
EAEA Annual Conference
4 June 2025
Venue: Löhrstraße 3-7
Registration and welcome coffee
Welcome remarks
Speaker: Raffaela Kihrer, EAEA
Opening keynote
Fostering flexible learning and new insights from the Survey of Adult Skills
Speaker: Elif Bahar, OECD
Q&A
Fostering flexible learning and new insights from the Survey of Adult Skills
Facilitator: Raffaela Kihrer, EAEA
Parallel workshops
Facilitators:
- Tanja Möller, BIBB
- Claudia Laubenstein, BIBB
- Thomas Richert, City of Cottbus
This interactive workshop will examine how Erasmus+ can support the inclusion of adult learners with fewer opportunities and contribute to more equal access to European mobility within the context of flexible learning pathways. While Erasmus+ offers powerful tools to empower individuals and strengthen institutions, mobility in adult education continues to face major challenges—particularly in reaching and engaging disadvantaged learners. Together with participants from across Europe, we will explore common obstacles to inclusive mobility and share insights into how different countries are addressing these challenges. What strategies help ensure that flexible learning pathways such as tailored mobility formats are truly accessible for all learners? How can adult education providers use Erasmus+ to support more diverse and learner-centred mobility approaches? The workshop aims to foster dialogue, exchange practical experiences, and inspire new approaches to building inclusive and flexible mobility opportunities through Erasmus+, benefiting both learners and institutions.
Facilitator:
- Joachim Schwarz, CSA Academy
Your strategic leadership is essential to the success of organisations, especially in such a turbulent time.
In this session, we start by reflecting on your strategic leadership skills, such as anticipating contextual changes and making strategic decisions during rapid change. To understand the emerging future, we explore the signals and drivers of change most critical to your organisation's future. Based on those drivers of change, we use McKinsey's Three Horizon Model for strategic planning to ideate options for your organisation to prepare you for an impactful future.
Facilitators:
Gustav Fridolin, Stockholm City Mission Folk High School and EAEA Board, former Minister of Education of Sweden
Angeliki Giannakopoulou, Senior Policy and Projects Coordinator, EAEA
In this workshop we will explore and debate on the two faces of transitions, asking whether current societal shifts are truly advancing sustainability or simply reinforcing competitiveness. As we navigate ecological, digital, and economic change, we will critically examine who shapes these transitions—and who benefits or is left behind. The session will investigate the connections between the Just Transition, social justice, and the structural inequalities embedded in dominant development models. We will also reflect on the role of adult learning and flexible learning pathways in equipping individuals and communities to engage with and shape these transitions. Can education foster agency, critical thinking, and alternatives—or is it being co-opted? Through the lens of alternative economic models, grassroots activism, and ecological responsibility, we will challenge assumptions about growth, progress, and inclusion. Participants will debate and examine flexible learning pathways not only as tools for upskilling, but as mechanisms for empowerment, democratic participation, and systemic change.
TBC
Facilitator:
- Sylvia Liuti, FORMA.Azione
What do we really mean when we talk about flexibility in adult education? Do we all envision the same thing? This interactive workshop invites participants to explore and question their understanding of flexible learning pathways, through a Gender and Intersectional Lens.
The workshop will start by engaging participants in reflecting on flexible learning pathways they are familiar with or want to further ensure to their beneficiaries.
Building on this, participants are invited to broaden their understanding of flexibility, by examining how diverse needs, expectations, and life circumstances shape learning experiences—and how this calls for more personalized and responsive pathways.
A hands-on, collaborative activity will guide participants throughout a new perspective on how to design and craft effective and flexible learning pathways.
Lunch break
Parallel workshops
Facilitators:
Dearbháil Lawless, CEO, AONTAS, Ireland / EAEA Vice-President
Angeliki Giannakopoulou, Senior Policy and Projects Coordinator, EAEA
In this workshop, we will explore how adult learning can actively foster both self-determination and collective action among learners. Centering the concept of learner agency, we will examine how adult education can move beyond consultation to true power-sharing and co-creation. Through a participatory mapping exercise, participants will identify existing learner voice activities within their contexts and reflect on their scope, reach, and impact. We will then work together to link these practices to real commitments by developing roadmaps for action in policy and practice. We will try to emphasize the need to build structures that not only listen to learners but support their leadership and activism. A learner will join us to share their personal learning journey, offering insight into what agency can look like in practice. We will consider systemic enablers and barriers to learner-led change and explore strategies to strengthen democratic participation in education. Join us to reimagine adult learning as a space for both personal transformation and collective empowerment.
Facilitators:
- Marta Jendekova, AIVD/AINOVA
- Verena Lehnen, BIBB
- Tina Mavrič, EAEA
The demand for green skills is steadily increasing, but how can we acquire and cultivate these skills effectively? Moreover, reaching out to participants and actively engaging them in sustainability initiatives is essential for fostering meaningful change. Exploring the diverse spaces where our actions can take place is equally important in this process.
We invite you to join us on a journey of discovery through the innovative method of LEGO Serious Play. By participating in this interactive workshop, you will have the opportunity to explore your role and impact within your environment, while gaining valuable insights. Our experienced facilitators will also share inspiring examples to further enrich your learning experience.
Facilitators:
- Dina Soeiro, Polytechnic University of Coimbra
- Alex Stevenson, L&W
- Maria Ribeiro, EAEA
The gap between people who have access and know how to use technology is getting wider, as showcased in the latest PIAAC survey which also highlights a decline in literacy skills. These two challenges are interconnected.
In our workshop, we will show how to bring together traditional and digital ways of learning. Our goal is to make literacy and digital skills more connected. You will explore different ways of learning and how stories are told using digital tools, where everyone feels included.
Together, you will create a plan for using these digital tools and ideas with your own learners and community.
Facilitators:
- Anna Skocz, STOP
- Oleg Smirnov, DVV International Ukraine
- Victoria Furhalo, City Institute
Facilitators:
- Manos Pavlakis, Frederick University
- George A. Koulaouzides, Hellenic Open University
The aim of the workshop is to explore how inclusive leadership at strategic, pedagogical, and community levels can create flexible learning pathways that empower adult learners-especially those at risk of exclusion. While the digital and green transitions, along with AI integration, are not just individual learner needs, they represent significant contextual shifts. Educators, trainers, and institutional leaders must consider these transformations when designing inclusive learning strategies and environments.
Closing remarks
Speaker: Lauri Tuomi, Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation
Participation fees
Early bird until end of February:
EAEA members: 80 Euros
Non-members: 100 Euros
Until end of April:
EAEA members: 90 Euros
Non-members: 110 Euros
1st May onwards:
EAEA members: 110 Euros
Non-members: 130 Euros
