Prof. Dr. 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 3: Implementation of the European agenda for adult learning

Co-Moderators: Tadej Košmerl & Prof. Lucas Pacheco Campos

The role of the EU in adult learning (AL) policymaking has received significant attention in the field of adult education. The EU is identified, among others, as one of the international organisations that promote particular discourses and policies of AL and stimulate international policy transfer – policy transfer encompasses ideas, ideology, practices and institutions and refers to the processes through which policies travel and move across borders – through best practices, European standards and evidence-based policy. However, although AL policies have no legal effects on member states, as due to the subsidiarity role these are non-binding documents, they are exercised in the form of ‘soft law’ (e.g. recommendations, guidelines) and supported through different governance mechanisms (e.g. standard-setting, capacity-building) and policy instruments (e.g. data generation, benchmarks, funding schemes).

To identify, whether the tendency to create similar AL policies based on European standards and norms leads towards convergence of AL policies and practices in EU member states, there is a need to examine the impact of EU’s AL policies on country-level AL policies and practices.

Therefore, this comparative group will examine the impact of one particular AL policy, i.e. Council Resolution on a renewed European agenda for adult learning (CEU, 2011), on member states AL policies and practices in the period 2012-2020, as well as commonalities and differences between member’s states in implementing the European agenda for adult learning in national contexts.

For more information about the comparative group have a look at our programme!

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.