Final Report Summary - GLOBE-A (Globalisation and the Education of Adults)
GLOBE-A: Globalization and the Education of Adults
Marcella Milana, October 2015
This work was carried out under the auspices of Aarhus University, Denmark, and the University of California-Los Angeles, United States, where it received ethical approval by the Institutional Review Board (reference number: IRB#13-000554).
Dr Marcella Milana was funded through a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship under contract PIOF-GA-2011-297727; however, the work does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and in no way anticipates its future policy in this area.
This three-year multidisciplinary and comparative study examined the ways diverse actors influence and respond to transnational policy development in adult education, and their effects on state policies in three socio-economic and political systems representative of the North-South divide. Special consideration has been paid to Adult Basic and Secondary Education (i.e. the education of adults and out-of-school young people aged 16 or older up to completion of lower-secondary education by European standards). Two transnational organizations (i.e. the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO, and the European Union - EU) and four countries (i.e. Argentina, Brazil, Italy and the United States of America - USA) from three world regions (i.e. Europe, Latin America and Northern America) were the main foci of attention.
Our analysis shows the complexity of the relation between intergovernmental bodies active in the field of adult education, and their member states; relations that are stretched by multiple state affiliations and increased inter-institutional collaborations on issues perceived as being of common concern (e.g. ‘the literacy problem’, ‘the vocationalization of youth and adult education’, ‘the up-skilling of the active population, and of migrants’). Even if differently signified across geographical regions, cultural contexts and social groups, these issues have been magnified in the wake of the 2009 global economic crisis, which boosted also inter-institutional collaborations. In fact, in recent years state decisions to suspend or reduce their dues to intergovernmental bodies (e.g. the USA suspended its dues to the UNESCO in 2011; Spain dropped its voluntary quota to the Organization of Ibero-American States in 2013), proved detrimental for the work in support of adult education by single institutions. But the scarcity of economic resources has created a new scenario for mutually beneficial cross-institutional collaborations between intergovernmental bodies, and their member states, to pursue aims no longer achievable otherwise. Among the consequences is a slow blurring of boundaries between traditionally distinct policy fields (i.e. youth education, adult education, education for development) in more economically advanced regions of the world (i.e. Europe, Northern America).
Our data also indicates that international or regional non-governmental organizations, like the International Council for Adult Education, the European Association for the Education of Adults or DVV International, have increased their lobbying and direct involvement in transnational policy making, also thanks to recognition by and collaboration with intergovernmental bodies. For example, non-governmental organizations contribute significantly to global political mobilization that occurs through and via UNESCO; a political mobilization that happens via ideational processes such as the co-construction of a common past in adult education identifiable by diverse political actors; the transfer of values, ideas and information between individual and collective agents that facilitate envisioning a viable future for adult education; and the structuring of information and political intentions in an attempt to produce material changes at state level.
Multisite and multi-actor perspectives incorporated in this study helped to deepen knowledge about the materiality of the changes that complex relations between states, intergovernmental bodies and non-governmental organizations are (or are not) able to produce in terms of state policy. To get a better feel of the materiality of the perceptions of, influence on and reception of transnational policies in national and local contexts, we have studied nation-wide policy in adult education and its implementation at school level. This data shows that adult education is dependent on global trends just as much as on state characteristics, socio-economic conditions, and local politics and realities.
Specifically, systematic analysis of county-relevant data shows that policy developments at national level, and their effects on localized adult education practices, are equally dependent on exogenous as well as endogenous factors, although their specificities varies across countries. In Italy, for instance, exogenous factors include the global crisis, the tightening of fiscal and economic policies within the European Union, the launch of Europe-wide actions (i.e. Youth Guarantee), but also the negotiations related to the redistribution of resource via the European Social Funds, and which are not independent from cross-institutional agreements between the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Endogenous factors, however, point at relevant shifts in national attitudes towards the European Union and in national political and cultural debates, at the raising of unemployment rates especially among youngsters and increased immigration, besides internal re-distribution of powers, attempts by centralised powers to gain indirect control overall regional education systems, and acknowledgment of the third sector by national powers.
Still, when it comes to the perceptions of, influence on and reception of transnational policies, in the Americas a stubborn difference persists between Northern (i.e. USA) and Southern countries (i.e. Argentina, Brazil), as USA’s endogenous factors are most likely to affect global agendas, as visible, for instance, in the intensification of the use of benchmarking and statistical data for measuring and assessing states’ progress towards common objectives. This, in turn, in the field of adult education is empowering intergovernmental bodies with a better capacity to produce and disseminate this type of quantifiable knowledge (e.g. OECD).
