are always grounded and challenged by ideas, and
complex and deep thinking. This must be accompanied by a strong adult education
focus built on theory, practice, activism, and community, highlighting teaching
practices and contexts where adult educators themselves learn informally and
nonformally.
As established earlier (English & Irving, 2015), there is a continuing need to draw
from and further contribute to a literature on women and learning, especially from
a critical, political and engaged perspective, namely feminism. Issues of women,
learning and resistance continue to matter, and despite conservative rhetoric (e.g.,
Sandberg, 2013), a deliberate focus on women, gender and learning, as well as a
PRUHQXDQFHGYLHZRISRZHULVUHTXLUHGWRDGGUHVVWKHUHFXUULQJP\WKWKDWDGXOW
education has moved beyond the need for attention to women. In response, this
chapter argues for the importance of a feminist analysis of the nexus of women,
SRZHUDQGSRVVLELOLW\GUDZLQJRQDPDMRUWKHRULVWRISRZHU±0DU\3DUNHU)ROOHWW
± D FRPPXQLW\EDVHG HGXFDWRU DQG OHFWXUHU LQ WKH HDUO\ WK FHQWXU\
(Follett, 1924, 1941). Follett’s stress on collective action and the co-creation of
power undergirds her understanding of democracy as an ongoing project and of
power as an integral part of human relations.
FEMINISM AND ADULT EDUCATION
First, though, a word about the general relevance of feminism to the overall adult
education project. Clearly, not all adult educators are drawn to an emphasis on
radical social change that feminist adult educators like Butterwick, Taber, and

L. M. ENGLISH
Clover have led and have written about (see English & Irving, 2015). In its stead,
humanism, long the mainstay of our field in education contexts, has encouraged a
personal and individual focus; while in certain respects laudable, it has sometimes
championed a stress on safe and secure teaching and learning practices and efforts at
self-development and actualization, at the expense of attention to criticality. Witness
the emphasis on personal transformative learning in North American contexts to the
degree that there are entire journals and annual conferences dedicated exclusively
to this stream of research. Yet, it is feminist theorizing and more particularly social
transformative efforts that have given support to many of these humanistic efforts,
to the point where inclusive education, a focus on the marginalized in learning,
and support for personal transformation and creativity have become mainstream
practices, without due credit to or positioning within the feminist pedagogy that
launched it (Brookfield, 2010). Adult education has been slow to recognize the
central and vital role that theoretical and practical efforts of feminism have played in
bringing our ideas into the mainstream (English & Irving, 2015).
A contributing factor to the backlash against feminism and to a certain reticence
LQXVLQJWKHWHUPLVWKHPLVWDNHQEHOLHIWKDWHTXDOLW\LVQRZWKHQRUPDQGWKDWZRPHQ
KDYHDWWDLQHGIXOODQGHTXDOULJKWVVHH(QJOLVK ,UYLQJ:HVWHUQPHGLDLV
preoccupied with portraying women through self-focused practices such as yoga,
relaxation, and self-reflexivity (sans the critical) and of highlighting individual
women who have reached the top rung of corporations. Our popular press is so
besieged by discussions of women attaining high-ranking corporate status while
struggling to balance work and family life that one can be forgiven for thinking that
it is 1950 and not the 21st century. The danger of such thinking, of course, is that it is
“nostalgia without memory” (p. 30) to use anthropologist Arjun Appadurai’s (1996)
phrase. We can easily forget that we are global citizens and that our struggles for
HTXDOLW\DUHQRWRYHULQGHHGZHFDQDOVRIRUJHWWKDWWKHUHZDVDVWUXJJOHDQGLWLV
ongoing. Western privileging of the “self” moves the focus from the collective and
social approach of feminism and its political approach of addressing discriminatory
practices and systems, which diminish the whole. A feminist perspective sees adult
education in broad terms and is willing to continue contributing to an understanding
of education, learning and change.
Despite the lapses in current educational thinking, scholarship published
sporadically in the past few decades has been helpful in keeping a collective focus
on feminism and learning. When activists Walters and Manicom (1996) issued their
edited volume Gender in Popular Education: Methods for Empowerment, they were
able to highlight feminist-informed popular education methods used in community
contexts around the world.
From a complementary sociological perspective, Miles’ (2013) edited volume,
Women in a Globalizing World, analyzed complex development issues for women;
like Manicom and Walters (2012), Miles’ contributors highlighted the diversity
of the spaces claimed by women to promote learning and action, especially in
community development contexts. Contributors to Taber’s (2015) special issue of
98
5(,1)86,1*$'8/7('8&$7,21:,7+$&5,7,&$/)(0,1,67)5$0(:25.
the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education also emphasized the links
between feminism and the community. In Ireland, scholars such as O’Grady (2018)
continued an interest in how women have been working together in the community
for collective societal transformation. Yet, much needs to be done to maintain this
focus and to expand its reach. One possible solution is to look back to our forebears
such as Mary Parker Follett for insight.
:20(1*/2%$/&+$//(1*(6$1'',))(5(179(56,2162))(0,1,60
For all these signs of hope, the early 21st century has nevertheless been challenging
for those pursuing feminist approaches to adult education. Sociologists Eichler
et al. (2010) have made this point as have English and Irving (2015). Eichler (2005)
herself pushed back at increasing corporatization in adult education by studying
women’s housework as the site of valuable informal learning, calling for even more
attention to the everyday nature of women’s learning. Despite important scholarship
like hers, feminist adult education concerns are not at the forefront of adult education
scholarship. For instance, in 2018, the editors of the decennial American Handbook
of Adult and Continuing Education replaced the chapter on women and feminist
analysis with a chapter on LBGTQ issues, which while broader and presumably more
inclusive, takes the focus off women as a political category (personal correspondence
with the author). Such a stance is troubling since the reality of women’s position
JOREDOO\UHPDLQVYHU\XQHTXDO)RULQVWDQFH81(6&2¶V3rd Global Report
on Adult Learning and Education observed that “The majority of those excluded
IURPVFKRRODUHJLUOVZLWKRIWKHZRUOG¶VJLUOVRXWRIVFKRROFRPSDUHGWR
RIER\V/LNHZLVHWKHPDMRULW\RIDGXOWVZLWKORZOLWHUDF\VNLOOVDUHZRPHQ´
(p. 4). With such a basic issue as women’s literacy on the table, the stakes continue to
be high. Women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by issues such
DVOLWHUDF\FOLPDWHFKDQJHDQGHYHQGLVDELOLW\81(6&28,66WURPTXLVW
(2013) has shown that even UNESCO has fallen short of its commitments to women.
Its global conference, CONFINTEA VI, in Belém, Brazil in 2009, did not focus
any of its recommendations on women, save for indirectly referring to it in one
SODFHDV³SDUWLFLSDWLRQLQFOXVLRQDQGHTXLW\´S&OHDUO\WKHQHHGWRIRFXVRQ
collective change and action for women needs global as well as local impetus and
support.
An immediate challenge is attracting young women to feminism and its concerns.
Susan Bracken (2008) notes that one of the most difficult aspects of her teaching is
naming it as feminist and of having her students engage with the term; she reports
that some of her undergraduate students find the term problematic and dated, and
associate it exclusively with radical protests. Bracken struggles with whether to
call the work feminist and whether to insist with advancing her feminist theory and
pedagogy in a higher education context which may for some students seem to be
disconnected from oppression, poverty and literacy issues and which may make the
political goals of feminism seem foreign. It may also be true that the neoliberal and
99
L. M. ENGLISH
right-wing agenda of “learning for earning” pervades higher education, making it

difficult for debt-saddled students to attend to critical issues that seemingly do not
involve them. Education becomes the commodity of the knowledge economy where
the market dictates what learning is valuable or saleable.
Arguably, second wave feminist language and arguments, which grounded writers
such as Miles (2013) and Manicom and Walters (2012), are in need of redressing and
re-invigorating. In part, this is an acknowledgment that younger feminists, especially
those in adult education, did not live through the 1970s, and have divergent interests.
/22.,1*%$&.:$5'6/22.,1*)25:$5'6
With this current context of scholarship and practice as a prelude, I propose looking
backwards to the sources available pre-second wave feminism, as a way to find
inspiration for this decade in adult education. Though such an intellectual approach
may initially seem somewhat counter-intuitive, it may provide resources that can
help us reengage with feminism, especially with its theorizing about power, the key
to understanding major education and learning dilemmas, especially as they affect
life in the community. A key feminist source that has been overlooked, especially
in North America, is Mary Parker Follett, who has been claimed by scholars in the
management sciences, despite the fact that much of her early working career was in
community organizing and social change in inner city Boston. Interestingly, adult
educators Preskill and Brookfield (2009) drew on her ideas of power in their book
on theories of leadership and social change, but they have yet to look at her overall
contributions to adult education and learning. Somehow, Follett has escaped the eye
of mainstream adult education practices and thinking, at least in North America, a
situation that needs addressing, especially given her insights about power. It is also
fair to say that our field needs to mine the insights of its own people for its own
theoretical purposes.
Feminist theorizing (and the absence thereof) can contribute greatly to our
understanding of women’s learning and activism within the sphere. In focusing on
the practice of the adult educator teaching and learning such as Follett did in the
inner city, there is a possibility of a deeper examination of Eyben’s (2014) tension of
“working within existing paradigms or changing them” (p. 160), in order to present
possibilities for bona fide inclusion and participation in learning and action. Feminist
learning and citizen’s learning are intertwined: both involve the ways people come
together to create a collective understanding of social conditions in order to claim
and open up spaces for participation and to change power relations.
Feminist theorizing and feminist adult education is, of course, not distinct from
WKH DGXOW HGXFDWLRQ ILHOG ,WV FRQFHUQV RXJKW WR EH WKRVH RI WKH ILHOG LQ JHQHUDO ±
dealing with difference, marginalization, participatory engagement, and progress.
Feminist adult education would be richer for looking back to the insights of women
such as Follett. In the current attempt to unite with other causes, to find multiple
heuristic lenses, to struggle for the rights of learners, we have seemingly foregone
100
5(,1)86,1*$'8/7('8&$7,21:,7+$&5,7,&$/)(0,1,67)5$0(:25.
special attention to women; such de-politicization means that women’s needs and
causes are increasingly hidden. In focusing on women as a distinct political category
and group, and using a politically infused feminism as a critical lens, we can find
spaces of hope.
Follett’s theory, especially that developed in her book Creative Experience (1924)
starts from her contradictory experience of being born into an elite Quaker family
in Massachusetts, and yet dedicating her early years to building and strengthening
FRPPXQLW\ FHQWUHV LQ WKH WURXEOHG 5R[EXU\ QHLJKERUKRRG RI LQQHU FLW\ %RVWRQ
$Q LQWHOOHFWXDO OHVELDQ DQG JUDGXDWH RI ZKDW LV QRZ WKH SUHVWLJLRXV 5DGFOLIIH
College, the sister school of Harvard University which did not then admit women,
)ROOHWWNQHZILUVWKDQGWKHFKDOOHQJHVRILQHTXDOLW\LQVRFLHW\$OWKRXJKVKHQHYHU
held a university position, she ably used her community experience and her many
invitations to address groups, to deepen public awareness and to record her own
insights and theories of power. That her ideas have not been fully unpacked for
adult education, and for feminism in particular, is a shame. In her lifetime, she gave
public lectures and wrote extensively; her publications include The Speaker of the
House of Representatives (1896); The New State: Group Organization the Solution
of Popular Government (1918); Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers
of Mary Parker Follett (1941); The Illusion of Final Authority: Freedom and Co-
Ordination: Lectures in Business Organization (1954).
Mining afresh the writing of Mary Parker Follett may indeed provide new insight
for adult education, which is also interested in educating and leading organizations.
)ROOHWW¶VWKHRU\DGGUHVVHVWKHFRPPXQLW\±SROLWLFVVFKRROQHLJKERUKRRG±ZKLFK
are the central sites of adult education practice. One of her seemingly benign insights
is that there is need for people in the community to talk to each other, to break down
barriers, in order to address collective concerns and to negotiate conflict (Follett,
1941). At heart, she believed in the democratic process, whereby the people most
affected by particular problems need to work together to figure out their own issues
and solutions. Key in her practice and theorizing was her refusal to defer to experts
and her insistence on the need for engagement in collective work and decision
making to effect change. For example, she thought that the day school buildings
ought to be used as neighborhood centers where people in the community could
come together face to face to plan and move forward, a fairly basic idea that is
still meeting resistance today. In her willingness to engage the other, to put forth
realizable solutions, and to prioritize participatory processes, Follett’s ideas unfolded
in a similar way to those of feminism which also privileges collective struggle for
social change. Although one might argue that she herself did not politicize her work
or thinking fully, we might also say that for her time she was both ingenious and
effective; as a result of her steady and committed leadership, the community center
idea took hold in Boston and surrounding areas, as well as across the United States
(Tonn, 2013). She chose strategic thinking as her modus operandi and the everyday
world as her locus, allowing her to reach ordinary people and to create a change
in thinking about women, collective action and power. Her approach was to be
101
L. M. ENGLISH
directly involved in the mundane world of community centers, literally bringing

groups together to talk and plan about issues that affected them. She recognized that
being with vulnerable populations in the inner city and helping them find collective
solutions to their problems was important.
Perhaps best known of Follett’s ideas on power, and perhaps the most misused,
was the concept of “power with”, not “power over” (Follett, 1941; Mott, 2015).
A practicing Quaker, Follett wanted to look at how to work with strengths and
difference to enhance society and promote peace, despite the multiple social and
economic barriers one encountered. In her book Creative Experience (1924), she
outlined her aspirations of “power with” practice to reach a point in our communities
and workplaces where we are actively engaged in creating decisions and enacting
plans to move forward. For instance, in her inner city work, she saw great value in
sitting opposing sides down together to dialogue about controversial issues. Her
books drew on her community organizing experience and showed how dialogue
with people who are different can help create new awareness and possibility. Despite
WKH REYLRXV FULWLTXH WKDW WUXH HTXDOLW\ FDQ EH HOXVLYH KHU LGHDV DUH UHIUHVKLQJ LQ
that they came from the community and were part of an ongoing community-based
effort to work together for change (Preskill & Brookfield, 2009). Significantly, she
was also not averse to using so-called power or authority positions as she served on
committees to create a minimum wage for workers and she headed up a national
community center organization. As a participant in these groups, she was able to
infuse her ideas and strengthen civil life.
Though her work experience was limited to the community, Follett readily applied
her theories and practices to business and management. She (1924) explained her
theory saying that power:
is the problem of industry, of politics, of international affairs. But our task is to
QRWWROHDUQZKHUHWRSODFHSRZHULWLVKRZWRGHYHORSSRZHU:HIUHTXHQWO\
hear nowadays of ‘transferring power’ as the panacea for all our ills … but the
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to priests, or king or barons, to council or soviet. Are we satisfied to continue
this puss-in-the-corner game? … Genuine power can only be grown. (1924,
SS[LL±[LLL
Her idea was to avoid a top down approach and to find ways for workers to come
together to create new solutions. As a strategic thinker, she identified power as the
FHQWUDOVRFLDOSUREOHPDQGVKHKDGXQLTXHZD\VRIWKLQNLQJDERXWLW±VKHVDZLWDV
something to be developed with others, not over or against them. In her words,
… genuine power is capacity …. The main problem of the workers … is how
much power they can themselves grow. The matter of workers’ control which
is often thought of as a matter of how much managers will be willing to give
up, is really as much a matter for the workers, of how much they will be able
to assume. (Follett, 1941, p. 109)
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Follett (1941) felt that “integration” (p. 45) or the meeting of all sides in labor
disputes, community debates, and personal interactions was the only way to create
power. She saw the other choices such as domination and compromise to be lesser
alternatives and to fall short in the long run.
What happens to a man, in a man, when an order is given in a disagreeable
manner by a foreman, head of department, his immediate superior in store,
bank or factory? The man addressed feels that his self-respect is attacked, that
one of his most inner sanctuaries is invaded. He loses his temper or becomes
VXOOHQRULVRQWKHGHIHQVLYHKHEHJLQVWKLQNLQJRIKLVµULJKWV¶±DIDWDODWWLWXGH
for any of us. (cited in Tonn, 2013, p. 400)
In Follett’s eyes, power arises, so our educational and organizing job is to grow
this power: to take or seize the moment to create a new social order. This concept
anticipates later thinking on power such as that of Foucault (English & Mayo, 2012).
Follett complemented her primary ideas on power with her understanding of “circular
response” which acknowledges the ways in which one person’s ideas interact with
and influence the next, how a group’s actions inform and interact with each other
to create new possibilities and formulations (see Preskill & Brookfield, 2009). The
“power” embedded in this formulation helps to advance our understanding of the
collective change process and helps debunk narcissistic individualism that prevents
change. Embedded in the theory of circular response is the recognition of the
transformative aspects of conflict and the creative tension that is often the bedrock of
change and growth, a key idea for feminist adult education. Sadly, Follett’s theory of
power has sometimes been reduced to the win-win philosophy of business practice,
which is a very minimalist reading of her thinking. For her, community organizing
ZDV GHHSO\ GHPRFUDWLF DQG VRPHWLPHV SDLQIXO ZRUN DQG ZDV QRW GRQH LQ D TXHVW
IRULQFUHDVHGSURILW5DWKHULWVHQGJRDOZDVFROOHFWLYHUHVLVWDQFHDQGFKDQJH7KLV
clearly is a feminist idea that sits well with the ordinary educational tasks of the
adult educator engaged in meaningful community work. We could say the same of
adult education work in higher education contexts, global initiatives, community
development and non-profit leadership.
Follett’s ideas are helpful to adult educators interested in feminism as they
SDUDOOHOIHPLQLVP¶VVWUXJJOHWRFUHDWHHTXDOLW\DQGWRKDYHGHPRFUDWLFSULQFLSOHVDW
the core. Her struggles as an intellectual woman in a patriarchal society infuse her
work and ideas, challenging us to bring energy to our collective struggles. She was
not known as an activist, yet her very work, ideas and forward thinking on power and
collectivity were indeed oriented to social transformation. In many ways, Follett’s
seemingly basic ideas on community and power are brilliant in their simplicity.
These ideas have substance in that they acknowledge the complexity of everyday
life and promote a sense of self as well as community. They reflect a deep sense of
meaning and orientation to transformation, key feminist ideas. Yet, despite all her
writing, one wishes she had spent more time in theorizing power and applying it to
103
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multiple contexts; the fact that she did not have an academic position likely limited
her time for writing and developing these ideas.
While Follett was not writing only about women, her own lived experience of
marginalization as a gay woman working outside the academy with vulnerable
populations rings true for feminism which privileges those disproportionately
affected by problematic social, economic and cultural issues. We can only speculate
on how her feminism would have been enacted in the public sphere if she were living
now. The only alternative is to mine the ideas she has left us.
The precarious nature of women’s lives globally forces adult educators to keep
their focus on women. In the attempts of adult educators to focus on multiple identity
issues, and to support gender mainstreaming we have obscured women’s issues and
theories of power. Jenevieve Mannell (2012) pointed out that after Beijing World
Conference in 1995, there was a deliberate effort to mainstream women’s issues (and
not separate them out), which often led to the inclusion of women becoming little
PRUHWKDQDWHFKQLFDOWDVN±RQHPRUHER[RQDFKHFNOLVWWREHILOOHGLQWRVKRZWKDW
one was diverse and inclusive. Inspired by Follett, we might do better to confront the
LVVXHVDQGZRUNZLWKWKHPGLUHFWO\DVVKHDGYRFDWHGDQGSUDFWLFHG5DWKHUWKDQVK\
away from controversy, she engaged it and worked through the differences.
Meanwhile, we can see that the global issues before us are increasing complex for
women. The issues played out in the American election in 2016 and those of the 2018
#MeToo Movement are a not so subtle reminder that feminist issues are still at the
forefront of the public agenda. Mary Parker Follett’s insights can inform a feminism
of co-created power, inclusion, and community and help to bring adult education
into the world as a key hermeneutical lens from which to view many crucial aspects
of our collective life. Our challenge is not to see it as an aside to adult education
but as a key part of our toolbox; similarly, feminism depends on education. bell
hooks (2000) notably said, “Most people have no understanding of the myriad ways
feminism has positively changed all our lives. Sharing feminist thought and practice
sustains the feminist movement. Feminist knowledge is for everybody” (p. 24).
5()(5(1&(6
Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalisation. Minneapolis, MN:
University of Minnesota Press.
%UDFNHQ66XEPHUJHGIHPLQLVPV",Q-.$OOHQ'5'HDQ 6-%UDFNHQ(GVMost
college students are women: Implications for teaching, learning and policySS±6WLUOLQJ
VA: Stylus.
Brookfield, S. D. (2010). Theoretical frameworks for understanding the field. In C. Kasworm,
$'5RVH -05RVV*RUGRQ(GVHandbook of adult and continuing education (2010 ed.,
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Eichler, M. (2005). The other half (or more) of the story: Unpaid household and care work and lifelong
learning. In N. Bascia, A. Cumming, A. Datnow, K. Leithwood, & D. Livingstone (Eds.), International
handbook of educational policy9ROSS±'RUGUHFKW6SULQJHU
Eichler, M., Albanese, P., Ferguson, S., Hyndman, N., Liu, L. W., & Matthews, A. (2010). More than it
seems: Household work and lifelong learning. Toronto: Women’s Press.
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English, L. M., & Irving, C. (2015). Feminism in community: Adult education for transformation.
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English, L. M., & Mayo, P. (2012). Learning with adults: A critical pedagogical introduction. 5RWWHUGDP
The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
(\EHQ 5 6XEYHUVLYHO\ DFFRPPRGDWLQJ )HPLQLVW EXUHDXFUDWV DQG JHQGHU PDLQVWUHDPLQJ ,Q
A. Cornwall & J. Edwards (Eds.), Feminisms, empowerment and development: Changing women’s
livesSS±/RQGRQ=HG%RRNV
Follett, M. P. (1896). The speaker of the house of representatives. New York, NY: Longmans, Green.
Follett, M. P. (1918). The new state: Group organization, the solution of popular government. University
Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Follett, M. P. (1924). Creative experience. New York, NY: Peter Smith.
Follett, M. P. (1941). Dynamic administration: The collected papers of Mary Parker Follett
(H. C. Metcalf & L. Urwick, Eds.). New York, NY & London: Harper & Brothers.
Follett, M. P. (1954). The illusion of final authority: Authority must be functional and functional authority
carries with it functional responsibility. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of Public Assistance.
hooks, b. (2000). Feminism is for everybody. New York, NY: South End Press.
Manicom, L., & Walters, S. (2012). Feminist popular education in transnational debates. Building
pedagogies of possibility. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
Mannell, J. (2012). ‘It’s just been such a horrible experience.’ Perceptions of gender mainstreaming by
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13552074.2012.731753
Miles, A. (Ed.). (2013). Women in a globalizing world: Transforming equality, development, diversity and
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(Eds.), No small lives: Handbook of North American early women adult educators, 1925–1950
SS±&KDUORWWH1&,QIRUPDWLRQ$JH3XEOLVKHUV
O’Grady, M. (2018). An institutional ethnography of a feminist organization: A study of community
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±GRLUHODUHOD
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6WURPTXLVW 1 3 Adult education of women for social transformation: Reviving the promise,
continuing the struggle1HZ'LUHFWLRQVIRU$GXOWDQG&RQWLQXLQJ(GXFDWLRQ1RSS±
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. doi:10.1002/ace.20051
Taber, N. (Ed.). (2015). A critical engagement with the current place of feminism in Canadian adult
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UNESCO-UIS. (2018). Education and disability: Analysis of data from 49 countries (Information paper
1R5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSXLVXQHVFRRUJHQQHZVHGXFDWLRQDQGGLVDELOLW\DQDO\VLVGDWD
countries
Walters, S., & Manicom, L. (Eds.). (1996). Gender in popular education: Methods for empowerment
SS±/RQGRQ=HG%RRNV
105
.(55<+$50$1
10. ENACTING EQUALITY

Rethinking Emancipation and Adult Education with Jacques Rancière
,1752'8&7,21
The organization of much adult education, whether it be vocational, further,

community, higher or civic education, is often underpinned by liberal-humanist
ideals associated with the Enlightenment. In this tradition, education is understood
as the means for providing a way out of darkness and ignorance and this is closely
linked with the notion that education emancipates. In other words, education, whether
it takes place in universities, community groups, or workplaces is understood
as contributing to the ongoing march of social progress and it does this through
producing more knowledgeable individuals and societies. To this end, critical theory
KDVEHHQDNH\UHVRXUFHIRUDGXOWHGXFDWRUVLQWHUHVWHGLQHTXDOLW\GHPRFUDF\DQG
emancipation as it draws attention to power and its relation to oppression.
However, the emancipatory ideals of education have increasingly come under
attack, along with the hope that critical theory will contribute to progressive social
change (e.g., Bingham & Biesta, 2010; Cooper, 2014; Kompridis, 2006; Latour,
2004). Increasing diversity and complexity in society has resulted in a less unified
understanding around what constitutes progressive social change and transformation
(Alhadeff-Jones, 2017), and the notion of a universal truth seems much less certain.
At a time when there is a growing skepticism towards experts and elites, as seen
in the current exploitation of ‘post-truth’ politics by the populist right (Friedman,
+XOO5XQFLPDQZLWKLQHTXDOLW\DQG[HQRSKRELDRQWKHULVHLQ
many countries (Dorling, 2015; Winkler, 2017); and the issue of global warming
rolling on in a seemingly unrestrained way (Cox, 2018; Nuccitelli, 2018) do we,
as Wildemeersch (2014, p. 823) asks, need to “redefine what critical theories and
practices are about?” And if so, what other approaches might be possible for those
LQWHUHVWHGLQHTXDOLW\GHPRFUDF\DQGHPDQFLSDWLRQ"
2QHWKHRULVWTXHVWLRQLQJZLGHO\VKDUHGDVVXPSWLRQVDERXWHPDQFLSDWLRQLV-DFTXHV
5DQFLqUH5DQFLqUHSSURSRVHVWKDWFRQFHLYLQJHTXDOLW\DQGGHPRFUDF\DV
the end goal of education contributes to ‘stultification’ rather than emancipation.
7KHUHLVDJURZLQJVFKRODUVKLSLQWKHILHOGRIHGXFDWLRQRQWKHZRUNRI5DQFLqre,
with much of this literature examining the alternative conception of emancipation he
provides and exploring the implications for education (e.g., Bingham & Biesta, 2010;
Galloway, 2012; Harman, 2017a; Pelletier, 2009; Simons & Masschelein, 2010).

