Prof. Borut Mikulec

Prof. Dr. Borut Mikulec is associate professor of adult and continuing education at the Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana.

• the role of transnational organisations in education policy
• international and comparative adult education
• the policy in adult education
• profession-alization of adult educators
• continuing vocational education and training
• and citizenship education

CG 4: Programme planning and analysis in adult education: Dealing with power and ethics

Co-Moderators: Dr. Bernd Käpplinger

Although adults can learn independently and in self-directed ways, many learn in an organised manner through formal and non-formal educational opportunities available to them. Various organisations provide learning opportunities for adults through their educational programmes, and programme planning and provision represent core activities of professional practice in adult education, where power and ethics must be critically considered and often balanced.

Programme analysis refers to the analysis of educational programmes. Programmes:

• in adult education serve as a hinge between potential learners and the provision of learning offers.
• now encompass a wide variety of formats, including printed catalogues, leaflets, posters, webpages, downloadable PDF documents, online databases, or posts about learning events on social media.
• can be regarded as everyday documents or temporary marketing tools, but programmes and associated programme planning are much more than that.
• often include a brief description of the aims and content of a course, the way learning takes place, information about the teachers, target learner groups, location, time, costs, and other relevant details.

By analysing educational programmes, we can identify the development of course types/areas of study (e.g. health education, political education, languages, basic education/literacy, professional training), localities and venues where they are offered, instruments and policies related to the programmes, target groups addressed, funding of programmes, and other relevant aspects. Programmes often reflect the contemporary “Zeitgeist”.

1. MIKULEC, B. (2021): The influence of international intergovernmental organisations on Slovenian adult education policies. International journal of lifelong education, 40(1), 37-52.
2. GUIMARÃES, P., & MIKULEC, B. (2021): The paradox of utilitarian recognition of prior learning: the cases of Portugal and Slovenia. European journal for research on the education and learning of adults, 12(1), 109-122.
3. KOŠMERL, T., & MIKULEC, B. (2021): You have to run it like a companyʹ: the marketisation of adult learning and education in Germany and Slovenia. European journal for research on the education and learning of adults, 12(1), 47-63.
4. SCHWARZ, J., & MIKULEC, B. (2020): The role of organisations in the professionalisation of adult educators in Germany and Slovenia. Andragogical Studies, 2, 9-32.
5. MIKULEC, B. (2019): Competences of adult education professionals in the European and Slovene context. Journal of adult and continuing education, 25(1), 25-44.
6. MIKULEC, B. (2018): Normative presumptions of the European Union's adult education policy. Studies in the education of adults, 50(2), 133-151.
7. MIKULEC, B. (2017): Impact of the Europeanisation of education: qualifications frameworks in Europe. European educational research journal, 16(4), 455-473.