From 9-11 June, approximately 150 academics, graduate students, practitioners and policy makers met in Montréal at the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education 2015 Annual Conference.

The opening keynote address was by Michele Stanton-Jean, former President of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (2006-2010). Drawing on her varied and extensive experience in community-based adult education, national and international politics, she stressed the importance of engaging with politicians and decision makers to raise awareness of the societal, economic and individual impact of adult education. By sharing our research findings, projects, stories and activism with decision makers we can open dialogue and demonstrate that ‘Adult education is an investment, not an expense’.  She challenged delegates to reflect on the major challenges for lifelong learning in the 21^st century, a theme that was taken up in the closing plenary.  

Over the three days papers were presented on a variety of topics, including critical pedagogy, transnational migration, workplace learning, vocational education, adult learning, disability and arts-informed approaches to adult education.  Matthew Bailey-Dick was awarded the Best Student Paper prize for his paper, ‘Dying to Learn:  Empowerment and Embodiment in Canadian Death Education’. Professor Budd Hall, a CR&DALL Associate, and Professor D’Arcy Martin were awarded lifetime achievement awards for their contributions to adult education in Canada and internationally. 

For more information, including the online conference papers : http://www.casae-aceea.ca/