UNESCO’s Global Reports on Adult Learning and Education

Conceptual Elements and Political Priorities in Nigeria, Russia, and Slovenia

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25749/sis.25583

Keywords:

adult learning and education policy, conceptual elements, political priorities, GRALE, UNESCO

Abstract

Since 2009, UNESCO has published Global Reports on Adult Learning and Education (GRALEs), integrating an analysis of member-states' reported national data, policies and best practices. These reports focus on five action areas adopted in the Belém Framework for Action (policy, governance, financing, participation and quality), constructing adult learning and education as a policy object on a global level and strengthening UNESCO’s role in the field of adult learning and education policy, particularly in terms of conceptualisation and in setting political priorities. Using the policy analysis framework by Lima and Guimarães (2011), this paper analyses the conceptual elements and political priorities of the four GRALEs and the latest national reports of Nigeria, Russia and Slovenia. Main findings indicate a discrepancy between conceptual elements and political priorities at both global and national levels, where GRALEs are observed to be closer to the democratic-emancipatory approach and national reports to the modernisation and state control approach.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Tadej Košmerl, Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

PhD student and Teaching Assistant at the Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). His research interests include adult education for sustainable development, adult learning and education policy, and comparative education.

Maxim Miroshnikov, Institute of Education, HSE University, Moscow, Russia

Independent researcher. His research interests include adult education, adult education systems and policies.

Abayomi Simeon Aderibigbe, Department of Educational Foundations and Counselling, Faculty of Education, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria

PhD student at the Department of Educational Foundations and Counselling at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun state, Nigeria. His research interest is in the field of educational tests and measurement, and comparative analysis of adult education policies.

Paula Guimarães, UIDEF, Instituto de Educação, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Assistant professor at the Instituto de Educação, Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal) where she teaches subjects on adult education and adult education policies. She has developed several research projects on adult education as well as adult education policies in Portugal and in other regions of the world as well as the ones formulated by international governmental organisations such as UNESCO, OECD and the European Union. She has published scientific articles, chapters and books on the same issues, among others.

References

Ball, S. J. (2006). Education policy and social class. The selected works of Stephen J. Ball. London/New York: Routledge.

Boeren, E. (2014). Evidence-based policy-making: The usability of the Eurostat Adult Education Survey. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 33(3), 275-289. doi: 10.1080/02601370.2014.891887

Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27-40. doi: 10.3316/QRJ0902027

Desjardins, R. (2014). Participation in adult education opportunities: Evidence from PIAAC and policy trends in selected countries [Background paper for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2015]. Retrieved from: https://escholarship.org/content/qt1k1203tn/qt1k1203tn.pdf

Diem, S., Young, M. D., Welton, A. D., Cumings, Mansfield, K., & Lee, P.-L. (2014). The intellectual landscape of critical policy analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 27(9), 1068-1090, doi: 10.1080/09518398.2014.916007

Elfert, M. (2013). Six decades of educational multilateralism in a globalising world: The history of the UNESCO Institute in Hamburg. International Review of Education, 59, 263-287. doi: 10.1007/s11159-013-9361-5

Elfert, M. (2015). UNESCO, the Faure report, the Delors report, and the political utopia of lifelong learning. European Journal of Education, 50(1), 88-100. doi: 10.1111/ejed.12104

Field, J. (2018). Comparative issues and perspectives in adult education and training. In B. Bartman (Ed.), International and comparative education: contemporary issues and debates (pp. 100-112). Abingdon: Routledge.

Gorur, R. (2017). Towards productive critique of large-scale comparisons in education. Critical Studies in Education, 58(3), 341-355. doi: 10.1080/17508487.2017.1327876

Grek, S. (2013). Expert moves: International comparative testing and the rise of expertocracy. Journal of Education Policy, 28(5), 695-709. doi: 10.1080/02680939.2012.758825

Grotlüschen, A., & Buddeberg, K. (2020). PIAAC and the south – is southering the new othering? Global expansion of dominant discourses on adult literacy. RELA - European journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, 11(2), 167-181. doi: 10.3384/rela.2000-7426.rela9214

Grotlüschen, A., Thériault, V., Nienkemper, B., & Capstick, T. (2019). Critical viewpoints on adult literacy practices at the time of PIAAC. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 38(4), 361-365. doi: 10.1080/02601370.2019.1614105

Gustafsson, J.-E. (2018). International large scale assessments: Current status and ways forward. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 62(3), 328-332. doi: 10.1080/00313831.2018.1443573

Hsieh, H.-F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277-1288. doi: 10.1177/1049732305276687

Jakobi, A. P. (2009). International organizations and lifelong learning: From global agendas to policy diffusion. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9780230245679

Johansson, S. (2016). International large-scale assessments: What uses, what consequences? Educational Research, 58(2), 139-148. doi: 10.1080/00131881.2016.1165559

Košmerl, T., & Mikulec, B. (2021). ‘You have to run it like a company’: The marketisation of adult learning and education in Germany and Slovenia. European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, 12(1), 47-63. doi: 10.3384/rela.2000-7426.ojs3466

Lima, L. C., & Guimarães, P. (2011). European strategies in lifelong learning: a critical introduction. Farmington Hills: Barbara Budrich.