.+$50$1
7KLVFKDSWHUFRQWULEXWHVWRWKLVVFKRODUVKLSE\WKLQNLQJZLWK5DQFLqre to explore the

possibilities for doing adult education and research. In the first part of the chapter,
5DQFLqre’s alternative conception of emancipation is introduced. In the second part
WKHSRVVLELOLWLHVIRUGRLQJDQGUHVHDUFKLQJDGXOWHGXFDWLRQXVLQJ5DQFLqrian concepts
are explored.
AN$/7(51$7,9(&21&(37,212)(0$1&,3$7,21
For many adult educators, it could be said that effecting social change and
transformation is our raison d¶rtre (e.g., Dewey, 1966; Tawney, 1931; Williams, 1965),
and this is often closely linked with an emancipatory ideal of education embedded in
Enlightenment thinking. Even more radical perspectives on adult education, which
KDYHDVWKHLUJRDOWKHPRUHHTXDOGLVWULEXWLRQRIZHDOWKRSSRUWXQLWLHVDQGSULYLOHJHV
within a society, tend to be underpinned by an understanding that (critical) education
emancipates (e.g., Brookfield & Holst, 2011; Mayo, 2015). Indeed, it could be said
that the hope of the critical tradition is that a better understanding of how power
really works will lead to the mobilization of oppressed groups in their struggle for
emancipation. Much of this work is underpinned by the Marxist notion of false
consciousness and, from this perspective, a better understanding of oppression is
facilitated by a ‘knower’ who understands the true operation of power (Biesta, 2010;
Breuing, 2011). In other words, one is led to emancipation by the critical educator/
political theorist.
However, 5DQFLqre (1981, p. 7) points out that the delay embedded in such
“explicatory” pedagogic practices produces “stultification” and is constituted by a
relation of dependence rather than emancipation. And nowhere is this more evident
than in the academy, where ‘the teacher’ is positioned as “the knower” and students
as “the novice´5DQFLqre argues that this particular ordering of relations works to
produce an ongoing temporal delay with an underlying assumption that just a little
more knowledge and the student will eventually become “the knower”. He describes
the assumption that the explicatory practices of the teacher are emancipatory as
“the pedagogical myth” with the problem being: “The pedagogical myth divides the
world into two. It says there is an inferior intelligence and a superior one” (1991,
p. 7). Furthermore, using the example of continuing education in the late 1800s,
KH GLVFXVVHV WKH LQVWLWXWLRQDOL]DWLRQ RI HTXDOLW\ LQ HGXFDWLRQ ZKHUHE\ WKH WDVN RI
education was “PDNLQJDQHTXDOVRFLHW\RXWRIXQHTXDOPHQ” (p. 133).
5DQFLqre also proposes that the same hierarchical ordering of intelligence
underpins much critical theory. Indeed, The Ignorant Schoolmaster can be read as
D WKLQO\ YHLOHG FULWLTXH RI WKH SXEOLF LQWHOOHFWXDO ZKR FRQWULEXWHV WR WKH RQJRLQJ
separation of knowledge into higher and lower orders by revealing the truth of
RSSUHVVLRQ5RVV7KHVHSUDFWLFHVGLYLGHWKHZRUOGLQWRWZRWKRVHZKRNQRZ
and those who are ignorant and oppressed; and assume the latter need to be led by
‘the knower’ in the task of recognizing their own oppression before they can be
emancipated. In other words, a higher-level knowledge is understood as providing
108
ENACTING EQUALITY
a pathway to freedom and this is achieved through revealing the truth of oppression
DQG LQHTXDOLW\. For 5DQFLqre, this leads to a “pedagogicized’ society” (1991,
SDQGUHLQIRUFHVLQHTXDOLW\
7KHUHDUHPDQ\VLPLODULWLHVEHWZHHQ5DQFLqUH¶VFULWLTXHRIWKHSXEOLFLQWHOOHFWXDO
and Freire’s work on critical pedagogy (1996), where dialogic and participatory
WHFKQLTXHV DUH WKH SUHIHUUHG SHGDJRJLF DSSURDFK %RWK GUDZ DWWHQWLRQ WR DFWLYH
knowers and the importance of non-hierarchical relations between teachers and
VWXGHQWV)XUWKHUPRUH)UHLUH¶VFULWLTXHRID³QDUUDWLYH´HOHPHQWLQPXFKSHGDJRJ\
SLVYHU\VLPLODUWR5DQFLqUH¶VFULWLTXHRIH[SOLFDWRU\SUDFWLFHV+RZHYHU
for Freire, the educational experience provides the opportunity for the oppressed to
become conscious of the previously hidden operation of power and this is the first
stage in achieving emancipation. This leads Bingham and Biesta (2010) to contend
WKDWLPSOLFLWLQWKLVYLHZLVWKHDVVXPSWLRQWKDWHPDQFLSDWLRQDQGHTXDOLW\FDQEH
achieved only after the truth of oppression and its relation to power is revealed.
,QFRQWUDVW5DQFLqre argues that rather than thinking about emancipation as a goal
WREHUHDFKHGLQWKHIXWXUHZKLFKSURGXFHVLQHTXDOLW\LQWKHSUHVHQWHTXDOLW\PXVW
be enacted in the here and now. The “circle of emancipation must be begun” (1991,
p. 16, author’s emphasis) and this entails the presupposition and verification of an
³HTXDOLW\RILQWHOOLJHQFH´S)RU5DQFLqUHDQHTXDOLW\RILQWHOOLJHQFHDVVXPHV
the common capacity to “invent objects, stories and arguments” (2014, p. 279)
and this assumption provides the starting point for further action. There can be no
temporal delay as eTXDOLW\DQGHPDQFLSDWLRQLVVRPHWKLQJRQHHQDFWVLQWKHSUHVHQW
It is an act rather than a possession. Moreover, it must be demanded rather than
waiting for it to be given as the latter incorporates a temporal delay, which produces
LQHTXDOLW\$QGEHFDXVHLWLVDQDFWUDWKHUWKDQDSRVVHVVLRQHTXDOLW\QHHGVWREH
constantly remade. It must be made and remade in order for it to be sustained.
And this was the great discovery made by Jacotot, the protagonist in The Ignorant
Schoolmaster 5DQFLqre, 1991). In telling the story of Jacotot and his accidental
discovery of the principles of ‘universal teaching¶5DQFLqre directs attention to the
performativity of pedagogic practices (Pelletier, 2009). When Jacotot commenced
teaching at the University of Louvain in the early 1800s, he was unable to pass on
his knowledge of his subject to his students as he could not speak Flemish. Out of
necessity, he used a bilingual copy of a book in his classes, the Telemaque, and to
his surprise this method of teaching was extremely effective. This experience led
Jacotot to realize that we all have the common capacity to learn by experimentation
and “groping blindly” and that this is made possible by an “HTXDOLW\RILQWHOOLJHQFH”.
There is not a higher and lower order of intelligence, rather, the scientist and the
DUWLVDQOHDUQLQWKHVDPHZD\)RUERWKLWLVDTXHVWLRQRI“observing, comparing and
combining, of making and noticing how one has done it” (p. 36). And when Jacotot
made this discovery:
There was nothing else to do but to persist in indicating the extravagant path
WKDW FRQVLVWV LQ VHL]LQJ LQ HYHU\ VHQWHQFH LQ HYHU\ DFW WKH VLGH RI HTXDOLW\
109
.+$50$1
(TXDOLW\ZDVQRWDQHQGWRDWWDLQEXWDSRLQWRIGHSDUWXUHDVXSSRVLWLRQWR
maintain in every circumstance. Never would truth speak up for it. Never
ZRXOGHTXDOLW\H[LVWH[FHSWLQLWVYHULILFDWLRQDQGDWWKHSULFHRIEHLQJYHULILHG
always and everywhere. (p. 138)
$ NH\ FRQFHSW LQWURGXFHG E\ 5DQFLqre is his notion of “the distribution of the
sensible” and an aesthetic dimension of politics (2004). The distribution of the
sensible is the ordering of the social (5DQFLqre refers to this as the “police order”),
which creates divisions in terms of what is sayable and not sayable, what is visible
and not visible, and what can be heard and what is unable to be heard. It is in this
sense that 5DQFLqre draws attention to the ontological dimension of politics and
TXHVWLRQV‘what is able to exist?’ in a particular ordering of the social. Who and what
can (and cannot) be seen, heard, listened to, thought about, named? For 5DQFLqre
politics involves reconfiguring the distribution of the sensible and this is achieved
ZKHQWKHSUHYLRXVO\H[FOXGHGGHPDQGHTXDOLW\DQGEHFRPHSDUWRIWKHFRPPRQV
'LUHFWLQJDWWHQWLRQWRHTXDOLW\LQWKHKHUHDQGQRZLVDYHU\GLIIHUHQWSROLWLFDOVWUDWHJ\
to that available in certain versions of critical theory, which focus on the relationship
between oppression and the hidden operation of power and, as I propose below, this
provides great possibility for adult educators.
However, not all adult education theorists, nor all political theorists, agree with
5DQFLqre’s political strategy. For example, Alhadeff-Jones (2017), who is interested
in how education might contribute to sustaining emancipation, sees 5DQFLqre’s focus
RQ WKH RQJRLQJ QHHG WR HQDFW HTXDOLW\ LQ WKH SUHVHQW DV D OLPLWDWLRQ UDWKHU WKDQ D
strength. However, the notion of achieving sustained emancipation implies a social
ordering without hierarchy, which VHHPVXQOLNHO\5DWKHU5DQFLqre (2017, unpaged)
VSHDNVRIHTXDOLW\DVD³ZRUOGLQWKHPDNLQJ´,WLV³DZRUOGERUQRIVSHFLILFEUHDFKHV
in the dominant commonsense, of interruptions of the ‘normal’ way of the world”. In
other words, the present world of hierarchy provides the ‘stage’ where the worlds of
LQHTXDOLW\DQGHTXDOLW\DUHDEOHWRPHHW5DQFLqre’s focus on performativity and the
need for the ongoing HQDFWLQJRIHTXDOLW\LQRUGHUIRULWWREHVXVWDLQHGLVWKHJUHDW
possibility offered by this approach. This strategy not only makes emancipation in
the present possible, it makes it a necessity ± there can be no temporal delay, no
deferral. This is a political project in which all adult educators can and must take part.
3266,%,/,7,(6)25'2,1*$'8/7('8&$7,21$1'5(6($5&+
6RZKDWPLJKWHQDFWLQJHTXDOLW\LQWKHSUHVHQWDFWXDOO\ORRNOLNHLQDGXOWeducation?
Again, The Ignorant Schoolmaster SURYLGHV D XVHIXO JXLGH 5DQFLqre is not
suggesting a world without teachers, rather he proposes a world without explication
(Bingham & Biesta, 2010; Wildemeersch, 2014). A world where there is no splitting
the common capacity to think and speak and create stories into a world which assumes
DKLJKHUDQGORZHURUGHURILQWHOOLJHQFH7KLVUHTXLUHVWKHWHDFKHUWREH‘ignorant’. In
other words, the ignorant schoolmaster does not teach their knowledge to students.
110
ENACTING EQUALITY
5DWKHUE\OHDYLQJWKHLUNQRZOHGJHRXWRIWKHSHGDJRJLFUHODWLRQWKH‘knower¶±µnot
knower’ relationship of explicatory pedagogy is able to be reconfigured.
$NH\FRQFHSWIRU5DQFLqre is the notion of aesthetic experience (2006, 2014).
This is a form of engagement which does not involve a hierarchical relation and
enables the appearance of something new. An important mechanism for removing
hierarchy from the relationship is by providing a setting where students engage with
texts (in the broadest sense of the word). This might include books but it could
also include theatre, music, dance, films, poetry, artwork, television and other
cultural objects. For example, when reading a book, one reads and makes their own
interpretation of the text. The student uses their own intelligence to interpret the
book and thus the book provides “the egalitarian intellectual link” (1991, p. 13). The
QRWLRQRIWUDQVODWLRQLVNH\KHUHDQGWKHFDSDFLW\ZKLFK5DQFLqre argues is common
to all humans, to perceive, make connections and create meaning. Furthermore, the
‘ignorant schoolmaster’ does not verify what the student has found. No feedback is
provided on the student’s interpretation, rather the ignorant schoolmaster verifies:
“that the student has searched” and “has paid attention” (p. 31). The ignorant
schoolmaster will ask: “what do you think about it?” (p. 36). The purpose is to
encourage students to be attentive and, to this end, practices such as searching,
experimenting, researching and storytelling are employed. The goal is to extend
µPRPHQWVRIHTXDOLW\¶WKURXJKLWVHQDFWPHQW5DQFLqUH
5DQFLqre provides many examples in The Ignorant Schoolmaster of aesthetic
H[SHULHQFHLQFOXGLQJWKHHQDFWPHQWRIHTXDOLW\LQSDLQWLQJSDQGSRHWU\S
In a section titled The Community of Equals (p. 71) he describes an emancipated
community as “a society of artists” which:
… would repudiate the division between those who know and those who don’t,
between those who possess or don’t possess the property of intelligence. It
would only know minds in action: people who do, who speak about what they
are doing, and who thus transform all their works into ways of demonstrating
the humanity that is in them as in everyone’.
Wildemeersch (2014) further explores the notion of aesthetic experience and what it
RIIHUVWRDGXOWHGXFDWRUVGUDZLQJRQ5DQFLqre’s notion of ‘the emancipated spectator’
(2009). In engaging with an artwork (but it could be theatre or music or television),
the spectator is not passive. Instead, the spectator provides an interpretation of
the artwork and this engagement is without hierarchy. The painter or sculptor
does not tell the spectator how the work should be interpreted. The interpretation
is ‘active’ and involves the translation and appropriation of the artist’s story and
making it one’V RZQ $Q HTXDOLW\ RI LQWHOOLJHQFH LV HQDFWHG LQ WKLV UHODWLRQVKLS
where neither the intelligence of the artist nor the intelligence of the spectator
dominates.
5DQFLqre (and Wildemeersch) are both interested in the creation of democratic
PRPHQWV ZKLFK SURYLGH WKH RSSRUWXQLW\ WR H[SHULHQFH HTXDOLW\ “One need only
learn KRZ WR EH HTXDO PHQ LQ DQ XQHTXDO VRFLHW\” (1991, p. 133, my emphasis).
111
.+$50$1
This involves transgressing boundaries (or social positionings), including the

ongoing crossing of occupational and disciplinary boundaries, through a process of
‘disidentification’ and a refusal to take up a particular social position that has been
allocated. It is transgression which enables the ‘distribution of the sensible’ to be
reconfigured:
It is thus impossible for shoemakers just to make shoes, that they not also be,
in their manner, grammarians, moralists, or physicists.5DQFLqUHS
The above text could be applied to other occupations. For example, it is impossible
for hairdressers not to be psychologists, carers and scientists; it is impossible for
cooks not to be chemists, artists and herbalists; and so on. This way of understanding
the world disrupts the notion of a linear view of progress and the associated divisions
produced by this way of thinking:
… as long as peasants and artisans form moral, mathematical, or physical
notions based on their environmental routine or their chance encounters, the
reasoned march of progress will be doubly at risk: slowed down by men [sic]
of routine and superstition, or disrupted by the haste of violent men [sic].
5DQFLqUHS
Following 5DQFLqre, the adult educator creates the space for democratic moments but
this is not about achieving consensus in the group, rather dissensuV5DQFLqre, 2010).
5DWKHUWKDQDFRPPXQLW\RIVKDUHGSUDFWLFHDQGPHDQLQJWKHHQDFWPHQWRIHTXDOLW\
contributes to “the invention of specific moments where the very landscape of the
perceptible, thinkable, doable is radically reframed´5DQFLqre, 2017, unpaged) and
a community of difference is produced. The removal of established boundaries and
hierarchies results in variation and hybridity and the production of new meanings
and subjectivities (Lewis, 2009). In other words, what was not previously able to
exist is now able to appear.
Furthermore, rather than research approaches which attempt to reveal the truth
RI RSSUHVVLRQ 5DQFLqre suggests a very different political strategy. Instead of
DWWHPSWLQJ WR PRELOL]H DFWLRQ IRU HPDQFLSDWLRQ LQ WKH IXWXUH D FRPPRQ HTXDOLW\
of intelligence should be verified in research accounts. This would include drawing
DWWHQWLRQ WR GHPRFUDWLF PRPHQWV ZKHUH HQDFWLQJ HTXDOLW\ GLVUXSWV WKH ‘normal’
world of hierarchy with its ongoing separation of the world into a ‘higher’ and
µORZHU¶ RUGHU RI LQWHOOLJHQFH )RU H[DPSOH 5DQFLqre’s notion of disidentification,
which is the refusal to take up allocated social positions, is useful for researching
OHDUQLQJ LQ DQG WKURXJK HYHU\GD\ ZRUNSODFH SUDFWLFHV +DUPDQ E 5DWKHU
than accounts which reinforce a view of knowing (and accepting) one’s place, the
crossing of occupational, disciplinary, temporal, geographic and sensory boundaries
at work should be verified and documented. These accounts verify the new modes of
subjectivity brought into effect through transgression. This could entail the refusal to
take up particular gendered or classed subject positions associated with occupations,
112
ENACTING EQUALITY
for example nurses as carer, sweetheart and angel; teacher as knower, judge and
expert; cleaners as low skilled; and so on.
)RU 5DQFLqre, the refusal to be positioned provides an opportunity for the
HQDFWPHQWRIHTXDOLW\DQGDUHFRQILJXUDWLRQRIWKHGLVWULEXWLRQRIWKHVHQVLEOH7KLV
LVZKHUHWKHZRUOGRILQHTXDOLW\DQGWKHZRUOGRIHTXDOLW\DUHDEOHWRPHHWRQWKH
same stage. For example, the hierarchical organization of most workplaces into
‘the manager’ and ‘the managed’ and the inherent separation of a higher and lower
order intelligence this entails, provides an ideal site for verifying the moments when
WKHVHERXQGDULHVDUHFURVVHGDQGHTXDOLW\LVHQDFWHG5DQFLqre provides an example
of transgressive boundary crossing in The Nights of Labor (1989) where workers,
during the 1830 revolution in France, transgressed temporal and occupational
boundaries to produce worker-run newspapers, letters, journals, and worker-poetry.
5DWKHU WKDQ VOHHSLQJ GXULQJ WKH QLJKW DQG UHVWRULQJ WKHLU ERGLHV IRU D IXOO GD\ RI
ODERXU WKHVH ZRUNHULQWHOOHFWXDOV GHPDQGHG HTXDOLW\ E\ HQJDJLQJ LQ LQWHOOHFWXDO
pursuits and refusing to be positioned simply as ‘workers’. While some political
theorists criticize 5DQFLqre’s approach as romantic (e.g. McNay, 2014), the
verification of the enactment of a utopian vision in the present is precisely his point.
And this point has been taken up and explored by various authors (e.g., Kompridis,
2014; Cooper, 2014).
A focus on aesthetic experience and the notion of non-hierarchical engagement
opens up pretty much everything in terms of exploring adult learning as the
boundaries embedded in the division of the world into ‘the knower¶±µthe ignorant’
binary begin to crumble and other ways of knowing are able to appear (Clover,
0DQLFRP :DOWHUV 5LJQH\ 6PLWK )RU H[DPSOH LQ
contrast to the prevailing focus on reflection on experience in workplace pedagogies,
which could be understood as providing a particular mode of ‘doing’ experience
that embeds hierarchy (Bradbury et al., 2009; Michelson, 1996), an exploration of
experience and how it is ‘made up’, including the ways different senses are connected
with experience, opens up a vast terrain to explore. This approach contributes to
more expansive accounts of learning and experience rather than assuming learning
RQO\WDNHVSODFHLQSDUWLFXODUVSDFHVDQGDWSDUWLFXODUWLPHVHJ5XLWHQEHUJ
)XUWKHU LI OHDUQLQJ LV UHFRQILJXUHG DV PRPHQWV ZKHUH HTXDOLW\ LV H[SHULHQFHG
this presents possibilities which are not usually documented in the literature on
learning at work (Harman, 2016, 2017b). If the exploration of aesthetic engagement
is incorporated as an approach to researching learning, for example, the ways we
engage with books, films, artworks (and so on) and the ways these are translated
and made into one’s own story (Jarvis, 2018), the possibilities are vast. The focus
VKLIWV WR WKH YHULILFDWLRQ RI HTXDOLW\ DQG GRFXPHQWLQJ WKH ZD\V H[SHULPHQWDWLRQ
and creativity contribute to the appearance of the new. Furthermore, the very
separation of adult education practice and adult education research is challenged
in this approach.
113
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7+()5$*,/,7<2)(48$/,7<%87$/627+(
)5$*,/,7<2),1(48$/,7<
,QVXPPDU\5DQFLqre points to two very different political strategies for achieving

emancipation and both are completely intertwined with pedagogic and research
practices. The first is the view underpinning many critical approaches in adult
HGXFDWLRQZKHUHLWLVEHOLHYHGWKDWUHYHDOLQJWKHWUXWKRILQHTXDOLW\LQWKHSUHVHQW
ZLOOOHDGWRHTXDOLW\LQWKHIXWXUH7KLVLVWKHZRUOGRIH[SOLFDWLRQ$QDOWHUQDWLYHLV
HQDFWLQJHTXDOLW\LQWKHSUHVHQW5DQFLqre insists on the latter approach as the former
UHVXOWV LQ WKH RQJRLQJ HQDFWPHQW RI LQHTXDOLW\ LQ WKH SUHVHQW LQ RUGHU WR DFKLHYH
emancipation in the future. In drawing attention to the performative function of
SHGDJRJLFSUDFWLFHV5DQFLqre enables us to rethink how we might do adult education.
Adult educators are intricately entwined in ontological politics and our pedagogic
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While the separation of the world into higher and lower orders of intelligence
by way of explicatory pedagogy is completely embedded in the ‘pedagogicized’
VRFLHW\WKHIDFWWKDWLQHTXDOLW\DOVRQHHGVWREHHQDFWHGWRUHPDLQGXUDEOHSURYLGHV
JUHDW SRVVLELOLW\ -XVW DV HTXDOLW\ LV IUDJLOH VR WRR LV LQHTXDOLW\ DV ERWK PXVW EH
HQDFWHG7KHXELTXLW\RIWKH‘pedagogicized’ society means that there are multiple
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not need to wait for emancipation in the future, there is no need to defer. Instead, we
must act now so the “circle of emancipation can be begun”.
5()(5(1&(6
Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017). Time and the rhythms of emancipatory education: Rethinking the temporal
complexity of self and society$ELQJGRQ5RXWOHGJH
Bingham, C., & Biesta, G. (2010). Jacques Rancière: Education, truth, emancipation. London:
Bloomsbury Academic.
Bradbury, H., Frost, N., Kilminster, S., & Zukas, M. (Eds.). (2009). Beyond reflective practice: New
approaches to professional lifelong learning/RQGRQ5RXWOHGJH
Breuing, M. (2011). Problematizing critical pedagogy. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3(3),
±
Brookfield, S., & Holst, J. (2011). Radicalizing learning: Adult education for a just world. San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
Clover, D. E. (2010). A contemporary review of feminist aesthetic practices in selective adult education
journals and conference proceedings. Adult Education Quarterly, 60±
Cooper, D. (2014). Everyday utopias: The conceptual life of promising spaces. Durham, NC: Duke
University Press.
Cox, L. (2018). Sydney’s bushfire season starts in winter: ‘We may have to rethink how we live’. The
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season-starts-in-winter-we-may-have-to-rethink-how-we-live
Dewey, J. (1966). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. London:
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from https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/01/trump-edelman-trust-crisis/513350/
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through practice. European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, 7(1),
±
Harman, K. (2017a). Democracy, emancipation and widening participation in the UK: Changing the
‘distribution of the sensible’. Studies in the Education of Adults, 49±GRL
30.2017.1283757
Harman, K. (2017b). A tentative return to experience in researching learning at work. Studies in
Continuing Education, 40±GRL;
Hull, B. (2018). The end of expertise: And why that is a giant problem for the anthropocene5HWULHYHG
from http://www.globalchange.vt.edu/2017/02/24/the-end-of-expertise/
Jarvis, C. (2018). The art of freedom in HE teacher development. Teaching in Higher Education.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2018.1456422
Kompridis, N. (2006). Critique and disclosure: Critical theory between past and future. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
Kompridis, N. (Ed.). (2014). The aesthetic turn in political thought. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
/DWRXU%:K\KDVFULWLTXHUXQRXWRIVWHDP")URPPDWWHUVRIIDFWWRPDWWHUVRIFRQFHUQCritical
Inquiry, 30:LQWHU±
Lewis, T. E. (2009). Education in the realm of the senses: Understanding Paulo Freire’s aesthetic
XQFRQVFLRXVWKURXJK-DFTXHV5DQFLHUHJournal of Philosophy of Education, 43±
Manicom, L., & Walters, S. (Eds.). (2012). Feminist popular education in transnational debates: building
pedagogies of possibility. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
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doi:10.1177/0896920513512694
McNay, L. (2014). The misguided search for the political: Social weightlessness in radical democratic
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Michelson, E. (1996). “Auctoritee” and “experience”: Feminist epistemology and the assessment of
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1XFFLWHOOL'-XO\RIKRXVHUHSXEOLFDQVIRROLVKO\UHMHFWFDUERQWD[HVThe Guardian.
5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSVZZZWKHJXDUGLDQFRPHQYLURQPHQWFOLPDWHFRQVHQVXVSHUFHQW
jul/20/97-of-house-republicans-foolishly-reject-carbon-taxes
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TXHVWLRQRISHUIRUPDWLYLW\Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 30±
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5DQFLqUH-7KHDHVWKHWLFGLPHQVLRQ$HVWKHWLFVSROLWLFVNQRZOHGJH,Q1.RPSULGLV(GThe
aesthetic turn in political thoughtSS±/RQGRQ%ORRPVEXU\3XEOLVKLQJ
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http://www.babylonia.gr/category/english/
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methodologies: A guide to indigenist research methodology and its principles. Wicazo Sa Review,
14±
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intervention in public space. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 31±
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tearing-politics-apart
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±
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perspectives. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 33±
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MICHEL ALHADEFF-JONES
11. TIME, POWER AND THE EMANCIPATORY

AIMS OF ADULT EDUCATION
,1752'8&7,21
Adult Education and the Fluidity of Power Dynamics
In Western societies, the experience of time has probably never been as ordered,
controlled and disciplined than it is today. It appears in adult education through the
ULJLGLW\LPSRVHGRQVFKHGXOHVDQGSODQQLQJRUWKURXJKWKHDJHUHTXLUHPHQWVGHILQHG
by educational policies. At the same time, the temporalities of adult life are more
often experienced as discontinuous, troubled and chaotic than before. Nowadays, the
evolution of adulthood is characterized by the destandardization of the life course,
the heterogeneous rhythms that divide the everyday life (e.g., family, work, studies),
RU WKH IUHTXHQF\ RI RUJDQL]DWLRQDO DQG WHFKQRORJLFDO FKDQJHV GLVUXSWLQJ GDLO\
routines. The effects of such dynamics have become more intense, influenced by the
preponderance of ‘speed’. Thus, rigid temporal frameworks, coupled with a sense
of urgency lead to the experience of stress, burnout or the compulsive repetition of
monotonous behaviors. As time scarcity and the acceleration of learning invade the
everyday practice of adult education (e.g., Plumb, 1999; Wlodkowski, 2003), they
jeopardize the possibility to exercise sound judgment and critical reflection. With the
compression of temporal perspectives to the immediate present, they make it more
difficult for people to revisit their past, anticipate their future, or assert their own
rhythms of development. If the influences of temporal constraints have a long history
in education (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017), their current configurations express something
significant about how power dynamics and alienation may be experienced. They
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about how people learn to sustain the development of their autonomy through time
and how they regulate their sense of agency when facing conflicting temporalities.
Considering such a context, the purpose of this chapter is to revisit emancipation
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This reflection assumes that the temporal features of the environment we are
living in, and the rhythms that currently shape both adulthood and adult education
VKRXOGEHFRPHDIRFXVRIFULWLFDOLQTXLU\DQGSUD[LV2QHRIWKHVSHFLILFLWLHVRIWKLV
contribution is that it assumes simultaneously the social and political nature of this

M. ALHADEFF-JONES
topic, as well as its physical, biological, psychological and philosophical dimensions.

The experience of time relates to heterogeneous forms of change, occurring at the
different levels of one’s existence. From an educational perspective, the relation
between time and emancipation carries an epistemic complexity. Echoing a long
tradition of interdisciplinary research around human rhythms and their political
dimensions (e.g., Alhadeff-Jones, 2017; Bachelard, 1950; Barthes, 2002/2012;
Lefebvre, 2004; Michon, 2005), and inspired by original contributions developed
in the French-speaking field of adult education (e.g., Ardoino, 2000; Pineau,
1986, 2000; Lesourd, 2006), this chapter intends therefore to demonstrate both
the relevance of reinterpreting emancipatory processes, focusing on the fluidity of
power dynamics, and the specificity of analyzing their rhythms from the perspective
of adult education (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017).
Four Postulates to Envision the Complex Relations between Time and