Moreover, we observe a tendency in countries that have achieved mass schooling to utilize adult education as a response to public school failures (e.g. high drop-out rates, poor learning outcomes, inadequate response to ethnic and linguistic diversity of students), in contrast to utilizing adult education to increase access to public education, in line with more traditional state rationales. In short, our analysis points at a common trend in ‘illiteracy-free’ societies (i.e. countries with an overall literacy rate equal or above 95% percent of the total population). In these societies, and despite country-specific characteristics, public rationales in Adult Basic and Secondary Education have shifted subtantially. Once seen as a ‘second chance’ to first enter school later in life, now Adult Basic and Secondary Education is for the most a ‘school-recovery’ opportunity for the the younger generations. Differently put it, in the past this type of public provision was gathering primarily citizens that, for a number of socio-economic or cultural reasons, did not had access to primary and lower education as children or adolescences; at present it is attracting, if not explicitely targetting, younger citizens, who have attended school for a number of years but dropped out before completion, or do not have their educational achievements fully recognised, for example when migrating into a new country. This phenomenon is independent from state power and socio-economic conditions, as it was observed in Northern as well as Southern countries like the United States of America, Italy or Argentina; but not in Brazil, a society with persisting lower literacy rates, and with a limited access to primary and lower secondary schooling for at large section of its population. Nonetheless, we also observed a manifest North-South divide in that public interventions in adult education are still extraordinary measures in countries with persistent gaps in access to public education (i.e. Brazil), or schooling retention across sub-populations (i.e. Argentina), whereas they represent more systemic attempts to modify organizational and (to some extent) pedagogical praxis in countries concerned with the usability of education and training for job seeking and retention (i.e. USA, Italy).
Overall the work undertaken under GLOBE-A has enhanced understandings of the nature and scope of adult education under conditions of globalization and international cooperation, which result from existing relations between intergovernmental bodies, non-governmental organizations and states, and between global policy frameworks and local implementation; all of which points (explicit and implicit) at contemporary tensions between the needs of the knowledge economy, innovation, social cohesion and social justice.
Marcella Milana, October 2015
This work was carried out under the auspices of Aarhus University, Denmark, and the University of California-Los Angeles, United States, where it received ethical approval by the Institutional Review Board (reference number: IRB#13-000554).
Dr Marcella Milana was funded through a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship under contract PIOF-GA-2011-297727; however, the work does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and in no way anticipates its future policy in this area.
This three-year multidisciplinary and comparative study examined the ways diverse actors influence and respond to transnational policy development in adult education, and their effects on state policies in three socio-economic and political systems representative of the North-South divide. Special consideration has been paid to Adult Basic and Secondary Education (i.e. the education of adults and out-of-school young people aged 16 or older up to completion of lower-secondary education by European standards). Two transnational organizations (i.e. the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO, and the European Union - EU) and four countries (i.e. Argentina, Brazil, Italy and the United States of America - USA) from three world regions (i.e. Europe, Latin America and Northern America) were the main foci of attention.
Our analysis shows the complexity of the relation between intergovernmental bodies active in the field of adult education, and their member states; relations that are stretched by multiple state affiliations and increased inter-institutional collaborations on issues perceived as being of common concern (e.g. ‘the literacy problem’, ‘the vocationalization of youth and adult education’, ‘the up-skilling of the active population, and of migrants’). Even if differently signified across geographical regions, cultural contexts and social groups, these issues have been magnified in the wake of the 2009 global economic crisis, which boosted also inter-institutional collaborations. In fact, in recent years state decisions to suspend or reduce their dues to intergovernmental bodies (e.g. the USA suspended its dues to the UNESCO in 2011; Spain dropped its voluntary quota to the Organization of Ibero-American States in 2013), proved detrimental for the work in support of adult education by single institutions. But the scarcity of economic resources has created a new scenario for mutually beneficial cross-institutional collaborations between intergovernmental bodies, and their member states, to pursue aims no longer achievable otherwise. Among the consequences is a slow blurring of boundaries between traditionally distinct policy fields (i.e. youth education, adult education, education for development) in more economically advanced regions of the world (i.e. Europe, Northern America).
