Living and learning for a viable future - CONFINTEA VI Friday, December 11, 2009 - 11:30

In the heat and humidity of Belem, in the north of Brazil, CONFINTEA VI was held, punctuated by the vibrancy of samba, drumming, exotic costumes and dancing which typify this region of the world. The purpose of the conference was to set the global agenda for adult education and lifelong learning for the next 12 years and publish a framework for action. There was great concern, from all quarters, that rhetoric should result in action.

Over 1,000 people, including 160 representatives of UNESCO member states and 50 ministers or Vice Ministers of Education attended CONFINTEA VI. This included Lord Tony Young, Minister at the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, along with other Department officials.

NIACE was represented by Alan Tuckett, NIACE Chief Executive and Treasurer of the International Council of Adult Education (ICAE); Peter Lavender, NIACE Deputy Chief Executive and myself Jan Eldred, the Associate Director for International work, as members of the UK National Commission to UNESCO. We are grateful to UNESCO UK, UNESCO UIL, EAEA and BIS for funding our attendance - in turn, NIACE funded John Gates from Wales who was representing the learner voice.

Presentations were delivered by the Director-General of UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova and Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, UNESCO's Special Envoy on Literacy for Development, alongside a video message from Jacques Delors.

There was a passionate speech from the former President of Mali and former Chairperson of the African Union, Mr Alpha Oumar Konare. One of the most powerful and moving testimonies came from Senator Maria Osmarina Marina Silva Vas de Lima who spoke about her learning journey from an ‘illiterate' Amerindian to her current role as a Federal State Senator in Brazil.

Learners, including those from Wales and Scotland, got their chance to speak at round-table sessions and the perspectives of both governments and civil society were discussed on the key themes of Inclusion and Participation; Policies and Governance; Financing; Literacy; Quality and The Way Forward.

Paul Belanger, President of the International Council of Adult Education and former Chair of CONFINTEA V, Canada, made the final keynote speech. He argued that unless lifelong learning is firmly on the agenda we won't achieve the Millennium Development Goals. More importantly we won't learn how to form better relationships and develop a fairer world; we must keep moving forward, otherwise, like riding a bike, we will fall off and not achieve our vision of Education for All.

NIACE is particularly delighted that the UNESCO world conference on adult education, CONFINTEA VI, adopted a commitment to develop educational responses to migration as a key focus of its future work. The following presentations were made at a workshop at the conference, and illustrate the challenges and complexity of the issues addressed:

• Dott. Matilde Grünhage-Monetti - [PDF] from the German Institute of Adult Education and the Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning discusses the role of workplace language and communications in the new work order for the inclusion of immigrant workers into the labour market and social life.
• Sue Waddington - [PDF], President of European Association of the Education of Adults discusses Migration and Lifelong Learning in Europe.
• Joe Samuels - [PDF], Director of the South Africa Qualifications Authority discusses Migration, Adult Learning and Recognition: A South African Case Study.
• Maria Angela dlc. Villalba - [PDF] of the Unlad Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation, Quezon City, Philippines discusses Education for Migrants in the Ultimate Storm.

NIACE also had the opportunity to contribute to the following workshops:

• Roundtable on literacy - [PDF] as a key competence for Lifelong Learning.
• Workshop on barriers to participation - [PDF]
• Widening participation workshop - [PDF]