• Adult Learning and Education in Immigrant Settlement and Integration

Global human development strategies and policies recognize the right to mobility, defined at the international level as the freedom and choice that people have or can have to move or not to move (UNDP, 2009). Data provided by the United Nations (UNDESA, 2020) on international migration tell us that people who reside in a country other than their country of birth today number 281 million (3.6% of the world population). The percentage of so-called "migrants" (who are of working age between 20 and 64 years) is equal to 69% of the total (UNDESA, 2020), with a percentage of women of 41.5% (ILO, 2021). The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, 2024) includes 117.3 million refugees, asylum seekers and internally or externally displaced persons within the category of "forcibly displaced".

Migrations are directly or indirectly included in the phenomena identified as megatrends, that is, disruptive and inexorable trends of change, determining structural transformations in the global economy, in health systems and social relationships. These are phenomena whose intensity is such as to redefine the priorities of societies, the terms of the social contract and business models, with significant impacts on government policies, business strategies, and on the perceptions and lifestyles of citizens.

It is possible to affirm that migration actually exerts educational actions—positive or negative, direct or indirect—on the global population, on those who migrate, on those who would like to migrate but do not have the capacity to do so, on family members who remain, on diasporas, on destination communities. In the broader socio-cultural context of immigration, the negative influence of the narratives on immigration and immigrants promoted by some political actors at national and international levels, and how these can be amplified through various media, can be significant.

In this context, the disparity of educational opportunities becomes evident.

The conditions of heterogeneity and diversity that migratory phenomena bring to light, seen from a democratic perspective, visibly show the limited effectiveness of some educational practices and the need for constructs and practices that help identify educational processes capable of acting also through work, cultural consumption, social and educational services, social and associative networks.

In this process, the construct of migratory aspiration can become an interpretative category to consider the migrant public as the set of subjects, individuals or groups, engaged in processes of transformation of their educational conditions. From a pedagogical point of view, the construct of migratory aspiration also has a significant role in the construction of existential trajectories and conscious life projects, within which the migration project represents an opportunity for personal and social development and transformation of identities.

The increase in migration for work reasons of highly qualified people also raises the question of the transferability of qualifications, but above all of the recognition of professional skills, to counter phenomena of deskilling and downward social mobility.

The Florence meeting aims to:

a. Identify topics and challenges on which further research activities on an international scale can be developed

b. Prepare a call for submissions from a magazine/journal and a special issue dedicated to the topic which constitutes added value built upon what already exists

c. Explore the possibility of building a transnational path for the training of professionals and volunteers who operate in migratory contexts

d. Create opportunities to research reception and integration systems by identifying success factors in a win-win logic for both the countries of origin and the countries of destination.

Promoter:

University of British Columbia and the German Institute for Adult Education

Chair of Panel:

Thomas Sork, University of British Columbia, Canada, Member of the IACE Hall of Fame Board of Directors

German Institute for Adult Education-DIE (TBC)

Mary Alfred, Member of the IACE Hall of Fame Board of Directors, United States

Federico Batini, University of Perugia, Italy

Francesco De Maria, University of Florence, Italy

Giovanna Del Gobbo, Teaching and Learning Centre-University of Florence, Italy

Damian Faeh, Flying Teachers GmbH; EBSN, Switzerland

Shibai Guo, University of Calgary, Canada

Lilian Hill, University of Southern Mississippi, United States

Alexandra Ioannidou, German Institute for Adult Education-DIE, Germany

Vaughn John, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Katrin Kaufmann-Kuchta, German Institute for Adult Education- DIE, Germany

Babangida Ladan, Bayero University, Kano and Nigerian National Council for Adult Education, Nigeria

Elizabeth Lange, Institute of Sustainable Futures University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Malgosia Malec Rawinski, Stockholm University, Sweden

Chiara Mannoni, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio-Firenze, Italy

Ekkehard Nuissl, German Institute for Adult Education- DIE, Germany, Member of the IACE Hall of Fame

Annalisa Raymer, North American Alliance of Learning Cities and Coalition of Lifelong Learning Organizations, United States

Emanuela Rossi, University of Florence, Italy

Bonnie Slade, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

Sabina Stefani, Tuscany Regional Government, Italy

Enrico Vignando, University of Udine & Modena-Reggio Emilia, Italy

Yan Guo, University of Calgary, Canada

Hall of Fame Mentor:
Simona Sava, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara, Romania, Member of the IACE Hall of Fame

Preparatory Webinar scheduled on October 2024, 15th at 6.30pm CEST.

Thomas Sork