CONFINTEA VI

What is CONFINTEA?

The International Adult Education Conference (CONFINTEA) is the most important event, at international level, in this field of education. Its first edition was held in Denmark, in 1949 and its sixth edition will take place, for the first time, in a South American country: Brazil.

These International Adult Education Conferences (CONFINTEA) give priority to the involvement of government actors, but civil society organizations try to exert influence on the elaboration of national documents presented by the different countries as well as on the discussions that take place during the conference, with the purpose of doing advocacy on the final document and the commitments of governments.

CONFINTEA objectives

CONFINTEA VI will take place from December 1st to 4th, 2009 in Belém do Pará, Brazil, and it constitutes an international event with the aim of reducing discrepancies in terms of systematic and effective policies for Youth and Adult Education. It seeks to articulate Youth and Adult Education and Learning with the main international agreements on education and development: the  Education for All goals (EFA), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), The United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD), the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) and the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD).

As a result, the idea is to create tools (for eg: benchmarks) to ensure that previously assumed commitments and future ones, on Youth and Adult Education, are implemented.

The following are CONFINTEA VI objecives:

• To promote the recognition of Youth and Adult Education as a human right, as an important element and factor that contributes to lifelong learning, where literacy is the foundation;
• To highlight the essential role of youth and adult learning and education to achieve the current agendas and programs of education and development (EFA, MDGs, UNLD, LIFE and DESD); and
• To gather momentum, renew political commitments and develop implementation tools in order to move from rhetoric to action.

CONFINTEA historical background

CONFINTEA I

The first International Adult Education Conference took place in 1949, in Elsinore, Denmark, after the war, in a context where peace-oriented decisions were taken. 106 delegates gathered, 21 international organizations and 27 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Holland, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, United States. Brazil did not participate in this first edition,  although it did participate in the  Campaign, in Beirut, in 1948 and hosted the Inter-American Seminar in 1949. Four delegate committees recommended:

• the contents of Youth and Adult Education have to adapt to the specific features and functionalities of youth and adults;
• it has to be an open education, without conditionalities;
• the problems of institutions and organizations regarding the provision of this education have to be discussed;
• methods, techniques and permanent assistance have to be found out;
• Youth and Adults Education has to be developed based on a spirit of tolerance and has to bring peoples (not only governments) together; and
• it has to take into account the living conditions of peoples in order to create contexts of peace and understanding.

The delegates agreed on the continuity of the conference considering the urgent need for Youth and Adult Education around the world.

CONFINTEA II

The second CONFINTEA took place in 1960 in Montreal, Canada.  Under the premise of a changing world, with an accelerated economic growth and intense discussion about the role of the state in Youth and Adult Education, 47 member States of UNESCO, 2 States as observers, 2 associate States and 46 NGOs gathered in this conference.

Each member state prepared a national report based on the following points: 1. Nature, purpose and content of Youth and Adult Education 2. Citizenship education (<i>in Civics</i>), 3. Leisure and cultural activities; 4. Museums and libraries, 5. Universities, 6. Responsibility with Youth and Adult Education 7. Urbanization 8. Women's education.

The main outcome of this second conference was the consolidation of the Declaration of the World Youth and Adult Education Conference that included a debate on population growth, new technologies, industrialization, challenges of new generations and learning as worldwide task where the richest countries should cooperate with the least developed ones.

CONFINTEA III

In 1972, in the city of Tokyo, Japan, the third edition of CONFINTEA gathered 82 member States, 3 as observers (including Cuba), 3 United Nations organizations, 37 international organizations. This conference dealt with the issues of Adult Education and Literacy, Media and Culture, reinforcing the premise that lifelong learning is an essential component of Youth and Adult Education and that it would be important to make efforts to strengthen democracy and prepare to confront, at global level, the challenge of decreasing illiteracy rates. Considering the fact that it was found that school does not ensure an integral education, the concept of education systems is broadened so as to include the categories of school and out-of-school learning, involving students of all ages. The final report concluded that Youth and Adult Education is a crucial factor in the process of democratization and in the educational, economic, social and cultural development of nations, being the lifelong learning perspective an integral part of the education system.

CONFINTEA IV

Under the theme "Learning is the key to the world", in 1985, 841 participants from 112 member States, UN agencies and NGOs gathered in Paris, France. This conference highlighted the importance of recognizing the right to learn as the most important challenge for humankind. In the understanding of the right to learn as the right to read and write, to question and analyze, to imagine and create, to read the world and write the story, to have access to education resources and develop collective and individual capacities, the conference focused on  government failure to fulfill the right of thousands of people to go to school through adequate and quality proposals. At the same time, the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) creates, simultaneous to the Conference, a Caucus formed by NGOs and progressive governments that gathered to formalize the support to the Declaration on the right to learn. The governments of China, Canada, Nordic countries, India and the Arab League supported this action.

