4th Global Report on Adult Learning and Education

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning - 01/02/2020

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) undertakes research, capacity-building, networking and publication on lifelong learning with a focus on adult and continuing education, literacy and non-formal education. Its publications are a valuable resource for education researchers, planners, policy-makers and practitioners.

The aim of the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) is to deepen our knowledge of adult learning and education (ALE) as a key component of lifelong learning across the globe, in order to improve education policies, concepts and practice within the framework of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Three GRALE reports have been published to date – in 2009, 2013 and 2016 – all of them with reference to the Belém Framework for Action (BFA), adopted by Member States at the sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) in Belém, Brazil, in 2009. One important purpose of the report is to monitor progress against the BFA, through the GRALE survey. Following the adoption by UNESCO Member States of the 2015 Recommendation on Adult Learning and Education (RALE), GRALE 4 additionally provides monitoring information on the implementation of RALE, also based on the GRALE monitoring survey. It is pleasing to note that the response rate for the GRALE 4 survey increased to 80% from 71% for GRALE 3.