Social, economic, and ecological transformations and crises have wide-ranging consequences on societies, posing challenges for learning and expertise of both individuals and communities. Complex, multifaceted challenges cannot be resolved through hurried and simplistic solutions. Instead, long-term, interdisciplinary, creative, ethical and dialogical approaches are needed. In modern rapidly changing world, continuous learning and sustainable development are more significant than ever.
Global issues, such as climate crisis, biodiversity loss and societal inequality, challenge continuous learning. Solutions for these problems have been sought from education for sustainable development: what kind of bildung, expertise, and competence are needed to promote a sustainable and just society in the constantly changing world. Bildung, expertise and competence are closely tied with societal changes and must be re-interpreted in the light of the present pressing issues.
The concept of continuous learning integrates on one hand the critical research tradition of lifelong learning in social sciences, and, on the other hand, the national and international adult education policies that seek to tackle the ongoing changes especially from the point of view of working life and careers. The role Adult Education is to provide a dynamic, critical, and interdisciplinary research field in which the dialogue between theory and practice can yield a deeper understanding and fresh insights into both local and global challenges.
We invite scholars and practitioners from universities, universities of applied sciences, research institutions, and other civil society organisations, to participate in the dialogue on the above-mentioned themes and on the role of Adult Education in the constantly changing world.
The conference is primarily organised as an in-person event. Remote participation will be offered to parts of the programme and potentially some thematic groups.
The keynote speakers of the event are Senior Researcher Heikki Kinnari, University of Turku, and Professor Eeva Luhtakallio, University of Helsinki.
More information on the conference is available on the Finnish-language pages.