In 2006 a Communication on Adult learning by the European Commission, stated that Member states “can no longer afford to be without an efficient adult learning system” (p. 5). The Action plan on Adult learning (2007) singles out the quality of staff as a crucial motivating factor for adult learning, but recognizes that “little attention has been paid to the training (initial and continuing)… of adult learning staff” (p. 8). The concerned on the need to qualify adult education practitioners is testified by national and cross-national developmental projects, aimed at creating training modules for this target group (Carlsen & Irons 2003; Jääger & Irons, 2006). Initial education and training of adult educators, however, is still a neglected area of research. General, vocationally oriented and liberal education are still separated fields of public intervention and initial education and training pathways reflect these distinctions. Nonetheless, these boundaries are being questioned by the shift of focus from education to learning, from learning contexts to learning outcomes, and not least by the prominence of accreditation of prior learning and the high quest for tailored-made education. Adult educators need to be prepared to perform according to high quality standards in a changing working environment. There is a need for a systematic analysis of structural and individual features, which lead to the formation of initial competences and qualifications among adult-educators-to-be. The point of departure for the present study is that individuals exist in multiple, multi-layered and interacting contexts, each of which is a domain of social relations and physical context (Bronfenbrenner 1979, 1986). Here the individual creation of meaning is related to collective life conditions as well as collective social identities. Thus an important element is to focus on the interaction between adult educators-to-be and the structural conditions which characterise the wider socio-cultural context in which they act. Individual motivations for working in the field of adult education as well as the learning process which leads to the initial formation of competences and qualifications can be understood in the context of the life history (Bertaux, 1997). The aims of this paper is: a) to map out current initial education and training pathways for adult educators-to-be as well as different understandings of professionalization processes, which govern general adult education, vocationally oriented adult education and liberal education strategies in the Danish context; and b) to identify specific policy strategies put forward by the Danish Government to enhance quality in the field of adult education.

The analysis will primarily draw on policy documents produced in the field of adult education (i.e. policy statements, laws, by-laws, reports, etc) in Denmark.

This is a background paper that considers the Danish context prior to the commencement of a comparative empirical study involving several European countries.