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NIACE's International Work
NIACE believes that the interests of adult learners in England and Wales are advanced through co-operation and learning from best practice internationally.
 | UK |
| Europe |
| Worldwide |
| International Adult Learners' Week |
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United Kingdom
Closest to home, we maintain strong working links with our sister organisations in the UK: Scottish Adult Learning Partnership, and the Northern Ireland Adult Education Association, and we are an active member of the UK Forum for the Education of Adults (UKFEA).
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Europe
Within the European Union, NIACE is actively engaged at policy and operational levels with the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Committee of the Regions.
It maintains direct links with a wide range of adult education and training bodies in countries throughout Europe and beyond. NIACE, as a leading UK non-governmental organisation, represents adult educators at European and Worldwide conferences and events. It seeks to market its own publications and conferences internationally.
| NIACE is an active member of The European Association for the Education of Adults, and maintains strong working relationships with The Euro-WEA and The Council of Europe. We are also part of the Consortium of European Research and Development Institutes for Adult Education (ERDI). In addition, NIACE supports the journal Lifelong Learning in Europe (LLinE), published in Finland by the KVS Foundation. |
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A recent example of NIACE's engagement on European issues is our response to the European Commission Staff Working Document : "Towards a European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning"
International Study Tour and Publication of ‘Learners’
Voices’
Adult learners from around fourteen European countries will arrive in the UK
at the beginning of Adult Learners’ Week to take part in a tour which will visit
learner-led projects in Wales and London. The aim is for the international
guests to share experience of consultation, and to take home tips on
representing learners and/or residents on organisational and regional
committees.
During Adult Learners’ Week we’ll publish the stories of a selection of adult learners from around Europe. If you would like a copy of the publication please send an email to alw@niace.org.uk (limited to one copy per order).
The study tour and publication are part of the larger International Adult Learners’ Week in Europe initiative supported by the European Commission. You can read more at www.unesco.org/education/uie/InternationalALW/
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Worldwide
Recent international projects and consultancy work have involved NIACE with adult learning in twenty-five countries worldwide.
NIACE is committed to strengthening links between organisations representing the interests of adults as learners and especially in sharing good practice in the areas where adult learning contributes to:
| widening participation in education, training and employment and civic life. |
| combating exclusion and furthering equal opportunities. |
| the defence and maintenance of democracy and human rights. |
NIACE is an active member of The International Council of Adult Education and also works with many other relevant bodies, including:
| The British Council |
| The Commonwealth Association for the Education and Training of Adults. |
| The International League for Social Commitment in Adult Education. |
| Education in Development. |
| UNESCO. |
| OECD. |
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International Adult Learners' Week
Learners and providers from over 40 countries will be meeting in Manchester in September to celebrate International Adult Learners’ Week 2007. Delegates from Australia, Namibia, Swaziland, Romania and elsewhere will be coming together over the weekend 20th – 22nd September to:
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| explore the future perspective of national/regional adult learners’ weeks and learning festivals as well as the International Adult Learners’ Week network, with respect to increasing the promotional and advocacy potential for adult and lifelong learning as well as support mechanisms and structures; |
| discuss the contribution of national/regional adult learners’ weeks and learning festivals to the Education for All (EFA) agenda as well as to the Millennium Development Goals, by exploiting the possibilities for reaching out to adult learners and by advocating for the importance of adult learning and non-formal education for development; and |
| begin work on the collective development of an International Learners’ Charter as an input for CONFINTEA VI. |
The event – to be held in the UK for the first time - will be co-hosted by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and NIACE, the organisation which developed the concept of Adult Learners’ Week and significantly supported fellow organisers in other countries to spread the movement.
Alan Tuckett, Director of NIACE, said:
“As we are approaching the next International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI in 2009), the 2007 International Adult Learners’ Week will represent a preparatory stepping-stone for CONFINTEA VI, with the overall goal of reviewing the past and projecting the future of the global advocacy network.”
The event will likewise serve to create advocacy for CONFINTEA VI.
The International Adult Learners' Week network came into being in the year 2000 as a result of the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA V), by means of a UNESCO resolution to enrich International Literacy Day and strengthen its links to the larger adult learning movement to which it contributes.
To date, four international advocacy events, uniting festival organisers from all world regions, have been hosted by partners in UNESCO Member States (in Belgium in 2001, Brazil 2002, South Africa 2004, and Norway 2005).
Between the end of 2003 and the end of 2006, the European Commission supported a Regional European sub-network of learning festivals in the framework of their Socrates/Grundtvig programme.
For more information on the conference please contact:
Richard Crabb
Phone: 0116 204 7073
Fax: 0116 223 0050
Email: richard.crabb@niace.org.uk
For further information please visit:
http://www.unesco.org/education/uie/InternationalALW
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