Public Policy and the ‘Sustainability’ of Adult Education

Marcella Milana; Palle Rasmussen; John Holford

doi:10.6092/issn.1825-8670/4658

Authors

Marcella Milana
Marcella Milana is Associate Professor at Aarhus University, Denmark, and (in collaboration with the University of California-Los Angeles, United States) a Marie Curie Fellow. A board member of the European Society for the Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA), joint convenor of its Research Network on Policy Studies in Adult Education, and co-Editor of the International Journal of Lifelong Education. She researches and publishes in the areas of education policies, adult education and lifelong learning, and the professionalization of adult educators.
Palle Rasmussen
Palle Rasmussen is Professor of Education and Learning Research in the Department of Education, Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University, Denmark, where he directs the Centre for Education Policy and Evaluation Research. His research areas include education policy, lifelong learning, evaluation methodology and social innovation, and he has published extensively in these fields. He has coordinated the standing network on Policy Studies and Politics of Education in the European Educational Research Association and has participated in several other international research networks.
John Holford
John Holford is Robert Peers Professor of adult education and Director of the Centre for Research in Higher, Adult and Vocational Education at the Universit of Nottingham, United Kingdom. A joint convenor of the ESREA Network on Policy Studies in Adult Education and Editor of the International Journal of Lifelong Education, he has researched on European policymaking in adult and lifelong education, as well as in areas such as social and labour movements and the history of adult education.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1825-8670/4658

Keywords:

Sustainability, Policy, Education, Adult Education, Social Justice

Abstract

Sustainable growth and development are intrinsically linked with the ways societal problems are thought of and addressed in public and private policy. However, at times when social and economic crises have shown the fragility of existing institutions and policies, it is important to debate how sustainability is – and could be – integrated into educational policy studies. We therefore begin by summarising the conditions under which the concept entered political debate and how it has influenced educational research. We then argue for a rethinking of its ontology: this, we suggest, can shed new light on its relationships with adult education policy and social justice.

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Public Policy and the ‘Sustainability’ of Adult Education

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