Normative Visions and Alternative Worldviews of Manifestos in Adult Education

This paper explores the normative visions and alternative worldviews of adult education (AE) amid the current dominant economic-utilitarian paradigm promoted by international organisations (IOs). While IOs have been recognised as influential agenda-setters that primarily reinforce economic and technocratic perspectives on AE, less is known about alternative policy-relevant ideas circulating within networks of civil society actors and academics that also produce policy-relevant knowledge. Focusing on published manifestos, understood as expressions of collective principles and calls to action, the study analyses the normative commitments of these actors regarding the purposes of AE and desired policy directions. Employing an interdisciplinary conceptual framework that integrates Biesta’s work on the purpose of education with Schmidt’s distinction of policy, programmatic, and philosophical ideas, the paper qualitatively examines four AE manifestos published over the period 2019–2024 using deductive and inductive content analysis. Findings reveal how these actors conceptualise the role and purpose of AE, highlighting diverse reform preferences that go beyond economic-utilitarian worldviews. The paper concludes by reflecting on the ‘ideational power’ of manifestos in influencing policymaking and suggests avenues for further research.