Search Results

Preparations are being made for the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI): 'Living and learning for a viable future - the power of adult learning', to be held in Brazil in 2009. As part of these preparations, member states are requested to prepare a national report on the developments in adult learning and education since 1997 (CONFINTEA V), on the current state of the art and future challenges of adult learning and education. These reports will constitute a major input for the Brazil conference, help to prepare a regional synthesis for the regional preparatory conferences and supply critical data for a Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE).

The United States has a highly decentralised system of education. One-quarter of the population aged 25-64 have limited English proficiency and have not completed high school, or have completed high school but earn less than a living wage. There are 32 states with young adult populations that are not large enough to replace the retiring baby boomers and 34 million adults that want to access postsecondary education but do not have it. Showing these adults an educational and career pathway is critical. The traditional definition of higher education has been expanded to include all learners beyond the secondary compulsory school age for purposes of initiating a national dialogue on higher education. The focus of that dialogue has been around recommendations aimed at improving college access, affordability and accountability. These recommendations include: aligning K-12 and higher education expectations; increasing need-based aid for access and success; using accreditation to support and emphasise student learning outcomes; serving adults and other non-traditional learners; and enhancing affordability, decreasing costs, and promoting productivity. There are three federally supported adult learning programs: postsecondary education, adult vocational training, and adult literacy/English as a second language programs. This national report is submitted in four chapters, beginning with the adult literacy and English language acquisition program, followed by the adult vocational training program, and lastly, by the postsecondary program. These three chapters focus on the major investments in adult learning but by no means represent the entire delivery system for adult learning. The fourth chapter represents responses received from the private provider community across the US to select questions from the UNESCO survey instrument. Show less