In 2009, Germany signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and thus committed to implement and to ensure (among others) an inclusive education system as well as an inclusive labour market. Whereas the vocational training sector, adult education and the labour market still fail to meet the criteria for inclusivity (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales 2021, p. 197). Contrary, Germany belongs to the countries with a “traditionally highly segregated education system” (Schreiber-Barsch & Rule 2021, p. 252) in which people are divided into “normal” and “special” learning institutions. Who is assigned to which institution depends on the binary attributions “able” or “not-able”. The same applies to the labour market (Kranert et al. 2021). Beyond Germany, there is a persistent gap between employment rates of the so-called non-disabled and disabled people in all European and OECD countries (Sainsbury 2018, p. 135).

In adult education, especially persons with cognitive disabilities are usually not considered at all, because they are attributed, among other things, with having no interest in education or not being able to learn (Pongratz 2022). As ableism is considered a powerful mechanism of exclusion, individuals at the intersection of racism and ableism face potentially magnifying effects of exclusion, especially under capitalist conditions (Aferworki Abay 2022, p. 103).

The paper explores possibilities for inclusion and participatory language education in the context of German adult education classes. Addressees of the programme are employees of sheltered workshops in Bremen, Germany. The project is one of the first attempts to offer adult education at the intersection of second language acquisition and disability. The target group in question consists of highly heterogeneous groups of learners, especially regarding language proficiency, first language(s) and disability, but also in terms of other categories such as age or gender. At the same time, the learners are part of the segregated labour market specifically reserved for disabled people, bearing characteristics of total institutions, as Karim (2021) argues. While the German classes are accessible only to employees of the institutions, and thereby subject to exclusive conditions (Kranert et al. 2021), the aim of the programme is nonetheless to foster inclusion and promote participants’ communicative agency in the workplace and beyond. In this context, approaches of „inclusive exclusion“ i.e. exclusive environments leading to a higher level of inclusion in the future (Kollender 2020), seem worthy of consideration.

With these perspectives in mind, the paper is looking into how and to what extent, inclusive and participative approaches can be implemented in adult education at the intersection of ableism and racism within todays excluding and segregating social structures. Thus, we are focusing on the professionalization for inclusive adult education by following an intersectional approach on inclusion, critical on power-relations and on (re-)producing differences (e.g. More & Ratković 2022). In order to implement the values of inclusivity which we argue for, the study follows a qualitative research design with participatory components, empowering all research participants and lending a voice to their perspectives. We conclude by discussing “Critical Diversity Literacy” (Steyn 2015) as a meta-competence in order to reduce excluding attitudinal barriers.

The results of this study are highly relevant beyond the specific German context, as they provide valuable insights into possibilities of creating a participative and inclusive learning environment for learners positioned at the intersection of racism and ableism.

As the aim of the evaluation-project is to examine to what extent the language course is already designed in a participatory way, a qualitative, triangulation research design is implemented. For a full comprehension, the different perspectives of people involved, are taken into account. Consequently, the data is comprised by: • group discussion with the trainers of the German language courses • video recordings and analysis of three lessons observed • collective review and discussion of the lessons observed with the learners • collective review and discussion of the lessons observed with the trainers • artifacts (collages, drawings) made by the learners Since data collection and analysis are still ongoing, we are going to present first results regarding the perspectives of the trainers which are mainly drawn from the group discussion, the video analysis and the collective review and discussion of the lessons recorded. This data is analysed using qualitative content analysis (Mayring 2015). For analysis of the collages and drawings an interpretive method is being developed (Kurawa & Azare 2014).

The implementation of inclusive adult education and the professionalization of pedagogical staff is mainly based on a normative-legal claim (CRPD). However, this does not automatically lead to a dissolution of segregated work and educational opportunities, nor to an automatic change in attitudes. Rather, a problem-oriented approach is taken when considering how barriers can be removed in the courses offered. Even if awareness of barriers, which turn impairments into disabilities, arises, a more differentiated and intersectional view of the group of people with disabilities is missing in professionalization. This includes a reflected understanding of disability, normality and deviation, as well as of the relations of difference and power. This leads to reflective questions. Who determines, who should and may have access to which education and which educational programmes? Which ability attributions are made to the participants in the courses? To what extent are people with disabilities considered and problematized as a homogeneous group? To what extent does the same happen along other categories of difference? For the further development of professionalization for inclusive adult education and participation, the approach of critical diversity literacy (Steyn 2015) can be helpful to recognise social power relations, to reflect on one's own involvement in these relations, to reflect on social and binary constructions of difference and to stop (re)producing difference. This requires a professionalization of those responsible (programme planners and trainers), Furthermore, professionalization requires reflection of one's own (partly unconscious) attitudes and practices of creating and maintaining difference and an awareness of how these attitudes and practices have been developed through socialisation processes in a racist, ableist, sexist and classist society.

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