CONFINTEA V

This conference was held in 1997 in Hamburg, Germany, in a context of continuity of other ongoing international conferences. This conference is part of the history of Youth and Adult Education, in a unique way, because it set in motion an intense worldwide preparatory process. It starts with a broad preparatory process of consultations (Ireland, 2000:15) conducted in the five major world regions considered by UNESCO, plus a Collective NGO Consultation where the reports for the International Conference were consolidated.

Under the theme of Youth and Adult Learning as a tool, a right, a pleasure and a responsibility, the event was attended by over 170 States, 500 NGOs and around 1300 participants. It was a conference where mobilization crossed thematic and action borders: through the leadership of ICAE and alliances with progressive governments, there was an intense mobilization of NGOs and the women's movement (Popular Education Network of Women from Latin America and the Caribbean, REPEM) and the Gender and Education Office (GEO/ ICAE), even though they did not have voting rights.

CONFINTEA +VI

In 2003 the Member States of UNESCO were requested to review the commitments on Youth and Adult Education, signed in the 1997 Conference. A mid-term Review of CONFINTEA V was held in Bangkok, influenced by the spirit of World Social Forum. This meeting was a call for accountability of member states in order to implement the Hamburg Agenda and CONFINTEA VI in 2009. At this meeting the need to create advocacy instruments for Youth and Adult Education was also stressed at local and global levels, in spaces within and outside UNESCO. At this meeting the participation of NGOs was very organized and, unlike other years, member states did not send  high-profile delegations.

Bibliography

IRELAND, T. D. Desafios e perspectivas para a América Latina. Apresentação. http://www.mec.es/educa/rieja/.

SOARES, L. e RODRIGUES SILVA, F. Educação de Jovens e Adultos: preparando a VI CONFINTEA e pensando o Brasil. http://www.reveja.com.br/revista/2/artigos/REVEJ@_2_Leo_Fernanda.htm

 

Activities

CONFINTEA VI intends to be an inter-governmental meeting, category II, organized by UNESCO, based on the agreements between UN agencies, international development partners, civil society, research institutions, private sector as well as learners and professors. Their main actions are the organization of:

UNESCO DATA (UIL)

• National reports on the state of the art of adult learning and education at country level, which will be prepared by UNESCO Member States under the leadership of the UNESCO National Commissions on the basis of questionnaires and selected indicators; and

• Regional preparatory meetings, which will assess the overall regional state of the art of and the challenges for adult learning and education. These meetings will be prepared and organized in cooperation with the respective UNESCO Regional Bureau and hosted by a UNESCO Member State in 2008.

• Thematic consultation and reviews (coordinated as well as independent), including links with other trans-national or national adult education conferences/events, as well as virtual consultations carried out by UIL or under the leadership of a partner organization; and

• The collection of research-based evidence on the benefits and importance of adult learning and education, including:

- selected cases of successful/effective adult learning and education practice,

- commissioned studies (e.g. by UN agencies and other organizations/actors) to help understand barriers and to highlight options in adult learning and education,

- commissioned studies summarizing and disseminating already existing research results in the field of adult learning and education to practitioners and policymakers,

- stories and voices of adult learners and out-of-school youth, and their participation in the consultation as well as in the analysis, and

- the preparation of a Global Adult Education Report.

A critical element in the preparatory and follow-up strategy will be the development of benchmarks on adult learning and education in order to provide the tools to measure progress and to ensure implementation. The benchmarks will serve as input for CONFINTEA VI and will be further discussed, refined and adopted during the conference, and constitute one of its crucial outputs.

A communication and advocacy strategy will complement the preparatory process.

To support UIL in coordinating the preparatory process, a Consultative Group has been set up, which is functioning as the key conceptual unit and advisory committee.

The Consultative Group includes approximately 10-15 persons with an education expert profile, reflecting an institutional, geographic and gender balance. Their members represent UNESCO Member States, UN Agencies, development agencies, intergovernmental bodies, international or regional non-governmental organizations and academicians, the CONFINTEA VI host country and UNESCO (Headquarters, Regional Bureaus and UIL).

