Adult learners from Europe tell their stories.

The starting point for this resource was the publication "I did it my way", published by NIACE and the UNESCO institute for Education, with additional input from EAEA members. Since then it has grown considerably. If you have a learners' story you want to share, please let us know!

Encouraging adults to take part in learning activities has become a unanimous principle in international policy discourse.

Upgrading skills, adapting to new technological challenges and rapidly changing labour markets, and contributing to overall development are the main elements in the rationale of policy makers when arguing in favour of lifelong learning.

While this rationale usually offers the only measurable indicators to assess outcomes of learning and education, it only reflects one side of the coin. A much broader picture on the motivation and benefits of learning in adult life can be gained by listening to adult learners themselves.
 
Their stories about the transformative and invigorating impact of learning on their lives provide an impressive volume of evidence which can be much more revealing and persuasive than the results to be measured - or not - in quantitative assessments. The insights gained through listening to learners are at the same time very pragmatic and functional, in that they can help design policies and good quality learning provision based on the needs and aspirations of learners.
On the other hand, listening to adult learners and making them partners in negotiation for both policy development and improved learning provision is imperative if we really want to achieve active citizenship and democratic cultures.
 
Adult learners´ weeks and learning festivals all over the world have long been struggling to put learners at the centre and to create spaces where they can raise their voices and speak on their own behalf - and are being heard by policy makers and educators. Against this background, the European Commission
agreed to support the transnational project on International Adult Learners´ Week in Europe (IntALWinE), and to make possible the present publication as one of the project´s main outputs. While stories of learners have already been documented within several countries, the present publication is the first international documentation including voices of learners from as many as fourteen different countries.