Conference Program

Disability is neglected both in terms of applications of social justice perspectives and in what an understanding of disability can bring to these perspectives (Mladenov 2016). Fraser (1996) contends that social justice requires ‘parity of participation’ through redistribution, recognition and representation. In the realm of education, Learner Voice offers a space in which these goals can be pursued and realised by centring the agency of learners as active participants and partners in educational processes rather than as objects of policy and pedagogy (Dowdall, Sheerin, and O’Reilly 2019). Learner Voice aims to extend the values of democracy, equality and empowerment central to adult education practices from the classroom into institutional and decision-making domains (Fielding 2010).

People with disabilities face a significant risk of poverty, high unemployment rates, and lower educational attainment levels than the general population, as well as stigma and discrimination (EDF 2022), which undermines a 'parity of participation'. Compounding this is an extra ‘cost of disability’ in their everyday lives due to navigating society with a disability. To what extent then can Learner Voice respond to the redistributive, symbolic and representative inequalities faced by learners with disabilities?

The paper utilises mixed method research carried out by AONTAS, the Adult Learning Organisation, as part of the National Further Education and Training (FET) Learner Forum (NFLF) in Ireland. The NFLF is carried out annually and the project is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. Between October 2024 and May 2025, the NFLF included a total of 98 focus groups incorporating 778 learners and 1858 survey respondents across 10 regional Education and Training Boards. The NFLF operates on a Learner Voice basis providing opportunities for learners to articulate their experience of FET to inform evidence-based advocacy to influence national policy. As such, the NFLF aims at ‘democratic learning’ (Biesta 2016) by providing mechanisms for learners to participate in, and shape, their world.

By attending to these opportunities and challenges faced by a sub-set of research participants, learners with disabilities, we can unpack the environmental and symbolic supports necessary to enhancing participation in adult education. In doing so the paper returns to Fraser (1995) to distinguish between the affirmative practices correcting inequalities and transformative practices aiming deeper structural changes, and the potential of the NFLF as a space ‘in-against-and beyond’ (Holloway 2010) the policy context in which it operates.