Emancipation in Adult Education
To envision how the exercise of power relates to the experience of time and how
they affect the complexity of adult learning and development, the reflection
conducted in this chapter formulates four postulates. (i) The first one relies on the
assumption that the exercise of power always relates to the experience of natural
and cultural temporal constraints. To understand how power dynamics unfold and
how they affect the praxis of adult education, it is therefore critical to analyze the
emergence of successive, concomitant and intertwined strategies implemented to
control those temporal constraints. (ii) A second postulate assumes that a cultural
shift has marked late modernity and currently affects the way people experience
and struggle with the temporalities of their life, including their experience of
lifelong learning. To describe and interpret such disempowering experiences, the
notions of ‘temporal alienation’ and ‘schizochrony’ are introduced. (iii) A third
postulate claims that the aim of emancipatory education should be envisioned
through the development of a critical capacity to interpret and challenge the
way time is experienced and meanings are constructed around it. (iv) The fourth
postulate is to conceive emancipation in itself as a phenomenon that unfolds
through time and that reveals the idiosyncrasy of one’s own development.
Emancipatory education relates to people’s capacity to regulate the ever-evolving
dynamics between autonomy and dependence; it expresses the rhythms through
which adults change, grow and transform themselves throughout their lives. This
chapter finally proposes to envision further critical development in adult education
WKURXJKWKHOHQVHVSURYLGHGE\UK\WKPVWXGLHVDQGUK\WKPDQDO\VLV±DGHGLFDWHG
PHWKRGIRFXVLQJRQWKHVWXG\RIOLYHGUK\WKPV±DVWKH\PD\SURYLGHUHVRXUFHVWR
imagine innovative educational praxis focusing on the experience of time in the
everyday life and throughout the life course.
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The Ubiquity of Temporal Constraints
Like social and cultural life, education is determined by physical and living phenomena
± ZKHWKHU QDWXUDO RU DUWLILFLDO ± ZKRVH UK\WKPV LQIOXHQFH SHRSOH¶V EHKDYLRUV
and interactions. Chronobiologists and chronopsychologists have for instance
demonstrated how learning activity is regulated by biological and psychological
rhythms that are partly determined genetically (e.g., sleep cycle, attention span)
(Koukkari & Sothern, 2006; Testu, 2008). Cosmological and ecological rhythms
(e.g., circadian rhythm, cycle of seasons) also impact human activity, through the
influence of physical, chemical and biological changes that occur in the environment
and that follow their own temporalities. Such phenomena are examples of natural
rhythmic influences. Temporal constraints confine, bound, restrict or put into
tension the operations involved by human activity, including in education, where
they eventually influence the temporalities of individual and collective learning,
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not manifest power or control per se, the way such temporal constraints are regulated
is a matter of power dynamics.
Time and Power
How a society defines and controls time is at the core of the way it exercises power
(e.g., Adam, 1994; Attali, 1982; Bergmann, 1992; Foucault, 1975/1995; Thompson,
1967). Thus, the primary function of those in power is to give meaning to the
multiple times of the world, to name them and to organize collective life based on
their rhythms (Attali, 1982, p. 13). As summarized by Bergmann (1992, p. 99):
Time’s ordering character for social life does not arise from the passage of time
or the temporal duration of social systems, but from its normative effect on the
structure and coordination of behaviour.
For Adam (1994, p. 107):
As long as we remain part of a society that is structured to the time of clocks
and calendars our activities and interaction with others can only escape its
pervasive hold to a very limited extent.
Thus, even when human activities are not explicitly referring to the time of clocks
DQG FDOHQGDUV WKH FRQVWDQW SURFHVVHV RI DGMXVWPHQW WKDW RFFXU EHWZHHQ SHRSOH ±
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power dynamics (Michon, 2005). In adult education, such dynamics appear clearly
through the experience of temporal pressure, that is the imposition of a specific
rhythm to one’s activity, due to social, economic or political reasons. Such a
pressure appears for instance through the implementation of ‘accelerated learning’
119
M. ALHADEFF-JONES
in higher education (Wlodkowski, 2003), privileging economical imperatives over

pedagogical considerations.
Temporal Discipline, Temporal Norms and the Disorganization of Lived Time
The history of education is characterized by the emergence of successive, concomitant

and intertwined strategies implemented to control existing temporal constraints,
such as those inherent to the natural world and the human body. Those strategies
of control have produced specific forms of temporal constraints that are social and
cultural. They reveal conflicting principles, interests and ideals (e.g., temporal
efficiency, rhythmic harmony) (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017). Their most prevalent forms
appear through the temporalities that organize institutions, such as education. On
the one hand, the way they participate in the exercise of power is functional. For
instance, the implementation of temporal discipline reduces individual’s margins of
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influence of specific rhythms, in order to regulate what would be otherwise perceived
as asynchronous, unpredictable or uncontrollable behaviors (e.g., Zerubavel, 1981).
On the other hand, social forms of temporal constraints also operate at the symbolic
level. The influence of specific representations (e.g., clocks, calendar) binds the
VRFLDOLPDJLQDU\RIWLPHE\UHGXFLQJLWWRDQDEVWUDFWTXDQWLILHGOLQHDUDQGXQLYHUVDO
conception. Its dominance may thus limit how the everyday experience of change
is appreciated and interpreted (Ardoino, 2000). In the same way, the definition
of age norms (e.g., legitimate entry and exit points relative to formal instruction)
reinforces temporal standards that influence the way life trajectories are experienced
and appreciated. Constraints associated with the shared experience of time do not
necessarily come from the imposition of a temporal order. They also appear through
the experience of disorganized temporalities. Thus, the increased confusion and
disorder inherent to conflicting temporal demands (e.g., family versus working life),
as well as the fragmentation and the discontinuities that punctuate the life course
(e.g., unemployment, sickness), emerge as disorganizing factors. They tend to
increase uncertainty and instability and constitute disempowering experiences that
may prevent one from developing a genuine sense of autonomy (Alhadeff-Jones,
2017; Pineau, 2000).
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Defining Temporal Alienation
The concept of alienation has been used in social theory to evoke “a loss, a severance
from a part that becomes alien, as well as to the independent power that such a
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ZRUNLQJWLPHUHTXLUHGLQRUGHUWRSURGXFHPHUFKDQGLVHLVDOLHQDWLQJ
120
7,0(32:(5$1'7+((0$1&,3$725<$,062)$'8/7('8&$7,21
partly because it is based on an abstract estimate, opposed to the concrete time

experienced by workers. The rationalization of work contributes to the reification of
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GHOLPLWHG TXDQWLILHG DQG REMHFWLILHG DFFRUGLQJ WR D PHFKDQLFDO ORJLF GHWDFKHG
from the subjective experience (Lukacs, 1960, cited in Pineau, 2000). Furthermore,
working time is alienating because it determines and constrains individual actions
(Postone, 1993, p. 215). The tyranny of time in capitalist society remains therefore a
central dimension of Marxian analysis and a recurring theme in sociological studies
focusing on the role played by the rigidity, the coercion and the regularity imposed
through the temporal framework of industrialization (e.g., Adam, 1994).
The New Temporal Imperatives: Speed, Urgency, Acceleration
During the past decades, many authors have revisited this problematic, exploring
the effects of temporal alienation through specific notions such as ‘speed’ (e.g.,
Hassan, 2009; Virilio, 1977), ‘urgency’ (e.g., Bouton, 2013), and the ‘acceleration’
RI WKH HYHU\GD\ OLIH HJ 5RVD 'RLQJ VR WKH\ SURYLGH XV ZLWK
interpretations to grasp the cultural shift that seems to have marked late modernity
and currently affects people’s experience and struggles with time. Nowadays,
conflicts associated with the experience of time (e.g., stress, burnout, lack of work-
family balance, monotonous or compulsive repetitive behaviors) express renewed
forms of temporal constraints that reveal underlying power dynamics and conflicts
RILQWHUHVW5HVHDUFKLVQHHGHGLQRUGHUWRFULWLFDOO\DVVHVVVXFKFRQWULEXWLRQVDQG
discuss how their commonalities and divergences may be articulated. Not everyone
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and differences related to class, ethnicity, or age, have to be considered in order
to fully grasp the extent to which temporal alienation is experienced. It remains
that such an evolution impacts educational practices and determines the way adults
regulate the temporalities of their lives and the rhythms of their own development.
Adult Education and the Experience of Schizochrony
In the field of adult education, Pineau (1986, 2000) was among the first to start
reflecting on the meaning of éducation permanente, as it relates to people’s experience
of temporal alienation. He proposed the neologism ‘schizochrony’ (from the Greek
schizo-, meaning divide, and chronos, time) to refer to the various forms of temporal
divide that may be experienced and eventually lead individuals to the feeling of being
temporally alienated throughout their life, including in the way they relate to their
RZQVHOIGHYHORSPHQW6XFKVSOLWVRFFXUIRULQVWDQFHEHWZHHQWKHTXDOLWDWLYHDVSHFWV
of lived time (e.g., the feeling of flow) and the social necessity to remain temporally
RULHQWHGDQGWKHUHIRUHTXDQWLI\DQGPHDVXUHRQH¶VWLPHHJFKHFNLQJWKHKRXURU
the date). For Pineau (1986, p. 100), the alienating dimension of the temporal frame
imposed by society is omnipresent in the temporal organization of adult education.
121
M. ALHADEFF-JONES
Its homogeneous and homogenizing aspects, the monotony of the ‘mechanical

VXFFHVVLRQ¶RIGD\VZHHNVPRQWKVDQG\HDUVDOOHUDVHWKHTXDOLWDWLYHGLIIHUHQFHV
of lived moments, that could be experienced as heterogeneous opportunities for
self-development. If traditional educational theories conceive learning time as
uniform and homogeneous (e.g., the course’s hour, the daylong training), Pineau’s
contribution challenges the way they compartmentalize learning and the various
meanings it carries. It stresses for instance the role played by alternative temporal
patterns, such as the alternance between day and night: “Just as the day is the realm of
an education received from others [hétéro-formation], the nocturnal realm is that of
self-development [auto-formation]” (Pineau, 2000, p. 105). Once it is no longer kept
VHSDUDWHGDQGOLYHGDVLILWZHUHVWULFWO\IUHHDQGSULYDWHQLJKWWLPH±LQFOXGLQJGXVN
end-of-the-day transition, evening, dreaming, waking time, sleeplessness and dawn
WLPH ± SURYLGHV LQGHHG D SULYLOHJHG PRPHQW IRU WKH HPHUJHQFH DQG GHYHORSPHQW
of one’s own autonomy. By discussing the formative dimension of the ‘nocturnal’
component of existence, Pineau finally stresses the fact that being able to establish
relations between the different moments of one’s life carries emancipatory effects.
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Articulating Heterogeneous Experiences and Conceptions of Time
One of the common features identified by authors referring to the idea of

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time imposed onto their activity, through social dynamics favoring speed, acceleration
or the generalization of temporal norms such as urgency. According to Postone’s
(1993) reinterpretation of Marx’s critical theory, one of the specificities of capitalism
is that people are dominated by abstractions, rather than by other individuals or groups.
Capitalism throws people into abstract time and work, that become the measure of
everything (e.g., labor time as an objective temporal norm) (Postone, 1993, p. 215).
From this perspective, what appears to be at stake is the individual and collective
capacity to relate and articulate heterogeneous experiences and conceptions of time,
especially as they may be conceived as disjointed, contradictory or antagonistic with
HDFKRWKHU5RVDHYRNHV7D\ORU¶VDVFLWHGLQ5RVDLGHDRIµUHVRQDQFH¶
in order to envision an existentialist and emotional strategy of emancipation centered
on the way people relate to the world around them. From an epistemic perspective,
following Morin’s ethic (2008), we could also refer to the notion of ‘reliance’, as
a capacity to articulate ideas and experiences, which would remain otherwise
disconnected, fragmented or compartmentalized (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017). In order
to resist against the autonomization of an abstracted and generalized conception of
time, that imposes itself onto people’s life and contributes to a feeling of alienation,
strategies of reliance should be found and promoted. They may for instance bring
122
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one to articulate different moments of the everyday life, as suggested by Pineau’s

reflections on the alternance between daytime and nighttime, as two antagonistic and
complementary moments of one’s own development. Such strategies should help
people to relate and interpret the heterogeneous experiences and meanings of time
that are constitutive of their life, including those lived as temporal constraints.
Learning to Synchronize the Heterogeneous Rhythms of One’s Life
What is critical in such an emancipatory process is the capacity to organize

KHWHURJHQHRXV H[SHULHQFHV RI WLPH HJ OLQHDU FLUFXODU TXDQWLWDWLYH TXDOLWDWLYH
fast, slow, internal, external, fixed, flowing, reversible, irreversible) as they emerge
in different spheres of one’s life. The term ‘organization’ does not refer here to the
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arrange one’s commitments according to a schedule or a calendar. It rather refers
to the ability to articulate meanings that translate complementary, contradictory
and antagonistic experiences, such as those associated with the different moments
of one’s existence (e.g., education, work, family, leisure). In a context of temporal
alienation, emancipatory education relies on the capacity to challenge the way time
is experienced and meanings constructed around it (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017). Such a
perspective is for instance found in adult education through practices that privilege
the use of life history (e.g., Dominicé, 2000). Through their multiple expressions,
such approaches assume the potential benefits inherent to the organizing effects,
catalyzed by the production and the sharing of a life narrative. For Pineau (2000),
what is critical is to bring adults to learn how to distribute, combine and balance
the rhythms and times that compose the historicity of their lives to fight against
the experience of schizochrony. Inspired by the work of Bachelard (1950) and
Lefebvre (1992/2004) around the idea of ‘rhythmanalysis’, Pineau refers to the
term ‘rhythmoformation’ to envision an educational praxis whose aim would be to
support adults to develop themselves through the integration and the articulation
of the plurality of biological, social and physical rhythms that compose their lives.
Borrowing the concept of ‘synchronization’ from chronobiology, Pineau (2000)
VXJJHVWVWKDWWKHDSSURSULDWLRQRIRQH¶VRZQWLPHUHTXLUHVDSURFHVVRIDGMXVWPHQW
based on the capacity to synchronize the heterogeneous rhythms that constitute
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capacity to take charge of the temporal conditions through which meanings emerge
in everyday life, as well as through the life course (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017).
&21&(,9,1*7+(5+<7+062)(0$1&,3$7,21
Defining Emancipation
Emancipation literally means to give away ownership (ex: away; mancipum:

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123
M. ALHADEFF-JONES
extension, the term refers to the action of freeing or liberating (oneself) from a state
of dependency, or the state that results from such an action. Emancipation is rooted
in the refusal of an established order. It designates the opening of a space and time
of rupture. It also constitutes an effort and a movement that reciprocally carries
on the subject that exercises them (Navet, 2002). Any movements of emancipation
aim at modifying fundamental relationships between humans, and affecting them by
their very existence. Such a movement is linked to a critical moment through which
the social and political organization of society appears through its arbitrary power
and contingency (Navet, 2002). However, the meaning and the aim of emancipation
can never be taken for granted. First, because the forms of dependence and power
dynamics evolve constantly throughout history. Second, because emancipation is
not a state that could be reached once for all. It should rather be conceived as a
fluctuating process that evolves through time. It is therefore critical to envision it
through the dynamics it encompasses.
Conceiving the Temporal Complexity of an Emancipatory Process
Morin (2008) proposes to conceive emancipation and alienation through their

dialogical relationship. The ‘autonomy-dependence’ principle he formulates focuses
on the property according to what makes a system self-sufficient and autonomous
is also what makes it dependent. For instance, students who go deeply into debt
to cover the cost of an academic degree potentially increase their autonomy,
as they may get access to a larger number of professional opportunities over the
long-term; at the same time, they also increase their financial dependence on their
lenders, which therefore reduces their immediate margins of action. Accordingly, it
appears as misleading to conceive freedom without reflecting on the constraints or
dependency it involves. Morin’s autonomy-dependence principle encourages one
to systematically consider emancipatory processes through the complex interplay
between complementary, contradictory and antagonistic forms of self and mutual
control (e.g., exercised through symbols, discourses, bodies or social relations),
rather than considering them as separated and mutually exclusive. The feeling of
being emancipated fluctuates therefore, because it relies on the changing level of
autonomy that people experience in different situations and at different periods
of their life (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017). Considering the emancipatory aim of adult
HGXFDWLRQVXFKFRQVLGHUDWLRQVUDLVHTXHVWLRQVQRWVRPXFKUHODWHGWRWKHSRVVLELOLW\
to eradicate or dominate temporal constraints and power dynamics. They rather
display the importance of being able to purposefully regulate the balance that may
always exist between the experience of autonomy and dependence.
Envisioning the Rhythms of Emancipation
As a fluctuating process, emancipation, from this perspective, relies on both the

experience of ruptures (e.g., ordeal, crisis, revolution) and what Jullien (2011) calls
124
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‘silent transformation’, that is unconscious ongoing dynamics of change which

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the fact that such a movement is neither static nor totally erratic. The dialogic
between emancipation and alienation, autonomy and dependence, must therefore
be conceived neither as fully ordered nor as fully disordered. It fluctuates through
HYROYLQJ IRUPV ± LQYROYLQJ GLVFRXUVHV ERGLHV PRRGV VRFLDO LQWHUDFWLRQV ±
organized through time. Such ‘forms in movement’ can be conceived as rhythmic,
based on the etymology of the term ‘rhuthmos’ (Michon, 2005). In How to Live
Together, Barthes (2002/2012) calls it ‘idiorhythmy’ in reference to the phenomena
through which people aim at finding and following a particular (idios) rhythm
DQGWKRVHH[SHULHQFHVZKHUHLQGLYLGXDOIUHHGRPLVXQGHUVWRRGDVWKHFRQTXHVWRI
one’s own rhythm. Barthes’ concept of idiorhythmy relates to the everyday life
in a community, but the phenomena he refers to evolve throughout the life course
and history. Every day, autonomy emerges as people regulate the way they express
themselves, the way they move or interact with each other (Michon, 2005). The
flow of those discursive, embodied and social configurations evolves and translates
VSHFLILF UK\WKPV DQG WHPSRUDOLWLHV WKURXJK ZKLFK SHRSOH HYHQWXDOO\ GHYHORS ±
LQGLYLGXDOO\ DQG FROOHFWLYHO\ ± WKHLU DXWRQRP\ WKURXJKRXW WKHLU H[LVWHQFH )URP
that perspective, emancipatory education is not just about overcoming a feeling of
temporal alienation. It also involves the capacity to sustain such a process over time,
through one’s own rhythms. Conceiving emancipation as a fluctuating and rhythmic
SURFHVV UDLVHV WKHUHIRUH QHZ TXHVWLRQV IRU DGXOW HGXFDWRUV DERXW WKH ZD\V SHRSOH
develop their capacity to regulate their sense of agency through time.
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Finding, asserting and sustaining the idiosyncratic rhythms through which people
regulate the ever-evolving tensions between autonomy and dependence provides
the field of adult education with a renewed interpretation of what could be its
emancipatory aims, in a context of temporal alienation. Such a perspective opens
XS DW OHDVW WZR SDWKV RI LQTXLU\ )LUVWO\ WKDW ZH UHQHZ WKH HGXFDWLRQDO SUD[LV LQ
order to take into consideration how people learn to critically assess and negotiate
the complementary, antagonistic and contradictory rhythms that are constitutive of
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how adults develop the capacity to discriminate, interpret, evaluate, argue, judge
DQG HYHQWXDOO\ FKDOOHQJH WKH TXDOLWLHV RI WKH WHPSRUDOLWLHV WKURXJK ZKLFK WKH\
experience the everyday life. Secondly, that we study and foster the rhythms that
shape how adults develop their sense of agency and sustain an emancipatory process
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throughout the adult life that are constitutive of the temporality of such a movement.
,WDOVRTXHVWLRQVKRZWRGHVFULEHDQGLQIOXHQFHWKHIORZRIH[SHULHQFHWKURXJKZKLFK
people constantly regulate autonomy and dependence in adulthood.
125
M. ALHADEFF-JONES
Continued clarification and development of additional resources to analyze,

interpret and assess the temporalities involved in adult education and the way they
FRQWULEXWHWRDOLHQDWHDQGRUHPDQFLSDWHOHDUQHUVDQGHGXFDWRUVDVZHOOLVUHTXLUHG
The reflection briefly developed in this chapter should be conceived as a starting
point. Envisioning a rhythmanalytical approach to adult education may lead to the
development of innovative praxis aiming explicitly at uncovering the rhythms that
determine and shape how adults learn, transform and develop themselves in the
different spheres of their lives. In the contemporary context, it seems particularly
UHOHYDQW±DQGXUJHQW±WRSXUVXHVXFKDQDLP
5()(5(1&(6
Adam, B. (1994). Time and social theory. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017). Time and the rhythms of emancipatory education. Rethinking the temporal
complexity of self and society/RQGRQ5RXWOHGJH
Ardoino, J. (2000). Les avatars de l’éducation. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Attali, J. (1982). Histoires du temps. Paris: Fayard.
Bachelard, G. (1950). La dialectique de la durée. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
%DUWKHV 5 How to live together: Novelistic simulations of some everyday spaces (K. Briggs,
Trans.). New York, NY: Columbia University Press. (Original work published in 2002)
Bergmann, W. (1992). The problem of time in sociology: An overview of the literature on the state of
WKHRU\DQGUHVHDUFKRQWKHµVRFLRORJ\RIWLPH¶±Time & Society, 1±
Bouton, C. (2013). Le temps de l’urgence. Lormont, France: Le Bord de l’eau.
Dominicé, P. (2000). Learning from our lives: Using educational biographies with adults. San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass.
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.). New York, NY:
Vintage Book. (Original work published in 1975)
+DVVDQ5Empires of speed: Time and the acceleration of politics and society. Leiden: Brill.
Jullien, F. (2011). The silent transformations . )LMDáNRZVNL 0 5LFKDUGVRQ7UDQV &KLFDJR ,/
Seagull Press.
Lefebvre, H. (2004). Rhythmanalysis: Space, time and everyday life (S. Elden & G. Moore, Trans.).
London: Continuum. (Original work published in 1992)
/HVRXUG ) 'HV WHPSRUDOLWpV pGXFDWLYHV 1RWH GH V\QWKqVH Pratiques de Formation/Analyses,
51–52±
.RXNNDUL:/ 6RWKHUQ5%Introducing biological rhythms. New York, NY: Springer.
Martineau, J. (2015). Time, capitalism and alienation: A socio-historical inquiry into the making of
modern time. Boston, MA: Brill.
Marx, K. (1955). The Poverty of philosophy (Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Trans.). Moscow: Progress
Publishers. (Original work published in 1847)
Michon, P. (2005). Rythmes, pouvoir, mondialisation. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Morin, E. (2008). La méthode3DULV6HXLO2ULJLQDOZRUNSXEOLVKHGLQ±
Navet, G. (Eds.). (2002). L’émancipation. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Pineau, G. (1986). Time and lifelong education. In P. Lengrand (Ed.), Areas of learning basic to lifelong
education SS±2[IRUG81(6&2,QVWLWXWHIRU(GXFDWLRQ+DPEXUJ 3HUJDPRQ3UHVV
Pineau, G. (2000). Temporalités en formation. Paris: Anthropos.
Plumb, D. (1999). Adult education in a world ‘on speed’. Studies in Continuing Education, 21±
Postone, M. (1993). Time, labor and social domination: A reinterpretation of Marx’s critical theory.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5RVD + Alienation and acceleration: Towards a critical theory of late-modern temporality.
Svanesund: Nordic Summer University Press.
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5RVD+6ocial acceleration: A new theory of modernity (J. Trejo-Mathys, Trans.). New York,
NY: Columbia University Press. (Original work published in 2005)
Testu, F. (2008). Rythmes de vie et rythmes scolaires. Issy-les-Moulineaux: Masson.
Thompson, E. P. (1967). Time, work-discipline and industrial capitalism. Past and Present, 38±
Virilio, P. (1977). Speed and politics. Los Angeles, CA: Semiotext(e).
:ORGNRZVNL5-$FFHOHUDWHGOHDUQLQJLQFROOHJHVDQGXQLYHUVLWLHVNew Directions for Adult and
Continuing Education, 97±
Zerubavel, E. (1981). Hidden rhythms: Schedules and calendars in social life. Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press.
127
PART 4
POWER IN A DIVERSE AND COMPLEX WORLD:
LEARNING, EDUCATION AND GLOBAL
MIGRATION
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12. QUESTIONING POWER RELATIONS

Learning Processes through Solidarity with Refugees
,1752'8&7,21
Migration and refugee movements have become an important and highly charged
topic of political and media discourse in many countries around the globe. Extreme
right political positions and racist speech have turned out to be a formula for success
in several national elections within Europe, where debate has been intensely focussed
on the topic of forced migration over the past three years. Statistics on refugees
reached a historically high level in 2016. Although most of the 65.6 million forcibly-
displaced people around the world are actually being hosted in developing regions
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asylum in 2015 and 2016. Germany, Sweden and Austria were amongst the countries
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policies and border controls have led to a significant decline in asylum applications
since then; nonetheless, the host countries still have to deal with numerous challenges
to do with the inclusion of newcomers (e.g. difficulties in labour market integration,
discriminating practices in housing and educational programs, racist attitudes of the
longer-established population, etc.).
As social change due to migration is probably one of the most important present
and future challenges for the advancement of democracies and citizenship, it is
timely to explore how people are learning to deal with these challenges in a critically
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we have also observed an impressive level of volunteer support for these migrants,
which emerged in summer 2015. In this chapter, we will explore the potential of
volunteering as an area of (mostly informal and incidental) political learning. We
will discuss the relationship between solidarity, power structures and the learning
of adults. This includes the specific power relations in the context of migration
regimes and within humanitarian practices, particularly in refugee relief. Seeking
out the critical potential of volunteering, we will also provide a few remarks on the
system-stabilizing function of volunteering in neoliberal societies. The promotion
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as a contribution to strengthening a sense of community. Nonetheless, we will also
critically discuss how this is linked to the state divesting itself of responsibility. The
main focus of the chapter will be the political learning of volunteers with regard

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theoretical analysis, we will draw on current empirical findings from Germany and
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conducted in Austria in 2016.
In Austria the volunteer support for refugees was initially triggered by the
deficient public management of the situation and by poignant reports and images
of death and suffering on refugees’ routes in the summer of 2015. The volunteers
worked in established relief organizations as well as in new groups that were
spontaneously set up, often organized by means of social media. Volunteers were of
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Germany indicates there was an above-average proportion of highly educated, well-
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or descendants of migrants (Karakayali & Kleist, 2016).
Up to the present, some of the volunteer activity has developed into ongoing,
long-term solidarity work including a wide range of activities, such as educational
programs, counselling, cultural exchanges and (to a lesser extent) political activism
around migration and asylum issues. The fact that many people have also ceased
their engagement in the meantime can be partly explained by structural shifts within
volunteering. Volunteering has changed historically from rather long-term oriented
forms of working in established organizations (which of course still exists, too) to
a more flexible, short-term and project-based pattern of engagement (Zimmer &
Vilain, 2005). Other reasons which are specific to volunteer work with refugees and
asylum seekers will be described later.
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Global migration nowadays is strongly connected to colonial experiences (Nghi Ha,

