Indigenous knowledge matters

To coincide with International Mother Language Day, UIL’s journal, IRE, is celebrating the resilience of the world’s Indigenous peoples and the contribution of Indigenous knowledge to sustainability. Its editor, Stephen Roche, explains

Today, 21 February, UNESCO and its global partners celebrate International Mother Language Day, this year on the theme of ‘Indigenous languages matter for development, peace building and reconciliation’. I am very proud to announce that, to coincide with International Mother Language Day, the International Review of Education – Journal of Lifelong Learning (IRE) will publish a special issue on ‘Indigenous knowledges as vital contributions to sustainability’.

This issue began to take shape in late 2016, when I approached Miye Tom – a Native scholar from the United States who had recently published with us – with the suggestion that she put together a proposal for a special issue on Indigenous education and knowledge. Together with two highly qualified and motivated scholars, Elizabeth Sumida Huaman and Teresa McCarty, she suggested that we not only make the special issue about Indigenous knowledge, but also approach Indigenous authors to write it. Continue reading

Democracy needs places of adult education

© Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband

Werner Mauch on 100 years of adult education in Germany

‘The constitution is on your side’, said Andreas Voßkuhle, President of the German Federal Constitutional Court, this week, at an event to celebrate a century of adult education practice in Germany. Democracy needs an informed citizenry and vital debate at all levels, he argued, as well as constant participation and effective support. The costs of not taking steps to cultivate democratic citizenship were all too clear from the history of Germany, he told participants, which was why German adult education centres (Volkshochschulen) were so important and so highly valued.

The German Adult Education Association (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband or DVV) organized the event at Paulskirche in Frankfurt, Germany’s ‘cradle of democracy’ where the first assembly of representatives met in 1848 to prepare a first national constitution for Germany (unsuccessfully, as it turned out). The event marked the centenary of the foundation of many Volkshochschulen across Germany, following the 1919 Weimar constitution, which made adult education a key component of a comprehensive education system, alongside formal school and higher education. Continue reading