Our data also indicates that international or regional non-governmental organizations, like the International Council for Adult Education, the European Association for the Education of Adults or DVV International, have increased their lobbying and direct involvement in transnational policy making, also thanks to recognition by and collaboration with intergovernmental bodies. For example, non-governmental organizations contribute significantly to global political mobilization that occurs through and via UNESCO; a political mobilization that happens via ideational processes such as the co-construction of a common past in adult education identifiable by diverse political actors; the transfer of values, ideas and information between individual and collective agents that facilitate envisioning a viable future for adult education; and the structuring of information and political intentions in an attempt to produce material changes at state level.
Multisite and multi-actor perspectives incorporated in this study helped to deepen knowledge about the materiality of the changes that complex relations between states, intergovernmental bodies and non-governmental organizations are (or are not) able to produce in terms of state policy. To get a better feel of the materiality of the perceptions of, influence on and reception of transnational policies in national and local contexts, we have studied nation-wide policy in adult education and its implementation at school level. This data shows that adult education is dependent on global trends just as much as on state characteristics, socio-economic conditions, and local politics and realities.
Specifically, systematic analysis of county-relevant data shows that policy developments at national level, and their effects on localized adult education practices, are equally dependent on exogenous as well as endogenous factors, although their specificities varies across countries. In Italy, for instance, exogenous factors include the global crisis, the tightening of fiscal and economic policies within the European Union, the launch of Europe-wide actions (i.e. Youth Guarantee), but also the negotiations related to the redistribution of resource via the European Social Funds, and which are not independent from cross-institutional agreements between the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Endogenous factors, however, point at relevant shifts in national attitudes towards the European Union and in national political and cultural debates, at the raising of unemployment rates especially among youngsters and increased immigration, besides internal re-distribution of powers, attempts by centralised powers to gain indirect control overall regional education systems, and acknowledgment of the third sector by national powers.
Still, when it comes to the perceptions of, influence on and reception of transnational policies, in the Americas a stubborn difference persists between Northern (i.e. USA) and Southern countries (i.e. Argentina, Brazil), as USA’s endogenous factors are most likely to affect global agendas, as visible, for instance, in the intensification of the use of benchmarking and statistical data for measuring and assessing states’ progress towards common objectives. This, in turn, in the field of adult education is empowering intergovernmental bodies with a better capacity to produce and disseminate this type of quantifiable knowledge (e.g. OECD).
Moreover, we observe a tendency in countries that have achieved mass schooling to utilize adult education as a response to public school failures (e.g. high drop-out rates, poor learning outcomes, inadequate response to ethnic and linguistic diversity of students), in contrast to utilizing adult education to increase access to public education, in line with more traditional state rationales. In short, our analysis points at a common trend in ‘illiteracy-free’ societies (i.e. countries with an overall literacy rate equal or above 95% percent of the total population). In these societies, and despite country-specific characteristics, public rationales in Adult Basic and Secondary Education have shifted subtantially. Once seen as a ‘second chance’ to first enter school later in life, now Adult Basic and Secondary Education is for the most a ‘school-recovery’ opportunity for the the younger generations. Differently put it, in the past this type of public provision was gathering primarily citizens that, for a number of socio-economic or cultural reasons, did not had access to primary and lower education as children or adolescences; at present it is attracting, if not explicitely targetting, younger citizens, who have attended school for a number of years but dropped out before completion, or do not have their educational achievements fully recognised, for example when migrating into a new country. This phenomenon is independent from state power and socio-economic conditions, as it was observed in Northern as well as Southern countries like the United States of America, Italy or Argentina; but not in Brazil, a society with persisting lower literacy rates, and with a limited access to primary and lower secondary schooling for at large section of its population. Nonetheless, we also observed a manifest North-South divide in that public interventions in adult education are still extraordinary measures in countries with persistent gaps in access to public education (i.e. Brazil), or schooling retention across sub-populations (i.e. Argentina), whereas they represent more systemic attempts to modify organizational and (to some extent) pedagogical praxis in countries concerned with the usability of education and training for job seeking and retention (i.e. USA, Italy).
Overall the work undertaken under GLOBE-A has enhanced understandings of the nature and scope of adult education under conditions of globalization and international cooperation, which result from existing relations between intergovernmental bodies, non-governmental organizations and states, and between global policy frameworks and local implementation; all of which points (explicit and implicit) at contemporary tensions between the needs of the knowledge economy, innovation, social cohesion and social justice.