2007). Historically, European expansion and power are based on colonial occupation
and subjection of Non-European countries. Since the 19th century, a portion of the
national economic wealth of western societies have built on the labor of migrants
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and services and the exploitation of labour force can be seen as a continuation of
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GLVFULPLQDWLRQV DUH UDFLDOL]HG 8QHTXDO UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ RI PLJUDQWV RQ ERWK DQ
economic and a symbolic level) often mirror these hierarchies. Migrants are subject
to a process of ‘othering’ (Hall, 1997), which means that the majority society uses
its hegemonic position to construct migrants culturally as ‘others’. ‘Othering’ often
leads to discriminatory practices, which are reflected not only through individual
interactions but also in formal regulations, organizations, politics and law.
Member States of the European Union tend to react restrictively to the challenges
arising from migration, as we can observe both in recent elections and policies.
As to the former, right and extreme right-wing parties are gaining in importance
all over Europe. For example, in both France and in Austria, politicians from the
132
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far-right-wing parties the French Front National (FN), and the Freedom Party of
Austria (FPÖ) made it to the final round of the presidential elections in 2017. Since
the extreme right became part of the coalition government in Austria in December
2018, there has been rapid tightening of immigration and asylum regulations and
financial cuts to integration programs.
7KHVHUHFHQWGHYHORSPHQWVDUHJURXQGHGLQORQJVWDQGLQJLQHTXDOLWLHVEHWZHHQ
certain groups of migrants or refugees and members of the host societies in Europe.
We name just a few examples here: Many migrants face discrimination in different
DUHDVRIOLIHPDLQO\ZKHQVHHNLQJHPSOR\PHQWDFURVVDOO(80HPEHU6WDWHV)5$
2017). They often work in low-paid jobs with poor working conditions, and the
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labour market position, we can see that there are also a lot of skilled or highly skilled
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problem of deskilling of migrants in Austria is rather pronounced compared to other
OECD countries (Sadjed, Sprung, & Kukovetz, 2015).
National origin is also crucial for getting proper access to the health system or
various social services (EMN, 2014). Asylum seekers face particular challenges.
7KH(XURSHDQ8QLRQ$JHQF\IRU)XQGDPHQWDO5LJKWV)5$UHSRUWVPDQ\KXPDQ
rights-related problems concerning access to territory, reception conditions, asylum
procedures, education, family and asylum rights of unaccompanied children, and
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various forms of violence and harassment towards asylum seekers and migrants.
Increasingly, too, activists and politicians perceived as ‘pro-refugee’ are victims
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volunteers’ decisions to stay active.
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The State and Civil Society
Although the enormous engagement of volunteers within this situation described

can be understood as a strong and vital demonstration of acting in solidarity and thus
being an example of active, inclusive citizenship (Kleinschmidt & Lange, 2018), we
would also like to reflect critically on a specific function of volunteering, namely
that volunteers’ engagement is, more and more, compensating for tasks for which
the state no longer takes responsibility (van Dyk & Misbach, 2016). This is true
not only for refugee relief but also for other fields like care work, education, social
services and others. Many volunteers took part in 2015 because they noticed that
the public authorities were not able to handle the situation concerning refugees,
and they felt affected by the human harm that was occurring directly on their
doorsteps. The allocation of public responsibilities is part of neoliberal governance
or, in other words, part of a governing technology that uses the ‘community’ and
133
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therefore unpaid work (beyond families) as a resource. The idea of achieving

a balance between the spheres of government, market and civil society is found
in many current political concepts and theories. A strong civil society is seen as
an important part of saving social cohesion (Bröckling, 2005) and is therefore a
target of political interventions. Neoliberal ‘governing by market’ will be controlled
DQGFRPSHQVDWHGE\DµJRYHUQLQJE\FRPPXQLW\¶5RVH:HFDQVHHWKHVH
keywords and this type political discourse in the idea of ‘caring communities’ or
‘The Big Society’, as promoted by the former UK prime minister David Cameron
(van Dyk, 2017).
The mobilization of numerous citizens in 2015 was framed by a rhetoric of crisis
and emergency, which seemed to confirm the fact that the authorities were not able
to manage the situation by themselves. It may be wrong to conclude that the state
is simply withdrawing from tasks associated with social welfare; moreover, it is
in the process of establishing a new logic of governance, as it conceives citizens
as being obliged to take responsibility for themselves (van Dyk & Misbach,
2016). Governmentality theorists argue that if there is an interest in governing
and influencing the sphere of civil society, the community and its potential has
to be defined, professionalized and analyzed (Bröckling, 2005). Looking at the
individuals through this analytical lens, we can identify specific processes of
subjectivation. Bröckling (2005) has pointed out that neoliberal systems need
appropriate types of subjects such as the ‘entrepreneurial self’, but also the ‘engaged
member of the civil society’. He states that there is an imperative of participation
in our times, which is promoted by diverse educational activities. A “community-
ERRP´YDQ'\NFDQEHREVHUYHGDVDFRQVHTXHQFHRIWRSGRZQSROLF\RI
the so-called activating welfare state, but also as a trend in alternative bottom-up
groups and left movements. Thus support (such as through adult education) and
recognition for volunteers entails certain ambiguities; on the one hand, they are
certainly legitimate claims, but they also promote problematical developments.1
&RQVHTXHQWO\DQHYDOXDWLRQRIYROXQWHHULQJLQWHUPVRILWVSRWHQWLDOIRUSROLWLFDO
criticism and effecting power relations has to consider the diverse functions of
volunteering within present societies.
Paternalism in Humanitarian Aid
The dynamics of humanitarian aid also create other distinct power relationships.
One of the strongest motives for volunteering in summer 2015 was the media
reports about the suffering of the refugees (Karakyali & Kleist, 2016), that is, the
VLWXDWLRQLQWKHZDU]RQHVWKHFRQGLWLRQVRIWKHLUIOLJKWWKHLULQDGHTXDWHUHVRXUFHV
and their extreme hunger and exhaustion on arrival. Numerous adversities almost
inevitably lead to a perception of refugees as victims, which often goes along with
attributions such as passive, helpless and speechless (Fleischmann & Steinhilper,
2017). On this basis, paternalistic and discriminatory practices are easily reproduced
134
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(Barnett, 2017). These practices mainly concern the self-determination of refugees

and their representation in support activities, structures and decisions. Even if
volunteers try to build up participatory projects and avoid paternalism, an asymmetry
in power relations between volunteers and refugees arises from political and socio-
economic preconditions. These can be, for example, differences in legal status,
XQHTXDO VRFLDO UHFRJQLWLRQ GLIIHUHQW VRFLRHFRQRPLF UHVRXUFHV DQGRU NQRZOHGJH
about bureaucratic structures in the host countries (see Strotmann, 2018).
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want to take autonomous decisions, but for volunteers, it can be difficult to support
them in these needs. One key factor may be that many volunteers do not have an
experience of flight or marginalization and have a middle-class background, which
may limit their capacity to understand refugees’ experiences and their need for
autonomy (Hamann & Karakayali, 2016).
It can be assumed that the risk of asymmetries and dependencies between
supporters and those who are in need of help is increased, when aspects of social
security are no longer provided by the state and therefore are not guaranteed as
an individual right but left to charity engagement (van Dyk & Misbach, 2016).
Barbara Harrel-Bond (2002), who analyzed humanitarian work with refugees in
United Nations programs and camps in various countries, points out that there are
many possible reasons behind paternalistic and often inhuman or violent behavior
in such activity. A deeply asymmetric relationship does not only emerge from
XQHTXDO UHVRXUFHV EXW DOVR IURP WKH GRPLQDQW HWKRV RI KXPDQLWDULVP µFKDULW\¶
with its symbolic disempowerment of those who receive help and the organizational
culture of certain humanitarian organizations. Didier Fassin (2017, p. 78) talks about
humanitarism as international paternalism:
It entails moral obligation rather than coercion, that is, a relation between
the obliging and the obliged, epitomized through the general principle of an
exchange in which the gift has no counter-gift. This domination, which we
can call soft paternalism because it is benevolent and accepted, is historically
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colonized, the North and the South, the West and the rest.
Furthermore, the distinction between deserving and non-deserving refugees has
been prevalent in the media discourse around current refugee movements to the
EU (Vollmer & Karakayali, 2018). Asylum seekers in Austria in 2015 and 2016
SUHGRPLQDQWO\ FDPH IURP $IJKDQLVWDQ 6\ULD DQG ,UDT 6WDWLVWLN $XVWULD
,Q RQO\ RI DV\OXP VHHNHUV ZHUH ZRPHQ LQ RQO\
(Statistik Austria. 2017) A vast majority of refugees in Austria are Muslim (over
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have been put at the bottom of the deserving-hierarchy. Additionally, reasons for
paternalistic behavior can be found in a lack of appropriate skills in the supporters
and in psychological phenomena, which lead to certain reactions by individuals in
135
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the face of suffering and distress. Harrel-Bond (2002, p. 52) pleas for a “right-based
humanitarism” beyond private charity:
This approach is not about discretionary assistance when the mood for
benevolence takes us. It is about defending, advocating and securing enjoyment
of human rights.
This also implies a shift in the view of refugees as victims to a recognition of their
strength, autonomy and dignity.
Questioning and Resisting Asymmetric Power Relations
In practice, we see that asymmetric power relationships between volunteers and refugees
do not always entail a paternalistic approach on the part of the volunteers. Many search
for alternative options. Some try to encourage (former) refugees supporting other
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migration policies and power structures within the state. These volunteers fighting
for refugees’ rights often condemn the non-political approach of other volunteers as
contributing to keeping people in a position of inferiority (Castro Varela & Heinemann,
:LWKLQ WKH SROLWLFDOO\HQJDJHG JURXSV RI DFWLYLVWV LW LV TXLWH FRPPRQ WR
address explicitly the problem of asymmetric power relations between volunteers
and refugees. Nevertheless, within common political and other volunteer activities,
KHJHPRQLFORJLFLVRIWHQUHSURGXFHG±VXFKDVWKHSXEOLFUHSUHVHQWDWLRQRIUHIXJHHVE\
volunteers (Fleischmann & Steinhilper, 2017). At the same time, in the attempt to avoid
paternalism with regard to refugees, other power relations can persist too, like gender
relations, as for example Nadiye Ünsal (2015) has shown by an analysis of patriarchal
practices within the refugee movement in Berlin.
/($51,1*352&(66(6,192/817((5,1*
To explore the political learning processes in volunteering against the described

EDFNGURS ZH FRQGXFWHG D TXDOLWDWLYH SUHVWXG\2 in Austria in 2016. The analysis
was based on seven semi-structured interviews with volunteers who had engaged
in refugee relief (some of them in a coordinating or supervising role). We chose
individuals who had become actively engaged for the first time as well as others who
already had previous experiences in volunteering. We conducted interviews with men
and women of different ages, amongst them also migrants or descendants of former
refugees. Furthermore, we tried to find interviewees who worked in different areas
of support (such as education, distribution of basic necessities, language assistance,
political campaigning, supervision of volunteers, etc.). We were mainly interested
in the motivations, biographical aspects, experiences and finally the learning of
YROXQWHHUV±DQGKRZWKHVHDVSHFWVLQWHUDFWZLWKVWUXFWXUDOFRQGLWLRQVDQGWKHSXEOLF
discourse.
136
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Learning in Social Groups
6WXGLHV DERXW OHDUQLQJ LQ VRFLDO PRYHPHQWV ± ZKLFK RIWHQ WDNHV SODFH LQ D WDFLW
LQFLGHQWDOZD\±KDYHVKRZQWKDWYDULRXVRUJDQLVDWLRQDOSHUVRQDODQGVRFLDOVNLOOV
DUHDFTXLUHGLQYROXQWHHULQJ)ROH\'XJXLGHWDO2XULQWHUYLHZHHV
learned how to deal with bureaucracies, about migration policies and the asylum
system and about different cultures and lifeworlds. Collaborative learning in activist
groups can lead to the widening of perspectives and agency in terms of democratic
participation (Truman, 2013). Our interviewees described, for example, how they
had become familiar with participatory procedures in groups that had often been
VSRQWDQHRXVO\FUHDWHG7KH\DFTXLUHGWKHVHFRPSHWHQFLHVLQPHHWLQJVRUYLDWKHXVH
of social media. Key persons often used (project) management skills, which they
KDGDFTXLUHGLQWKHLUZRUNLQJOLIHRUHGXFDWLRQ7KH\LPSDUWHGWKLVNQRZOHGJHZLWK
their fellow volunteers and thus played an important role in the learning processes
of the group. Besides negotiating roles and responsibilities, they learned how to lead
teams, deal with conflicts and set up communication strategies.
Learning can also include finding out that it may be easier for someone to work by
themselves than directly being involved in a group. However, the reasons for this
withdrawal from the group, as given in one of our interviews, can also be interpreted
in terms of power. In this case, the interviewee, whose own family had flight
experience, had apparently different (and more empowering) conceptions of the
right of self-determination of refugees than the other group members. As these ideas
were not recognized within the group of volunteers, the interviewee decided to pursue
her engagement in her own way. This is not the only possible way to resolve diverging
RSLQLRQV RI ZKDW LV DGHTXDWH UHIXJHH DLG .DWKHULQH %UDXQ ZKR FRQGXFWHG
research in a German village observed that volunteers with a migrant biography were
able to intervene in paternalistic situations of refugee aid and even to initiate processes of
reflection within the group of refugees. Thus, volunteers with a privileged background
learned from migrant volunteers, and previous hierarchies within the group of
volunteers and the organization of the activities were transformed (Braun, 2017).
Dealing with Power Relations within Migration Regimes
Other learning processes of volunteers participating in our research involved the

topics of culture, migration, and migration policies. Volunteers mentioned that they
had learned about foreign cultures or different ways of thinking (see also results
in Jungk & Morrin, 2017). They had improved their knowledge about asylum
regulations and developed strategies for dealing with authorities in this context.
Being confronted with the often precarious and desperate situation of the refugees,
they had learned how the structural framework around asylum and migration policies
shapes the lives and opportunities of refugees. Moreover, they also experienced how
this affected their own engagement in terms of being hindered in giving efficient
support but also by not feeling recognized by the state for taking over community
137
%.8.29(7= $63581*
tasks. Some volunteers thus developed a critical understanding of a formerly often

unknown social reality and power relations in migration regimes through reflection
and action (Foley, 1999; Jungk & Morrin, 2017; Fleischmann & Steinhilper, 2017).
Many people were critically aware that they were compensating for state failure but
nevertheless felt a need to provide concrete support in this specific situation.
Volunteers also tried to analyze and understand global interdependencies around
PLJUDWLRQ6RPHUHVSRQGHQWVKDGDOUHDG\UHIOHFWHGRQTXHVWLRQVRIVHOIUHSUHVHQWDWLRQ
and power relations in earlier engagements, such as in development policies, but for
RWKHUVWKHWRSLFZDVTXLWHQHZ7KH\SRLQWHGRXWWKDWWKHHQJDJHPHQWKDGPDGHWKHP
more conscious and content with their own privileged lives in Austria and motivated
them to take responsibility for less advantaged people. The specified experiences
encouraged some volunteers to expand their original engagement of individual help
to activities like organizing consciousness-raising (anti-racist) events for the local
population or supporting public protests against asylum policies. As Truman (2013)
has pointed out, members of civic groups mostly work on their concrete problems
first and improve their knowledge step by step. During the learning processes, they
often place their insights and interests into a wider social and political context and
thus begin to expand their agenda.
Influences of the Social Environment and Public Discourse
Finally, many interviewees reported that they were challenged to justify their
positions in discussions with families and friends; this seemed to be a very intense
experience because the public discourse became very negative towards refugees and
their supporters from the end of 2015, which also influenced debates within families.
Therefore, volunteers were searching for reliable information and had to analyze
these issues critically, but were also forced to reflect intensely on their own values to
be able to explain their engagement in their social environment.
Further empirical work will analyze if this can be regarded as a process of
critical reflection as defined by Jack Mezirow (1998). But what we can identify is
the development of a critical understanding of migration regimes and the related
power aspects in some cases, but also a sort of positioning as a political subject.
Our study does not provide representative results but allows a closer look at the
potential of volunteering in this respect. To understand different developments within
volunteering, we also looked at what interviewees reported about colleagues who
had withdrawn from their engagement after a while. Many people simply felt tired,
exhausted or overstressed by the difficulties that were connected with the precarious
situation of refugees and by the lack of governmental support and recognition.
Besides that, several volunteers seemed to be disappointed by refugees who had
not behaved in line with their helpers’ expectations. This points to the phenomenon
of a charity approach to refugee relief as described above, where spontaneous
compassion is a primary motivation (triggered strongly by public discourse). If
the idea of refugees having a right to be supported is not a leading concept, and
138
48(67,21,1*32:(55(/$7,216
volunteers do not critically reflect on paternalism, but maybe act according to a

distinction between ‘deserving’ and ‘non-deserving’ refugees, volunteers often react
in a very disappointed way when they are not shown deference.
Apart from disappointing experiences within the actual work, the deteriorating
public discourse on refugees seemed to have had a negative impact on volunteers.
This shows how the cultural and socio-political context influences the extent and
the kind of actions the volunteers carry out and in what way their activities change.
Whereas in 2015 initially, the media spread a very positive atmosphere towards
supporters in Germany and Austria within the first weeks (so-called ‘welcome
culture’), the public and media discourse turned more negative towards the end of
2015 initially. Many volunteers reported feeling under pressure from the worsened
atmosphere; furthermore, they sometimes suffered from criticism on the part of their
own families and friends. In some cases, volunteers even had to face violent attacks
by groups from the extreme right. In many reports on people withdrawing from
their engagement, a certain incident was mentioned: On New Year’s Eve in 2015,
dozens of women were sexually harassed by men from Arabic and northern African
countries in the streets of the German city of Cologne. This incident shocked the
public and marked a turning point for numerous supporters of and sympathisers with
refugees. Criminal acts and terrorism were associated with all refugees or (male)
Muslim migrants. These negative discourses on mainly Muslim migrants led to
reflections and doubts about who ‘deserves’ support and who does not (Vollmer
& Karakayali, 2018). Thus some of the volunteers reduced or withdrew from their
engagement.
However, other volunteers who were harassed due to their social engagement
looked for allies and engaged in new networks for sharing their experiences and/or
PDGHWKHDVVDXOWVSXEOLFHJLQWKHORFDOSUHVV±DQGZHQWRQZLWKWKHLUDFWLYLWLHV
Negative reactions from the social environment and dismissive reports in the media
also led some volunteers to broaden their activities and to organize anti-racist
workshops with the aim of sensitizing the population. This was observed in Germany
as well, where a study showed that negative media discourse also led to resistance
and therefore even more anti-racist engagement in some cities (Hamann et al., 2017).
In the present situation, we have the impression that there is not much ongoing
anti-racist work taking place. Many volunteers have established continuous structures
of support, whilst we also observe a tendency for volunteers to withdraw. This is
partly due to frustration, as the refugees, whom they have supported for months or
years, have been deported to their countries of origin. We started a research project
in March 2018 to take a closer look at present developments in volunteering, with a
focus on interviewing individuals who have resigned from their engagement.
CONCLUSION
Various studies conducted on volunteering in refugee relief in Germany and Austria

since 2016 show that the motives and concepts behind volunteering are very diverse.
139
%.8.29(7= $63581*
Part of the engagement arises from a mainly ‘humanitarian’ impulse to alleviate the
suffering of newcomers; others are framed by a clearer political idea of refugees’
rights and a universal concept of solidarity. Acting in solidarity is connected with
various informal and incidental learning processes. For one thing, they lead to the
DFTXLVLWLRQ RI FRQFUHWH NQRZOHGJH DQG FRPSHWHQFLHV IRU DQRWKHU WUDQVIRUPDWLYH
processes can be initiated by volunteers’ reflection on themselves and the surrounding
conditions.
We contend that spontaneous compassion and empathy as the only motivation for
volunteering can be a rather fragile base for engagement and be easily unsettled by
negative discourses, pressure from others or by burdensome individual experiences.
1RQHWKHOHVVYROXQWHHUVZLWKDKXPDQLWDULDQDSSURDFKFDQ±SRWHQWLDOO\±GHYHORS
new and critical understandings of the situation and their own role within this system
over time. We have pointed out several learning processes and outcomes in terms
of active citizenship and a critical understanding of migration regimes in our data.
In the context of refugee relief, many different power structures are in place. These
FRQFHUQ WKH HFRQRPLF VRFLDO DQG SROLWLFDO LQHTXDOLWLHV ZLWKLQ PLJUDWLRQ UHJLPHV
governance through fostering volunteers’ engagement and, more concretely, the
different hierarchies within the groups of volunteers and the power gap between
volunteers and refugees. Learning processes include the problematization of these
power relations and the reflection on paternalistic practices of volunteers.
The social context or concrete inputs which people get, for example via
supervision or adult education, could be influential to enable them to develop
various interpretations of their experiences and support them to develop strategies to
cope with these challenges. Some educational offers for volunteers already exist, but
they mainly focus on skills around management, legal issues, dealing with financial
aspects, communication and so forth. From our perspective, adult education could
engage even more intensively in this field by focussing on political learning, and
thus create spaces for critical reflection and action and foster volunteering as a vital
learning space for inclusive citizenship and the further development of democracy.
NOTES
1
Another critical aspect of volunteering can be seen in the de-professionalization and de-standardization
of social services, but we will not go deeper into this dimension here.
2
Based on this pre-study, we are currently working on a more extended research project entitled
‘Learning solidarity? The potential of volunteering for political learning in migration societies’
±
5()(5(1&(6
Barnett, M. N. (Ed.). (2017). Paternalism beyond borders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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%XEHU(QQVHU,.RKOHQEHUJHU-5HQJV%$O=DODN=*RXMRQ$6WULHVVQLJ(3RWDQþRNRYi0
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)5$(XURSHDQ8QLRQ$JHQF\RI)XQGDPHQWDO5LJKWV(GEU-MIDIS II. Second European
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al-Samarai, & S. Mysorekar (Eds.), re/visionen. Postkoloniale Perspektiven von People of Color auf
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13. EMBRACING SOCIAL INCLUSION?

The Asylum Seeker Experience of Applying for Admission
to Tertiary Education in Australia
,1752'8&7,21
Whilst the world is still attempting to evaluate the overall effect of the current global
refugee situation, for many nations developing responses to the recent growth in the
numbers of people seeking asylum is a highly sensitive issue.
In light of this global phenomenon, universities around the world are considering
WKHLU VRFLDO HTXLW\ REOLJDWLRQV DQG RIIHULQJ VSHFLILF VWXGHQW VFKRODUVKLSV DQG
bursaries for those seeking asylum in the host country. For example, in the UK a
recent social movement to expand access to university education for refugees and
SHRSOHVHHNLQJDV\OXP536$KDVGUDZQRQWKHFRQFHSWRIWKHULJKWWRHGXFDWLRQ
(United Nations, 1948) adopting the name ‘Article 26’1 to highlight the movement’s
purpose in advocating the ‘right to an education’ for people who are regarded
as outside the responsibility of a nation state. In considering this issue, a critical
race lens (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995) is employed to discuss findings from an
empirical case study that explored the institutional processes and experiences of
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1. What processes and procedures do Australian universities have in place for
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2. Whether, and if so, how, university admissions’ processes may operate as
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$WWKHWLPHRIZULWLQJWKH5HIXJHH&RXQFLORI$XVWUDOLD5&2$>D@HVWLPDWHG
there were in excess of 30,000 people living in the Australian community without
permanent protection2 and without state support to pursue higher education. Current
Australian Federal Government policy notes, that even if those seeking asylum have
their refugee status determined, they will still not be eligible for permanent residency
and will instead be granted either Temporary Protection Visas (TPV)3 or Safe Haven
Enterprise Visas (SHEV)45HIXJHH&RXQFLORI$XVWUDOLDQ>5&2$@
Yet over the last decade the Australian higher education sector has been committed
to widening access and participation (Bradley, Noonan, Nugent & Scales, 2008) and
KDVDFKLHYHGVRPHSURJUHVVLQUHODWLRQWRRQHRIWKHWDUJHWHTXLW\JURXSVQDPHO\

K. DUNWOODIE ET AL.
those from low socio-economic status (Edwards & McMillan, 2015). However,
536$DUHQRWLQFOXGHGLQWKLVVWUDWHJ\DVLWLVOLPLWHGWRGRPHVWLFVWXGHQWVLHWKRVH
with permanent residency or citizenship (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards
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is unaffordable. As a result, their employment prospects are considerably diminished
and they are further marginalized, socially and economically.
In recognition of this policy problem, a handful of universities are providing
scholarships to cover tuition costs and in some instances a small living allowance.
2IWKHXQLYHUVLWLHVLQ$XVWUDOLDWKH5HIXJHH&RXQFLORI$XVWUDOLDOLVWHG
RIIHULQJIHHZDLYHUVDQGRUILQDQFLDOEXUVDULHVWR536$LQ,QDGGUHVVLQJ
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seeking university access, the chapter aims to explore the implications of this recent
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EHWWHUXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIKRZXQLYHUVLWLHVPD\GHYHORSPRUHLQFOXVLYHHTXLW\SROLFLHV
in relation to this marginalized group.
&217(;7$1'%$55,(56
Over recent years scholars in Australia have devoted significant attention to

addressing the employment and education needs of immigrants (Webb, 2015) and
refugees (Naidoo, Wilkinson, Adoniou, & Langat, 2018). The consensus from these
VWXGLHV LV WKDW PLJUDQWV HVSHFLDOO\ 536$ IDFH D QXPEHU RI RQJRLQJ GLIILFXOWLHV
accessing employment and higher education. Similarly, research in Canada and
Europe has identified that not only do migrants experience difficulties accessing
education, training and employment because of their status and lack of familiarity
with the local contexts (Hynes, 2011), but also because of the institutional barriers
they encounter (Chadderton & Edmonds, 2015; Guo, 2015b).
In order to inform the analysis of the institutional barriers facing migrants,
researchers have turned to the framework and insights provided by critical race
WKHRU\&57&57RULJLQDWLQJLQWKH86$VRXJKWWRXQGHUVWDQGKRZZKLWHSULYLOHJH
and racial power were maintained over time (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995).
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experienced by African American students in the US. Similarly, in Europe and
&DQDGD&57KDVEHHQHPSOR\HGWRDFFRXQWIRULQHTXDOLWLHVLQWKHSDUWLFLSDWLRQDQG
outcomes of refugees and immigrants of color (Chadderton & Edmonds, 2015),
including the assessment of immigrants’ skills (Guo, 2015b).
Although more than 25 per cent of Australia’s population was born in countries
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admissions because it explains how systems of structural discrimination maintain
the dominance of groups that historically have been constructed as ‘white’, rather
WKDQ UHIHUULQJ WR VNLQ FRORU RU HWKQLFLW\ ,Q H[SORULQJ WKH LVVXH RI 536$ DFFHVV
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in white majority nations; the role of ‘white’ power in only permitting changes that
sustain white privilege; attention to how race intersects with other identities and
experiences; and the role of ideologies such as meritocracy in sustaining color-blind,
apparently neutral institutional decision making.
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WRSURYLGHFRXQWHUDFWLQJVWRULHVRILQHTXDOLW\&ULWLFDODQDO\VHVRILQVWLWXWLRQVWKDW
examine everyday practices of organizations through people’s experiences have
the potential to give voice to vulnerable groups and minorities. Stories are an
opportunity to reveal experiences and name discriminations. Once discrimination
has been named it can be contested. Hence, powerfully written stories and narratives
may begin a process of contestation in our systems.
METHODOLOGY
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recently been introduced. In order to understand the practices of the institution
in awarding scholarships, narrative data was collected from those responsible for
developing and implementing its policies, as well as from a purposefully selected
sample of three prospective students5 who failed to secure an offer or funding.
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relation to the university application and scholarship award processes, policies and
SURFHGXUHV&RQVHTXHQWO\WKLVSXUSRVLYHVHOHFWLRQRIWKUHHFDVHVRIIDLOXUHWRJDLQ
university scholarships, can reveal much about the processes of the admissions and
awarding system from below (Flyvbjerg, 2006).
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant and recorded
and transcribed. The interviews explored participants’ backgrounds, how they went
about applying for a place at university; and their reflections on their experiences
of university student admission and scholarship application process and procedures.
The participants were also encouraged to reflect on what it would mean to them if
they were awarded a place at university. The interviews were coded and analyzed
by the authors with particular attention paid to recurring themes. The participants
were aged between 19 and 43 and all had arrived in Australia in the past 3 years.
In addition, each participant shared with the researchers all email correspondence
between themselves and the university.
The research team were very mindful of ethical considerations in research with
536$FRQFHUQLQJYXOQHUDELOLW\SRZHUDQGWKHUHODWLRQVKLSEHWZHHQUHVHDUFKDQG
DGYRFDF\ %ORFN 5LJJV +DVODP 9ROXQWDU\ SDUWLFLSDWLRQ ZDV VWUHVVHG
with all participants and they had the right to withdraw at any time.
Following the interviews with student applicants, interviews were also conducted
with four professional staff involved in student admissions, the award of scholarships,
145
K. DUNWOODIE ET AL.
DQG WKH LPSOHPHQWDWLRQ RI WKH VRFLDO HTXLW\ VWUDWHJ\ 7KH LQWHUYLHZV LQFOXGHG
TXHVWLRQVDERXWXQLYHUVLW\SURFHVVDQGSURFHGXUHVDVZHOODVWKHXQLYHUVLW\¶VVRFLDO
HTXLW\VWUDWHJ\DQGWKHLPSOLFDWLRQVRIWKLVVWUDWHJ\IRUVWDIIWUDLQLQJDQGDZDUHQHVV
7+(81,9(56,7<&217(;7
,QWKHXQLYHUVLW\LQWKHFDVHVWXG\UHYLVHGLWVVWUDWHJLFSODQDQGHTXLW\VWUXFWXUH
and established an office to deal with issues of social inclusion, including access
to education for disadvantaged groups. From this initiative came the idea for two
full fee scholarships and bursaries for students seeking asylum. The application
SURFHVVUHTXLUHGWKHSRWHQWLDOVWXGHQWWRDSSO\RQOLQHVXEPLWWLQJDZRUGHVVD\
stating why they felt they should be awarded the scholarship. However, in order
to be considered eligible for the scholarship, the applicant needed to apply and be
accepted to the university through the standard student admission channels providing
all relevant documentation (including original documents for certification) as well as
evidence of their English language testing score. It is important to note, that at the
student admission stage there was no mechanism by which the applicant was flagged
as a person awaiting the outcome of their refugee application (that is, residing in
Australia with an eligible visa6).
In total the university had 59 applications for the two scholarships and bursaries.
However, after the selection process the university increased its provision and
offered eleven full tuition scholarships (including a $3000 bursary for each
student).
FINDINGS
This study found that there were tensions and ambiguities inherent in the operation
of the social inclusion initiatives in this case study university because existing
university policies and procedures to assess student eligibility for admission did
not align well with the new policy. Interview analysis highlighted three key themes
DERXWWKHH[SHULHQFHVRI536$DSSOLFDQWVKRPRJHQL]DWLRQRIHTXLW\LQSURFHVVHV
and procedures; assessing legitimacy; and insecurity, powerlessness and mistrust.
7KH QDUUDWLYHV RI WKH WKUHH 536$ IDLOHG DSSOLFDWLRQ FDVHV GHVFULEH IHHOLQJV RI
alienation, discomfort and anxiety when encountering university staff who appear to
view them with suspicion for not having the correct documents.
Theme 1: Homogenizing of Equity in Processes and Procedures
([SORULQJKRZWKH536$DZDUGVZHUHDOORFDWHGUHYHDOHGWKDWSURIHVVLRQDOVWDIIZHUH
aware of the tension between the aims of the university’s social inclusion policies
and the constraints that they had to work within by offering only two scholarships.
As Amy who was in charge of procedures to award the scholarships said, “Asylum
146
(0%5$&,1*62&,$/,1&/86,21"
seekers is such a sensitive topic that everyone wants to support”. Therefore, in

