Conference Program

Drawing on the work of Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire, Marco Pitzalis (2024) has proposed that emancipatory projects to counter neoliberalism require research that interrogates the education system ‘from below’. It follows that democratic dialogue demands ‘epistemic justice’, a critique-movement against and beyond power-holders’ symbolic violence of classification, categorisation, and devaluation ‘from above’. Acknowledging this challenge, to what extent might Learner Voice foster democratic dialogue between academia, policy makers and practitioners in adult education?

The following paper explores this question through the lens of a single case study: the National Further Education and Training Learner Forum (NFLF) of Ireland. The NFLF is one of the largest and most enduring Learner Voice projects in Europe. Since the first national forum was held in 2016, the NFLF has engaged and listened to over 14,000 adult learners. Each year, the NFLF brings together hundreds of adult learners across Ireland to ask their views of and satisfaction with their experience of Further Education and Training (FET). Its purpose is to ensure that FET meets the needs of adult learners today and continues to do so in future. AONTAS, Ireland’s National Adult Learning Organisation, is responsible for the NFLF, collaborating with the state’s 16 Education and Training Boards to host regional forum events. AONTAS documents Learner Voice through both regional and national reports, and further utilises these findings as an evidence-base for advocacy to influence national policy.

In the context of multiple, intersecting crises of ecology, economy, and society, fostering democratic practice and conviction in adult education acquires renewed urgency. Arguably, the NFLF creates a space within which to embed ‘democratic learning’, the learning that flows from participating in constructing and maintaining a common life (Biesta, 2016, 104). Reflecting on the work of the NFLF offers us an opportunity to consider the quality of dialogue among diverse actors in the adult education system, assessing its fundamental character as well as associated challenges and opportunities. The present paper highlights both the potential for transformative change that arises when we listen deeply to adult learners and the necessity of institutions to make voice effective. In doing so, the paper speaks to diverse, interdisciplinary scholarship in the fields of citizen participation, participatory social policy and transformative student voice (Clancy and Murray, 2025; Murray and Brennan, 2023; Angus et al., 2013; Fielding, 2010).