Research in adult education and lifelong learning in the era of CONFINTEA VI

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reflect on past discussions in order to see how far we have travelled in terms of research over the past 12 years, identify some of the continuities and look at the significance of some of the changes that have taken place in order to inform our agenda for the future. This paper starts with some conceptual definitions in relation to the keywords in this title, which in themselves are by no means unproblematic. It then comments on the previous era of CONFINTEA V, some 12 years earlier and the discussions that were taking place then, and indeed before then, for the African context. For that reference is made to the journal publication by DVV International in 1995, which reported on an adult education conference that was dedicated to research trends and issues of the time. The remainder of the paper discusses documentation that led up to and immediately followed the international CONFINTEA VI conference on adult education in Brazil in December 2009. The focus is on the African context. I suggest that a research agenda for adult education and lifelong learning in the era of CONFINTEA VI might be subdivided into research for: practice change; base‐line data; critical awareness and social purpose; and African identity. The core argument is that the current era potentially lends itself to a more radical agenda for Africa than might have been the case in the past.

Notes

1. The essence of this paper was first presented as a keynote for an international workshop on research in adult education for Eastern Africa, organized by Makerere University, November 2009.

2. The ‘South’ here relates more to the political, rather than geographical space occupied by those formerly colonized countries who still experience disadvantage in terms of trade, culture and other social distinctions from countries in the political ‘North’ or ‘West’.

3. Such as the 2001 Beijing International Conference on Lifelong Learning: Global Perspectives in Education and the 2002 SADC conference on Adult Basic and Literacy Education in Peitermaritzburg, the 2002 UNESCO and MINEDAF conference in 2002 on Issues and Strategies for the Promotion of Adult Education in the Context of Lifelong Learning, and the CONFINTEA V Mid Term Review in 2003.