UEA represented at Adult Education 100 'Next Steps' Conference held at City Lit November 26 2018
Adult Education 100 is a national initiative to re-examine the place of Adult Education (AE) in the UK, marking the Centenary of the Ministry of Reconstruction Report on Adult Education (1919). The conference was led by members of the AE 100 steering committee on behalf of the AE 100 Centenary Commission. The Centenary Commission will publish its report next November following the findings of a cluster of research groups including the UEA AE
100 group led by Professor Alan Rogers and Professor Anna Robinson-Pant from the School of Education and Lifelong Learning/UEA UNESCO Chair. The conference began by outlining the Ministry of Reconstruction Report on Adult Education 1919. The report was stimulated by the conditions in post war Britain in terms of the need to reward sacrifice and to support extended citizenship (8.4m women got the vote in 1918). Three aspirations in the report were highlighted: firstly, that adult education should not be preoccupied with vocationalism. Secondly, the enhancement of personal development and citizenship. Thirdly, that more attention should be given to the 'non-material aspects of life'. In the AE 100 'Next Steps' Conference, three main strands in contemporary AE provision were identified by the delegates: 'wellbeing', 'vocationalism' and 'social justice/inclusion'. Wellbeing was defined as activities that promoted physical and mental health e.g. 'therapeutic' projects or simply leisure activities.
Social justice/Inclusion applied to baseline education which assisted participation in the community from digital literacy and numeracy to the assistance of excluded minority ethnic communities. A key theme of the conference was the perceived need to 're-balance' adult education away from the current dominance of vocational training and towards wellbeing and social justice/inclusion. Also, that whilst it is true that there is a vast kaleidoscope of non-vocational activities being carried out across the UK, there is little overarching strategy and virtually no state funding as these are largely self-help activities. The impetus for AE 100 is also derived from technological and societal trends such as the proliferation of artificial Intelligence (AI) and the expected lifestyle consequences such as a four-day working week and a Universal wage for the growing long term unemployed (now being piloted in Finland).
UEA 100 are holding a Forum on Dec 11 in the University of East Anglia which will be an interactive event attended by a range of Adult Education providers from across the three main strands mentioned above. We look forward to an exciting and worthwhile Forum as part of the national AE 100 Centenary campaign.
Norman Brady, on behalf of the UEA Adult Education 100 Working Group