Overview of the Project

In OECD countries such as Canada and Germany, adult learning and education (ALE) programs are provided to support immigrant integration into host societies. These programs — along with the underlying governance structures, funding regimes, and networks of providers and stakeholders — are what make up an ALE system that shapes immigrant work and life opportunities and outcomes ^{1 2}.

Researchers from Adult Learning & Education at University of British Columbia and the German Institute for Adult Education (Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning) are collaborating to drive this project.

Goals of the Project

• To learn from each other, generate knowledge together, and mobilize that knowledge to better support ALE systems integrate immigrants and refugees in the rapidly changing context of migration.

• To build a dialogue network called the Adult Learning and Education in Immigrant Settlement and Integration (ALE-in-ISI) so that ALE community organizations can better learn from one another.

Research

Team Members

Dialogue Network

The Objectives

1. To compare and develop a systematic overview of the policies, provision, and governance of ALE programs for immigrants across cities since 2015 after the Syrian refugee crisis;
2. To identify how immigrant integration is imagined, and approached by ALE practitioners and policy makers;
3. To explore relationships among program provision, program participation, and integration outcomes;
4. To build the capacity of ALE researchers and practitioners to inform dialogues over policies and programs in relation to immigrant integration.

Funding Acknowledgement

This project is funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Partnership Development Grant (PDG) program (890-2023-0034) with support from the German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE) in Bonn, the UBC Faculty of Education, and Department of Educational Studies.