Diversification, Massification and Depletion of the Portuguese Offer of Adult Education and Training: Reflexions and Anxieties

Abstract

Under the assumption that the “state” is the main political actor, in its various current reconfigurations, and has the duty to assure the right of adults to education, we will adopt a perspective of social justice that goes beyond and questions the perspective of justice induced by the market. Having this framework in mind, we will reflect on the features, as well as the various kinds of ambivalence and tension, both of the agenda concerning diversification and the one of the massification of the National Offer of Adult Education and Training (AET). Finally, we will make some considerations about the current political situation, taking into account the international data that point out Portugal as the last in the European Union rank concerning Lifelong Education of individuals with a low schooling level. In this article we position ourselves against the neo-liberal trends in the current governance of this area.