th 4 GLOBAL REPORT ON ADULT LEARNING AND EDUCATION LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND: PARTICIPATION, EQUITY AND INCLUSION United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization th 4 GLOBAL REPORT ON ADULT LEARNING AND EDUCATION LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND: PARTICIPATION, EQUITY AND INCLUSION United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization 2 Published 2019 by Photos Front cover, clockwise from far left: FOREWORD UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning © UNHCR/Colin Delfosse Feldbrunnenstraße 58 © UNHCR/Gordon Welters 20148 Hamburg © UNESCO Germany © UNESCO © UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning Part 1, from far left: © UNESCO The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning © Clinton Robinson/UNESCO (UIL) undertakes research, capacity-building, © UNHCR/Gordon Welters networking and publication on lifelong © UNESCO learning with a focus on adult and continuing education, literacy and non-formal education. Chap. 1: © UNHCR/Gordon Welters Its publications are a valuable resource for Chap. 2: © UNESCO education researchers, planners, policy- Chap. 3: © UNHCR/Colin Delfosse makers and practitioners. Chap. 4: © UNESCO Chap. 5: © UNHCR/Marie-Joëlle While the programmes of UIL are Jean-Charles established along the lines laid down by Chap. 6: © UNESCO the General Conference of UNESCO, the Chap. 7: © Dusan Petkovic/Shutterstock publications of the Institute are issued under its sole responsibility. UNESCO is not Part 2, clockwise from far left: responsible for their contents. © UNESCO © goodluz/Shutterstock The points of view, selection of facts and © UNHCR/Antoine Tardy opinions expressed are those of the © goodluz/Shutterstock authors and do not necessarily coincide with official positions of UNESCO or UIL. Chap. 8: © Michel Ravassard/UNESCO Chap. 9: © Raihan Ahmmed The designations employed and the Chap. 10: © READ Nepal presentation of material in this publication Chap. 11: © UNESCO do not imply the expression of any opinion Chap. 12: © Brendan O’Malley/UNESCO whatsoever on the part of UNESCO or UIL Chap. 13: © Sakel Rigpkema/UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country or territory, or its authorities, or concerning the Conclusion, clockwise from far left: delimitations of the frontiers of any country or © READ Nepal territory. © Brendan O’Malley/UNESCO © Sakel Rigpkema/UNESCO ISBN 978-92-820-1232-1 (print version) © UNESCO ISBN 978-92-820-1233-8 (electronic version) Back cover, clockwise from top left: © UNHCR/Marie-Joëlle Jean-Charles © Carolina Jerez/UNESCO © Sofie Tesson/Taimani Films/World Bank © Clinton Robinson/UNESCO This publication is available in Open Copy-editing Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike Alec McAulay 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- Design sa/3.0/igo/). Christiane Marwecki By using the content of this publication, the Printed by users accept to be bound by the terms of Druckerei Girzig+Gottschalk GmbH, use of the UNESCO Open Access Repository Bremen (http://en.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use- ccbysa-en). 3 FOREWORD FOREWORD Education is a fundamental human right, a Troublingly, in many countries, disadvantaged precious public good and an indispensable groups – adults with disabilities, older adults, tool in building peaceful, sustainable and refugees and migrants, and minority groups fairer societies. – participate less in ALE. In some countries, provision for these groups is regressing. We However, the educational challenges we know less about the participation of these face are complex. They include the rise of groups than for other sections of society. inequalities, demographic change and climate Yet this information is essential if we are to change. More seriously, the world is also develop inclusive policies for all. changing drastically and quickly. If we do not adapt and enhance adults’ skills, they will be Looking ahead, the report stresses the need left behind. This challenge is at the heart of to increase national investment in ALE, UNESCO’s global mandate, as reflected in reduce participation costs, raise awareness the Education 2030 Framework for Action of benefits and improve data collection and for the implementation of Sustainable monitoring, particularly for disadvantaged Development Goal 4. Adult learning and groups. In addition, by ensuring that donor education (ALE), as UNESCO’s Global Report countries respect their aid obligations to on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) developing countries, we can make ALE a very clearly shows, has a crucial role to play key lever in empowering and enabling adults, in achieving this goal. as learners, workers, parents, and active citizens. While participation in ALE has increased overall since 2015, rates