Sustainability & Adult Education

The Pan-European Conference prepared the way to the UNESCO Conference in July, in Hamburg,
INFORSE participated.

By Emil Bedi FAE, Foundation for Alternative Energy, Slovakia, INFORSE Europe Coordinator

The Pan-European Conference on Adult Learning took place in Barcelona, Spain on December 12-14, 1996. This conference was a part of a 5- year inter-regional UNESCO process that will culminate with the 5th International Conference on Adult Education to be held in Hamburg, July 14-18,1997.

The overall goal of the upcoming Conference is to highlight the importance of adult reaming and to reach an international commitment to this effort.

The Barcelona meeting was proposed to confirm the importance of adult education in Europe. It was planned to be a forum to debate and propose action priorities for the future. These goals were developed through the work of five commissions of experts.

INFORSE, as the only environmentally oriented network of organisations participating in this conference, was represented in the committee dealing with Creativity of Agents and New Social Issues. It has been stressed here (and also included in the final document) that "the world is facing ever increasing risk of nature degradation with impacts on all human populations" and "Providing the solutions to environmental problems in the framework of adult education is as important as fighting poverty, promoting health, or preventing crime ".

It has been recognised by the participants of the conference that these problems will never be truly overcome without adult education and training provided by social agents like NGOs.

The Conference also stressed that in a world in which creativity, competition, and knowledge play increasingly important role, "the right to be educated is no less important than the right and the responsibility of being able to participate in the life of today's world ".

Special attention was given to the educational process in transitional economies, where ensuing economic arid social changes generate new educative demand. It is clear that new policies should be established in both east and west, and that, if they are subjected only to market forces, the unequal development of training will produce considerable social costs in the future. It has been concluded that, "although informational technology and development of media have created new opportunities for adults, they also have raised questions about democratisation and cultural life".

The final document prepared during the Barcelona meeting will serve as the Pan-European input to the Conference in Hamburg where two basic documents will be prepared:

· 'Declaration on Adult Learning'
· 'Agenda for the Future'.