Mikulec, B., & Jelenc Krašovec, S. (2016). Marketising Slovene adult education policies and practices using mechanisms of the Europeanisation of education. European journal for research on the education and learning of adults, 7(2), 151-170. doi: 10.3384/rela.2000-7426.rela9081

Milana, M. (2017). Global networks, local actions: Rethinking adult education policy in the 21st century. New York: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315676630

Németh, B. (2013, November 21). The consequences of the UNESCO UIL GRALE2 report for adult learning and education in countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Conference presentation Tudományos tanácskozás a Magyar Tudomány Ünnepe alkalmából. Pécs, Hungary (unpublished document).

Németh, B. (2015). Lifelong learning for all adults? A new concept for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – Limits and opportunities for a changing intergovernmental organization. In M. Milana & T. Nesbit (Eds.), Global perspectives on adult education and learning policy (pp. 165-178). Hampshire & New York: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137388254_12

Németh, B. (2016). Critical overview of the roles of international organisations in the development of adult learning and education. In M. Slowey (Ed.), Comparative adult education and learning (pp. 117-139). Firenze: Firenze University Press.

Popović, K. (2010). Methodological aspects of surveys on participation in adult education and learning. Andragoške studije, 1, 35-46.

Rubenson, K. (2019). Assessing the status of lifelong learning: Issues with composite indexes and surveys on participation. International Review of Education, 65, 295-317. doi: 10.1007/s11159-019-09768-3

Schemmann, M., Herbrechter, D., & Engels, M. (2020). Researching the political economy of adult learning systems: Theoretical amendments and empirical findings. Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung, 43, 259-273.

Singh, S. (2020). International large-scale assessments, the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning (GAML) and adult education systems. Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung, 43, 275-289. doi: 10.1007/s40955-020-00161-4

Singh, S., & Ehlers, S. (2020). Employability as a global norm: Comparing transnational employability policies of OECD, ILO, World Bank Group and UNESCO. In V. Boffo, R. Egetenmeyer & S. Kröner (Eds.), International comparative studies in adult and continuing education (pp. 131-147). Florence: Florence University Press. doi: 10.36253/978-88-5518-155-6.09

Torres, C. A. (2011). Dancing on the deck of the Titanic? Adult education, the nation-state and new social movements. International Review of Education, 57, 39-55. doi: 10.1007/s11159-011-9193-0

Tsatsaroni, A., & Evans, J. (2014). Adult numeracy and the totally pedagogised society: PIAAC and other international surveys in the context of global educational policy on lifelong learning. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 87, 167-186. doi: 10.1007/s10649-013-9470-x

UIL. (2009). Global Report on Adult Learning and Education. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.

UIL. (2010a). CONFINTEA VI: Belém Framework for Action. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.

UIL. (2010b). CONFINTEA VI: Sixth International Conference on Adult Education: Final report. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.

UIL. (2013). Second Global Report on Adult Learning and Education: rethinking literacy. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.

UIL. (2015a). Monitoring survey results for Nigeria. Retrieved from: https://uil.unesco.org/adult-education/global-report/national-reports

UIL. (2015b). Monitoring survey results for Russian Federation. Retrieved from: https://uil.unesco.org/i/doc/adult-education/grale-3/national-reports/russian-federation.pdf

UIL. (2015c). Monitoring survey results for Slovenia. Retrieved from: https://uil.unesco.org/i/doc/adult-education/grale-3/national-reports/slovenia.pdf

UIL. (2016). Third Global Report on Adult Learning and Education: the impact of adult learning and education on health and well-being; employment and the labour market; and social, civic and community life. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.

UIL. (2019). Fourth Global Report on Adult Learning and Education. Leave no one behind: participation, equity and inclusion. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.

UNESCO & UIL. (2016). Recommendation on Adult Learning and Education. Paris: UNESCO / UIL.

Walters, S., & von Kotze, A. (2019). “If you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist”? Popular education in the shadows of global reporting on adult learning and education. Studies in the Education of Adults, 51(1), 3-14. doi: 10.1080/02660830.2018.1522052

Walters, S., & Watters, K. (2017). Reflecting on the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education in the “Post-Truth Society”. Adult Education Quarterly, 67(3), 228-237. doi: 10.1177/0741713617700675

Downloads

Published

2022-10-31