recognition of the problem of assessing applicants’ English language skills and
PHHWLQJWKHVWDQGDUGL]HGXQLYHUVLW\¶VHQWU\UHTXLUHPHQWV$P\SURSRVHGGHYHORSLQJ
new pathway routes through the local English language college for otherwise well-
TXDOLILHG536$DSSOLFDQWV,QRUGHUWRIXQGWKLVQHZSDWKZD\$P\DSSURDFKHGWKH
faculties for extra funding. She noted:
It wasn’t something we initially planned on doing or anything like that. I just
decided let’s just give this a go and see and I didn’t think they would get that
much. I thought maybe one per faculty but everyone was very enthused by it so
as faculties were coming on board I have confidence to be able to keep going
DQGWRRWKHUIDFXOWLHVDQGLW¶VTXLWHXQEHOLHYDEOH$P\±+HDGRI6FKRODUVKLSV
Change seemed to rely on the efforts of individual staff such as Amy using her
knowledge and networks to gain additional funding from faculties. This drew on the
JHQHUDOFRQVHQVXVDPRQJVWSURIHVVLRQDOVWDIIDERXWWKHULJKWWRHGXFDWLRQIRU536$
$QQLHIURPWKHHTXLW\RIILFHGHVFULEHGWKHGHFLVLRQPDNLQJSURFHVVIRUWKHDV\OXP
seeker scholarship initiative:
We had a number of discussions with the Vice Chancellor about how
scholarships should be targeted […] we identified there were asylum seekers
LQQHHG$QQLH±6RFLDO(TXLW\0DQDJHU
However, despite these good intentions, little consideration was given in relation to
more fundamental changes in the university policy, practices and procedures that
PLJKWEHUHTXLUHG$V$QQLHUHPDUNHG
We’ve got just a template with all the details of things that need to be decided
on that exist for every scholarship […]. There are procedures in place at a
SROLF\OHYHO±SROLFLHVDQGSURFHGXUHVDWDXQLYHUVLW\OHYHOIRUVFKRODUVKLSVDQG
GHYHORSLQJWKHPVRLWZDVGRQHLQOLQHZLWKDOOWKRVH$QQLH±6RFLDO(TXLW\
Manager)
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the people who … answering the phone, they have some … chart in front of
them and you know they say if the applicant, […] talks to you and says this,
WKHDQVZHULVWKLVEXWLIWKHDQVZHUWKHTXHVWLRQLVWKLVWKHDQVZHULVWKLV,W¶V
VRPHWKLQJOLNH)$45REE\±536$DSSOLFDQW
There was an unexamined assumption that standard policies and practices in relation
WRDGPLVVLRQVZRXOGEHUHOHYDQWWRWKRVHIURP536$EDFNJURXQGV+RZHYHUVLQFH
WKHVH536$DSSOLFDQWVZHUHUHJDUGHGDVLQWHUQDWLRQDOQRWGRPHVWLFVWXGHQWVE\WKH
admissions policies, tensions emerged in the admissions process because of this
KRPRJHQL]DWLRQRIVWXGHQWVDVHLWKHUGRPHVWLFZKHUHVSHFLILFHTXLW\VXSSRUWZDV
DYDLODEOHDQGLQWHUQDWLRQDOZKHUHHTXLW\SROLFLHVZHUHQRWFRQVLGHUHGDSSOLFDEOH
147
K. DUNWOODIE ET AL.
Theme 2: Assessing Legitimacy
Being treated as international students meant that many of the encounters between
536$DQGWKHXQLYHUVLW\VWDIILQYROYHGDVVHVVLQJWKHOHJLWLPDF\RIWKHLUDSSOLFDWLRQV
For two of the applicants, the lack of recognition of their overseas work experience,
and the university staff’s insistence on applicants providing original documentation
RIWKHLUSUHYLRXVKLJKHUHGXFDWLRQTXDOLILFDWLRQVZDVGLVWUHVVLQJDQGSHUFHLYHGDV
structural discrimination. The university staff made it clear that the admissions
process had rules, regulations and a template they had to follow in order to approve
DQDSSOLFDWLRQ+RZHYHUWKH536$H[SHULHQFHGWKLVSURFHVVDVRQHWRGHQ\WKHP
access. For instance, Elliot commented:
I felt embarrassed because then I was talking about like asylum seeker visa,
, ZDV ± , IHOW HPEDUUDVVHG EHFDXVH , IHOW OLNH , DP SXWWLQJ WKHP LQ VXFK D
pain, because she had to go through all the like website and stuff, [stating],
³2KWKHUH¶VQRWVXFKDWKLQJDVDV\OXPVHHNHUVFKRODUVKLS´(OOLRW±536$
applicant)
According to the Head of Admissions, there is a clear template setting out entry
UHTXLUHPHQWVDQGSURFHGXUHVIRUHYDOXDWLQJDSSOLFDWLRQVDQGYDOLGDWLQJGRFXPHQWV
in order to avoid fraud by international applicants. Hence, the procedures that
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DVZHOODVWKHVLJKWLQJRIRULJLQDOGRFXPHQWVDQGFHUWLILFDWHV,I536$DUHXQDEOHWR
produce original documentation the university would not consider their application.
In addition, there is no system-based mechanism available to the admissions or front-
OLQHVHUYLFHVWDIIWRLGHQWLI\536$DVSRWHQWLDODSSOLFDQWVVRWKH\DUHWUHDWHGOLNHDQ\
‘standard international applicant’. For example, proficiency in English language is
one criterion used in the admissions process for international students and for ease of
evaluation of this skill, a particular grade in the international language test IELTS is
often used as the performance indicator. Not surprisingly, Lucy, who speaks several
languages had no prior knowledge of the IELTS system, made this comment about
the process of completing the admissions form:
I’ve been completely confused about that [University] email because they ask
me there is an IELTS and the lack of documents on things like this, so it was
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'HVSLWH UHFRJQLWLRQ WKDW WKH LPSOHPHQWDWLRQ RI VRFLDO HTXLW\ SROLFLHV UHTXLUHV
staff training to increase knowledge and understanding and improve practice, staff
ZRUNLQJLQWKH6RFLDO(TXLW\8QLWREVHUYHGWKDWWKHLUUHVRXUFHVZHUHFRQFHQWUDWHG
on academic staff and the work of faculties, rather than on professional and
DGPLQLVWUDWLYHVWDII)RUH[DPSOHWKHHTXLW\PDQDJHU$QQLHZKHQVSHDNLQJDERXW
the professional staff groups stated, “that’s left up to them to work out how they train
their staff and educate them”.
148
(0%5$&,1*62&,$/,1&/86,21"
However, the professional staff all identified the need for ongoing information and
training for all management, frontline and support staff as the following comment
highlights:
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it’s sounding to the student applicant very much like we, we don’t want to help
and we’re actually putting a barrier in the way. […] I think we need to explore
options for better training and better processes to deal with those students.
-RKQ±+HDGRI$GPLVVLRQV
On the surface, the university processes appeared to be fair and treat applicants
VLPLODUO\+RZHYHUGHVSLWHWKHFRPPLWPHQWWRHTXLW\E\WKHSURIHVVLRQDOVWDIIWKH
three university applicants experienced the university processes as inappropriate and
unfair. From the perspective of the applicants, the process of recognizing previous
TXDOLILFDWLRQVDQGUHDGLQHVVWRVWXG\DWXQLYHUVLW\E\DSSO\LQJWHPSODWHVGHVLJQHG
for international students did not acknowledge the circumstances that had forced
WKHPLJUDWLRQRIWKHVH536$&RQVHTXHQWO\WKHDSSOLFDQWVKDGWRUHOLYHWKHWUDXPD
of their migration and because they were unable to provide documentation that
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arbitrary mechanisms, which naturalize and perpetuate the domination of stable
Western-centric education pathways (Bourdieu, 1989).
Theme 3: Insecurity, Powerlessness and Mistrust
2QH FRQVHTXHQFH RI WKLV H[HUFLVH LQ DVVHVVLQJ OHJLWLPDF\ PDQLIHVWHG LWVHOI LQ
the symbolic violence (Bourdieu, 1989) experienced by the applicants deemed
illegitimate and resulted in feelings of insecurity, powerlessness and mistrust.
The application process both “produces and protects dominant interests” (e.g.,
applicants who are deemed ‘legitimate’ because they fit the criteria) and “inflicts …
suffering and misery” (e.g., upon unsuccessful applicants; Schubert, 2014, p. 180).
The nature of the suffering of the three unsuccessful applicants includes reports of
feeling unsafe and lacking the ‘power’ to confront frontline staff in relation to the
submission of documents. For example, when asked to describe her experiences
during the application process and her dealings with the university frontline student
services staff, Lucy noted that it made her feel “Unsafe, I feel unsafe”.
Lucy also described feeling powerless in relation to the authority of the university
WRTXHVWLRQKHU
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by boat and I couldn’t bring my documents […] it was distressing because I
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The insistence on providing the correct documents according to the ‘template’
frustrated the applicants. It reinforced their suffering and perceptions that the
149
K. DUNWOODIE ET AL.
university had no appreciation of the insecure situation of the students and their
families often in their countries of origin:
It was really bad and frustrating and I was really sad then they said to me we
cannot accept you because of that original document, it was really bad feeling.
I cannot ask my family back to Iran to send all the documents to me, it’s so
hard to send all documents in Australia. Security is a concern absolutely; I’m
really scared to ask them to send this document because then they can know
ZKHUHDP,>«@,GRQ¶WZDQWWREHLQWURXEOH/XF\±536$DSSOLFDQW
These applicants were very aware of the power imbalance of the dominated
and dominant, e.g., between themselves as applicants and the university staff
implementing university policies:
Well it was me, an 19 years old student, trying to apply. And at the other side
it was the whole University team […] it doesn’t matter how much I applied
and how much I went there, I received the email stating I was not eligible […]
I went back to the university, it didn’t matter how much I tried again and how
PXFK,WDON±VKHZDVOLNH³<RXDUHQRWHOLJLEOH´6R,GLGQ¶WKDYHWKHpower
WRDUJXHIRUP\ULJKW(OOLRW±536$DSSOLFDQW
:KHQZHDVNHG5REE\LIKHZRXOGFKDOOHQJHWKHGHFLVLRQRIWKHXQLYHUVLW\WRWXUQ
down his application, he responded:
So I’m not going to, I’m not going to complain about or I’m not going to
TXHVWLRQ WKHP >«@ EHFDXVH ZH DUH JXHVW LQ WKLV FRXQWU\ DQG VRPHWLPHV ZH
think that we impose some troubles, I don’t know, some costs, some extra
things for this country, and we should not, I mean we should not be something
like, what’s it called in accounting? Creditor, every time we say you to be in
GHEWWRXVQRERG\LVLQGHEWWRXV5REE\±536$DSSOLFDQW
5HQGHUHG DV DSSOLFDQWV ZKR DUH QRW OHJLWLPDWH WKHVH 536$ GLG QRW IHHO DEOH WR
challenge the admissions policies and procedures, which by default did not recognize
their non-stable and insecure pathways to higher education.
DISCUSSION
The preceding themes indicate tensions between the aims of the university’s social
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LQWHUQDWLRQDO VWXGHQWV DQG GR QRW LGHQWLI\ WKHP DV D VHSDUDWH HTXLW\ JURXS ZLWK
specific needs and circumstances. Narratives from these three applicants show
the workings of symbolic violence through these apparently neutral admissions
processes. This finding is similar to the Guo’s findings about recent immigrants to
Canada (2015a), which revealed that the main issue for migrants (humanitarian or
YROXQWDU\OD\LQJDLQLQJHQWU\WRDQRUJDQL]DWLRQDOVSDFH)RUDSSOLFDQWVIURP536$
backgrounds, the admissions process formed the barrier to the university space. The
150
(0%5$&,1*62&,$/,1&/86,21"
processes and procedures reproduce systems of classification that reinforce relations

of domination and subordination, i.e., those who are constructed as ‘legitimate’
536$DSSOLFDQWVYHUVXVWKRVHZKRDUHµLOOHJLWLPDWH¶7KHVXEVHTXHQWVXIIHULQJRIWKH
unsuccessful applicants is manifested in their feelings of insecurity, powerless and
distrust. The staff participants recognized and acknowledged this suffering at some
level. All showed understanding and acknowledgement of the inappropriateness of
WKH DGPLVVLRQV DQG VFKRODUVKLS WHPSODWHV WKH\ ZHUH UHTXLUHG WR XVH :KLOVW WKHLU
accounts reinforced the applicants’ narratives of a homogenized approach to the
processing of admissions of refugees and people seeking asylum, the practices of
VWDIILQVHHNLQJRXWDOWHUQDWLYHSDWKZD\VDQGIXQGLQJVRXUFHVIRU536$DSSOLFDQWV
indicates that the structural discrimination displayed in this case study institution
may be open to change although this seemed to rely on the goodwill and capacity
of individual staff to use their insider knowledge and networks rather than systemic
change at institutional level.
The participants’ narratives highlight the urgent need for awareness-raising and
ongoing professional development for general and academic staff and management
in relation to the issues that refugee background students face and the strengths and
resilience they bring to the learning environment. Yet just as Naidoo et al. (2018)
KLJKOLJKWHGVWDIIUHSRUWHGIHHOLQJLOOSUHSDUHGDQGHTXLSSHGWRXQGHUVWDQGDQGPHHW
the complex needs of refugee students. Staff need to be carefully trained in regard
WR WKH PXOWLSOH DQG FRPSOLFDWHG LVVXHV ZKLFK 536$ IDFH SDUWLFXODUO\ LQ UHODWLRQ
to issues such as documentation and paperwork. Moreover, admission policies
need to be rethought for what may be seen as neutral and fair from one perspective
would appear to be at best, risking re-traumatizing potential applicants, and in some
cases, putting their lives in danger. This highlights the need for critical analysis and
reform of the institutional systems and processes of higher education admissions to
UHFRJQL]HWKHHGXFDWLRQDOSDWKZD\VIROORZHGE\536$
CONCLUSION
8QLYHUVLWLHVLQWHUQDWLRQDOO\DQGLQ$XVWUDOLDIDFHQHZFKDOOHQJHVDQGLQHTXLWLHVZKHQ
it comes to catering for students from a refugee or asylum seeking background. They
are to be congratulated on taking positive steps to embrace this precarious group of
VWXGHQWV+RZHYHURXUFDVHVWXG\KDVGRFXPHQWHGWKHFRPSOH[LWLHVRIHTXLW\DQG
inclusion for such students. If the Australian universities wish to embrace an inclusive
approach to higher education then they must consider what systematic changes are
needed to ensure they become responsive to those adults who are living precariously.
They must consider as a matter of urgency, ongoing awareness-raising and training
for frontline staff in how to deal with students who have arrived in Australia in
recent times seeking asylum. These actions are not an optional extra, but are part of a
fundamental demand for human rights and recognition that acknowledges the highly
complex needs of this newest group of students.
151
K. DUNWOODIE ET AL.
NOTES
1
Article 26 states ‘Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary
and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional
HGXFDWLRQVKDOOEHPDGHJHQHUDOO\DYDLODEOHDQGKLJKHUHGXFDWLRQVKDOOEHHTXDOO\DFFHVVLEOHWRDOORQ
the basis of merit’ (The United Nations, 1948).
2
A permanent protection visa entitles the holder to live and work in Australia as a permanent resident,
and eligibility to apply for citizenship (Australian Government Department of Home Affairs, n.d.a).
3
A Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) is one of two types of temporary protection visas available to
WKRVHFODLPLQJDV\OXPZKRFRPHE\ERDW7KH739YLVDSURYLGHVSURWHFWLRQIRUWKUHH\HDUV5HIXJHH
Council of Australia, 2017b).
4
A Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) is one of two types of temporary protection visas available to
those claiming asylum who come by boat. This visa provides protection for five years. Its main feature
LV WKDW SHRSOH ZKR KROG LW PXVW LQWHQG WR ZRUN RU VWXG\ LQ D SDUW RI µUHJLRQDO$XVWUDOLD¶ 5HIXJHH
Council of Australia, 2017b).
5
We allocated university staff pseudonyms whilst the students selected their own ‘assumed names’ to
safeguard anonymity.
6
Eligible visa include: A TPV, a SHEV, a Bridging Visa E (BVE) which lets the holder stay in Australia
while making arrangements to leave or awaiting an immigration decision and a Bridging Visa A
(BVA), a temporary visa allowing stay in Australia while the applicant’s substantive visa application
is being processed (Australian Government Department of Home Affairs, n.d.b).
5()(5(1&(6
Australian Government Department of Home Affairs. (n.d.a). Protection visas. 5HWULHYHG IURP
https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1/866-
Australian Government Department of Home Affairs. (n.d.b). Bridging visas. 5HWULHYHG IURP
https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visi/visi/bridging-visas
%ORFN.5LJJV( +DVODP1. Ethics in research with refugees and asylum seekers: Processes,
SRZHUDQGSROLWLFV,Q.%ORFN(5LJJV 1+DVODP(GVValues and vulnerabilities: The ethics
RIUHVHDUFKZLWKUHIXJHHVDQGDV\OXPVHHNHUVSS±7RRZRQJ$XVWUDOLDQ$FDGHPLF3UHVV
Bourdieu, P. (1989). Social space and symbolic power. Sociological Theory, 7 ±
doi:10.2307/202060
%UDGOH\ ' 1RRQDQ 3 1XJHQW + 6FDOHV % 5HYLHZ RI $XVWUDOLDQ KLJKHU HGXFDWLRQ
Australian Government Report.5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSZZZYRFHGHGXDXFRQWHQWQJY$
&KDGGHUWRQ& (GPRQGV&5HIXJHHVDQGDFFHVVWRYRFDWLRQDOHGXFDWLRQDQGWUDLQLQJDFURVV
Europe: A case of protection of white privilege? Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 67(2),
±
Edwards, D., & McMillian, J. (2015). Completing university in Australia. Australian Council of
Educational Research.5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSVZZZDFHUHGXDXILOHV&RPSOHWLRQRI(TXLW\*URXSV
-7'5%910D\SGI
Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2),
±
Guo, S. (2015a). The colour of skill: Contesting a racialised regime of skill from the experience of
recent immigrants in Canada. Studies in Continuing Education, 37±GRL
;
Guo, S. (2015b). The changing nature of adult education in the age of transnational migration: Toward a
model of recognitive adult education. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 146±
doi:10.1002/ace.20127
Hynes, P. (2011). The The dispersal and social exclusion of asylum seekers: Between lininality and
belonging. Bristol: Policy Press.
Ladson-Billings, G., & Tate, W. (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College
Record, 97±
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Naidoo, L., Wilkinson, J., Adoniou, & Langat, K. (2018). Navigating complex spaces: Refugee
background students transitioning into higher education. Singapore: Springer.
1DLGRR / :LONLQVRQ - .LSURQR /$GRQLRX 0 &XQQHHQ 5 %ROJHU ' Supporting
school-university pathways for refugee students’ access and participation. Kingswood: University of
Western Sydney, Charles Sturt University, Univerity of Canberra.
5HIXJHH&RXQFLORI$XVWUDOLDAustralia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program 2014–15. Surry
+LOOV5HIXJHH&RXQFLORI$XVWUDOLD5HWUHLYHGIURPKWWSVZZZUHIXJHHFRXQFLORUJDXULVXE,QWDNHB
2014-15_Discussion.pdf
5HIXJHH&RXQFLORI$XVWUDOLDD2018–2019 pre-budget submission5HWULHYHGIURP
https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/publications/submissions/2018-2019-pre-budget-submission/
5HIXJHH &RXQFLO RI$XVWUDOLD E What is a Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) or a Safe Haven
Enterprise Visa (SHEV)? 5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSVZZZUHIXJHHFRXQFLORUJDXJHWWLQJKHOSOHJDOLQIR
YLVDVWSYVKHYIDTV
5HIXJHH &RXQFLO RI $XVWUDOLDQ Scholarships for people seeking asylum and refugees on
temporary visas5HWULHYHGIURPKWWSVZZZUHIXJHHFRXQFLORUJDXRXUZRUNVFKRODUVKLSVSHRSOH
seeking-asylum-refugees/
Schubert, J. D. (2014). Suffering/symbolic violence. In M. Grenfell (Ed.), Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts
SS±2[RQ5RXWOHGJH
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. (2017). Guidance note: Diversity and equity.5HWULHYHG
IURPKWWSVZZZWHTVDJRYDXODWHVWQHZVSXEOLFDWLRQVJXLGDQFHQRWHGLYHUVLW\DQGHTXLW\
United Nations. (1948). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 26 5HWULHYHG IURP
KWWSZZZXQRUJHQJDVHDUFKYLHZBGRFDVS"V\PERO $5(6,,,
Webb, S. (2015). ‘It’s who you know not what’: Migrants’ encounters with regimes of skills as
misrecognition. Studies in Continuing Education, 37±
153
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14. NURTURING SOLIDARITY IN DIVERSITY

The Superdiverse Shop Floor of Tower Automotive in Ghent
It is no coincidence that a focus on solidarity is returning to the center of public

discussions in many Western European countries. International migration and
neoliberal economic restructuring have created a situation of socio-political
turmoil dissimilar from the historical conditions under which the modern concept
of solidarity emerged. In January 2013 we started a research project called
‘Diversity and Community Building’ as we wanted to scrutinize the conditions in
which innovative forms of solidarity become possible. It is a research project that
is carried out by an inter-disciplinary research team of 15 scholars in cooperation
with an advisory committee consisting of more than 60 frontline, intermediary and
policy level organizations which are active in four settings of everyday life: labor,
education, leisure and social housing, most of them situated in the Flemish region of
Belgium and some of them in the city of Brussels. The underlying assumption of this
project is that solidarity needs to be rethought and reformulated in a spatio-temporal
framework that looks beyond the territorial nation state to solidarity practices hic
et nunc. As educationalists we try to understand how social workers, community
organizers, teachers, volunteers, delegates of trade unions and other engaged citizens
create solidarity among people who do not have much in common apart from the
school, the park, the factory, the sports field or the neighborhood center they share.
We want to understand the modes of community interaction and the process of
education that emerge through particular interventions of professionals in these
places. For this chapter we go into one case in particular, the superdiverse shop floor
of Tower Automotive in Ghent.
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Over the last decade, many people have moved from place to place over the globe.
These large migratory movements present challenges for people living within
Western society today (Oosterlynck et al., 2015). The intensification of global
flows of people creates increasing social and cultural diversity, resulting in a level
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H[SHULHQFHGLQVRFLHW\9HUWRYHF5HVHDUFKHUVrefer to the day-to-day reality
of our society as a “minority-majority” society. Differences between different
groups are growing, and minorities have become majority (Vertovec, 2007). This

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increase of a multiplicity of diverse, and often antagonistic, ways of living lead to

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feel attached to and with whom people are willing to share and redistribute material
and immaterial resources (Stjernø, 2004). In this chapter we start from the following
assumption: solidarity in super-diverse situations is possible and is already been
practiced in schools and parks, in workplaces, sports fields, social housing projects
and in neighborhood centers.
This focus on how people collectively engage in the here and now is different from
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to his empirical findings on how in the short and medium-term ethnic and cultural
diversity has negatively impacted on solidarity, Putnam (2007) recommends a long-
term strategy aimed at the construction of new and more encompassing national
identities, “a novel ‘one’ out of a diverse ‘many’” (p. 165). We do not necessarily want
to contest this claim, but what we would like to argue for is a much more in-depth
understanding of the educational possibilities that emerge from everyday practices
of people engaging with the multiplicity of cultures in a superdiverse society.
Although both “social cohesion and social solidarity are generally used
interchangeably” (Vasta, 2010, p. 507) it is crucial for our analysis to make a
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together in an increasingly diverse society and culture but work from different
perspectives on how diversity should be approached. The preferred term in
current policy discourse is indeed ‘social cohesion’ and by definition it stresses
the importance of integrating people into a collective with a homogeneous identity
(Vasta, 2010). Community building efforts often share this focus and as Kearns and
Forrest (2000, p. 996) argue the kernel of these practices is the idea “that a cohesive
society ‘hangs together’; all the component parts somehow fit in and contribute to
society’s collective project and well-being; and conflict between societal goals and
groups, and disruptive behaviours, are largely absent or minimal”. Such an approach
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with legal status and/or those who assimilate within the unified communal ‘whole’
over those without legal status and/or who represent ‘difference’ that might disrupt
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who do not ‘fit’ and who bear the burden to integrate into this communal whole also
tends to reaffirm an essentialist frame of identity and culture. As Todd (2011) shows
there is a particular ontology underpinning this approach which “turns a person into
an aggregate of her cultural attributes: she bears these attributes like a mantle into
encounters with others as though they stand for who she is” (Todd, 2011, p. 103).
When educationalists try to intervene and facilitate a process of education based
on this ‘social cohesion’ approach, they often focus upon the knowledge and skills
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whole, primarily understood in terms of what a neo-liberal labor market expects of
people. It is an intervention that is based on strong but also conflicting beliefs in the
abilities of a person: everyone can be a competitive entrepreneur but some people
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insights, skills, and attitudes (Biesta, 2011). In any case, neither the standards, nor
the imagined society that undergirds these educational initiatives are being widely
challenged (Mollenhauer, 1986).
In shifting our focus onto solidarity we want to explore how a pedagogy which
acknowledges vulnerability, weakness and fragility (Prieto, 2015, p. 306) encourages
people to share and redistribute material and immaterial resources. More in particular,
we are interested in what we want to call ‘transformative modes of solidarity’ that
do not aim at dissolving differences between people into one clear-cut defined
collective. As already indicated we want to locate these transformative modes of
solidarity in a spatio-temporal setting that is different from the way these issues
are managed by and through the nation-state. We shift to what diverse populations
do and collectively engage in the here and now through everyday activities. From
a spatial perspective, we move from the bounded territory of the nation state to the
everyday places and practices in which people engage with the social and cultural
differences they encounter. From a temporal perspective, a similar move is made
from the imagined continuity through history of a national community to concrete
places as schools, social housing projects, workplaces, neighborhood centers etc.,
where people jointly engage with the culturally and socially diverse groups of
people that are present in these places. As educationalists, we believe we need to
make this shift, away from a focus on education as a process of becoming a member
of a predefined community to a process of being able to live in the concern for a
‘we’ for which a common denominator is not available and which always entails
moments of transformation and disruption of the established order (Biesta, 2006).
The emerging collective opens then the possibility of what Todd calls “an ontology
of plurality’ where the givenness of plurality (in all its contingency) can emerge and
‘the boundaries of a democratic plurality” can be redrawn (Todd, 2011, p. 101).
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In this chapter we delve into a particular case, the superdiverse shop floor of
Tower Automotive in Ghent (Belgium) and want to understand the significance of
particular learning processes that can support transformative modes of solidarity.
Tower Automotive is a worldwide producer of metal components for cars. We did
our case-study in a division that is located in Ghent where Tower Automotive is a
supplier for Volvo. Tower Automotive Ghent has 38 nationalities amongst the 350
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the workforce who are on fixed-term contracts). There is a lot of diversity within the
existing diversity and this diversity is not limited to cultural or ethnic backgrounds.
Workers from African backgrounds for example, do not share the same status or
the same origins. Some workers moved to Belgium because of marriage or family
reunification, while other workers are former refugees. Some workers have support
from networks of friends and family, other workers do not have these networks or
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support at all. A significant group of workers experience a range of problems with

