open to encourage innovave responses to entrenched challenges. UNESCO’s Instute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) and Instute for Stascs (UIS) triennial Global Report on Adult Learning and Educaon (GRALE) (UIL, 2016) occurs in tandem with Global Educaon Monitoring (GEM) reporng, both of which contribute to informing and forming internaonal acvity. GRALE is due to publish the latest global overview in 2016, idenfying major global trends and implicaons for educaonal provision.


Crical formave acvity includes internaonal agreements around the SDGs and the FFA generated by almost two hundred Member States’ educaonal representaves, academics and other educaon professionals. In November 2015 the UNESCO general conference adopted detailed recommendaons on adult learning and educaon, and other areas such as technical and vocaonal educaon and training (TVET). These documents give guidance to Member States on areas of acon to achieve stated aims and objecves across policy; governance; financing; parcipaon, inclusion and equity; quality; and internaonal co-­‐operaon. Literacy is recognised as the foundaon for lifelong learning; social equity is emphasised, parcularly gender equality; and stakeholder parcipaon, partnership and decentralisaon promote concepts of learning cies, towns and villages.


Capacity for comparave data collecon and evaluaon from the naonal level to local stands out as a significant area of development building on pre-­‐2015 work on Educaon for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals 2000-­‐2015 (Benavot and Stepanek Lockhart, 2016). These lie on internaonal variably-­‐defined concepts of ‘foundaonal’, ‘transferable, ‘vocaonal’ and ‘so’ skills. Provision globally is overwhelmingly non-­‐formal and consequently non-­‐standardised; and in the UK there is a renewed drive to develop integrated literacies through all forms and levels of provision (Furlong, 2016). These factors present challenges to large-­‐scale comparave evaluaon and associated policy and resourcing responses. There is a range of internaonal survey instruments, such as the OECD’s Programme for the Internaonal Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). However, the degree to which they may be applicable to lower income countries' capacity to quanfy their populaons' skills objecvely has been debated.


Flexibility of context and informed learner choice were idenfied as crical to adult learning, where this is seen as everyday learning; while adult educaon is framed as planned educaonal acvies. The necessity of mul-­‐path mul-­‐entry-­‐point educaonal provision which recognises prior learning from non-­‐formal and informal routes was emphasised repeatedly. Queries were raised regarding the balance between educaon and other development goals in funded acvity which mobilises communies drawing on themes of health and well-­‐being, community and society, as well as employment and labour market outcomes.


Within the incredible diversity of educaon experience present, two parcipants specialised in inter-­‐generaonal and community learning projects and we were fortunate to hear about their work. Others specialised in integrated iteracies and vocaonal learning provision.


• ‘Academy of Parents in Leadership’ at Naonal Louis University in the USA supports family learning environments in combinaon with community and leadership development and parents’ work skills. It runs for a session a week over ten to twelve weeks. This form of university-­‐hosted course, with academic-­‐led workshops accumulang college credits, was a major confidence boost and movator for parcipants, many of whom may not have completed school. All parcipants engage in a school and community project as part of the programme, such as creang a school PTO (parents and teachers organisaon). Parcipaon in the course has led to parents resuming or starng college, going back to aain more English skills, or become part of school-­‐led iniaves, such as the parent teacher organisaons (PTO) or bilingual parent associaons (BPAC).


• The Centre for Lifelong Learning, Makarere University, Uganda, presented on local NGO work which brings together ethno-­‐linguiscally diverse communies at rotang annual events to reinforce their informal literacies pracces and intergeneraonal learning. They argue that this support is crical to responding to the challenges facing current generaons (Ngaka, Graham, Masagazi Masaazi and Anyandru, 2015).


UNESCO’s Instute for Lifelong Learning database www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/ provides a collecon of arcles on effecve teaching and learning pracces in adult literacies.


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