Expected outcomes

In pursuance of the above objectives to advance the recognition as well as the horizontal and vertical integration of adult learning and education and the shift from rhetoric to action, CONFINTEA VI will aim at accomplishing the following results and products:

• advocacy, political momentum and commitment for adult learning and education within and across countries;
• synergies with the EFA, UNLD, LIFE, DESD agendas and the MDGs at national and international levels;
• links and interfaces with other areas (e.g. health, agriculture);
• increased national and international cooperation (between governments and civil society, bi-lateral organizations and UN agencies);
• the development and application of new national and international financing possibilities (e.g. commitment of international development organizations and south-south cooperation);
• improved professional growth and quality in adult education;
• enhanced empowerment of all actors (policy makers, professionals/practitioners, researchers, and the private sector, and adult and out-of-school learners);
• internationally applicable/adaptable tools (e.g. benchmarks) to measure progress and to ensure implementation; and
• the adoption of a final conference document (e.g. "framework for action") which includes these tools.

 

About GRALE

WHAT IS GRALE?

GRALE is the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education that will be prepared in the preparatory process towards CONFINTEA VI, as a global report on adult education.

During the first meeting of the Consultative Group for CONFINTEA VI, in March 2007, the creation of a document under UIL's supervision was recommended. UIL is the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany and is responsible for the coordination of the CONFINTEA VI process.

GRALE is intended to be a reference and advocacy document where the Executive Sumary is a significant part of the text to be presented during the conference. As a reference document, GRALE is expected to show the key trends and issues in ALE, and, as an advocacy tool, it is expected to promote the importance of ALE and show effective practices.

By bringing together the perspectives of government, civil society, academe, research institutions and multilateral agencies, GRALE is expected to reflect the wide coverage and diverse ways ALE is understood and implemented. GRALE will be developed on the basis of the three main sources:

1. National CONFINTEA VI Reports and Regional Synthesis Reports;

2. Reviews and analyses of existing studies, research findings and documents

(secondary literature); and

3. Published reports and ongoing initiatives or programmes of bilateral and

multilateral agencies.

 

PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY OF GRALE:

UNESCO Member States have been requested to prepare national reports on the status and development of adult learning and education in their countries. These National CONFINTEA VI Reports will be synthesized in the form of Regional Reports, and presented in the respective Regional CONFINTEA VI Preparatory Conferences for discussion and validation.  The Regional Reports highlight the salient points of the submitted national reports as well as of existing secondary literature and regional initiatives and programmes. The information culled from the national reports and the Regional Reports will constitute the primary data for GRALE. It is worth mentioning that the purpose of GRALE is not to be a synthesis of the regional reports, but an assessment of positive and negative actions, without mentioning the names of the countries in the negative cases.

 

STRUCTURE OF GRALE:

As a reference document and an advocacy tool, GRALE consists of two main parts:

1) Context and Rationale: The first part illuminates the importance of ALE and highlights issues and challenges which ALE is currently facing.

2) Dimensions for Action in ALE: The second part describes the status of ALE focusing on the areas of equity, quality, provision, resources and governance. This part will also cover the key obstacles of the current ALE situation. The Report will conclude with key recommendations for the improvement of ALE.

Concretely, the structure of GRALE is as follows:

Key messages

Reasons why

Recommendations

 

Executive summary

Part I: Context and rationale

1 Today's case for ALE

1.1 Framing context: global development and change - continuing and new

challenges

1.2 ALE in the global policy agenda (related to MDG, EFA etc.)

1.3 ALE from CONFINTEA I to V: achievements

1.4 CONFINTEA VI: future agenda

2 Rationale: why ALE?

2.1 Literacy, knowledge/skills, personal development, community action

2.2 Active participation, active citizenship, active learning throughout life in polity,

economy, culture and society

2.3 Macro-transformation towards knowledge societies, information society and

economies repositions/re-contextualizes human development and global

sustainability agendas

3. Challenging issues for ALE

3.1. Meeting emerging global challenges through ALE

- Poverty

- Environment

- Well-being

- Demography

3.2 Working towards greater personal, social and regional equities through ALE

- Gender, race and class

- Migration and mobility

- Globalization (cultural and economic)

3.3 Fostering democracy, communities, societies and human rights through ALE

- Democratic and humanitarian values and actions

Part II Dimensions for action in ALE

4 Equity: access and participation, relevance and appropriateness

4.1 Current features

4.2 Key problems and constraints, including bad examples of practice

4.3 Ways forward and action options, including good examples of practice

5 Quality: motivation, benefits, outcomes and standards

5.1 Current features

5.2 Key problems and constraints, including bad examples of practice

5.3 Ways forward and action options, including good examples of practice

6 Provision: learning continuum infrastructures and diversity

6.1 Current features

6.2 Key problems and constraints, including bad examples of practice

6.3 Ways forward and action options, including good examples of practice

 

7 Resources: human, financial and technical

7.1 Current features

7.2 Key problems and constraints, including bad examples of practice

7.3 Ways forward and action options, including good examples of practice

 