legal documents, are financially indebted and struggle to survive on low wages.
For this case-study one of the authors of this chapter made use of diverse research
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socialist trade union ‘ABVV Metaal’ and the Catholic trade union ‘ACV Metaal
(METEA)’, the diversity officer of both trade unions and the sector delegates of
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who is responsible for the daily management of the factory floor. Apart from these
interviews he worked for four weeks on the shop floor. He was concerned that there
would be too much distance between the researcher and the workers in the factory
and this would make conversations and in-depth interviews difficult. As one of the
union delegates stated “once people see you as an outsider, they talk amongst each
other about you, instead of with you”. Every two hours he took a break to sit down
and write his observations made at the assembly line. Conversations during longer
breaks could be written down right away and at the end of each working day, he
wrote more extensive fieldnotes reflections on them in the form of a diary. Lastly,
he participated in some training and education initiatives that both trade unions
organized for their members about anti-racism and intercultural competences on the
shop floor and analyzed a set of documents relevant for the policy on diversity on
the shop floor within Tower Automotive Ghent. All data was brought into NVIVO
and in analyzing our data it became clear how the delegates of the two trade unions
in this company are challenged by a differentiation of concerns on culture, religious
rituals, multi-lingualism and a mosaic of issues connected to differences in economic
and political positioning.
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In the central hall of Tower Automotive Ghent images of all the workers are
hung up and underneath these photos is the main slogan of this company: “Tower
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forward multiculturalism as a valuable and unifying standard for the company as a
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aim to ‘deal’ with diversity. For example, a nondiscrimination rule was introduced
in this company following an incident of a racist slogan appearing in the toilets of
Tower Automotive Ghent. The company decided to intervene and asked everyone
to sign an agreement that discrimination and racism are not tolerated within factory
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and intercultural competences. In these courses they try to acknowledge the many
differences among the workers and make these differences both understandable and
workable for the employees of this company.
What research on diversity on the workplace (Estlund, 2006) shows, is that people
can be encouraged to get along with each other, despite the relatively high degree
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“its capacity to convene individuals who would not otherwise choose to interact and
compel them to cooperate” (Estlund, 2006, p. 88). The process of working together
depends on, and helps to produce, constructive and even amicable intergroup
relations (Estlund, 2006, p. 81). As our analysis also shows, the outcome of working
together on the shop floor is the normalization of difference or the acceptance of
difference as an everyday and even banal feature of working life. An employee
of Tower Automotive Ghent for example indicates that he appreciates his fellow
workers “for what they do”. He elaborates on this by saying:
Of course, we all judge each other. Maybe you think black man and think
drugs or so. Or we think white man and see an authoritarian person. But what’s
different here is that we are forced to work together. One has to talk to another
person. In a few years, and with time, the prejudices disappear when other
things take over. If I now look at some people or think about them, it’s through
what they do. What they do and who they are starts to mix.
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confirms what supporters of the ‘contact hypothesis’ over and over again have sought
to demonstrate, that prejudices between groups are reduced when interpersonal
contact under appropriate conditions becomes possible (Allport, 1958). What our
research on Tower Automotive Ghent shows, is that a particular type of contact,
a contact which encourages people to do things together, is likely to result in a
changed attitude towards each other or at least temper tensions and prejudices and
making feelings of respect, empathy and affinity possible. In line with Bauman
(1995, p. 49) we understand this as a shift from simply occupying a shared space
without interacting in any significant way (‘being aside’) to interacting with others
as occupants of particular roles and expectation (‘being with others’).
People are joined together during an activity and shared objectives, tasks and roles
substitute the possible tensions and prejudices towards each other. The underlying
educational process is a cooperative form of learning as people learn to collaborate
with others, learn to share objectives and apply problem solving strategies together.
Sharing and redistributing material and immaterial resources become possible but
only when it is suitable for the ongoing cooperation. The solidarity that becomes
possible through collaborating on the arrangement of holidays in Tower Automotive
is a good example of this. Holidays of two weeks are unfeasible for workers from
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countries of origin. Throughout this holiday period, a complex holiday roster was
developed which manages to combine this particular demand for long leave by a
group of workers with the right for every worker to take enough holidays. Another
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during this period. Based on the data we were able to collect we could observe
how the company but also delegates of trade unions tend to smooth down possible
tensions and discussions that could arise from these particular issues. The solidarity
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that emerges, aims at integrating workers into a collective of participants that share a
stake in performing a particular activity and is based on the importance of dialogue,
learning to deal with conflicts and seeking to compromise.
But our analysis also shows that there are particular issues that challenge the
clear-cut identification with Tower Automotive as one fixed collective and open up
the potential for more transformative forms of solidarity. The first issue prompting
this demand is the socio-economical vulnerability of some of the workers.
Notwithstanding the fact that everyone on the shop floor has a formal job there are
huge differences among workers in terms of job status and wage levels. Likewise,
a significant number of workers with migrant roots are living in precarious living
conditions. They do not have a social network they can rely on, they have limited
possibilities as they survive on low wages and are not accustomed to the bureaucratic
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Delegates within both trade unions realize that the typical union actions of striking
are not appropriate to respond to these extreme situations of social exclusion. They
seek the proximity of the shop floor and are open for talks and support outside the
walls of the factory floor. In doing so, they find themselves in a ‘zone of discomfort’
(Kunneman, 2007) as they recognize that they cannot build on existing institutional
measures and proven methodological expertise. The vulnerable situation of the
other cuts deep into what they were taught to as a professional. In search for a
response they experience this zone of discomfort as worth exploring as it triggers
the opportunity to loosen existing standards and positions in society. The issue of
extreme vulnerability brings forward a situation of uncertainty, or even what could
be called a crisis of judgement. Questions such as ‘What should I do?’ and ‘On what
grounds?’ implicitly or explicitly urge them to reflect upon their own positioning.
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newness” and more specifically an experience of a possibility “that the community
we are taking ourselves to be representatives of can be changed, reoriented,
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In Tower Automotive the use of language is a second issue that is encouraging
a potentially transformative form of solidarity. The language policy of Flanders,
as one of the three language regions in Belgium, stipulates Dutch as the standard
language to be used in all written and oral communication inside companies and
organizations located within the Flemish territory. It is a directive that trade unions
are much in favor of as it creates transparency about the communication that should
be understandable for all the workers. But in the case of Tower Automotive both
the company and the trade unions have chosen not to force workers to speak the
Dutch language but only to encourage them to do so. Hence, in the day-to-day
communication on the shop floor, the choice is made to talk the language that
‘works’. Moreover, both in formal and informal communications multilingualism
or experiments with using more than one language is the mainstream practice. What
these experiments with multilingualism enhance, apart or beside its particular aim
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of getting the work done, is a more lightly or a less rule-governed way of working
together. Multilingualism as an answer to the obligation of speaking one particular
language, in particular the Dutch language, is then less disruptive or uncomfortable
than the vulnerability of workers but it does enhance a space for sharing the capacity
of communication, thereby untying one particular language as decisive in the way
workers should define themselves as a collective. It reinforces a being together that
exceeds a dynamic of rejections and identity claims. As an intervention it is about
inviting people to co-create an activity where rules are still important but are less
rigorous. The importance of this mode of interaction is also emphasized in research
on conviviality, understood as relations where cultural, linguistic and religious
particularities of people are present but not as fixed categories nor as sources of
intractable problems (Nowicka & Vertovec, 2014).
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For many contemporary policy-makers, access to formal and informal solidarity is

conditional on the integration of newcomers in the existing socio-spatial structures
and the presumed cultural homogeneity of nation states (Kymlicka, 2015). This kind
of ‘affirmative’ solidarity may become a politically conservative endeavor, however,
if the order and hierarchies in which (new) groups are integrated are excluding and
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to track and trace transformative forms of solidarity in the everyday places where
people work, live, play or study together. What we found on the superdiverse shop
floor of Tower Automotive in Ghent is that working together on the shop floor does
not only address people as occupants of particular roles and expectation but has the
potential to enhance interactions that are disturbing some of the symbolic categories
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union professionals etc. are asked to respond to particular issues while a common
ground on which one can build this response, is shifting, fragile or not existing.
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is framed through an integrationist or transformative perspective. The former sees
assimilation (i.e., becoming more similar to mainstream society) as a precondition
for solidarity, whereas in the latter the confrontation with ‘otherness’ and the
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2009). Socialization is about getting to know one’s place, function and voice in a
social order through learning processes that are implied in becoming part of a group.
Learning understood as socialization inserts “individuals into existing ways of doing
and being” (Biesta, 2009). Subjectification on the other hand refers to an educational
experience of becoming a subject. It is not about the insertion of newcomers into
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orders.
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What we found on the superdiverse shop floor of Tower Automotive in Ghent

were, what we want to call, minor acts or interventions which blur or even refute the
way migrants fall between clear-cut social, cultural and legalistic conventions and
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confirmation of one’s own socio-cultural identity or the expression of specific socio-
cultural values of a certain group. They make the emergence of acting and speaking
subjects possible who through their acts and voices transform and dispute pre-given
identities. What these minor acts actually do is rather small, creating for example
playfulness, experiments with multilingual conversations, being open for talks and
support outside the walls of the factory floor. But these minor acts are at the same
time very powerful as they enhance a sensibility that the terms on which people
can respond collectively to the inevitable differences between people are not given.
These minor acts install moments in which solidarity is practiced in a double sense:
sharing and redistributing material and immaterial resources with ‘newcomers’ and
also taking up the responsibility to renew this world in which we want to live, work
and play together. From this perspective of minor acts, the focus of professionals
(trade unions delegates in this case but also adult educators and community workers
in a lot of other cases) is no longer on the conditions that people must meet, but on
the kind of interactions that becomes possible. It is about enhancing interactions that
are characterized by openness or indefiniteness to the ways others want to be and
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community’ in Agamben’s terms (1999) lays no claim to identity and refuses any
essentialist criteria of belonging. The starting point is then neither certainty nor
clear knowledge on how professionals should help participants develop a specific
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engaging in particular relationships and practices rather than already defining the
answers before the practice has even started (Biesta, 2006).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This chapter presents the results of one of the thirty case-studies of the interdisciplinary
DieGem project on solidarity in diversity in Flanders. We would like to thank
the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in
Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen) for their financial support.
5()(5(1&(6
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from https://www-gertbiesta-com.jimdosite.com/
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.HDUQV$ )RUUHVW56RFLDOFRKHVLRQDQGPXOWLOHYHOXUEDQJRYHUQDQFHUrban Studies, 37±
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5DPDHNHUV60XOWLFXOWXUDOHGXFDWLRQ(PEHGGHGQHVVYRLFHDQGFKDQJHEthics and Education,
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PART 5
MAKING HOPE PRACTICAL
LINDEN WEST
15. DEMOCRATIC AND INTERCULTURAL

DIALOGUE ACROSS UNIVERSITIES,
COMMUNITIES AND MOVEMENTS
,1752'8&7,21
I argue in this chapter that psychosocial and auto/biographical perspectives have

much to contribute to build better understanding of the interplay of complexity,
diversity and democracy, within the power dynamics of a neo-liberal world; and in
illuminating their social, personal and psychic costs. I also wish to emphasize the
central importance of dialogical, democratic education, across difference, historically
and contemporaneously, in any new (but also very old) politics of resistance and
hope. Historical and recent auto/biographical narrative research, drawing on an
interdisciplinary psychosocial sensibility, provides the basis of the case study of
how education can facilitate profounder forms of dialogue, resources of hope and
personal as well as collective transformation. I locate the whole analysis within a neo-
liberal, individualized political economy, in which global capital exercises pervasive
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fundamentalism are on the increase. A place where universities are increasingly
incorporated in this dystopia, often distant from marginalized communities, and where
various forms of democratic or popular education have weakened (West, 2017; Tuckett,
2017). Notwithstanding, I describe how democratic community learning spaces can
be life sustaining, and mind and heart expanding, in the spirit of bell hooks (2003).
They give us glimpses of a liberating self/other mutuality, across difference.
Public service and public provision, including publicly provided adult education,
are much diminished, often dismissed and disparaged, in contrast to the fetishizing
of the market and private sector provision. Individuals, private organizations and
Adam Smith’s invisible hand, rather than the state or even democratic politics,
know best. Moreover, within these dynamics of individualization and privatization,
a new and virulent politics of class has emerged, contrary to predictions about
the latter’s demise. Democratic politics and processes have weakened in the neo-
liberal, privatized political economy, as responsibility has shifted from public and
collective solutions to personal troubles, towards individuals taking responsibility
for everything happening in their lives, including illness, unemployment or other
misfortunes. Broadly I take a Keynesian view of macro-economic management and
believe there is convincing evidence, as in Wilkinson and Pickett’s (2009) work, that

L. WEST
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well-being for everyone. We have, I suggest, responsibilities as citizens, academics
DQGHGXFDWRUVWRTXHVWLRQSRZHUIXOQHROLEHUDOWUHQGVDQGWRLOOXPLQDWHWKHLUHIIHFWV
and how they can be resisted in processes of democratic, dialogical community
education. We must work to chronicle and explain the psychic, social and ecological
costs of the present dystopia, and how intercultural and community education can
help forge new collective resources, at a time when cultural super diversity seems,
for many, a threat. I draw on research in a post-industrial city to illustrate how a
politics of hopelessness breeds racist and xenophobic politics, but also how hope
can be restored.
I suggest that we need new ways of conceptualizing educational processes, beyond
a narrow cognitivism, or radical thinking reduced to a detached, transcendental
criticality. I consider, psychosocially, drawing especially on psychoanalysis, the
importance of processes of splitting at an individual but also group level: where the
world gets divided into binaries of self and other, idealized and disparaged worlds,
the superior and inferior, success and failure. There is, for instance, a process of self-
idealization among elites, and the tendency to project on to others, like the working
class and people deemed as ‘failures’, what they most dislike in themselves, such
as dependence, vulnerability and incompetence. There is a tendency for elites to
believe that their achievements are entirely due to their own efforts, while the poor
lack sufficient motivation, desire and moral fibre to improve their lot. Splitting can
also be applied to the dynamics of racism and fundamentalism: a kind of defence
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functioning, in which what is split off comes back to haunt us. Individual psyches and
whole groups are correspondingly depleted: idealized or stigmatized, to the detriment of
all. Adult education can be reimagined as a space in which we own our messy feelings,
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in profounder educational experience and to enhance self and collective well-being.
The dangerous, disturbing political economy of neo-liberalism necessitates, in
other words, a renewed imaginative effort to think about adult education in new
ways: including transcending the old either-or binaries of psyche and society,
self and other, therapy and education, as well as critical and personal reflexivity.
Both to analyze pathology, and to better understand how new and healthier forms
of learning and resistance to stigmatization can be created. New space is opening
for a more feminized and inclusive deliberative engagement, where emotions and
vulnerabilities are better acknowledged, liberating thought and heart in a kind of
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psychologist Andrew Samuel’s (2015) work, political economy itself (and adult
education?) really could benefit from time on the couch, but in dialogue with others:
economists, sociologists, social activists, critical theorists, environmentalists and
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168
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ways of doing politics. We need to better understand the dynamics of inner and
outer worlds, interdisciplinarily, if we are to build more nuanced understanding
of the problems of how power works, and to reimagine how social and personal
transformation, and a diffusion of power is possible, from the bottom up.
DIALOGUE
The argument derives in part from a confrontation between my own biography and
the effects of neo-liberalism in a frighteningly unstable world. It became important
for me to dialogue with particular sociologists and critical theorists, combined with
psychoanalysis, which provides, as I experienced it, profounder insights into our
troubled times, at both a personal but also collective level (Formenti & West, 2018).
6RFLRORJLVWVOLNH=\JPXQW%DXPDQ%DXPDQ +DXJDDUGTXHVWLRQWKHTXDVL
liberatory individualization thesis of Giddens or Beck, in which late modernity offers
new opportunities for individuals to compose lives on their own terms. If we cannot
escape the inevitability of new life politics and the necessity to compose a self in the
fracturing of inherited templates, this is located within frightening discontinuities and
paranoid-schizoid dynamics, as a defence against powerlessness. Class positioning
matters here: Bauman insists that the more indiviualized consumer society retains
forms of structural domination, not least in the privatization of political and collective
issues (notably personal responsibility for unemployment and security).
In the relational politics of neo-liberal austerity, structuring processes continue,
if in more fragmented form, and those on the margins are held responsible and
stigmatized, for their condition and poverty. Insecurity, anxiety and hopelessness
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Bauman also claims, has created a culture in which we behave like competitive
hunters, without regard for others, in search of the latest kill, whether a new job,
relationship, iPhone, or even a degree. We can find fleeting bliss in the kill but
it does not last as we restlessly seek new stimuli: the hopefulness of modernity
is replaced by fear, deepening anxiety about the future and addiction to the latest
fad, including social media. In such circumstances, Adam Phillips (2012) suggests,
young people on the precarious margins may not get what is happening to them and
their communities. This can be resolved by finding gangs of their own, which offer
inclusion, recognition, and powerful but ultimately defensive stories in which ‘we’
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denigrated. This is the damaging political economy of our times and the territory of
Brexit and Donald Trump.
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I have applied psychosocial ideas to the stories told by diverse people living,
learning and working in marginalized communities. People located in poverty-
stricken coastal towns or post-industrial cities, where the collapse or weakening
169
L. WEST
of working-class self-help institutions has created an epidemic of hopelessness. I

interviewed people on working class estates where racism found purchase, or in
Muslim communities, where Islamic fundamentalism appealed to particular young
people. Interviews were held as many as five times, over a period of months, and
even years, in what can become a kind of transitional relational space of increasing
trust, collaboration and relatively open, exploratory storytelling and, in effect,
of self-negotiation. It is not psychoanalysis, or even therapy, but an attempt, in a
sustained, in-depth and collaborative alliance, to work with people, respectfully,
and to chronicle and interpret their stories with them, over time. While, to repeat,
this is not psychotherapy, the effect of seriously and respectfully listening can be
therapeutic (Merrill & West, 2009; West, 2016).
I draw on diverse theoretical friends, including Winnicott, Freud and Axel Honneth,
the critical theorist, to make sense of stories, and the interplay of self/other, psyche
and society. Winnicott’s (1971) ideas on transitional objects and spaces are helpful.
Transitional objects may be a new idea that speaks to us, or an inspiring other with
whom we identify, or characters in literature. We feel recognized and encouraged
to claim space, in which anxiety is minimized, in the language of psychoanalytic
object relations theory. Attuned, empathic and committed professionals can, in such
terms, come to represent “good object parent-figures”, who intuitively recognize
the primitive fear (that we all share) of being exposed, stupid, incapable and
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LQWKHVHLQWLPDWHUHODWLRQDOSURFHVVHV±SOD\IXOQHVVULVNWDNLQJQDUUDWLYHDQGVHOI
experimentation become more possible. Spaces can open, in fact, for collective,
participative democratic experiment. I have described, how particular professionals
encouraged nervous, diffident young mothers to enter transitional spaces of self/
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so-called ‘sink’ estate, and eventually learned to talk back to power (West, 2009).
These professionals, including educators, walked a demanding, dialogical, emotional
as well as cognitive walk, rather than simply talking the talk. The walk included
giving time to others and imagining self in their shoes, auto/biographically. These
are basic, largely unconscious dynamics of self/other recognition, in Honneth’s
terms, on which democratic relationships depend.
Honneth (2007, 2009) takes us into thinking at a group and collective as well as
a more intimately inter-subjective level. He uses the term self-respect to describe
what happens when people feel part of a purposeful, valued group, with rights
and responsibilities. Where they internalize the right to be listened to and fully
participate, which nurtures a sense of responsibility towards others. Self-esteem
is created when people become aware of their importance to the group and value
to others. Crucially, we then better recognize and appreciate others, and symbolic
otherness, as a basis for social cooperation and new forms of social solidarity. It
is important to emphasize that this is a relational, often unconscious, as well as an
intellectual and imaginative process. We may find, as noted, self-recognition in a
character in literature, with whom we identify, which generates new understanding
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as they speak to our experience. This, psychoanalytically, is projective identification:

where we project parts of ourselves into another’s experience, someone we admire
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RZQLQWHUQDOG\QDPLFVFKDQJLQJWKHTXDOLW\RIVHOIDQGVHOIRWKHUXQGHUVWDQGLQJ
(West, 1996, 2016).
The good, in other words, that lies between people, in intersubjective space, can,
over time, be internalized, to become part of a young parent’s intrasubjective life.
The dramatic script or play of psyche shifts, and new and positive dynamics are
created (West, 2009). Anxieties are contained, listening is to the fore, collective help,
support but also challenge is created to enable groups of young parents to learn,
albeit fragilely, the power of an agora, a meeting place, for participative democracy.
Unfortunately, such phenomena and programs, including children’s centres, are
much diminished because of local and national government austerity.
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anthropological insight that humans are carried by the mother for much less
time than other mammals, and from this experience of premature separation, the
human is heavily dependent on a protective environment for survival. Herein lies
a profound educational, political and cultural imperative, and source of hope, in
what can seem frightening super diversity, fracture and collective abandonment.
Primitive anxieties can be evoked in young people when they feel abandoned and
stigmatized, but we also have new insights into the loving work we must do to
counteract this.
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city where I was born, Stoke-on-Trent, in the English Midlands, as they do similar
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the collapse or marginalization of working-class self-help institutions, like trade
unions, cooperatives, workers’ education and non-conformist churches, has been
catastrophic. There has been a dismembering of traditions of municipal socialism
too, undermining the capacity of local government to act in meaningful ways. All
these trends evoke feelings of crisis, anger, collective depression and despair.
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SLSHERPEHG3ULYDWHVHFXULW\ILUPVZHUHHPSOR\HGWRSURWHFWRWKHUPRVTXHV:HVW
2016). Stoke-on-Trent City Council had nine councillors from the Fascist British
National Party (BNP) and the BNP percentage of the vote overtook social democratic
Labour. All this happened after a period of dysfunctional local politics when the city
was placed under ‘special measures’, and the national government or its agencies
took over the running of the city. It seemed the far right would form a majority on
the City Council by 2010 (West, 2016).
171
L. WEST
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greatly. Austerity, post 2008, brought cuts in local government funding, which
added to feelings of hopelessness and abandonment. Mental health services were
stretched while the safety nets of the welfare state looked increasingly threadbare,
and the pay day money lenders were filling gaps. Some young people were forced
to truant from schools or abandon their education, as they took on the role of carers
in their families. As Phil McDuff observes, “rolling back public services has created
opportunities for the unscrupulous to take advantage of those with nowhere else to
turn” (McDuff, 2018, p. 2).
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2010, by national government, in the politics of austerity. Whole areas of the city
were left in limbo, cleared but never rebuilt. Abandonment seemed an appropriate
metaphor. As a psychoanalytical psychotherapist and academic, I was aware of
the statistical evidence in the UK that mental illness affects one in three families
in marginalized communities (Layard & Clark, 2014). Mental distress seemed
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understood the extent to which a once proud civic social democratic and popular
education culture had unravelled over a relatively short period of time, including
universities working in alliance with organizations like the Workers’ Educational
Association (WEA).
FEELING STIGMATIZED
A constant theme in the narratives of the 50 people I interviewed in Stoke was

the feeling of being perpetually judged and stigmatized by elites, whether in the
media, the bankers or politicians: as benefit cheats or scroungers, stuck in front of
television, morally feckless. Two of my collaborators, Cheryl and Alan Gerrard, ran
an art gallery in a poor part of town, which they saw, in part, as an act of resistance.
They told me that neither of them painted but saw the potential of art to evoke
a better understanding of the city, its history and industrial heritage, and how it
could be improved. They sought a broader political project of civic and emotional
regeneration, using art as living history.
Alan was angry at what had happened to Stoke and wanted to recover its
traditions of solidarity. He was especially agitated about how it was stereotyped and
stigmatized:
… there’s a misconception that … local people … are sitting in front of the
television watching football … they’ve got the Sky [satellite TV provider]
channels on …. But they do like art and it’s local working-class people that are
coming in and buying original pieces … the perception of Stoke-on-Trent is
…. It’s portrayed as being worse by the councillors and the offices that run the
city … people outside the city I think have a bad perception ….
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Such negative perceptions dug deeply into Alan, making him angry and depressed.
Part of my analysis of the city has been historical, inspired by the work of
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Marxist historians, to disparage the contribution of the alliance between progressive
elements in universities and workers organizations, such as the WEA. On the
contrary, the testimonies of worker students themselves suggests the alliance was
crucial in building self-other recognition, active citizenship and strengthening social
VROLGDULWLHV5RVH:HVW
To reiterate, a central part of the work is auto/biographical. I began my academic
career as a social historian, focusing on the history of working-class education. I
tended to dismiss the significance of this, maybe in the arrogance and insecurity
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SRWWHUV PLQHUV DQG HOHPHQWDU\ VFKRRO WHDFKHUV IRU LQVWDQFH ± PHHWLQJ WRJHWKHU
weekly, in what at best was a highly dialogical culture, in which all were teachers
and learners. I now read these workers’ classes as good transitional spaces of self-
negotiation, individually and collectively, where engagement with the symbolic order,
and with diverse others, facilitated by good enough, empathic, robust tutors, built a
more cosmopolitan and active citizenry. Bigotry, racism and even fundamentalism
found expression in the classes but adult educators who were university professors,
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dialogue going. They encouraged the group to take tea, for instance, afterwards,
to share stories, sing songs, recite poetry together, and harmony was restored. This
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places and countries, with fascist parties like the British National Party and racist
populists like UK Independence Party (UKIP) filling the vacuum. The hollowing out
has also to do with the decline of more participatory forms of democracy across civil
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I suggest, if the wider civil society pulses with democratic, participative life.
As indicated, I applied the insights of critical theory and psychoanalysis in
the reassessment of my own earlier work on the tutorial class movement. We can
observe across student testimonies the commitment to serious learning and social
purpose and how the dynamics of self-other recognition found expression. Feeling
understood by significant others, operates at a primitive or early emotional and
unconscious level as well as cognitively; feeling recognized, in short, provides a
building block for self in relationship. Self-confidence, self-respect and self-esteem
are created when people feel themselves to be accepted and acceptable, and that they
have things to say which are then valued by people they admire and respect. And
their role in a group is enriched and enlivened.
Of course, negative dynamics happen in groups and in the psyche too, as
individuals can close themselves down to difference and the other, because they are
not like us and feel threatening (the basis of which is partly projection); or the other
is in some way inferior, or, at an extreme, to be attacked and even annihilated, as with
173
L. WEST
the racist gang or Islamist group (West, 2016). But a good, diverse group remains
open to diversity and thrives precisely because of this. Experience is never ended,
or another point of view denied, in the name of some absolute truth, because there is
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to engage. Education becomes a perpetual struggle to understand and build forms
of dialogical knowing, which embrace the cosmopolitanism inherent in open and
empathic encounters with others. Bigotry and prejudice are challenged, as chronicled
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understanding of educational process and of the making of intersubjective, highly
contingent, developmental, vulnerable but also potentially resilient, generous selves,
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that dominates the contemporary academic mind. Or the overly rational self of much
adult education theorizing (West, 2016, 2017).
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Furthermore, there is resistance to austerity and democratic deficit in forms of

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2015). This applies to several new community development initiatives in Stoke as
well as in the history of workers’ education (West, 2016). The act of participation, in
good enough groups, including adult education, can encourage new forms of thinking,
feeling and action, and even a more feminized politics, in contrast to traditional
‘male’ competitiveness and omniscience. Take for example, the Lidice shall live
campaign, led by Alan and Cheryl Gerrard or health groups that bring working-
class white and Muslim women together in opposition to austerity. The Gerrard’s
project was an attempt to create resources of hope. Here was an initiative enabling
young children and their families to talk to each other and discover pride in their city
and in what their grand- or great-grandparents had done. This was an example of a
genuinely inclusive local curriculum narrative project in schools and community
groups, helping pupils and families learn about the miners who took a stand against
Nazi barbarities. Past entered present in new, refreshing and cooperative ways.
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units entered the Czech mining community of Lidice and shot dead all the men
over 15. At the same time the women and children were rounded up and many were
gassed, although the few who looked sufficiently Aryan were deported to Germany
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the Nazis declared that ‘Lidice shall die for ever’ and razed the mining town to the
ground. The link between Stoke and Lidice was forged through the International
Miners’ Union and the actions of a local councillor and family doctor named Barnett
Stross. In that summer of 1942, the miners and others in Stoke organized a great
174
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public rally, under the defiant banner ‘Lidice Shall Live’. The rally was addressed
by Stross, who became MP for Stoke Central in 1945. He was Jewish, and his own
family were refugees from Polish pogroms. He was also active in workers’ education
and was my mother’s GP.
Some 70 years after the massacre at Lidice, Alan and Cheryl organized a campaign
to honour this working-class movement against fascism. The few remaining survivors
were invited to Stoke in 2012, to commemorate the Lidice Shall Live campaign and
to remember how the people of Stoke showed moral leadership and gave money to
KHOSUHEXLOGWKHWRZQDIWHUWKHZDU7KLVZDVWKHEHVWRISHRSOH¶VKLVWRU\±DPRGHORI
mutual recognition, solidarity, internationalism and principle, forged in the workers’
movement. Telling stories about Stoke’s history in the present was also part of anti-
austerity politics as well as a counter to racism. Stross, Alan and Cheryl stated, was
not a local name, and Barnett Stross did so much good for the city yet was himself
DQLPPLJUDQWDQGDYLFWLPRIUDFLVP1HZTXDOLWLHVRIXQGHUVWDQGLQJHPHUJHGIURP
the storytelling among children and their families.
Stoke municipality is now formally linked to the project and the Lidice survivors
visited the city, including local primary schools, to tell their stories. The school
children were asked to talk to grandparents and relatives to find out what they knew
about the Lidice Shall Live campaign and there was an appeal in the local media
for people to come forward. Older people began to tell stories and a delicate thread
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and went to visit Lidice after we had a conversation about its history in a synagogue
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Hannah was moved by the Lidice memorial, its rose garden and the road and museum
venerating Barnett Stross’ name. He was after all her grandmother’s family doctor.
Another example of what we can call new democratic, educational and therapeutic
politics is of Health Groups organized by the WEA. These consisted of white
and Muslim working-class women, protesting against the closures of municipal
swimming pools. An organizer stated:
So they [the participants] were … very upset and at the same time we were
running this project … about how people can express themselves and … can
protest against decisions. And we were being asked to write letters in protest
at the decision …. We pulled people together and created that space …. And
again there was a march, much of that was organised online ….
The women were anxious about being “too political”. It was the first time they
had protested over anything. There was an evaluation and the women felt they had
become more active learners as well as politicized. In the context of their biographies,
it was a radical step.
These are small, fragile yet important examples of democratic educational
activity against the politics of austerity. Therapy as well as learning is found in such
175
L. WEST
activism: in deliberative and inclusive learning groups, where openness, tolerance,

respect, dialogue and collective assertiveness are nurtured, alongside healing. Of
course, we need many more such groups to learn our way, inclusively, out of the
present democratic malaise and anxiety over the future. Even more reason to witness,
understand and celebrate initiatives such as these.
CONCLUSION?
There were many stories about austerity and its distressing, demoralizing effects.
The racists propose speedy alternative solutions: it is the Asylum seekers and
immigrants, they say, who are stealing your houses, jobs and communities. A new,
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economic, cultural, social, educational, democratic, relational and psychological
dynamics. One that challenges the old binary between participative, inclusive
democratic learning, and therapeutic processes. In the present ideological climate,
the power of populist politicians and new strains of fascism can seem overwhelming.
Except, we can take comfort from the fact that resources of hope are being created,
despite rather than because of government, its agencies and the politics of austerity.
We must chronicle and learn from them, in new, holistic and interdisciplinary ways.
Maybe local universities should pay more attention towards their once and potential
future role in building social solidarities via community education, rather than
simply being obsessed with social mobility and conventional degree programs.
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%DXPDQ= +DXJDDUG0/LTXLGPRGHUQLW\DQGSRZHUDGLDORJXHZLWK=\JPXQW%DXPDQ
Journal of Power, 1±
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16. THE IMPACT OF TRANSFORMATIVE

