Alan Tuckett elected president of ICAE Monday, June 20, 2011 - 12:03

Alan Tuckett, currently NIACE's Chief Executive, was elected President of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) at its 8th World Assembly in Malmo on Friday 17 June 2011. He will be President for four years until 2015 and is the first European to hold the role.

The ICAE is the leading international adult learning non-government organisation and has a key role in advocating for the rights of adults to learn.

Alan Tuckett said:

"Adult learning is on the back foot in far too many places across the globe. Adult learning is a key development issue, with almost one billion adults still lacking access to literacy and numeracy - two-thirds of whom are women. Development funds are increasingly focused on universal primary schooling, yet children retain literacy better when their parents read and write. Whilst the needs of women and girls are recognised in the Education for All targets, two in three countries are not expecting to meet the target."

"The ecological and economic challenges arising from climate change create urgent pressures for everyone to learn more sustainable ways of living, but their impact is felt most dramatically by the poorest." 

"Every site of violence and political oppression leads to people migrating in search of safety and decent work. Their rights to learn need asserting and securing across the globe. And in the industrialised and developing world alike there is a need to recognise that access to learning is a core component of decent work - for paid and unpaid workers alike."

"Despite the challenge ahead of us, the mood of the Malmo Assembly was upbeat as participants explored the developments in learning for adults that we need. The formidable task facing the new Executive Committee and the ICAE's staff in Montevideo is to address these challenges by helping policy-makers and practitioners across the globe by bringing to life the creativity and energy evident in Malmo to make this a world really worth living in."

"It's a daunting, but at the same time, exciting agenda."

Alan Tuckett will be retiring from his role as Chief Executive of NIACE on 31st August 2011, after leading the organisation for 23 years. The new Chief Executive will be David Hughes, who joins NIACE from the Skills Funding Agency.