8 Governance: roles and responsibilities, accountabilities, participatory

mechanisms and international action

8.1 Current features

8.2 Key problems and constraints, including bad examples of practice

8.3 Ways forward and action options, including good examples of practice

Statistical Annex

Bibliography

Editorial Team

In coordination with UIL, a team of lead editors will supervise the process of producing

GRALE. This task will involve steering the production of the Regional Reports and the following GRALE chapters: Key messages; Reasons why;  Recommendations and the Executive Summary. Apart from producing the Regional Reports, the Regional Report writers will present the Report at the respective CONFINTEA VI Regional Preparatory Conferences, and will  subsequently incorporate the main results and recommendations to produce the consolidated final version.

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) will support the production of GRALE with available quantitative data. UIL, apart from coordinating with the editorial team, will support all writers with regard to collecting and reviewing secondary literature, as well as by providing electronic copies of the CONFINTEA VI National Reports and all related documents.  The Executive Summary of GRALE will be translated into 6 languages, to use it mainly during the conference. The general documet, of 200 pages will be available only in english for the Belem meeting.

The GRALE editorial team is composed of:

Africa: John Aitchison, formerly University of KwaZulu Natal, now independent

consultant (South Africa) and Hassana Alidou, University of San Diego (Niger)

Arab States: Abdelwahid Yousif, Adviser to the Minister of Education (The

Kingdom of Bahrain)

Asia/Pacific: Manzoor Ahmed, BRAC University (Bangladesh)

Europe/North America: Helen Keogh, Ministry of Labour (Ireland)

Latin America and Caribbean: Rosa Maria Torres, independent consultant

(Ecuador)

GRALE Chapter Writers:

Chapter 1. Today's case for ALE

Carlos Torres University of California, Los Angeles (Argentina)

Chapter 2. Rationale: why ALE?

Carlos Torres University of California, Los Angeles (Argentina)

Chapter 3. Challenging issues for ALE

Carlos Torres University of California, Los Angeles (Argentina)

Chapter 4. Equity: acess to participation, importance and suitability

Richard Desjardins Aarhus University (Canada)

Chapter 5. Quality: motivation, benefits, results and criteria

Absent consultant

Chapter 6. Provision: lifelong learning infrastructures and diversity

Soonghee Han, Seoul National University (Republic of Korea)

Chapter 7. Human, financial and technical resources

Richard Desjardins Aarhus University (Canada)

Chapter 8. Governance: roles and responsibilities, accountability, participatory mechanisms and international action.

Soonghee Han, Seoul National University (Republic of Korea)

 

Lead Editors:

Lynne Chisholm, University of Innsbruck (Europe)

Abrar Hasan, formerly OECD, now independent consultant (Canada)

Peer reviewers:

Ekkehard Nuissl, German Institute for Adult Education (Germany)

GRALE AGENDA

The GRALE agenda is aligned to the preparatory process of CONFINTEA VI:

2008
February	1st GRALE Workshop (Hamburg, 20 - 22)
April
May	Preparation of the synthesis of regional reports Submission of Abstracts Organization of national reports
June	Preparation of regional synthesis
July	Preparation of regional synthesis
August	Preparation of chapters Completion of draft regional synthesis
September	Regional Preparatory Meeting of CONFINTEA VI back to back with the Youth and Adult Meeting of Latin America and the Caribbean (México, 10 to 13) Consolidation of the Latin American Regional Report Draft chapters and annexes
October	Regional Preparatory Meeting of CONFINTEA VI - Asia/Pacific (South Korea, from 30/09 to 02/10) Consolidation of the Asian Regional Report. Presentation of the first draft of GRALE and the regional synthesis (on 24th)
November	Regional Preparatory Meeting of CONFINTEA VI - África (Kenya, 10 to 13) Consolidation of the African Regional Report. Revision of chapters (on 28th)
December	Regional Preparatory Meeting of CONFINTEA VI - Europe (Hungary, 3 to 5) Consolidation of the European Regional Report

2009
January	Regional Preparatory Meeting of CONFINTEA VI - Arab States (Tunisia) Consolidation of the Arab Regional Report Final edition and introduction section (on 30th)
February	Presentation of GRALE 2nd draft Consolidation of GRALE Presentation (on 13th) 4th meeting of the Consultative Group (end of the month) GRALE presentation to be revised and edited
March	Presentation of GRALE final version in english
April	Translation of GRALE into french, spanish and portuguese. Document is printed
May	GRALE is ready CONFINTEA VI (Brazil, 19 to 22)

 

For further information, please visit the CONFINTEA VI website:
http://www.unesco.org/en/confinteavi