Lifelong Learning in the South

Critical Issues and Opportunities for Adult Education

By: Torres RM
Produced by: Choike, 2004

This paper argues that the learning needs of adults continue to be sidelined or ignored in recent international development initiatives and education policy recommendations for the South, including Education for All and the Millennium Goals. The paper therefore sets out to illustrate the need and opportunities for governments, national societies and the international donor community to re-frame this gap and to re-orient education and learning towards social transformation and human development.

The study provides an overview and a critical analysis of current international education initiatives, and gives an alternative and innovative perspective on education by stressing learning in all its forms and for all ages. It introduces Adult Basic Learning and Education (ABLE), as different from Adult Basic Education (ABE), to stress the importance of learning both within and beyond educational provision. The study stresses the importance to look beyond the sector and create local learning societies. The study also shows, and criticises, the different criteria and agendas there are for the poor and for the rich world. Some specific findings of the study include:

• The continued reduction of adult basic education, and even adult education in general, to literacy, and continued narrow perceptions of literacy as a simple, elementary skill
• There are discrepancies in declarations and commitments by international agencies, and major gaps between rhetoric and practice
• There are regional imbalances, a focus on Africa, and extrapolation of findings to other regions; there is new information but little new knowledge or innovation
• Low quality of research is an issue both in the South and in the North.