LEARNING ON SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS
A Comparative Study of Participatory Budgets in Maribor (Slovenia)
and Rosario (Argentina)
,1752'8&7,21
With the current economic and financial crisis, global capitalism is becoming
increasingly barbaric, bringing us closer towards planetary social war and societal
fascism (de Sousa Santos, 2014). Under these circumstances counter-tendencies
and alternative practices which prefigure a post-capitalist world assume enormous
importance. Arguably, participatory budgeting (PB) is one of these practices. PB is
most often defined as a democratic practice of deliberation and decision-making
in which community members in assemblies directly decide how to spend part of
the public budget (Cabannes, 2004; Baiocchi, 2005; Sintomer et al., 2014). This
creates a system of co-governance (de Sousa Santos, 2005) in which “self-organized”
citizens and engaged civic society exert public control over the municipality “by
means of institutionalized forms of cooperation and conflict” (p. 308). This chapter
will explore PB as a transformative democratic learning process.
First developed in 1989 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, PB has spread variably all over
the continent and the world. PB is effective in strengthening democratic processes
in local communities, as well as its capacity to afford opportunities for the most
marginalized and vulnerable social groups to participate in co-governance (Baiocchi,
2005; de Sousa Santos, 2005; Schugurensky, 2006, 2013).
PB also became a widely used and effective participatory ‘bottom-up’ democratic
practice promoted by transnational political and financial institutions (World Bank,
United Nations, OECD, UNESCO, USAID, and EU) which started to implement
WKHLURZQYHUVLRQRI3%*UHJRUþLþ -HOHQF.UDãRYHF+RZHYHUWKH\ZHUH
primarily interested in the technocratic virtues of PB (the efficiency and effectiveness
of resource distribution and utilization), but not in its democratic possibilities that
has led to the creation of a complex system of participation and distributive justice
(de Sousa Santos, 2005, p. 357). It is noteworthy that the cities that established
PB according to the terms set by transnational institutions never achieved the same
democratic impact that can be seen in Porto Alegre (de Sousa Santos, 2015), or the
$UJHQWLQLDQFLW\RI5RVDULRRULQWKH6ORYHQLDQFLW\RI0DULERUZKHUH3%HPHUJHG
IURPµEHORZ¶7KLVFKDSWHUZLOOH[SORUHZKDWKDVRFFXUUHGLQ5RVDULRDQG0DULERU

0*5(*25ý,ý
in terms of power, participation and adult learning and specifically transformative

learning in relation to social transformation.
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Many educators recognize that important learning takes place through involvement
in social activities (Foley, 1999; Hall et al., 2012; Vieta, 2014) and/or in participatory
democratic processes (Schugurensky, 2006; McLaren & Farahmandpur, 2001;
Salgado, 2015; Pateman, 1988). Building on this literature this contribution will
highlight two pedagogical aspects of PB practices: the importance of ‘two-way
pedagogy’ and the importance of participatory democratic practices in fostering both
personal and social transformation.
Schugurensky (2002, p. 12) views PB as political-pedagogical process and
emphasizes the centrality of reciprocity in participatory democracy and transformative
learning: transformative learning can promote participative democracy, but
participative democracy also has the potential to nurture transformative learning.
Likewise, de Sousa Santos describes the learning process in PB as a “two-way
pedagogy” (2005, p. 362) that take place between active citizens and NGOs on the
one hand, and administrative and technical civil servants of a city or municipality
on the other. This is partly because there is exceptional potential for learning among
the civil servants when an attempt is made to transition away from conservative
forms of techno-bureaucratic culture (de Sousa Santos, 2005). Within transformative
democratic practices, pedagogical aspects can be seen in the process of teaching
about democracy with the method of learning-by-doing, community learning within
social institutions (self-organized or in pre-existing institutions with and without an
educational remit). De Sousa Santos (2005) found that participation in democratic
processes grew and intensified when the scope and complexity of models which
constitute PB expanded as well.
This is some of the background for our comparative study. The transformative
LPSDFWRI3%ZKLFKEHJDQLQRQWKHFLWL]HQVRI5RVDULRKDVEHHQUHVHDUFKHG
by Lerner and Schugurensky (2007) and our work further advances this. The study
in Maribor was conducted between the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016
*UHJRUþLþ -HOHQF .UDãRYHF 3% LQ 0DULERU GHYHORSHG DV D UHVSRQVH WR
the degenerating political situation in the city and derived directly from popular
uprisings started in Maribor in November 2012, which spread all over Slovenia,
resulting in the resignation of Maribor’s mayor and the national government in the
beginning of 2013. It has since spread to five other Slovenian towns.
75$16)250$7,9(/($51,1*,13$57,&,3$725<352&(66(6
To explore in what ways PB has been transformative we want to draw on

transformative learning theory. Jack Mezirow, who based his work on Freire’s
concept of conscientização and Habermas’ theory of communicative action,
180
7+(,03$&72)75$16)250$7,9(/($51,1*2162&,$/75$16)250$7,216
Table 16.1. Categories of transformative learning
O’Sullivan, Morrel, & O’Connor Hoggan Lerner & Schugurensky
Shift in basic premises and thought Worldview Knowledge

Shift in feeling Self Values and attitudes
Shift in action Epistemology Skills
Shift in consciousness Ontology Practices
Altered way of being in the world Behaviour
Capacity
understood transformative learning as a process in which an individual is elaborating

the existing frame of reference, learning a new frame of reference, transforming
points of view, and transforming habits of mind (Mezirow, 1991; Mezirow & Taylor,
2009).
There is no single or predominant definition on the impact of transformative
processes among the scholars of transformative learning. Table 16.1 summarizes
three attempts by pedagogues to explore possible ways of ‘measuring’ or ‘proving’
transformative learning has taken place. O’Sullivan, Morrel, and O’Connor (2002)
define transformative learning within five basic categories that range from shifts
in basic premises and thoughts to a wider, cosmopolitan perception of the world.
These categories correspond with the changing frame of reference measured in four
categories by Lerner and Schugurensky (2007) and the six categories offered by
Hoggan (2016). He emphasizes that the parameters of determining transformative
learning should focus more on the scope of learning than on the type of change in
the learning outcome (Hoggan, 2016, p. 79), while Lerner and Schugurensky (2007)
place more importance on the domain of the change and determining whether it
occurred at all.
Mezirow (1991) argues that there are certain preconditions for transformative
OHDUQLQJ±UDWLRQDOFULWLFDOGLDORJXHFULWLFDOVHOIUHIOHFWLRQPDWXULW\DQGHPRWLRQDO
intelligence. Most agree that democratic discourse is especially central to
transformative learning (Mezirow, 1991; Schugurensky, 2002, 2006, 2013; Illeris,
2014; Hoggan, 2016; Dirkx, 1998).
Mezirow presents transformative learning as something which first and foremost
occurs on a biographical level may or may not lead to social action or wider social
FKDQJH )LQQHJDQ S ,Q WKH FDVH RI 0DULERU DQG 5RVDULR WKH SURFHVVHV
of social, community and individual transformation were inextricably linked and
occurred in more unpredictable way than is often imagined in transformative learning
theory. The research indicates that there was rich “learning through struggle” (Foley,
DQG³OHDUQLQJLQVWUXJJOH´9LHWD*UHJRUþLþZKLFKLVSURIRXQGO\
transformative and was led by the marginalized and oppressed, and sparked by
participation in self-organized and autonomous struggles and through deliberation
181
0*5(*25ý,ý
and decision-making practices. One of the main arguments of this chapter is that
the process of participatory democracy is itself an important learning experience
for different areas of life, and that it is not only relevant for the identification of
QHZNQRZOHGJHDFTXLUHGE\SDUWLFLSDQWVLQVXFKSURFHVVHVEXWDOVREHFDXVHRIWKH
‘way’ in which the participants learned and transformed on a personal level, as well
as the wider social changes that they produced in the process (see also Lerner &
Schugurensky, 2007).
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is based on the model developed at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
(OISE) that explores changes through learning in four categories (knowledge, values
DQGDWWLWXGHVVNLOOVDQGSUDFWLFHVRU.$635HVHDUFKRQOHDUQLQJDQGGHOLEHUDWLYH
practices has been systematically researched at OISE and is very compatible with the
WKHRULHVRIWUDQVIRUPDWLYHOHDUQLQJGLVFXVVHGDERYH7KH5RVDULRFDVHVWXG\LVEDVHG
on ethnographic research, which included 40 in-depth interviews and observation
with participation in 12 assemblies as well as drawing on other in-depth research on
3%SUDFWLFHVPDGHE\6FKXJXUHQVN\([WHQVLYHTXDOLWDWLYHUHVHDUFKZDVFDUULHGRXW
in Maribor as well. It included active participation in the assemblies in the first three
months and observation of the process from the beginning to the present; a focus
group in one assembly; and 12 semi-structured interviews.
There were some differences in methodological processes between the two
VWXGLHV DV WKH 5RVDULR LQWHUYLHZHHV DVVHVVHG WKH LQGLFDWRUV DFURVV LWHPV WZLFH
(once before entering the PB practice and once afterwards), while the interviewees
in Maribor assessed the change or shift across 70 items only once. Also, interviewees
LQ 5RVDULR KDG EHHQ LQYROYHG LQ DFWLYH FRPPXQLW\ SUDFWLFHV IRU D ORQJHU SHULRG
(from 1995), while interviewees in Maribor barely started (from 2012). Indicators in
Maribor were adapted to Slovenian context, thus not all indicators were used across
both case studies. Besides which the historical, institutional, political and learning
context are very different in Slovenia and Argentina.
The KASP changes presented in the next section in Tables 16.2, 16.3, 16.4, and
16.5 show the average value increase for each indicator, measured on a five-point
/LNHUWVFDOHEXWQRWWKHTXDOLW\RIWKHFKDQJH$VDUHVXOWDQLQWHUYLHZHHFRXOGKDYH
significantly improved their previous specific knowledge within the PB activities,
and another could have just started developing or learning new or specific knowledge.
The values only reflect the interviewees’ perception of change. In interpretations of
the results we also used four other research methods, focusing on personal stories,
learning situations and the changes that interviewees mentioned during discussion.
Despite these methodological differences we think it is relevant to analyze across
contexts what changes (if any) occurred, what were the areas of change and which
learning practices were considered the most important by the interviewees. We also
assessed whether the interviewees experienced transformative learning, how this
182
7+(,03$&72)75$16)250$7,9(/($51,1*2162&,$/75$16)250$7,216
was reflected in their self-transformation and whether their KASP changes has an
impact on social transformation.
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7KHUHVXOWVSRLQWWRWKHWUDQVIRUPDWLYHLPSDFWRI3%LQ0DULERUDQG5RVDULRVLPLODU
to those documented in Porto Alegre, Montevideo, Toronto, and other cities with
3% /HUQHU 6FKXJXUHQVN\ 6FKXJXUHQVN\ ,QWHUYLHZHHV DFTXLUHG
instrumental and technical knowledge of co-management, politics and citizenship,
developed analytical, leadership and deliberative skills, enhanced understanding of
the importance of the commons and community care, increased tolerance and respect
towards the oppressed and the marginalized, and ultimately and most importantly,
they transferred new understanding, knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to new
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addition to specific knowledge and skills (improving self-expression, using social
media and creating radio shows, magazines, etc.), active citizens also began to
practice public speaking and performance, wrote public letters, organized public
meetings, protests and demonstrations.
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neighborhood and organizations” and new knowledge of city government and
familiarity with the local communities or neighborhood (Table 16.2). The results
Table 16.2. Acquiring new knowledge
Indicators of knowledge (the average value increase)* Maribor Rosario
Knowledge of management and work of public enterprises 1.7 **

Understanding of needs of own community or group 1.6 1.7
Understanding of needs of other communities 1.6 1.4
Knowledge of discussion necessary for consensus building 1.5 **
Knowledge of ‘active’ listening in the assemblies 1.5 **
Knows people from other neighborhood and organizations ** 1.9
Knowledge of criteria/mechanisms used to allocate public funds 1.2 1.5
Personally knows elected politicians ** 1.4
Knowledge of city government 1.0 1.7
Awareness of citizen rights and duties 0.8 0.9
* Interviewees ranked indicators on a five-point Likert scale, where in the case of

5RVDULRUHSUHVHQWHGWKHVPDOOHVWFKDQJHDQGWKHELJJHVWEXWLQ0DULERUYDOXH
was the baseline estimate, i.e. the value of each indicator prior participating in the PB,
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,QGLFDWRUVWKDWZHUHGHILQHGGLIIHUHQWO\LQ5RVDULRDQG0DULERUDQGWKXVFDQQRWEH
compared.
183
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indicate the emergence of a new techno-bureaucratic culture (de Sousa Santos, 2005)
created by the long-lasting and intensive two-way pedagogical practice between the
self-organized citizens and non-governmental organizations on the one hand, and the
political establishment of the city on the other. This was reflected in the high levels
of trust for local politicians. However, this two-way pedagogical process had not
been established in Maribor even after five years of deliberative practices despite the
best efforts of active citizens because of double-dealing by politicians and resistance
to change amongst municipal officials
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SUDFWLFH ± ZKHUHDV WKH FKDQJHV LQ 0DULERU ZHUH PRVW SURPLQHQW LQ WKH DUHD RI
NQRZOHGJHVHH7DEOH5HVXOWVGLIIHUZHWKLQNEHFDXVHWKH3%LQ5RVDULRKDV
been long-lasting and stable but also because differing processes of socio-political
governance and management in Maribor.
In Maribor “knowledge of management and work of public enterprises” was
the most strongly emphasized. Public enterprises are still responsible for providing
services in Maribor such as water and basic living goods, which makes this indicator
very relevant. The working group Self-organized council for the protection of the
users of public goods – citizen control has developed into a city institution. The
reciprocal process of self-organization and self-learning that the citizens developed
into many such new informal institutions led to visible results: interviewees increased
their critical awareness and knowledge about the functioning of municipality
and they emphasized that they lost their “uneasiness” or “awe of decision-
makers in municipality” as they began to recognize ignorance, incompetence and
manipulation of the municipality’s officials after carefully examining specific
areas and problems. Interviewees strongly identified with collective initiatives and
with the representatives that they appointed for specific assignments within their
assemblies.
Participation in the PB deliberative practice was strongly influenced the values
and attitudes of interviewees in both cities (Table 16.3). While the collective
WUDQVIRUPDWLRQ RI WKH FRPPXQLW\ ZDV PRUH SURQRXQFHG LQ 5RVDULR VHOI
transformation was strongly emphasized in Maribor. The unplanned and unexpected
SHUVRQDOWUDQVIRUPDWLRQRIFLWL]HQVLQ5RVDULRUHIOHFWHGPRVWVWURQJO\LQVHOIUHOLDQFH
and affiliation with the neighbors and with the community while the changed
attitudes and values also affected personal and family life of the active citizens in
Maribor. Personal reflections of the changes can be seen in the statements “I am
happier now than I was before” and “this initiative made me realize that I can change
something”. Transformative impact was also expressed by in phrases such as feeling
a “new [sense of] belonging”, “a new place in the society”, and in relation to the
VRFLDOFDSLWDOWKDWFLWL]HQVJDLQHGWKURXJKPDNLQJQHZDFTXDLQWDQFHVDQGWKURXJK
socializing, and even “finding a new family” for younger participants.
Schugurensky (2013, p. 168) discussed the integration processes established by
WKH 3% LQ 5RVDULR WKURXJK WKH FRQFHSW RI ³ERQGLQJ VRFLDO FDSLWDO´ DQG ³EULGJLQJ
social capital”. The latter emphasizes the cooperation of people with very different
184
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Table 16.3. Transformation through the change in values and attitudes
Indicators of attitudes and values (the average value increase)* Maribor Rosario
Appreciate citizens participation more than before 1.5 **

Feeling of “being heard” 1.5 **
Ability to resolve conflicts 1.3 0.7
Double the number of friends 1.3 **
Concern for the problems of the city 1.3 1.3
Confidence in capacity to influence political decisions 1.3 1.2
Tolerance and respect for others 1.1 0.7
Happier than before 1.1 **
Concern for the problems of the neighborhood 1.0 1.2
,QFUHDVHGUHVSHFWIRUSHRSOHVRFLDOJURXSV5RPD/*%74HWF 1.0 **
Interest in community participation 0.9 1.0
Self-confidence 0.9 0.9
Feel connected to neighbors 0.8 1.0
Sense of responsibility for the preservation of the city 0.6 0.9
* Please see note at bottom of Table 16.2 for explanation of scale.

compared.
OLIHKLVWRULHVDQGDERYHDOOZLWKKLJKLQHTXDOLW\LQLQFRPHDQGEHORQJLQJWRGLIIHUHQW
communities (bridging the differences between citizens from poor areas and elite
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Argentina or Latin America in general, and as such, ‘bridging social capital’ came
in the form of intergenerational cooperation and reciprocity. The older interviewees
expressed their self-transformation due to participation in democratic practices as
“rejuvenating” thanks to the younger members, evident in statements “I am alive
again” and “I am energetic again”. The younger participants emphasized the support
and affection of the elderly, having felt “protected for the first time”, gaining a circle
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who had not experienced this in previous social activities to the same extent. As in
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social capital, as well as their own transformation in understanding work: “finally I
am doing something useful”, “I created my employment from the PB initiative”, “I
am finally trying to do something with my life”.
Tolerance and respect for the marginalized and excluded social groups were
also important in Maribor; interviewees emphasized new understanding of the
5RPDSHRSOHPLJUDQWVDQGRWKHUPDUJLQDOL]HGJURXSVWKDWWKH\GLGQRWSUHYLRXVO\
cooperate with, and mentioned several ways they addressed local issues. In 2015
185
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Table 16.4. Acquiring new skills
Indicators of skills (the average value increase)* Maribor Rosario
Ability to rank and prioritize demands 1.5 1.4

Ability to engage in teamwork and cooperation 1.5 0.8
Ability to make collective decisions 1.5 1.1
Ability to achieve consensus 1.4 **
Ability to solve conflicts 1.4 0.8
Ability to listen carefully to others 1.4 0.7
Ability for intergenerational exchange 1.3 **
Ability to speak in public with clarity 1.3 1.0
Ability to build an argument, to argue, persuade 1.3 0.9
Ability to negotiate, bargain, build alliances 1.1 1.1
Ability to monitor and keep track of actions of city government 1.1 1.9
Ability to contact government agencies and officials 1.1 1.6
Ability to relate to neighbors 1.0 0.9
Ability to understand and interpret official documents 0.9 1.0
Ability to develop and defend proposals and projects 0.9 1.2
Ability to plan and organize meetings 0.7 0.9

compared.
they supported the migration corridor of refugees with solidarity campaigns; in the
same year they also responded to the referendum on the amendment to the Marriage
and Family Relations Act (although they had previously never engaged politically
on the issues of same-sex partnerships); they opposed the initiatives that aimed to
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more importance on the common goods and the needs of the most rmarginalized
groups than on individual interests. They began fighting for recognition, social justice,
solidarity, and individual and common welfare; many researchers of transformative
learning highlight this as the most important change or impact of transformative learning
(Hoggan, 2016; Lerner & Schugurensky, 2007, Schugurensky, 2013; Curry-Stevens,
2007). Thus, as acknowledged by Schugurensky (2002), transformative learning can
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itself creates powerful opportunities for self-transformation identified in Maribor and
5RVDULR
186
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Table 16.5. Transformative practices
Indicators of practices (the average value increase)* Maribor Rosario
Write public letters, petitions, argument problems for the media 1.4 **
Propose ideas/solutions for community problems 1.4 1.1
Strengthen intergenerational cooperation 1.3 **
Discuss problems in the area with the neingbors 1.0 1.2
Think up ideas and solutions for community problems 1.0 1.3
Monitor and keep track of the public budget 0.9 1.6
0RQLWRUDQGNHHSWUDFNRIWKHTXDOLW\RISXEOLFZRUNV 0.9 1.6
Attend community meetings 0.9 1.3
Participate actively on community meetings 0.9 1.2
Talk to city councillors and other elected politicians 0.9 1.2
Seek out information about political and social issues 0.9 1.0
Organize protests, working actions, direct actions 0.7 **
Help to keep the city clean and in good repair ** 0.6

compared.
In addition to intergenerational cooperation, consensus decision making, active

listening and analytical skills, and teamwork were more prominent in Maribor than
LQ5RVDULR7DEOH,QWHUYLHZHHVGHYHORSHGWKHDELOLW\WRIRUPXODWHDQGGHIHQG
proposals, understand official documents, find relevant information and other social
skills and leadership abilities. The ability to monitor and keep track of actions of city
government and to contact government agencies and officials were more prominent
LQ 5RVDULR DOWKRXJK ERWK LQGLFDWRUV ZHUH KLJKO\ UDQNHG ‫ ޓ‬LQ 0DULERU DV ZHOO
6FKXJXUHQVN\¶VUHVHDUFKKDVVKRZQWKDWRQHRIWKHPRVWIUHTXHQWO\DFTXLUHGQHZ
skills is the ability to identify priorities and rank demands for the community.
Practice was the least mentioned and lowest ranked field of all KASP changes
in Maribor, but the research has shown that interviewees were often involved in
direct actions and lobbying (public letters, petitions, press conferences, discussing
problems in the area with neighbors, monitoring the work of civil servants and
tracking the public budget, organizing protests, etc.) (Table 16.5). Interviewees
highlighted the importance of non-hierarchical and egalitarian relations, “strategic
thinking”, “a greater focus on the problem”, “a toolbox of tactics for achieving
objectives”. They managed to force the mayor to proclaim the town a ‘TIPP free
zone’ (against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership planned by EU
and USA) as well as encouraging many other cities, municipalities and their mayors
in Slovenia to do the same, demonstrating a understanding of the global politics,
187
0*5(*25ý,ý
which many scholars recognize as an important aspect of transformative learning

(Hoggan, 2016; O’Sullivan, Morrel, & O’Connor, 2002).
7KHPDMRULW\RILQWHUYLHZHHVLQ5RVDULRVLPLODUO\HPSKDVLVHGWKDWDVDUHVXOWRI
PB, they now do things they had never done before (Schugurensky, 2013, p. 171)
and that they moved from a culture of protest and confrontation to a culture of
conflict and negotiation (de Sousa Santos, 2005, p. 335). Such libertarian horizontal
practices raise doubts about rooted attitudes and habits and open up new opportunities
for participation and action; they become important sites for critical learning and
developing critical awareness, as emphasized by Freire (conscientização). These
horizontal practices offer a number of opportunities, from less authoritarian and
H[FOXGLQJ EHKDYLRU WR OHDUQLQJ RI DFWLYH FLWL]HQVKLS ± DV ZHOO DV OHDUQLQJ DQG
implementing civil disobedience tactics when authorities do not respond to other
democratic measures.
CONCLUSION
7KHFRPSDUDWLYHVWXG\RI3%LQ5RVDULRDQG0DULERULQGLFDWHVWKDWSDUWLFLSDWLRQLQ
such processes results in transformative learning and wider social transformations
ZKLFKSURIRXQGO\DIIHFWVWKHTXDOLW\RIOLIHDQGZHOOEHLQJRIDOOSDUWLFLSDQWVLQVHOI
organized communities. PB is not only a technocratic and democratic solution that
contributes to a more transparent, efficient, just and democratic way of governing
cities, but it also creates privileged learning sites, spaces for meeting and cooperation
(Schugurensky, 2006, 2013). These spaces address civic and political aspects of
change, such as solidarity, tolerance, openness, accountability, and respect, and also
develop social and cultural capital and thus give active citizens the capability to
co-govern cities and influence political decisions (Lerner & Schugurensky, 2007).
The pedagogical value of the PB practice, its ability to build bottom-up,
autonomous learning communities, is one of the most important impacts on the
ZLGHUORFDOFRPPXQLW\$VFDQEHVHHQLQ0DULERUDQG5RVDULROHDUQLQJDQGFUHDWLRQ
of PB practices as a bottom-up approach incites dialogue and critical reflection or
conscientização, two fundamental elements of transformative learning. Learners
LQ 0DULERU DQG 5RVDULR FRQVWUXFWHG 3% UHVSRQGLQJ WR DXWKHQWLF DQG UHDOLVWLF
needs within their specific contexts and therefore their knowledge was not inert,
decontextualized, pre-determined or alienated from the community and their own
lives. Through assemblies based on horizontal communication and the enhanced
‘critical literacy’ they also managed to develop more emancipatory and just forms
of co-governance. It also increased the bonding and bridging social capital and
concrete political actions and interventions (political capital) that resulted from the
commitment of active participants. This was possible because the PB participants
LQ0DULERUDQG5RVDULRXQOLNHLQRWKHUFLWLHVZLWK3%ZHQWWKURXJKDQH[WHQVLYH
process of transformative learning; their activities were implemented directly, face-
to-face (and not through digital forums), continuously, on regular weekly assemblies
led in a bottom-up way by the active members of the self-organized process.
188
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As a result, the participants began a powerful process of liberation within a

community; they managed to create ‘real’ democratic spaces without any assistance
of city authorities and public institutions and despite all the obstacles posed to the self-
transformative process. In these spaces, people are allowed, and even encouraged and
empowered, to learn, explore, consult about, experiment and transform participatory
democracy. Precisely because of the pedagogical aspects highlighted in this study,
0DULERUDQG5RVDULR±ZLWKRXWSODQQLQJDQGDOPRVWXQLQWHQWLRQDOO\±HVWDEOLVKHGDQ
informal network of educational institutions; safe, autonomous and emancipated sites
where everyone is heard, respected and encouraged to resolve wider social issues.
In the last decades, creating and nurturing authentic, democratic, learning
communities that aspire towards the democratization of existing democratic systems
has been recognized as one of the most potent ways of moving beyond capitalism
+DOO HW DO )ROH\ 9LHWD *UHJRUþLþ GH 6RXVD 6DQWRV
2014). Our study does not claim that this is the only or the best way, but the practices
LQ0DULERU5RVDULR3RUWR$OHJUHDQGHOVHZKHUHVKRZWKDWLWLVDZD\WKDWHQDEOHV
long-lasting and intense processes of recuperation of communities orientated towards
wider social change. Whether the active participants in PB will persist in these
processes, whether they will nurture the established learning sites, their ‘commons’
that appear to the outside to be the greatest contribution of transformative learning,
UHPDLQRSHQTXHVWLRQVWKDWUHTXLUHDQHZDQDO\VLVDQGGLVFXVVLRQ
5()(5(1&(6
Baiocchi, G. (2005). Militants and citizens: The politics of participatory democracy in Porto Alegre.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Cabannes, Y. (2004). Participatory budgeting: A significant contribution to participatory democracy.
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Curry-Stevens, A. (2007). New forms of transformative education: Pedagogy for the privileged. Journal
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de Sousa Santos, B. (2005). Participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre: Toward a redistributive democracy. In
B. de S. Santos (Ed.), Democratizing democracy. Beyond the liberal democratic canonSS±
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Dirkx, J. M. (1998). Transformative learning theory in the practice of adult education: An overview.
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Zed Books.
*UHJRUþLþ0&RPPXQLW\OHDUQLQJDQGOHDUQLQJE\VWUXJJOLQJLQVROLGDULW\HFRQRPLFVEuropean
*UHJRUþLþ 0 -HOHQF .UDãRYHF 6 3HGDJRJLFDO GLPHQVLRQV RI SDUWLFLSDWRU\ GHPRFUDF\
Learning through self-organized communities and participatory budgeting in Maribor. In
*$ .RXODRX]LGHV . 3RSRYLü (GV Adult education and lifelong learning in Southeastern
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better world: The role of social movements5RWWHUGDP7KH1HWKHUODQGV6HQVH3XEOLVKHUV
+RJJDQ & $ W\SRORJ\ RI WUDQVIRUPDWLRQ 5HYLHZLQJ WKH WUDQVIRUPDWLYH OHDUQLQJ OLWHUDWXUH
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Lerner, J., & Schugurensky, D. (2007). Who learns what in participatory democracy? Participatory
EXGJHWLQJLQ5RVDULR$UJHQWLQD,Q5YDQGHU9HHQ':LOGHPHHUVFK-<RXQJEORRG 90DUVLFN
(Eds.), Democratic practices as learning opportunitiesSS±5RWWHUGDP7KH1HWKHUODQGV
Sense Publishers.
0F/DUHQ3 )DUDKPDQGSXU5(GXFDWLRQDOSROLF\DQGWKHVRFLDOLVWLPDJLQDWLRQ5HYROXWLRQDU\
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17. THEORIZING ADULT EDUCATION, POWER AND

SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
A Consideration of the Climate Justice Movement
In this chapter, we theorize power, adult education and possibilities for socio-
environmental change in terms of three theoretical concepts: intersectionality,
positionality and place. Our theoretical understanding stems from our experience
within the climate justice movement, specifically the Indigenous and popular resistance
to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Project in Canada (Cecco, 2018;
Shea, 2016). This project involves adding a second pipeline alongside an existing oil
pipeline running from the tar sands of Alberta across Indigenous lands to metropolitan
Vancouver, British Columbia (B.C.), and into the traditional unceded territories
and waters of the Indigenous nations of [ҭPΩșNҭΩ\շΩP0XVTXHDP6ۚZ[֔wú7mesh
6TXDPLVK DQG 6ۚOշtOZۚWD (Tsleil-Waututh). The opposition is led by Indigenous
‘protectors’ of the land and water, who see pipeline construction as a violation of
sovereign land and Earth rights, in a long, continuing history of colonization,
dispossession and violence by the Canadian state. Both authors of this chapter live
LQ9DQFRXYHUDVXQLQYLWHGJXHVWVRQXQFHGHG0XVTXHDPWHUULWRU\DQGDUHLQYROYHG
in opposition to the pipeline. Pierre is a Euro-Amero-Canadian white man; Jenalee
is a white Euro-American woman. We use our experience within this opposition
movement to explain intersectionality, positionality, power and place, and propose
a theoretical frame that draws on Indigenous feminism, decolonizing education and
environmental justice to understand adult education for socio-environmental change.
Since the pipeline project was approved by the Canadian government in 2016, it
has met with strong resistance from First Nations, the B.C. provincial government,
local municipalities, and climate justice activists within Canada and the U.S. The
opposition views the pipeline as a dire threat to marine life, ecosystems, inland and
coastal waterways, and the health and safety of communities, while also citing the
impacts it will have on climate change. However, most fundamentally, Indigenous
communities are resisting what they see as an active project of continued colonization
violating Indigenous land rights and sovereignty. Indigenous communities, settler-
colonial activists and others have undertaken a variety of actions to resist the
pipeline, from legal battles and political campaigning to direct action and civil
GLVREHGLHQFH5HVLVWDQFHWRWKHSLSHOLQHLQWHQVLILHGLQ0DUFKZKHQPHPEHUV
of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation announced intentions for a more direct approach to

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action at the pipeline terminus in Burnaby, B.C. At the time, Ta’ah (grandmother)
Amy George, a Tsleil-Waututh elder, called on “all my relations” to “warrior up, to
resist on a new level, to take care of ‘the whales, and the salmon, the seal, the clams,
the oysters’”, and to speak up for “the living things that can’t speak for themselves”
(Lambert, 2018). Following this, a cedar Kwekwecnewtxw (traditional Watch House)
was built on Burnaby Mountain to defend this sacred site, act as a spiritual centre of
resistance, teach others, and watch for enemies. The Watch House has since become
a centrepiece for a community of resistance: it holds space on the land, hosts land
protectors, community gatherings, rallies and regular non-violent direct actions
often involving road blockades and arrests (Protect the Inlet, 2018).
Standing alongside one another in blockades, marches and rallies, activists learn
about the diverse causes that have moved people to action. In volunteer orientations
and trainings, they learn about their legal rights, the logistics of organizing, and the
power of peaceful, non-violent collective action. By attending community events
and sharing meals at the Watch House, they learn about Indigeneity and Canada’s
history and the continuation of colonization. Through action, individuals come to
better understand and communicate their opposition to the pipeline and enhance
their sense of agency. This individual learning helps to create a community of
resistance which is learning to construct a peaceful, place-based counter-narrative to
continued colonization by the fossil fuel industry and its allies. Beyond participation,
WKHFRPSOH[SURFHVVRISODQQLQJDQGQHJRWLDWLQJVRFLDODFWLRQ±UDOOLHVEORFNDGHV
DUUHVWV OHJDO FKDOOHQJHV FDPSDLJQLQJ SUHVV UHOHDVHV ± UHTXLUHV UHVHDUFK DQG
information gathering, as well as communication across difference that acknowledges
intersections of oppression. This process of collaboration leads to both individual
transformative learning, and collective learning and group consciousness.
,17(56(&7,21$/,7<326,7,21$/,7<3/$&($1'32:(5
The concepts of intersectionality, positionality and place help us to understand

the relational, situated complexities of power and privilege in the adult learning,
education and knowledge created through the community of resistance. First, we
turn to theorizing on interlocking structures of power and oppression along lines
of race, class, gender, and sexuality proposed early on by black feminist Kimberlé
Crenshaw (1989) and debated by many others. Intersectionality continues to be
taken up in theoretical debates in adult education (Merrill & Fejes, 2018; Verjee &
Butterwick, 2014), ecofeminism (Gaard, 2011; Kings, 2017) and in research on
climate change (Kaijser & Kronsell, 2014). The concept of intersectionality helps
us to recognize how various forms of social stratification combine and act to
simultaneously marginalize, degrade and disempower particular groups of people.
The lived experiences of oppression for people like women of color, Indigenous
3HRSOHV4XHHUPHQ0XVOLPVDQGVRRQZLOOEHQRWRQO\EHTXDOLWDWLYHO\GLIIHUHQW
for each, but will intersect across diverse lines of identities, both those proudly
embraced by individuals and those imposed upon them by society.
192
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In scholarship on climate justice, Kaijser and Kronsell (2014, p. 421) note that
“from an intersectional understanding, how individuals relate to climate change
depends on their positions in context-specific power structures based on social
categorizations”: climate change and environmental racism will have different ways
of impacting poor and racialized people. In the Trans Mountain pipeline resistance,
GLYHUVH ,QGLJHQRXV DQG QRQ,QGLJHQRXV DFWLYLVWV ± XUEDQ UXUDO ZRPHQ PHQ
VWUDLJKWTXHHUWUDQVJHQGHUZKLWHUDFLDOL]HGSRRUDQGZHOORII\RXQJDQGROG±
are pulled together and collectively call for Indigenous rights, social and climate
justice, and a halt to pipeline construction. All will have diverse and intersecting
social and cultural identities, and will differentially experience these in a “matrix
of domination” (Collins, 2014, p. 21). Indigenous women’s experience of power,
for instance, differs significantly from non-Indigenous women, Indigenous men,
and other social groups within the movement, and accordingly affects what and
how they learn and teach others (Grande, 2004; Green, 2007). Indigenous women
opposing the pipeline experience intersecting oppressions as they fight for climate
justice, and against capitalism, patriarchy, racism and classism, all the while
resisting colonialism. Their relational responsibilities to the Earth, to place, and
their communities is a duty they assume in regard to specific relations (water, birds,
plants, fish, etc.) within a web of responsibilities vital to their communities (Whyte,
2014). Their ability to uphold their relational responsibilities to the Earth are severely
and directly impacted by climate change, environmental degradation and projects
OLNHWKH7UDQV0RXQWDLQSLSHOLQH2WKHUVVXFKDVWKHPDQ\TXHHUDQGWUDQVJHQGHU
activists who have joined the protests, experience intersections of power, place and
learning differently. Straight white activists and Indigenous elders in their 60, 70s
and 80s again have a different, complex positionality in relation to younger activists
and decolonizing education.
In the Trans Mountain opposition, each activist and organizer contributes
knowledge, information, and a sense of commitment that stems from their own
sociocultural experience learned through their positionality. In this way, the potential
for individual and collective learning depends on difference. Diverse positionalities
serve as tools for learning as the group negotiates a collective identity, generates
group consciousness, and organizes in solidarity (Kilgore, 1999). Learning takes
place in the opposition as activists and organizers negotiate the means of social
action, and depending on the success or failure of strategies and tactics, revaluate
and further strategize according to the social, political, and historical context. This
process brings clarity to and raises consciousness of power structures inside the
movement as the movement discerns who should be centred in strategy and tactics
of social action, as well as beyond the movement as organizers and activists come
to understand the allies and enemies these power structures create. For example,
organizers may encourage older white, rich men to risk arrest rather than young
Indigenous women, knowing that one may be treated differently than the other in
the courts, or be better able to take on the social and economic repercussions of
imprisonment or more easily carry a criminal record. Similarly, elderly women are
193
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fronted in actions and blockades when law enforcement is trusted to be civil and
when leaders want to appeal to public sympathy by centring innocent, law abiding
‘grannies’. In both cases, positionality is essential to strategic action. The process
of organizing and taking action demands individual reflection on positionality and
larger power structures, as well as group reflexivity in relation to context. Both
are essential to adult learning where there is a need to ‘deconstruct positionality’s
epistemology’, to disrupt dominant narratives, structures and stereotypes, and to
replace these with situated counter-knowledges and counter-narratives (Kaijser &
Kronsell, 2014; Misawa, 2010).
When we consider the concept of place in adult environmental education,
the theoretical picture becomes even more complex. Here we begin to trouble
contemporary theorizing in adult education to consider the inclusion of Earth rights
DQG DQ (DUWKFHQWUHG SRVLWLRQDOLW\ LQ UHODWLRQ WR TXHVWLRQV RI GHPRFUDF\ HTXDOLW\
and power, and to new possibilities for adult education. That is, we understand
LQHTXDOLW\ SRZHU SULYLOHJH DGXOW HGXFDWLRQ DQG FOLPDWH MXVWLFH DV H[LVWLQJ LQ D
complex, diverse and interdependent world, yes, but we take this world to include
not just human beings and human societies, but all our living and non-living relations
and communities as well. We must understand not only intersections, positionalities
and relations among adult educators and others, but also the rights of Mother Earth,
of animals, plants, rocks, streams, fields and mountains (i.e., all our relations). As
such, we must adopt an Earth-centred positionality to understand the many forms
RI RSSUHVVLRQ LQHTXDOLW\ DEXVH DQG YLROHQFH DORQJ LQWHUVHFWLQJ D[HV RI SRZHU
and positionality, done by humans to Mother Earth. An earth-centred positionality
counters anthropocentrism, ‘speciesism’ and ‘humanism’, on the one hand, and
supports ecocentrism, agency, the rights of nature, animal rights, inter-species
relations, and the interconnectedness of all beings and the Earth, on the other.
These and similar ideas have since the 1970s been theorized in deep ecology and
ecofeminism, more recently in Critical Animal Studies, Environmental Humanities
and climate justice scholarship (e.g. Gaard, 2011; Tola, 2018; Weitzenfeld & Joy,
2014), and have always been present in Indigenous epistemologies. They might now
be introduced into adult education to good effect. To this end, deep ecology, for
example, calls for education to shift human consciousness away from individual
ego and anthropocentrism (i.e. the ‘I-self’) towards an understanding of the
LQWHUFRQQHFWHGQHVVLQWHUGHSHQGHQFHDQGHTXDOYDOXHRIDOOOLIHRQHDUWKWKHµZH
VHOI¶ WKH µHFRVHOI¶ +DLJK 7KLV VKLIW LQYROYHV D µGHHS¶ TXHVWLRQLQJ RI
human life and the causes of environmental destruction, the cultivation not only
of scientific knowledge, but also of intuitive, spiritual and emotional knowledge
of ourselves and the Earth (‘Gaia’), and a recognition of the imperative to change
our behaviours and take action to protect the earth from human harm (Drengson,
Devall, & Schroll, 2011). Ecofeminism adopts similar principles, but underscores
the connection between the exploitation of nature and the exploitation of women,
and links to patriarchy, racism, colonialism and classism (Gaard, 2011). Moreover,
ecofeminism conceives of Mother Earth not as a collection of individual organisms
194
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(as in deep ecology), but as communities of related beings (Stevens, Tait, & Varney,
2018), much in the same manner as Indigenous Peoples do.
From Indigenous perspectives, it is important to recognize that Mother Earth is
not a metaphor, and not just “an essential part of the conception of (Indigenous
Knowledge) …, it is the lives lived by people and their particular relationship with
Creation” (McGregor, 2004, p. 390). From this perspective, all environmental adult
education is fundamentally learning about self and identity, as we belong to, and are
inextricably a part of Mother Earth. Notably, this is not to reinforce the historical
trope of ‘Noble Savage’ or reify present-day stereotypes of ‘Ecological Indians’
(Freidel, 2011). Indigenous Peoples are not homogenous, nor do they all live in
unchanging ‘ancient’ societies close to nature; our point is only that Earth-centred
Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies are as close as we humans come to an
Earth-centred positionality.
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AND DECOLONIZING EDUCATION
How then do notions of power, privilege and socio-environmental change play out in
an Earth-centred positionality of place in environmental adult education? Since we
as urbanized, colonized human beings have removed ourselves so thoroughly from
being able to listen to and seek advice directly from the Earth (nor could we represent
knowledge gained this way in textual form), we have no choice but to turn to human
theorizing once more. Here, we look to Indigenous feminism, environmental justice,
and decolonizing education for guidance.
From theoretical work in Indigenous feminism, we understand that although
Indigenous identities, societies and peoples are traditionally of Mother Earth, and
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labor, and while both Indigenous men and women have been subject to genocidal
colonial histories, dispossession of land and culture, White Supremacy and racism,
Indigenous women also suffer additionally from systems of colonial-induced
patriarchy cutting across indigeneity. That is, “Indigenous women have endured a
GRXEOHHUDVXUHDQGPDUJLQDOLVDWLRQ±ILUVWDV,QGLJHQRXVSHRSOHVDQGVHFRQGO\
as women” (Grande, 2004, p. 127). Thus, while maintaining an Earth-based
positionality, Indigenous feminism seeks to identify and resist “the ways in which
(Indigenous) women are subordinated to men and how women can be emancipated
from this subordination” (Green, 2007, p. 21).
'HFRORQL]LQJHGXFDWLRQUHTXLUHVILUVWWKHKLVWRULFDOVWXG\RIWKHKXPDQV\VWHPVRI
RSSUHVVLRQ±VHWWOHUFRORQLDOLVPFDSLWDOLVPSDWULDUFK\V\VWHPLFUDFLVP±ZKLFKKDYH
destroyed Mother Earth and dispossessed Indigenous Peoples of their basic human
rights to land, culture and livelihood. Second, it normally demands a recognition
of direct personal complicity in these acts, not only by all present-day settler-
colonial peoples living on stolen lands (e.g. Canada, U.S. Japan, China, Australia,
all of Latin America, Africa), but also by those residing in colonial states built upon
195
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these genocidal and environmentally catastrophic histories (England, Spain, France,

Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal). An ‘Earth-centred conscientization’ of adult
learners continues through the histories and lived realities of Indigenous, poor,
and racialized people bearing the costs of toxic waste, polluted water, and climate
change; that is, of environmental racism, classism and oppression (Irlbacher-Fox,
2014). Third, decolonizing education recognizes that Indigenous Peoples have been
defending the Earth and their very lands, lives, cultures, livelihood, human rights
and identity against the violent onslaught of colonialism continuously for almost
600 years, continue to struggle today for the restoration of stolen ancestral lands,
and are actively working to recover scared sites and cultural knowledge ripped
away from them by non-Indigenous People (Tuck & Yang, 2012). Finally, with
WKLV KLVWRULFDO FRQVFLRXVQHVV LQ SODFH WKH TXHVWLRQ EHFRPHV KRZ WR UHHVWDEOLVK
a personal relationship with Mother Earth for all peoples (Plumwood, 2003), and
for non-Indigenous people, how to develop a respectful and humble relationship
with Indigenous Peoples, who are at once our teachers and ‘co-resisters’ as well as
co-advocates for the return of stolen lands, the struggle against climate injustice,
capitalism, racism and patriarchy, and the struggle for reconciliation and the healing
of the Earth.
The Tsleil-Waututh Nation leading the movement against Trans Mountain are
6ۚOշtOZۚWD or ‘People of the Inlet’: they are among the people most directly impacted
by the pipeline construction and potential oil spills. As people of the water, protection
of the water is not simply a moral or ethical mandate, it is protection of self, of
identity and existence, as well as a spiritual duty. Yet all Tsleil-Waututh people do
not experience their relationship to the water and the powers that threaten it in the
same way: intersections of gender, “kinship, age, wealth, race, religion, political
situation, and other characteristics affect and frame what one experiences as an
indigenous person” (Whyte, 2014, p. 604), just like any other.
The positionality of Indigenous women within Tsleil-Waututh culture grants them
particular understandings, identities, relations and responsibilities to water, similar
to those they might have to children, elders or other family members. Starting with
water in the womb, water is thought of as life-giving and life-sustaining, and as such,
women have a special duty to protect this relation. Of course, not all Indigenous
women take up this responsibility, but elders acting as leaders of the movement
often speak of this connection. When Indigenous women within the movement talk
RIWKHLUVDFUHGGXW\WRSURWHFWWKHZDWHUWKH\VSHDNRILWTXLWHGLIIHUHQWO\IURPQRQ
Indigenous women or others who might see water as life-sustaining, but not as a
living relation. These different positionalities both embody and create different types
of learning and knowledge generation and exchange within and from the movement.
A non-Indigenous woman may resist the pipeline to protect the water as a social or
moral responsibility, while an Indigenous woman struggles against colonial ideas
that challenge her ability to do her spiritual or cultural duty to a relation (water).
Thus, for a non-Indigenous woman, protecting the water may bring about social
or environmental consciousness, while for an Indigenous woman, it may support
196
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cultural learning and reconnection to spiritual practice. In the same sense, abuses
of power, marginalization and oppression are not experienced by non-Indigenous
ZRPHQRUPHQLQTXLWHWKHVDPHZD\+RZHYHUE\ZRUNLQJVLGHE\VLGHLQWKH
movement, these adults co-enact a decolonizing education, learning from each other,
TXHVWLRQLQJUHYHDOLQJXQGRLQJDQGUHSODFLQJWKHKHJHPRQ\RIFRORQLDOWUXWKVZLWK
new knowledge of Indigenous history, epistemologies, colonialism, Earth-centred
positionality and relations. Decolonizing education places human identity and social
DFWLRQLQWRDZHERIERWKKXPDQDQGQRQKXPDQUHODWLRQV±ZDWHUODQGDLUSODQWV
DQLPDOV±ZKRFDQQRWWKHQEHFRQVLGHUHGH[SORLWDEOHQDWXUDOµUHVRXUFHV¶DQGZKRP
we are obligated to protect from harm (Adams, 2003). Thus, ‘water protector’
becomes not only a name, but also an identity, a relation, a sacred duty, and a way of
being. Centering Indigenous voices and leadership, activists and organizers are able
to reflect on differences of oppression, identity, and ways of being, as well as their
roles within the movement and their own positioning as part of the collective ‘we’
in relation to place.
Non-Indigenous climate justice activists in B.C. also have strong ties to land and
water, sea and sky, based on livelihood, life history, spirituality and identity. Some
depend on agricultural production, fishing or coastal tourism to support themselves.
Many feel a deep spiritual connection to the immense beauty of B.C.’s landscapes and
wild spaces; others value the opportunities afforded by the land and sea for hiking,
kayaking, skiing, hunting, camping, boating or fishing. Some ties are shallow, some
deep, some cultural, others spiritual or material. Some believe in rights to property
and ownership; others see open, un-owned lands for all. However, in learning to see
through a decolonizing lens, these and other adults in the movement begin to better
understand the situated nature of power in relation to place and Indigenous Peoples.
New knowledge uncovers our colonial mindset toward the Earth, where people’s
relations with nature are controlled by oil companies, governments, courts, rich
white men, etc. working against, rather than with, nature (Adams, 2003). Through
DGHFRORQL]LQJOHQVWKLVNQRZOHGJHLVQRWOLPLWHGWRWKHSUHVHQW±ZKHUHWKHIRVVLO
fuel industry is controlling relationships to land with implications for human and
QRQKXPDQIXWXUHV±EXWDOVRH[WHQGVWRWKHSDVWWHDFKLQJOHVVRQVRIWKHUHDOLW\RI
colonization that has controlled Indigenous communities’ relationships to the land
for hundreds of years.
Positionality in relation to place is complex and varied among adults, in part
depending on the extent to which their livelihood is place-based. For some, the
Trans Mountain project is understood as both an immediate and future threat to
ocean- and land-based livelihood because of oil spills, tanker traffic through marine
ecosystems, and the effects of climate change, including sea level rise, acidification
and warming. An understanding of environmental justice as integral to decolonizing
education highlights these and other positionalities. Wealth, power and education
may allow some to shift livelihood in the case of an oil spill or sea levels rise; poorer
coastal fishing communities may not have the means to do so. A non-Indigenous
organizer working in the coastal tourism industry may be more directly threatened
197
3:$/7(5 -./877=
by the pipeline than an Indigenous woman professional working in an urban office,

DQG VR RQ 7KH WKUHDW RI WKH SLSHOLQH LV H[SHULHQFHG DQG OHDUQHG GLIIHUHQWO\ ±
FXOWXUDOO\ VRFLDOO\ VSLULWXDOO\ DQG HFRQRPLFDOO\ ± GHSHQGLQJ RQ WKH LQWHUVHFWV RI
social categories and positionality within the larger power structures in connection
to place. Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists, for example, differ somewhat in
their perspectives of the Earth’s role within the movement. Some colonial-settler
activists, talking of protecting the non-human world (waterways, orcas, salmon,
etc.), frame the Earth as a separate entity, and something to be guarded. By contrast,
Indigenous leaders not only speak of a responsibility to protect their relations, but
also acknowledge the non-human world’s participation in the struggle. This is done
in ways as simple as recongizing the presence of trees, birds, animals, and plants in
the everyday events and activities of resistance. It might mean drawing attention to
eagles flying overhead who are watching over protest marches and rallies, or, before
a protest action, acknowledging the history of a place; not only human histories,
but also histories of other beings. In this way, the non-human world is included
in the movement rather than simply being a beneficiary of it, giving voice to ‘all
our relations’, not just human voices. These recognitions and inclusions provide
PRPHQWV RI OHDUQLQJ ZKHUH DFWLYLVWV DQG RUJDQL]HUV DUH HQFRXUDJHG WR TXHVWLRQ
colonial conceptions of a separate non-human world.
Through learning from Indigenous leadership, the Earth and non-human relations
are moved from the margins to “take their place as narrative subjects in a speaking
and participating land, full of narratives and mythic voices” (Plumwood, 2003,
p. 67). Inviting the Earth to be part of the conversation teaches an Earth-centred
positionality, facilitated by Indigenous leaders and others who recognize the Earth’s
agency and challenge a colonial ‘deafness’ to the non-human world (Plumwood,
2003). In doing so, they begin a decolonizing dialogue in environmental adult
education in which the Earth is an inseparable part of adult learning and education,
culture, community, identity and human existence.
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Adams, W. (2003). Nature and the colonial mind. In W. M. Adams & M. Mulligan (Eds.), Decolonizing
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Development, 29±
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public policy development. Canadian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 1±
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200

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Power and Possibility

Research on the Education and

(On behalf of the European Society for Research

Editorial Advisory Board

Michal Bron Jr. (Södertörn University College, Sweden)

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/esre

Fergal Finnegan and Bernie Grummell

All chapters in this book have undergone peer review.

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at

Copyright 2020 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.

7KH(XURSHDQ6RFLHW\IRU5HVHDUFKRQWKH(GXFDWLRQRI$GXOWV (65($ YLL

Part 1: Taking the Long View of Continuities and Changes in Adult

2. 5HYLVLWLQJWKHFaure Report and the Delors Report: Why Was

3. Comparative and Global Policy Studies on Adult Education:

Part 2: The Age of Metrics and the Reconfiguration of Policy and

7. The Challenge of Competence Assessment: Problematizing Institutional

Part 3: Theorizing Power and Possibility in a Complex World

Part 4: Power in a Diverse and Complex World: Learning, Education

13. Embracing Social Inclusion? The Asylum Seeker Experience of

14. Nurturing Solidarity in Diversity: The Superdiverse Shop Floor of

Part 5: Making Hope Practical

15. Democratic and Intercultural Dialogue across Universities,

16. The Impact of Transformative Learning on Social Transformations:

17. Theorizing Adult Education, Power and Socio-Environmental

(65($SXEOLVKHVDVFLHQWLILFRSHQDFFHVVMRXUQDOHQWLWOHGThe European Journal for

Michel Alhadeff-Jones is Adjunct Associate Professor in Adult Learning and Lead-

Pascal Debruyne holds a doctorate in political science, a master’s degree in conflict

Maren Elfert is a Lecturer in Education and Society in the School of Education,

Fergal Finnegan is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Adult and Com-

0DUWD *UHJRUþLþ (PhD) is a sociologist and Assistant Professor of Adult Educa-

Bernie Grummell is a Senior Lecturer in the Departments of Education and Adult

Kerry Harman is Programme Director of Higher Education Introductory Studies,

Bernd Käpplinger is Full Professor for Continuing Education at Justus-Liebig-

Jenalee Kluttz is a PhD student in the Department of Educational Studies at the

Brigitte Kukovetz is a University Assistant at the University of Graz, Austria

Marcella Milana is Associate Professor at the University of Verona and Honorary

Henning Salling Olesen3URIHVVRUIRUPHU3UR5HFWRU5RVNLOGH8QLYHUVLW\+RQ-

Annette Sprung is Associate Professor at the University of Graz, Austria (Depart-

Lyn Tett is Professor of Community Education at Huddersfield University. Her re-

Joke Vandenabeele is an Associate Professor at the Laboratory for Education and

Susan Webb is currently a Professor of Education at Monash University, Australia.

Linden West works at Canterbury Christ Church University. He jointly coordinates

Jane Wilkinson LV$VVRFLDWH 'HDQ *UDGXDWH 5HVHDUFK 0RQDVK 8QLYHUVLW\ +HU

1. POWER AND POSSIBILITY IN ADULT

© KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2020 | DOI: 10.1163/9789004413320_001

Possibility on a macro level has been mainly understood in terms of fostering

TAKING THE LONG VIEW OF CONTINUITIES AND CHANGES

different conceptions of the source of ‘really useful knowledge’. Close philosophical

2. REVISITING THE FAURE REPORT AND

As John Field (2000) remarked, lifelong learning is a “beautifully simple idea”

© KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2020 | DOI: 10.1163/9789004413320_002

THE FAURE REPORT

THE DELORS REPORT: ³/($51,1*72/,9(72*(7+(5´

WHY WAS UNESCO’S ‘UTOPIAN’ VISION OF LIFELONG

the OECD’s proposals appeared to have any concrete influence on governments”

these reports opens up a space in which it becomes possible to imagine alternatives

Faure, E. (1973). Pour un nouveau contrat social. Paris: Seuil.

3. COMPARATIVE AND GLOBAL POLICY STUDIES

© KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2020 | DOI: 10.1163/9789004413320_003

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Henning Salling Olesen3URIHVVRUIRUPHU3UR5HFWRU5RVNLOGH8QLYHUVLW\+RQ-

Jane Wilkinson LV$VVRFLDWH 'HDQ *UDGXDWH 5HVHDUFK 0RQDVK 8QLYHUVLW\ +HU

THE DELORS REPORT: ³/($51,172/,9(72(7+(5´

³QHJRWLDWLRQ´DV&HUYHURDQG:LOVRQVXJJHVWSS±RUVRPHRWKHUVRFLDO

/H*DOqV3Performance measurement as a policy instrument.(3ULQWV±&HQWUHG¶(WXGHV

,QVXPPDU\5DQFLqre points to two very different political strategies for achieving

5XQFLPDQ'2FWREHU+RZWKHHGXFDWLRQJDSLVWHDULQJSROLWLFVDSDUW The Guardian.