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Adult education has multiple histories in countries around the globe. In the case of Germany, the year 1919 is of high importance, as the Volkshochschulen (vhs)—literally translated as folk high schools, more broadly as adult education centres—became a constitutional matter. Today, they are the largest institutionalized form of adult education in Germany with millions of participants every year. In 1969, the ongoing international activities of the vhs were insti-tutionalized into what is known today as DVV International. This year’s celebrations are used for contextualizing the development of adult education and thus for remembering the past with a view to the future of our profession.

Institutionalised forms of adult learning and education (ALE) such as community learning centres (CLCs) and related models are found in most parts of the world. These are spaces offering opportunities for literacy and skills training, health and citizenship, general, liberal and vocational education, in line with fuller recognition of the meaning of lifelong learning, and in the context of local communities. Often these institutions form the basis for even more informal and participatory learning, like study circles and community groups. They may share facilities like libraries and museums, clubs and sports centres, which are not within the remit of the Ministry of Education. This article reviews relevant literature and identifies recent studies and experiences with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific and Africa regions, but also considers insights related to interventions at the global level. Findings point to low levels of participation of adults in general, and more specifically so for vulnerable and excluded groups which can hardly cross respective barriers. The authors’ discussion is guided by the question What conditions are conducive to having more and better ALE for lifelong learning – and which roles can CLCs and other community-based ALE institutions play? This discussion is timely – the authors argue that CLCs need to be given more attention in international commitments such as those made in the context of the International Conferences of Adult Education (CONFINTEA) and the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). CLCs, they urge, should be part of transformative discourse and recommendations at CONFINTEA VII in 2022.

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Volkshochschule: ein Kind der Krise und der Demokratie "Als Untertanen zu Bürgern wurden. Revolution in Deutschland. Vor hundert Jahren jagte das Volk Kaiser und Fürsten davon und legte so das Fundament für einen modernen Staat" -so lautet der Titel der Wochenzeitung "Die Zeit" zu Beginn des Jahres 2018 (o. V. 2018). Damit ist der Zeitenbruch benannt, der das Jahr 1918 kennzeichnet: das Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges, die Abdankung des Deutschen Kaisers und das Ende des Deutschen Kaiserreichs, die Novemberrevolution, das Ende deutscher Kolonialzeit in Afrika.Das Jahr 1918 scheint also vor allem für "Ende" und Umbruch zu stehen. Zugleich markiert es einen Neubeginn, der sich 1919 konsolidierte und mit dem Wunsch nach Demokratie in vielen Teilen Europas verbunden ist. In Deutschland wurde am 9. November 1918 die Republik ausgerufen, am 11. August 1919 wurde die Weimarer Reichsverfassung verabschiedet; erstmalig gab es auf deutschem Boden die parlamentarische Demokratie als Staatsform. Doch diesem Anfang wohnte nicht nur ein Zauber inne; die Geburtsstunde der deutschen Demokratie ist eingebettet in die Erfahrung der Niederlage, des Niedergangs (ja des Untergangs), der geistig-moralischen Krise. Es ist kein Zufall, dass zu dieser Zeit des Umbruchs und der Erschütterung die Volkshochschule ihren großen Aufschwung nimmt. Sie sei notwendiger Ausdruck einer geistigen Bewegung, so schrieb einer der prominentesten Repräsentanten der Weimarer Erwachsenenbildung, Reinhard Buchwald: einer Bewegung, die ihren Ursprung in der "seelischen Not des inhaltlosen Daseins" habe, in der "geistige[n] Not der Ratlosigkeit" (Buchwald 1925, 8) und in der Erfahrung der Zerrissenheit und Vereinzelung. Daher bestimmt Buchwald die Aufgabe der Volkshochschule dreifach: Sie soll Lebensinhalt, Klarheit und Gemeinschaft geben (ebd., 5). Die Volkshochschule dient dem Menschen, das wird hier deutlich, sie dient dem Volk und sie dient der Demokratie, die auf Menschen angewiesen ist, die sie zu tragen bereit und imstande sind. Die Demokratie wiederum eröffnet der Volkshochschule Handlungsspielräume in einzigartiger Weise, zumal dann, wenn sie, wie in der Weimarer Reichsverfassung, zu einer öffentlichen Aufgabe erklärt wird.

In 2019, German folk high schools – Volkshochschulen (vhs) – celebrated the centenary of their inclusion in the Constitution of the Weimar Republic in 1919, an era when they founded local centres in many parts of the country. Ever since, they have played an important part in the adult learning and education (ALE) sub-sector of the German education system, meanwhile reaching a participation level of almost 9 million learners per year. Under the umbrella of its national association Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband (DVV), founded in 1953, the vhs offers courses in a variety of subjects and different forms through roughly 900 adult learning centres and almost 3,000 local branches. In 1969, DVV expanded its operations with the establishment of its own institute for international cooperation. DVV International, whose 50th anniversary coincided with the vhs centenary, has institutionalised the diversity and ever-growing scale of cross-border and global cooperation activities of the national association. Marking both anniversaries generated a kind of collective cultural memory which located the vhs in the institutional foundations of a democratic society, and paved the way to advance policy dialogue. At the same time, these anniversaries also fed into a marketing strategy to mobilise higher levels of support and participation. DVV International used the example of the evolution of the vhs system to demonstrate the importance of interventions for better policy, legislation and financing at local, national, regional and global levels. Activities throughout the anniversary year included high-level events, conferences and workshops, publications and studies. Based on these activities and outputs, the authors consider and compare commonalities and differences of ALE milestones in other countries and regions of the world, and their potential for learning from the past for the future.