This contribution will provide an in-depth examination of the Italian Adult Learning System (ALS) with the double aim of mapping its current features and examining, retrospectively, its development over three decades (1990s-2020s). Further, it also attempts to evaluate whether and how such an institutional trajectory has modified the inclusiveness of the Italian ALS.

Drawing on the analytical framework by Desjardins (2017, 2023a) and Desjardins & Ioannidou (2020), we conceptualise the Italian ALS as comprising multiple public and private stakeholders handling the schooling of adults, adult vocational training, and continuing education. The system is regulated by a plurality of policy measures initiated at the country level or supported by European cooperation, often in the framework of education, immigration, and active labour market policies. The system’s underlying structures include the required coordination among the national, regional and local levels of government, according to the cooperative regionalism principle (since the 1980s) and the subsidiarity principle (since 2001). All these elements working together support the availability of organised learning opportunities, of a formal and non-formal nature, for the adult population residing in Italy to increase their general and vocational knowledge and skills.

Against this backdrop, we will first map how the Italian ALS looks like in 2024 by considering the type of provision and providers (supply side) it encompasses, which are the coordinating institutions and key stakeholders – e.g., state/regional/local governments, social partners, enterprises, and the policy measures regulating their interactions. Then, by adopting a historical institutionalism perspective (Thelen, 2004), we will reconstruct the sequencing in the development of the present system, with its unique paths of institutional building over time, its path-dependency dynamics that brought about continuity and events that might have caused discontinuity. Finally, we evaluate the social inclusion potential of the Italian ALS by extending the analysis of the social dimension of the skill formation systems.

From Durazzi & Geyer (2022), we borrow the idea that policy measures can be assessed along two dimensions: whether they extend participation (degree of selectivity) and reduce the gap between formal and informal/non-formal qualifications.

We rely on the available literature and secondary (public) data to perform our analyses, which are still ongoing; thus, it is not possible to share preliminary results at this stage.

In the context of rapid economic, social, and demographic change, fostering democracy and social justice in adult education is a prerequisite for adaptability, social cohesion, and human development. Emergent from the democratic and egalitarian norms of adult and community education, Learner Voice foregrounds and supports vital forms of student dialogue and recognition (Fleming, 2021). In the following paper, we examine the democratic potential of Learner Voice through the lens of a single case study: the National Further Education and Training (FET) Learner Forum (NFLF) of Ireland.

AONTAS, Ireland’s National Adult Learning Organisation, is responsible for the NFLF (Dowdall, Sheerin, and O’Reilly, 2019). AONTAS works in partnership with 16 Education and Training Boards to host regional forum events and to document Learner Voice in both regional and national reports. Forum events bring together adult learners from across Ireland to ask their views on their FET experience. The purpose of the Forum is to ensure that FET meets the needs of adult learners today and continues to do so in future.

The paper reflects on the social justice and democracy dimensions of the NFLF. It explores the potential for Learner Voice to inform the appraisal of FET policy and practice in Ireland and highlights the practical challenges associated with nonparticipation, tokenism, and meaningful participation. In doing so, the paper draws on diverse, interdisciplinary scholarship in the fields of transformative student voice (Fielding, 2004), citizen participation (Arnstein, 1969), and participatory social policy (Beresford, 2016). By way of conclusion, we highlight the emergence of Learner Councils in FET provision as a recent, hopeful development, one which underlines a latent possibility of enhanced forms of student participation in decision-making about their education and society.

The shift in adult education policies in the European Union towards serving the needs of the labour market is an unpleasant reality. In this context, and with the support of research bodies (e.g. CEDEFOP) policy tools have been developed (e.g. EQF, microcredentials) that have highlighted vocational skills as the most important contribution of adult education to social well-being (Prokou, 2018). At the same time, the economic function of "lifelong learning" became dominant not only because of the emphasis placed on employability, but also because the responsibility shifted from the state to the private sector. With the retreat of policies that supported the idea of the welfare state, individuals were encouraged to develop their skills on their own responsibility and often at their own expense, minimizing both organizational and financial public costs (Prokou, 2020). Consequently, the role of the state in ensuring social equality outcomes was reduced to a form of supervision towards the unspecified goal of achieving a “learning society”. However, it has been overlooked that it is in social welfare schemes that more opportunities are given to participate in adult education, while structural inequalities may persist in the labour market despite people having highly developed skills (Prokou, 2018).

The emphasis on vocational accreditation of learning meant that the responsibility for learning and the integration into employment rested with the individual. In addition, the focus on certification policies with employability at its core, led to a decline in interest in the objectives of social inclusion, active citizenship, critical thinking, and personal development (Koulaouzides, 2017). The development of competences linked to the function of democratic societies, social solidarity, tolerance, and cultural tolerance have been marginalised and with them the traditions and institutions of popular education in many countries in Europe (Koulaouzides & Romano, 2022). In the context of our presentation, we will discuss the above, highlighting in particular the landscape of adult education in Greece where nowadays the vocationalization of adult education has almost completely prevailed, pulverizing a long-standing tradition of popular education policies that operated with wide social acceptance and recognition.

While the pandemic exposed the shortcomings that needed to be tackled to successfully integrate digital technologies in training systems, the past 4 years have rapidly started to define policies supporting the introduction of digital technologies in education. Among the declared priorities of the Marrakesh Framework for Action is the promotion of equal access of all learners, including older adults, to learning in digital environments. Technology is introducing important changes in the ways in which adults learn and are taught, as well as in the competences and skills needed. The crucial link relies in the professional educators and facilitators being capable of designing the digital learning experience. Specifically considering Adult Education and vocational training experiences (as stressed in the new Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027) there is a need to foster innovation by strengthening the capacity of VET providers to deliver inclusive and high-quality digital education. Indeed, as reported in the Council’s European Agenda on adult learning (CEU, 2021) there is the need to “Raise the occupational status of and support the professionalisation of adult educators and trainers […] by supporting the use of innovative approaches (such as blended, online, distance, hybrid, etc.) and resources (ICT infrastructure and equipment)”. DigCompEdu (2017) represents an important tool supporting educators in promoting digital literacy, fostering innovative teaching practices, facilitating access to digital resources, and ensuring the integration of technology in educational systems, yet is not sufficient, especially addressing adult education and VET institutions. Further Guidelines and supporting schemes for professionals and educators working in the adult sector are needed: a new approach to teaching and facilitating adult education and VET experiences can leverage continuous and adult education allowing to be aligned with the potential of the digital transformation. Besides acknowledging that technology mat be a powerful facilitator and a catalyst of individual learning, thus allowing progress in education and individual opportunities, the lack to effectively grasping the potential of digital education may create new barriers, widen existing social divides and create new ones. It is thus important that it is addressed not only in compulsory educational systems. The authors present the results of the Erasmus+ Agile-2-Vet project, which evolves the existing tools of DigCompEdu with additional resources and training mechanisms to embed technology in all phases of training design, implementation, delivery and evaluation. Agile2Vet is an example calling for the collaboration between training institutions and companies providing digital technology, along with experts in educational and pedagogical practices, to structure training design models that can be used in the context of professional distance/online training, primarily aimed at adults and workers, useful for the development of innovative training proposals in digital format. Through the creation of a common Training Model for adult educators and facilitators, AGILE allows the acquisition of competences and skills by trainers, tutors, training designers and VET staff in general, on new approaches of digital learning and training, with innovative and practical methodologies. The project findings and outcomes represent a cross country analysis considering the situation in Italy/ Spain/ Germany and Ireland.