Who We Are
1. Mission Statement of AONTAS
2. Why is Adult Education important?
3. Strategic Organisational Objectives
4. History and Development of AONTAS
1. Mission Statement of AONTAS
AONTAS is the Irish National Association of Adult Education, a voluntary membership organisation. It exists to promote the development of a learning society through the provision of a quality and comprehensive system of adult learning and education which is accessible to and inclusive of all.
2. Why is Adult Education important?
People who have an opportunity to continually learn and develop their skills and capacities:
- Make our economy grow and develop
- Ensure that their children develop a love of learning and take full advantage of education
- Actively participate in their own communities and civil society
- Support and respect people with different cultural beliefs and abilities
- Respect and protect the environment for future generations
- Nurture creativity and imagination
- Live healthy and fulfilled lives
So: Investing in adult education makes sense for individuals, families, communities and our country as a whole.
3. Strategic Organisational Objectives
In keeping with our core values AONTAS will work for an improved adult and community education service by focussing the Strategic Plan on four key priority areas.
- Policy
- Promotion
- Practice
- Partnership
These four areas are interrelated with and underpinned by a fifth priority which is organisational development.
These priorities will enable AONTAS to be at the forefront of policy development in adult and community education and represent the voice of the sector, to be the chief promoter of the significance and value of the sector and a leading body for supporting and sharing best practice for an improved adult and community education service. Research, partnerships with key agencies and our membership will compliment and inform this work.
The Strategic Plan has been organised under each of these priorities with one main goal and ten distinct actions.
For more about the current AONTAS Strategic Plan, click here.
4. History and Development of AONTAS
Introduction
AONTAS, the National Association of Adult Education was established in 1969, following the first National Adult Education Conference, held in Athlone in May of that year. The name AONTAS is an acronym in the Irish language, Aos Oideachais Naisiunta Tri Aontu Soarlach, meaning 'national adult education through voluntary unification'. The word AONTAS itself is also the Irish word for 'unity' or 'union', so the intention of the original group of interested individuals was that the Association would be identified by its inclusiveness.
When launching AONTAS in 1969, the then Minister for Education, Mr Brian Lenihan TD, also announced the establishment of a committee to examine the nature of adult education in Ireland and to make recommendations regarding its future structure. The committee published the first report on adult education in the history of the State in 1973. The Murphy Report, as it was subsequently known, recognised the value and importance of AONTAS and concluded that 'it has the potential to become an effective National Association'.
Getting Started
A voluntary committee drew up a constitution for AONTAS, which was ratified in 1970 and re-drafted in 1978. Since then, the organisation has amended its constitution over the years to reflect the changing nature of adult education, and is currently reviewing it again.
With its constitution in place, AONTAS established itself as a company limited by guarantee and as a registered charity. It received a major boost to its fortunes in 1974 when PJ Carroll and Co. Ltd. made a donation of £75,000 to support it over a period of five years. This funding, an extremely generous amount at that time, was used to establish a secretariat for AONTAS, to undertake a research project, and to sponsor an International Conference for Adult Education in Ireland. The funding firmly established AONTAS, and the first Director of the organisation was appointed in 1974.
Growing the Organisation
During the 1970s, AONTAS established itself as a coordinating body, a clearing-house for ideas, a creative and innovative centre, and a think-tank for adult education. AONTAS never considered itself an agency involved in the provision of courses. Rather, it organised conferences, produced journals of adult education, undertook research, circulated newsletters to members, and organised exchange visits to other countries, mostly in Europe. Its members, in particular the Vocational Education Committees, provided the actual service (i.e. courses) for adult learners - often with very limited resources.
AONTAS has been affiliated to the European Bureau of Adult Education, now the European Association for the Education of Adults, since 1970. In 1976 AONTAS received its first Government grant-in aid of £10,000.
One of the most important issues for AONTAS during the 1970s was the issue of adult literacy. Since the Murphy Report identified literacy as a possible problem area, AONTAS had set up a working group to explore what could be done. In 1976, AONTAS took a decision to establish the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA), which would be an independent and autonomous body. AONTAS also agreed to make a grant of £5,000 available to the Agency to support local projects. The inaugural meeting of the National Adult Literacy Agency was held on 29 April 1977 in the AONTAS head office.
Meeting New Challenges
During the 1980s, AONTAS had to contend with major cutbacks that affected all the partners in education. However, the Association survived and the membership began to grow very quickly.
The biggest expansion in membership came from the newly emerging women's community-based groups, which had taken it upon themselves to organise their own education provision at times and places that suited women. These groups spearheaded the development of community education and looked to AONTAS for recognition and support for their work. AONTAS supported its women's group members throughout the 1990s with European and national funding. This work culminated in the establishment of the National Collective of Community-based Women's Networks (NCCWN) in 2003.
An Era of Change
In 1997 AONTAS undertook a review of its work and direction and, in 1998, adopted its first Strategic Plan, A Vision for the Future. In this Plan, AONTAS defined its policy focus, and took the opportunities presented by the publication of the Green Paper on Adult Education, Adult Education in an Era of Lifelong Learning (1998), to lobby Government to develop the Adult Education Service. When the White Paper, Learning for Life, was published in August 2000, AONTAS devised its second Strategic Plan, Moving Forward, to focus on the implementation of the recommendations contained in the Paper. In 2004, AONTAS adopted its third Strategic Plan, Sustaining Growth and Development, which focuses on maintaining, and improving on, recent boosts to the sector.
AONTAS, as a membership organisation, has continually lobbied for additional resources for adult and community education. Up until 1997, only 0.01 per cent of the overall education budget was spent on adult education, and lack of Government funding constantly hampered initiatives to develop it. In 1997, the Government - shocked by findings from an OECD report that 25 per cent of Irish adults didn't have adequate literacy skills - decided to invest heavily in literacy provision. Since then, funding for adult education has increased, but it still falls far short of what is really required.
Moving Forward
Following the OECD findings in 1997, the Government published a Green Paper in 1998, with proposals for developing adult education. After a wide-ranging consultation, the Department of Education and Science published a White Paper on Adult Education in August 2000. This was a blueprint for the development of the adult education service, with a policy framework aimed at improving access, quality and flexibility in the provision of adult education.
Since the publication of the White Paper, AONTAS has worked consistently towards the implementation of its recommendations. The elements that have been implemented so far include the National Adult Literacy Porgramme, the Back to Education Initiative, the Adult Educational Guidance Initiative, and the recruitment of Community Education Facilitators. Resources allocated to the sector since 2000 have, for the first time, promoted growth and development. Investment in the adult education service has now increased to almost three per cent of the overall education budget.
However, six years on from the publication of the White Paper, many of its key recommendations have not been implemented, and the 2006 Budget paid scant attention to adult education. Much remains to be done in terms of creating a permanent, mainstream adult education sector and in allocating significant resources to fund it - AONTAS believes that funding for the sector needs to increase to 10 per cent of the overall education budget in order to provide the resources it so badly needs. The organisation hopes to see this level of investment allocated under the next National Development Plan (2007-2013), and is currently spearheading a campaign to put adult education back on the national policy agenda as a matter of urgency.
AONTAS believes that national policy objectives, both social and economic, can be achieved, in large part, through investment in adult education. Huge progress has been made in the adult education sector over the past decade. What we need now is expansion of the existing successful programmes, development of new programmes and services, and a proper structural framework to reflect our changed environment.
