Adult Education Policies in Italy

The social and economic crises that embroil Europe, the flood of migrants, continuing climate change and the loss of biodiversity all focus emphasis on the theme of sustainability. With the Brundtland Report of 1987, sustainability emerged as a name for the ecological struggle against the degradation of natural systems and the loss of biological organisms. Since then, as sustainability became associated with ideas of development and growth, the word entered the world of economics to name a new way of looking at how resources might be exploited which includes the search for new and less damaging models of production and ways of bringing goods to market. William Clark brought the idea of sustainability into the world of epistemology when he postulated a post-normal science (Ravetz, 1999) that questions the linearity and certainty of the old theory-application model by pointing out the complexity of all systems, the plurality and partiality in the perspectives of research, and calls for participative approaches to knowledge. The idea of sustainability has expanded into social and cultural life by becoming an ethical question tied to civic participation, the fight against inequality, the fight against exploitation, and the development of a global mindset. Sustainability entered the world of education relating to the development of the individual’s responsibility and autonomy in various contexts of life and learning. In adult education – assigned the duty of re-examining teaching and learning through the lens of lifelong learning – sustainability deals with the development of a ecological pedagogy that centers on social justice, on equity, on changing lifestyles and societies, on promoting public good and both personal and social agency.