Adult education is tackling many of Europe’s most pressing challenges, yet the funding allocated to adult education in the future EU budget and the name change of the EU’s education programme signal a failure to recognise its importance. EAEA calls for a higher budget share and a clear commitment to adult education to meet the EU objectives and to make an impact.

The latest meeting of the Interest Group on Lifelong Learning brought together Members of the European Parliament, representatives of the European Commission, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to discuss the concept of learning environments in formal, non-formal and informal learning settings.

While the European Commission’s latest plans to further the European Education Area underline the commitment to lifelong learning, the measures proposed are not embedded in a holistic lifelong learning approach. EAEA’s Reaction to the Second Package of the European Education Area calls for a stronger consideration of all age groups and stages of learning.

Three months after the launch of the definition of Life Skills, the LSE project consortium is pleased to publish an overarching framework for life skills learning. The framework aims to establish a common understanding of life skills by describing eight key types of capabilities necessary to be an active participant in life and work.

What is the role of peer review in the validaton of non-formal and informal adult education? How should the validation systems be further developed in Europe? These questions will be covered in the upcoming final conference of the Peer review VNFIL extended project organised by EAEA on 13 June.

BEST PRACTICES. Peer review is a form of external evaluation with the aim of supporting the reviewed organization in its quality assurance and quality development efforts. the findings of the project European Peer Review for VNFIL demonstrate the need for transnational peer reviews. Erik Kaemingk from the VNFIL network explains the project’s experiences.

The European Commission has published its first proposal for the future budget of the European Union.

The registration for this year’s EAEA General Assembly and Annual Conference has now been opened. This year’s events will focus on “Cooperations and Partnerships”. The events will take place in Tallinn on 27-28 June.

Do you want to learn about European adult education policy? Do you wish to share experiences and thoughts with colleagues from other countries? Are you looking for an international professional network? EAEA Younger Staff Training might be just the right place for you. The registrations are now open.

Non-formal adult education promotes social cohesion, and it equips adults with the skills, knowledge and competences needed in our society. Yet only a crumb of public funding is allocated to the education of adults.