vary considerably Policy-makers, education experts and the and progress has been uneven. I am pleased wider public will be able to draw useful to note the increased participation of women insights from this comprehensive picture of who, in some countries, now represent adult learning and education, viewed through the majority of adult learners. However, in the lens of inclusion and equity. We urge all many parts of the world, women still have governments and the international community limited access to education and employment to join our efforts and take action to ensure opportunities. In poor and rural areas that no one – no matter who they are, where especially, low literacy levels mean that they live or what challenges they face – is left women struggle to engage in learning and behind. participate fully in society. Improving access to education for women and girls has been one of my priorities since taking up my role as Director-General of UNESCO. This is why we launched the Her education, our future initiative in July 2019 as part of the Audrey Azoulay G7 Education Ministers Meeting. UNESCO Director-General 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The aim of the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) is to The UIL GRALE team deepen our knowledge of adult learning and education (ALE) as a key component of David Atchoarena lifelong learning across the globe, in order Director to improve education policies, concepts and practice within the framework of the Jan Kairies United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Librarian Development. Werner Mauch Three GRALE reports have been published to Head of Monitoring and Assessment date – in 2009, 2013 and 2016 – all of them of Lifelong Learning with reference to the Belém Framework for Action (BFA), adopted by Member States at Christiana Nikolitsa-Winter the sixth International Conference on Adult Programme Specialist Education (CONFINTEA VI) in Belém, Brazil, in 2009. One important purpose of the report Samah Shalaby is to monitor progress against the BFA, Assistant Programme Specialist through the GRALE survey. Following the adoption by UNESCO Member States of the Paul Stanistreet 2015 Recommendation on Adult Learning Head of Knowledge Management and Education (RALE), GRALE 4 additionally and Communications provides monitoring information on the implementation of RALE, also based on the GRALE monitoring survey. It is pleasing to note that the response rate for the GRALE 4 survey increased to 80% from 71% for GRALE 3. The production of a report on this scale is a substantial undertaking and would not be possible without the support of a wide range of partners and colleagues. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize their contributions. My deepest gratitude goes to the governments of the 159 countries and the focal points nominated by UNESCO National Commissions that submitted national reports. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks also go to UNESCO colleagues Soonghee Han (Seoul National University). in regional and field offices, specialized UIL colleagues Nicolas Jonas, Lisa Krolak, institutes and National Commissions, as well Silke Schreiber-Barsch, Rika Yorozu and as the Permanent Delegations to UNESCO, Rakhat Zholdoshalieva also provided useful who offered invaluable support in facilitating feedback. the consultation process during the survey. The following UIL staff assisted during GRALE 4 was written and edited by the consultation process for the GRALE 4 recognized researchers, international experts survey, and I would like to acknowledge their and UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning contribution: Ana Basoglu,˛ ˘ Carolina Belalcazar (UIL) staff. Special thanks go to the editors Canal, Mary Einbinder, Alexandru Gaina, of the report, Ellen Boeren (University of Alex Howells, Angela Owusu-Boampong, Glasgow) and John Field (University of Konstantinos Pagratis, Bettina Reiß and Claire Stirling), as well as to the authors of its two Schumacher, as well as interns Alexandra main sections: Ricardo Sabates and Ashley Chronopoulos and Jennifer Danquah, and Stepanek (University of Cambridge), who trainee Evalyne Mungai. I would also like to wrote the segment on monitoring, and Kjell thank University of Cambridge intern Michael Rubenson (University of British Columbia), Griffiths, who supported the drafting of the who prepared Part 2 on participation. monitoring chapter. They were supported throughout the This is an important report, which I hope process by colleagues from UIL, notably will have a strong positive impact, both Jan Kairies, Werner Mauch, Christiana among Member States and within the Nikolitsa-Winter, Samah Shalaby and international community. It demonstrates the Paul Stanistreet, who comprised the important role participation in adult learning UIL GRALE team.