The 6th NAEL was held 25-28 March in Tampere, Finland, at the School of Education, University of Tampere. The conference was organized by universities of Tampere and Åbo Akademi, and the Research programme Freedom and Responsibility of Popular Education.

Theme: Adult Education and the Planetary Condition

Both the theory and practice of adult education have developed much as a response to societal and economical change in a nation-state context. Currently researchers, practitioners and policy-makers of adult education are witnessing consequences of globalization, not only as increased interaction and mobility across different kinds of borders, but also as financial and economical, social and environmental crises at a global scale. The local challenges of adulthood are increasingly also planetary.

The loose umbrella of the sixth biannual Nordic conference on adult education and learning is the place and function of adult education in a planetary perspective. It invites researchers to discuss their topics and results in the tension-field of local and global. Contributions relating adult education to social, economical, ecological and cultural issues are especially welcome, but the conference is open to all interested in encounters and dialogues within the Nordic adult education community.

Conference program

Day 1 and 2

Day 1

18.00-20.00
Get together evening (Room: Edu’s Café)

Day 2

8.00-9.00
Registration

9.00-10.00
Opening session

10.00-12.00
Parallel sessions 1

12.00-13.00
Plenary with keynote:
Adjunct Professor Lili-Ann Wolff, University of Helsinki Would you change just because I asked you to? Discussant: Project Manager Ellen Stavlund, Norway

13.00-14.00
Lunch

14.00-17.30
Parallel sessions 2, Coffee and snacks in the lobby at 15.30

19.00
City of Tampere, reception

Day 3

9.00-10.00
Plenary with keynote:
Professor Anders Breidlid, Oslo University College (Adult) education, indigenous knowledges and Western epistemology: the challenges of sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Discussant: Development Manager, FM Martin Näse, Kronoby Folkhögskola

10.00-12.00
Parallel sessions 3

12.00-13.30
Lunch

13.30-15.30
Parallel sessions 4

16.00-18.00
Visits to adult education institutes: Tampere liberal adult education centre (Tampereen työväenopisto) Tampere Adult Education Centre (TAKK)

19.00
Conference dinner


Day 4

9.00-11.00
Plenary with reflections

11.00-12.00
Nordic adult education assembly

Farewell coffee with snacks

Organisation