Network Governance in Adult Education

An International Comparison of Network-Focussed Political Strategies for the Provision of Adult Education in Italy, Nigeria and Germany

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25749/sis.25542

Keywords:

interorganisational networks, adult education, governance

Abstract

Network governance aims to create synergies between the competencies and resources of different institutional actors to deal with complex and interlinked problems. Interorganisational networks are capable of coordinating different products and services of their members, regulating the mutual recognition of qualifications, and rationalising work by sharing people and infrastructure. Network governance is thus a type of policy that takes the diversity of adult education as a starting point and ultimately harnesses it for efficient service delivery. Our critical reflection is based on the question as to what role network governance plays in the institutionalisation of adult education. We therefore analyse political documents (laws, policy documents, funding programmes, recommendations for action, and strategy papers) to compare three cases from Italy, Nigeria, and Germany, focussing on the goals of networks, the actors and stakeholders involved, and the realised forms of collaboration. Our findings show how closely network governance is linked to overarching political cultures and objectives.

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Author Biographies

Jörg Schwarz, Professorship for continuing education and lifelong learning, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Helmut Schmidt University - University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Germany

Researcher associate at the Chair of Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning at Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Germany. His research areas include adult education, organizational research and organizational education, time and temporality in ALE, professionalism in adult education, practice theory and field analysis, methodology in social sciences.

Jessica Kleinschmidt, Professorship for continuing education and lifelong learning, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Helmut Schmidt University - University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Germany

PhD student at the Professorship for continuing education and lifelong learning at Helmut Schmidt Unviersity/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg. Her expertise lies in occupational continuing education and learning in adulthood from a practical perspective.

Francesca Lasi, Department of Human Sciences, PhD School of Humanities, University of Verona, Italy

PhD student in Human Sciences at the University of Verona. Her research focuses on how adult education policies are enacted in schools. She is particularly interested in adult basic and secondary education policies and in second language education policies.

Fatima Ibrahim Muhammad, Faculty of Education, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria

Masters student with the Department of Adult Education and Community services of Bayero University Kano, Nigeria with Specialization in Community Development in the same institution. The first Degree was on Adult Education and Community Development. She participated in the Adult Education Academy 2021 with a certificate in International and comparative studies at the Adult and lifelong learning University of Wurzburg, Germany.

Success Ayodeji Fasanmi, Department of Educational Mangaement, Faculty of Education, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Faculty member in the Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Education at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria where he teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. His research area is higher educational administration with specific interest in management and administration of education at adult and intermediate levels, governance of higher education, internationalisation of higher education, graduate employability, political economy of higher education and policy processes in higher education. He has published different articles in the aforementioned areas in reputed journals at national and international levels and has different contributions to books to his credit.

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Published

2022-06-30