The Civic Power of Adult Education: HQ Interview with EAEA

Lifelong learning plays a vital role in promoting democratic participation, social inclusion and community resilience throughout Europe. The European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) represents over 120 member organisations in 43 countries and advocates access to non-formal adult learning, particularly for under-represented groups. Its network reaches more than 60 million learners across the continent.

In this interview, Dearbháil Lawless (below), Vice President of the EAEA Board and CEO of AONTAS Ireland, the country’s National Adult Learning Organisation, shares her insights into how adult education supports civic engagement, addresses digital and climate challenges, and shapes more flexible and inclusive learning pathways.

Your 2024 Manifesto The Power and Joy of Learning describes adult learning as a transformative right. How is EAEA making lifelong learning empowering and relevant for adults, especially those on the margins, amid today’s digital, democratic, and climate-related challenges?

The Power and Joy of Learning frames adult education as a transformative right and this reflects our vision as an organisation, considering the needs of society and current and future challenges. We call for a Europe that provides meaningful opportunities for people to engage in Adult Learning and Education (ALE) and recognise that ALE is both a human right and a common good.

By this I mean, ALE can directly influence and improve democracy, environmental issues, well-being, social justice, employment opportunities and so much more. Take for example, digital literacy. The world is rapidly changing with banking, shopping, medical appointments, government services and more being provided online. Often these services are largely only available online. Without digital literacy and resources like internet access and a digital device, people are being excluded from basic practices and services in society. They cannot pay bills, update their driver’s licence, book flights or keep up-to-date with transport information. This change is happening in every country, and we must ensure that every adult is provided with digital literacy through ALE to protect their basic needs.

ALE is also vital for a healthy and authentic democracy. People need to understand elections, their voting rights, candidate and legislative information, and ensure their vote is informed and logistically possible. In Ireland, for example, you check an online register to see if you are registered to vote and this must be checked and updated in advance of the polling day. For someone with little knowledge of the voting system or who has unmet literacy needs, ALE can and does address this through voter education programmes, communication skills, and literacy classes.

There are also certain types of ALE like Community Education, Folk High Schools or Popular Education as discussed in the manifesto that focus on areas like critical thinking and critical media literacy. This helps people to question systems, challenge oppressive forces, and recognise misinformation, malinformation or so-called ‘fake-news’.

The manifesto not only outlines some of the challenges faced in areas like democracy, digital changes, or the environment, but it talks about what adult learning can do, providing research evidence and examples of good practice.
 

eucen: Universities Building Pathways, Protecting Trust
 

With Flexible Learning Pathways as your 2025 theme, what have you learned about making adult education more inclusive and accessible across Europe? Where do the limits of flexibility still lie?

Flexible Learning Pathways has been a great theme for us in 2025. It has provided the organisation and our members with the space to reflect, listen to new voices, and inform our future work in this area. Flexibility is needed to build an inclusive society where all adults (including those from underrepresented groups, disadvantaged socio-economic groups, etc.) are able to engage in learning. It is important to be mindful of what flexibility means to different people, too. For example, we will never reach some people if we cannot offer evening, weekend, summer or online programmes. For others, flexibility means breaking programmes into smaller modules or offering resources that support neurodivergent learners and different learning preferences. Education must be taught in a way that suits the learner. ALE has always been strong in this area, and I think higher education is now improving its offers through options like micro credentials. In the future, we will not meet the needs of society if we do not let go of traditional ways of teaching and learning and be innovative in our delivery of programmes.

Staff capacity, resources, and competing demands all affect flexibility, and we must consider the context in which educators work. But in education, there is often an old-school mindset of upholding traditional practices, and assuming that these are best. They are not or we would not continue to have people with unmet education needs. In EAEA, we are passionate about equality and we hope that educators, policymakers, and funders will recognise the value and power of non-formal education in being innovative and flexible. You can change a person’s future, the future of their family, and strengthen a community through change-oriented non-formal education. A formal assessment or structured teacher-led programme does not always make something more valuable. It has just been validated. Both are important and from my experience, non-formal change-oriented programmes that are done well are far more impactful in being responsive and innovative. The pandemic provided hundreds of examples of that in Ireland alone within community education.
 

"Recently in London, I saw an AI ad on public transport that said “stop hiring humans”. I could not believe that such unethical messaging was presented so boldly."
 

