Life Skills and Participation: Collaborative Learning at the EAEA Conference

Day 1: Wednesday, 26th June

Day 1 of the EAEA event in Copenhagen started off promisingly: temperatures in the Danish capital reached upwards of 27 degrees. Having touched base with my AONTAS colleagues Niamh O’Reilly and Ben Hendriksen, I arrived at the venue, Vartov (a historic building in Copenhagen now used as an event centre) at 9.30am. Registration was pleasant with the organisers giving a warm welcome. The information in the welcome pack was useful and included the EAEA adult education manifesto. I enjoyed the discussion and felt privileged to be there as an adult learner with so many people from across Europe with a passion for adult skills and education.

• Seeing my AONTAS colleague Ben being elected on to the board of EAEA

• Participating in a workshop themed ‘Access and Outreach’ where I particularly enjoyed listening to the perspectives from Portugal and Greece in terms of access to courses for adults. The workshop was hosted by Niamh O’Reilly and I was invited to co-facilitate a group discussion which was informative

• Meeting Alex Stevenson from the UK who is an advocate for adult education. I found his views on life skills for adults interesting. Alex was also elected to the Board of the EAEA alongside Ben. The day culminated in the Grundtvig Awards ceremony and dinner. Liz Waters, former AONTAS Director was recognised and celebrated as part the ceremony and Ben collected her award on her behalf

Day 2: Thursday, 27th June

I registered for Day 2 and took my place in the main hall. The standard of the speakers and discussion was excellent. Highlights of the day included:

• Listening to a presentation by Lene Rachael Andersen, acclaimed author of the book The Nordic Secret

• Meeting Gina Ebner, Secretary-General of the EAEA. I also really enjoyed listening to her presentation on life skills in practice

• There was a big emphasis on group discussion with a questions and answers session and an upbeat mood to the conference

In Conclusion

By attending this EAEA event as an adult learner from Ireland I gained a greater understanding of the movement happening across Europe to promote and strengthen adult education. I gained valuable experience taking part in the workshop and group discussion. I relished the opportunity to discuss my own experiences as an adult learner in an Irish context. I can safely say that I made some friends in the wider adult education community from my participation in the conference. Overall, it was a positive and enriching learning experience and time well spent.

As an EU Member State, Ireland has access to EU funding programmes like Erasmus+ which support people to acquire new work skills, contributing to active citizenship, and personal development. Such programmes allow AONTAS to support our members to promote and profile the work of adult learning in Ireland. It also provides our members with an opportunity to learn from our EU neighbours and bring new ideas back to Ireland.

For more information on this project please contact Dearbháil Lawless, EU Projects Officer at: dlawless@aontas.com