The Expanding Role of Adult Education in Modern Society

Aging population, increased digitization, changes in employment, high levels of migration and climate change. The challenges are many, but not insoluble. How can adult education help us to develop a knowledge-based society capable of facing the challenges of our time?

I present some of the challenges that we are already seeing and that we will see in the future. As well as how the transformative opportunities and benefits of adult education can help address these challenges in the emerging modern society. Here are 9 opportunities and benefits of informal adult education and its role in the modern society:

• Active citizenship and democracy. People who participate in adult education also participate more in the community by voting, working as volunteers or playing an active role in the community. Adult education is the tool for developing critical thinking.
• Health and well-being. Adults who participate in learning activities lead healthier lifestyles and enjoy life more. Adult education contributes to personal development and self-realization. The health of our society depends on lifelong learning.
• Life skills for individuals.  Adult education transforms lives. It offers new employment opportunities, creates learning paths, activates artistic passions of adults and builds new social networks.
• Social belonging, equity and gender equality. Adult education promotes greater social mobility and equalizes social inequalities. Adult education brings together people from different paths and stages of life. This contributes to democracy and social peace.
• Employment and work. Learning in the workplace is one of the main drivers of adult participation in lifelong learning. Adult education increases innovation and productivity among employees, entrepreneurs and volunteers, which makes businesses more successful.
• Digitization. Adult education helps bridge the digital divide and empowers individuals with digital expertise. It is the key to personal development, employment, social inclusion and active citizenship.
• Migration and demographic change. Language and community education and intercultural learning create inclusive societies and cultures. Seniors who teach are more active, healthier and work longer. Intergenerational learning allows older and younger people to benefit from each other's knowledge.
• Durability. Adult education provides the skills, information, forum for debate and creativity to develop new approaches that are necessary for sustainable development. A paradigm shift is only possible thanks to critical, aware and innovative citizens.
• Adult education and European and international policy. Adult education contributes to the most important European and international strategies for growth, employment, innovation, equity, social cohesion, active citizenship, poverty reduction, climate change, internal market, migration, peace, etc.

Social and cultural factors, which are often overlooked, are as important as any of the purely technical factors in the formulation and implementation of administrative policy. Barnet states that 'the links between politics and these factors are neither casual nor limited to the contemporary period, so university administration clearly demonstrates that the success or failure of university administrative reforms depends on the presence and the absence of certain variables.