How it started - how it’s going

#AdultConversations #52weeks52speaks

Week 1 Mel Lenehan

Where it started

Full of rage and despair (again) at the state of the sector I’ve worked in for the last twenty two years and one that I love with all my heart, I logged on, probably for the 7th or 8th time that day, in the Autumn of 2020 to Zoom. Why you may ask?

A very special place exists in the land of zoom called the #JoyFE Ideas Room. A weekly space where everyone is welcomed. It works on thinking environment principles and ideas are explored in an incredibly liberating and supportive way. Sometimes you come with an idea, frustration or cry for help and sometimes you come to listen.

“I’d really like to talk about adult education” I said. So off we went and I ranted, probably for far too long about my frustration and despair at the lost opportunity of not having a valued, vibrant, innovative adult community education sector. And the need to do something about it. Now. The amazing thing about the #JoyFE ideas room is that you feel not just supported but held and it opens up amazing opportunities for collaboration.

Where it is now

Called to action, #AdultConversations was born. Through snatches of conversations and brief zooms in between the madness of the last term, we’ve got a plan, staged a twitter event, made alliances and allegiances and have started to get noticed, even if only so far by our friends.

Through 2021 we hope to enable an ongoing dialogue about adult community education. We hope to (re) define what it is and where it is in our communities and explore its civic responsibility through its ecology and (currently damaged) infrastructure relations. We want to find the places and spaces where it can thrive, particularly learning from the micro-communities and mutual aid emerging from Covid. What can be harnessed and sustained?

Over the next 52 weeks there will be 52 #AdultConversations “speaks” – this is week 1. A weekly release to talk about ACE using different spaces and forms. 5 regional #AdultConversations events will run throughout spring 2021 with participants asked to commit to further actions, amplifying unheard voices and communities. These will also help us to paint the ecology - what our adult community education could and should be.

Our ambitions are high, the timescale is set and I’m sure it’s going to be a challenging year.

Unlike others excited by the possible glimpse of money for the sector in 2021, I’m looking forward to the conversations. And I have 2 amazing new, brilliant friends in @JFletcherSaxon @LouMycroft.

Mel Lenehan is Principal of Fircroft College of Adult Education in Birmingham. Together with Jo Fletcher-Saxon and Lou Mycroft, she will be leading the #AdultConversations campaign to put adult community education back in to the national conversation. To find out more about this grassroots campaign for 2021, head to the microsite www.adultconversations.uk and follow the hashtag #adultconversations on social media. You can also support this campaign by sharing, amplifying and alerting people to the campaign and invite contributions.

Want to contribute a piece to #52weeks52speaks? Great! Email your article or creative endeavours to adultconversations2021@gmail.com. We are open to all types of contributions which focus on adult community education. This might be blog articles, academic articles, essays, poems, art works, podcasts, news pieces, stories, films – from either adult educators or students. They might be reflective pieces, sharing of experiences, research pieces, a polemic or a think piece. That’s really up to you. We just ask that you please adhere to our community guidelines on ethos and values.

Want to attend one of the regional conversations? Let us know and look out for the Eventbrite booking opening for your region.

We welcome any offers of support so just get in touch. Our aims or ‘purpose’ can be found in the About section of the website.