04.11.2016

Accessibility is a right, not a privilege

This is the message the AEMA project consortium has been repeating for the last three years. As the project is now coming to an end, the partners gathered in Vienna to reflect on the past and plan the future. What remains undisputed is that the commitment of the organisations involved has succeeded in making adult education more accessible.

Enlargening the network, planning further activities, such as stakeholder meetings, and finalising the AEMA portal were among the issues discussed at the meeting in Vienna.

During its lifespan, the AEMA project has aimed at increasing participation of people with disabilities in adult education. In the next weeks the partners will be organising activities to ensure the sustainability of the project results.

A unique opportunity for adult education providers

One of the key tools produced is the AEMA portal that connects adult education providers and experts. The main goal of the consortium is now to contact the providers and experts to subscribe to the portal. This is considered to be a unique opportunity for those two groups to meet, find interesting resources and work together towards an increased accessibility, participation, transparency and quality of adult education in Europe.
Once subscribed to the portal, providers can assess where they are in term of accessibility in 6 key areas and use the portal as

  • quick guide,
  • a tool to review and improve practices,
  • an assistant to plan the development of all of some of key areas,
  • a source of information to design policies (on internal, sectoral, regional or national level).

Additionally, experts on accessibility will be able to use the portal to show their competencies (based on a competency catalogue) in the field of accessibility and support adult education providers who wish to receive support in making their organisation or learning offer more accessible.

A key feature of the portal is that it is available in 8 languages.

More information:

AEMA portal

Text: Francesca Operti

24.04.2026 Democracy

Digitalisation, skills, and community learning: what’s at stake for adult education in Europe

Europe’s digital transition is reshaping how people work, participate in society, and access services. Yet many adults still lack the basic digital skills needed to benefit from these changes, raising urgent questions for policymakers and adult learning providers alike: how can ALE systems become more inclusive, better funded, and more responsive to learners’ realities?

23.04.2026 access

How do we build trustworthy and transparent adult education registries?

The RALExILA initiative came to an end in late March 2026, with the release of the guidelines and models to support the development of accessible, inclusive and interoperable (digital) ecosystems for adult education and individual learning accounts.

21.04.2026 adult educators

Supporting a culture of quality in the ALE sector

For many educators and policymakers, ‘Quality Assurance’ is linked to strong bureaucratic processes and additional workload, while in our approach Quality Assurance in education is to be seen as a mindful process of continuous improvements.