It’s simply not possible to have adult education without active citizenship. It may not be a very fashionable statement, and there are some who would call it aspirational, but for many of us who have worked in adult education for years, the two are inextricably linked.
It’s about much more than the “additional” enrichment activities that are the first to be cut when funding is short. It’s a belief rooted in the values of social justice and a vision of greater equality and a fairer, better world. This is about the essence of a functioning participative democratic society.
As Raymond Williams stated in 1983: “In times of change, people turn to learning in order to understand what is going on, to adapt to it and to shape the change.” This year is the centenary of a celebrated report on adult education produced by the Ministry of Reconstruction in 1919. In it, RH Tawny argued that adult education is “a permanent national necessity, an inseparable aspect of citizenship, and therefore should be both universal and lifelong”.
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This set a clear vision and for many decades, adult education was seen as invested with a “social purpose”. We know that the history of many of the social transformative movements both in the UK, Europe and further afield in the 20th century were intrinsically linked with and within adult education. Community education, informal and non-formal education, liberal education and radical education have always been part of the rich tapestry of adult education.
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Adult education and a functioning civil society go hand in hand. Austerity has changed that completely.
Many adults talk about the increase in their self-confidence and self-esteem, of transforming both themselves and their understanding of the world as a result of engaging in lifelong learning. At its full potential adult education can offer self-empowerment: supporting the development of the knowledge, skills, confidence and experience to tackle personal, local and maybe even global challenges.
The engagement of young people in active citizenship and civil society is hugely important but we mustn’t forget or write off adults who at any stage of their lives can find adult education and develop an ambition to improve themselves and society.
This is not a deficit model either, there is much to be gained by all adults at all points of their lives participating in collective and collaborative lifelong learning.
As education writer and editor Paul Stanistreet writes in his most recent blog: “The challenges of the future require an education system that fosters hope and creativity, thoughtfulness, democratic citizenship and a willingness to learn throughout life.” It’s time to change the conversation. The purpose of compulsory, post-compulsory, further and higher education could and should be about developing individuals as lifelong learners.
Funding, of course, is an issue. The opportunities for adults have been severely cut. But more fundamentally, it’s about recovering and reconnecting to the social purpose of adult education and reimagining what it could be.
Mel Lenehan is the principal and CEO of Fircroft College of Adult Education, Birmingham.
