An Introduction to IFWEA

IFWEA is the international organisation responsible for the development of workers' education. It brings together national and international trade unions, workers' education associations, NGOs and foundations engaged in the provision of adult education opportunities for workers and the communities in which they live throughout the world.

IFWEA is part of the family of international democratic labour movement organisations. It has observer status with the ILO and UNESCO, maintains close relations with the International Trade Union Confederation and the Global Union Federations, and shares mutual membership with SOLIDAR in Brussels.

IFWEA's Role

The core of IFWEA's activities are concerned with facilitating discussion, exchange and networks between member organisations on contemporary issues of workers' education, including educational method and technique, management, policy and practice. The central role of the Secretariat is to stimulate the development of a democratic workers' education movement, by providing contact between member organisations, assist with the development of partnerships, and promote best practice in educational design and delivery, through the provision of newsletters, discussion bulletins, seminars, conferences.

IFWEA seeks to encourage the expansion of workers' education provision worldwide, covering a broad range of workplace, cultural and economic issues. It is not party-political, and it is not aligned to any political grouping or tendency, other than the broad principles of the international democratic labour movement.

IFWEA is not primarily concerned with vocational or technical training, although many member organisations include such activity in their curriculum. Rather it seeks to support, through education and exchange, the development of workers' democratic engagement with society and the economy, through trade unions, community organisations, or democratic political parties.

Much of IFWEA's work is concerned with strengthening democratic workers’ organisation, nationally and internationally. IFWEA regards workers' education as the primary tool for the development of democratic organisation, rather than simply an end in itself.

IFWEA also recognises and addresses the need for a broad approach to workers' education, including the importance of the arts, culture, literature and history in the curriculum. In that sense, IFWEA embraces the 'liberal adult education' tradition in workers' education, as an essential strand of democratic life and civil society.