The keynote speaker, Mark Ravenhall, Senior Research Fellow with NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) said that a lot of time and energy was spent on convincing politicians at Westminster of the benefits of adult learning. He went on to say that "unless you start speaking their language and put the case in financial terms you will not be successful."
Other speakers included Berni Brady, Director of Aontas, and Brendan Clarke, CEO of OCNNI both commenting on the need for government to take seriously the issue of adult continuing education. All those attending the conference called for unity around FALNI to support them to create a powerful advocacy and lobbying group for adult learning.
Prior to the conference, we interviewed Colin Neilands, Director of WEA(NI) and Chair of FALNI to find out a little more about FALNI.