Politics, power and participation

It is significant that at a time of immense social and political uncertainty and change, underpinning this edition of the Journal are the themes of politics, power, and participation. Notions of politics, power and participation are recurrent themes that have dominated adult education debate and discussion. They remain a central tenet in understanding the context of adult education practices and systems that are embedded in both social and political activity, and that: ‘…lie at the intersection of a variety of other systems including a nation’s education and training system, labour market and employment system and other welfare state and social policy measures’ (Desjardins 2017, p. 232).

As a social and political activity, adult education can produce and reproduce access to, and the distribution of, knowledge and power. However, seeing adult education as a site in which knowledge and power are negotiated and distributed also recognises that there are multiple struggles and interests at play (Wilson and Cervero 2001). This issue of the Journal provides a sharp reminder of the need to continue to challenge the socio-political shifts that have occurred in adult education in a diverse world including the marketisation of education, ever increasing social inequalities and injustices, alongside adult education funding cuts and policy threats.

Research has shown that adult education practitioners actively negotiate and distribute knowledge and power relations to intentionally shape who benefits (Wilson and Cervero 2001), and to advance ‘emancipatory politics’ (Finnegan and Grummell 2019, p. 2). If people are to be actively involved in political life, they need to have the appropriate knowledge, skills and attitude to participate in society (Predescu and Darjan 2010). As Raymond Williams argued, we must seek the conditions for ‘the creation of an educated and participating democracy’ (Williams 1961, p. 178).

Before introducing the papers comprising the present edition, we wish to inform our readership of recent changes in the development of the Journal. Our editorial team is entering a transition phase. Virginie Thériault (Université du Québec à Montréal) stepped down as co-editor, and Nalita James (University of Warwick) has been joined by two new co-editors: Sharon Clancy (University of Nottingham) and George K. Zarifis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki). The expansion of the editorial team from two to three co-editors brings with it a diversity of expertise in working in the global adult education and community space, both as researchers and practitioners. We are incredibly grateful for all the work that Virginie has done in her co-editor role in developing and strengthening the Journal; her expertise will not be lost completely however, as she will remain on the editorial board. We also said goodbye to one of our long-serving editorial board members, Anna Robinson-Pant (University of East Anglia), and welcomed two new members: Natalia Balyasnikova (York University) and Kayon Murray-Johnson (University of Rhode Island). The Journal continues to build its international reputation and its efforts to support emergent scholars in the field of Adult Education.

The present edition includes five articles that all shed light on issues related to participation, politics, and power in adult education. Individual and collective opportunities to continue learning, developing skills, and sensibilities throughout life in post-war France are examined in the first contribution of this issue. In this enlightening historiographical narrative Barry J. Hake analyses how the policy repertoire of éducation permanente focussed on integrating education, both formal and out-of-school, and active life with the emphasis upon strategies to deal- individually but above all collectively-with changes in society, culture and working life. From Hake’s analysis, it appears that éducation permanente was essentially a social arena characterised by problematic interactions between individual and collective interests in learning. In the second contribution, Karolina Muhrman and Per Andersson explore how, in the context of marketisation of public education, courses are decided on and organised, and students are selected in Swedish municipal adult education (MAE). The authors found that MAE courses are shaped by labour market imperatives rather than by learners’ needs and aspirations. Drawing on the theory of community of practice, in the third paper, Daniel Bladh analyses the organisation of party education in eights Swedish political parties. The author found that the three dimensions of a community of practice—joint enterprise, mutuality, and shared repertoire—were present in local party branches. The paper highlights the variety of learning opportunities offered by political parties through party education and members’ participation. The contribution, by Esen Altunay and Dilşad Bakır, considers the roles of adult education centres and Civil Society Organisations in Turkey operating in the fields of formal and non-formal adult education and offers an examination of the ideology and the function of civil society as a means of both restricting and legitimising state power. It does this through a consideration of the role the institutions involved play in the educational process, which the authors argue constitutes the cultural building block of power and underlines the importance of strong social dialogue and the vital importance of sharing policy-making and decision-making processes across communities at all levels and in urban and rural environments. Finally, the paper by Xue Wu looks at the development of community-based later lifelong learning in China, the importance of empowerment and the way in which older Chinese adults' rights in education need to be protected so that they can participate in later life learning. Five key recommendations are made that highlight the influence of politics, power, and participation in ensuring that later life learning can be sustained.

The purpose of this edition is to examine the themes of politics, power, and participation and to provide insight into the ways in which adult education practices and systems have contributed to social change and political transformation in contexts across the globe. The papers included in the present issue also illuminate the historically significant role of adult education in social and political organisation, participation, and empowerment, in transforming relations of power and knowledge, shifting away from ‘power [and knowledge] over’, towards ‘power [and knowledge] to’ that ‘can explore what is, or might be, possible through adult education’ (Finnegan and Grummell 2019, p. 1), whether this is through a particular adult education programme, policy or practice.

This edition will be complemented and extended by a special issue in autumn 2022 which focuses on community-based activism. Entitled “lived experience, learning, community activism and social change”, the special issue arises from the urgency expressed by many adult educator practitioners and theorists for the need to draw attention to the numerous sites of community activism, learning and social change that are currently taking place world-wide. While the relentless push of neoliberalism has struck at the heart of adult education provision in many countries, including that provided by universities, institutions of further education, international development agencies, NGOs, vocational training centres and the local government sector, the special issue seeks to examine what adult educators can learn and what is being learnt when we turn to sites of community activism. For example, Tett and Hamilton (2019, p. 253), drawing on Williams (1989) ‘resources of hope’, point to the importance of ‘… persisting with what may seem like mundane, everyday, acts of resistance that are based on seeing and seizing opportunities to do and say things differently’.