Your podcast series Beyond Learning 2.1 explores grassroots learning for the green transition. How are these community-led models shaping EAEA’s broader sustainability strategy?

Through Beyond Learning 2.1 people can find wonderful examples of community-led models that address climate change. The show provides a platform for people undertaking grassroots action dedicated to a more sustainable future. These are the changemakers of our time making a real difference in something that many of our governments are not prioritising appropriately. It is actually a great example of social justice movements more broadly in that it is local people identifying an issue, working together to create a change, and leading by example. Their work is then (hopefully) amplified and drives a movement for change at regional, national and European level. As an NGO, EAEA wanted to find opportunities to amplify these Community actions that are strong examples of ALE and are both informative and practical for local communities. The podcast is shaping our strategy by deepening our knowledge and understanding, and helping our members to learn about the green transition.
 

Through the AI4AL project, you promote mindful use of AI in adult education. How do you balance innovation with inclusion, ensuring trust and relevance in AI-supported learning environments?

AI is coming into play hard and fast. Big tech companies are downsizing to move funds across to AI and some companies are saying the quiet part out loud. Recently in London, I saw an AI ad on public transport that said “stop hiring humans”. I could not believe that such unethical messaging was presented so boldly. I do not know why I was surprised considering the current political climate but it is disappointing and it is another focus on profit making in place of meaningful employment and stability for people. Yet, we cannot ignore AI. It would be foolish to think that if we sit back and wait, we will figure it out in the future. It is also an example of a rapid change whereby you either keep up and protect your community or you risk having people with more resources and power influencing strategies that will further harm working-class people or other communities that have been marginalised. While we cannot compete with them, we can at least be proactive and informed. From an EAEA perspective, this is why ALE is key. By providing opportunities for people to learn about AI, we can work with others in advocating for its ethical use and help to share people’s understanding of the potential positive and negative impact in education, and more broadly.

Balancing innovation and inclusion can be done by keeping informed, creating guidelines for use, and ensuring that humans review content, and humans make decisions. AI might be a helpful tool, but it cannot replace people or educators. The human brain, human conscious, and the lived experience are far more complex than a machine or piece of software. But with careful and considered instruction from a human, learners can use AI to support their learning needs and speed up processes when an educator thinks it is suitable.
 

"Staff capacity, resources, and competing demands all affect flexibility, and we must consider the context in which educators work."

Intergenerational learning has long been central to your work. What role do you see it playing today in building more connected, resilient communities and teams across Europe?

Learning should be lifelong and life-wide. Intergenerational learning is profound in its capacity to shift mindsets, create change, and provide practical ways to support learning. There are wonderful examples of this with digital literacy and migrant inclusion, for example. By bringing groups of people together from different ages (and backgrounds!), you can help people to learn how to use mobile phones or computers, and improve their digital literacy while also sharing local knowledge on community services, language, history and so much more. I have also seen programmes with older and younger women in the Traveller community, a nomadic Irish ethnic minority, where older women taught younger women traditional customs like paper flower making and younger women helped the older women with their reading and writing. Intergenerational learning brings people together, it is mutually beneficial and it builds connected and resilient communities by helping us to respect each other, listen to each other, and see the value of different experiences.
 

At your 2025 conference in Leipzig, Marina Weisband called for self-efficacy and democratic participation through education. In light of today’s geopolitical climate, how is EAEA reinforcing adult learning’s civic role, and what key outcomes from the event will shape your projects?

Everything we do reinforces adult learning’s civic role. Adult learning is built on social justice movements like feminism and working-class action. But to ensure we are addressing immediate and relevant needs, EAEA is creating projects that strengthen communities, promote and support equality and social inclusion, and protect democracy. Learner voice is a democratic action that provides empowering opportunities for people to share their experiences, meet others, and inform future policy and structural changes. As part of our learner voice workshop at the conference, we asked attendees to commit to the learner voice and share their future intentions. We will use this strategic opportunity to check-in, support local and national actions, and drive learner voice for the benefit of learners themselves, the future of ALE, and, more importantly, the health of society.
 

AGE Platform Europe: "Digitalisation must be human-centred"
 

Published by Meeting Media Company, the publisher of Headquarters Magazine (HQ) – a leading international publication based in Brussels, serving the global MICE industry and association community.