Adult Learners' Festival 2023: Stepping Stones and Stable Roots

Join us on the morning of 6th March 2023 at the Richmond Education Centre in Smithfield, Dublin for the annual AONTAS policy event, as part of the Adult Learners’ Festival 2023. We’ll bring community education practitioners, facilitators, managers, and adult learners together with policymakers and Government representatives. Our focus will be on the indispensable role of community education in Ireland, and to debate its relationship to the new Unified Tertiary Education System.

This new policy from the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation, and Science seeks to better connect the education sector in Ireland. One of the aims of this new policy is for “a more consolidated approach to inclusion across the whole of the tertiary system to enhance strategies to address socio-economic disadvantage and the underrepresentation of groups.”

Between policymakers and community education providers, practitioners, and learners, we will discuss what this means for community education, and the need for widespread recognition of the unique value it can bring. We know that the provision of learning opportunities and experiences in local communities, by local people, forms the quiet and enduring backbone of access to education for many people across the country.

Learning in local communities is sometimes seen as a “stepping stone” to further and higher education. But it also offers stable roots in a particular place, and a sense of belonging and identity for people, which are essential in times of challenge and change. We’ll discuss this, and share the findings from our evidence-based “Lifelong Learning” research project, which focuses on the most marginalised and disadvantaged in our society.

AONTAS is inviting eight adult education tutors to support the table discussions at this event through note-taking and providing a short input from their practitioner’s perspective. As a token of our appreciation, €70 book vouchers are being offered for this role. If are interested in supporting us, please email Bnea@aontas.com.

We create our world through our actions. Let’s explore what a truly unified Irish education system might look like.

Agenda

9.30am: Registration : Tea/Coffee/Biscuits

10am: Welcome and Introduction: John D’Arcy, AONTAS Chairperson

10.10am: Launch of the Lifelong Learning Research Report, Lauren Swan, AONTAS Head of Research

Lived Experience - Adult Learners' Interactive Response, Chaired by Ecem Akarca, AONTAS EU Projects Coordinator

10.45am: Keynote Address: What role does community education have in the new Unified Tertiary Education System?

11.05am: Key Stakeholder Panel Discussion

Dáire Keogh, President, Dublin City University (DCU)

Fiona Maloney, Director, National Tertiary Office

Melíosa Bracken, Community Education Facilitator, City of Dublin ETB

Tara Farrell, Chief Executive, Longford Women’s Link

William Beausang, Assistant Secretary General, DFHERIS

Chaired by Dearbháil Lawless, CEO at AONTAS

11.50am: Comfort Break: Tea/Coffee/Pastries

Creating Conditions for Constructive Discourse: Attendees' interactive blended discussion (using Mentimeter)

12.10pm: Practitioner and Policy Engagement – Roundtable Discussion

Tutors, staff and policymakers table discussion

12.45pm: Policy Response, SOLAS CEO Andrew Brownlee and DFHERIS

1pm: Close, Dearbháil Lawless, AONTAS CEO and John D’Arcy, AONTAS Chairperson

1.15pm: Light lunch provided

This event will take place at the Richmond Centre in Smithfield, Dublin, on the morning of Monday 6th March 2023, with lunch to follow. For more information, please contact AONTAS Head of Advocacy Barbara Nea at bnea@aontas.com

The AONTAS Adult Learners’ Festival 2023: Create Your World

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself”

#CreateYourWorld #ALF2023

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