Abstract
This article, which draws on a review of primary and secondary literature, examines the role of a human rights-based approach to adult learning and education (ALE) in the context of the global Education 2030 agenda, which is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched in 2015 by the United Nations. Whereas the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focused on primary education, the SDGs, through SDG 4 which is devoted to education, call on Member States to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. The inclusion of lifelong learning has awakened hopes for a stronger role of ALE in global education agendas and policies. In principle, the ten targets of SDG 4 open up clear possibilities for ALE. However, the author cautions that there is cause for scepticism that ALE, in particular human rights-based ALE, will receive more attention under the SDGs than it did under the MDGs. The article is structured into three sections. The first section traces the emergence of a rights-based approach to adult education as an international paradigm, with particular attention given to the role of UNESCO. The second section discusses how the rights-based approach to adult education has been contested by other actors in the field of education for development. In the final section, the author draws on recent empirical data to reflect on the role of ALE in the age of the SDGs.
Highlights
This article examines the role of a human rights-based approach to adult learning and education (ALE) in the context of the global Education 2030 agenda, which is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
As Aaron Benavot (2018, p. 5) observes, this is the first time that lifelong learning has been articulated as a development priority, and represents a historic opportunity to raise the profile of ALE
The ten targets of SDG 4 open up clear possibilities for ALE (Incheon Declaration, WEF 2015)
Summary
This article examines the role of a human rights-based approach to adult learning and education (ALE) in the context of the global Education 2030 agenda, which is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 101) had already observed the disappearance of references to democracy in UNESCO documents a few years back In this vein, Timothy Ireland recently pointed out that the underlying logic of both the Education 2030 Framework and Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is Eurocentric and Western liberal and neoliberal. The SDGs contain clear opportunities for lifelong learning, there is little to indicate that the human rights-oriented tradition of adult education with its focus on democratic agency and collective action will re-emerge within the confines of the “matrix”.
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