AVP at the AONTAS Adult Education Summit 2025: Connection, Community, and Collective Learning
AVP Ireland had the joy of taking part in the AONTAS Adult Education Summit 19-20 November 2025 — two days filled with inspiring talks, practical workshops, and rich conversations with people and organisations across the adult education sector.
It was a great opportunity to share our work alongside community education groups from across the country, being reminded again and again of something central to AVP: real transformation happens when people connect.
Across panels and workshops, we reflected on the power of community education spaces that bring people together, spark dialogue, foster inclusion, and build confidence. This deeply resonates with our work at AVP, where human connection, shared leadership, and community-building are at the heart of everything we do.
Equally, the strong consensus on the bidirectional way of everyone learning in a community education setting was very encouraging, with strong reflections on how to empower learners not only within the education space but also on an organisational level.
This simple truth is one we hold close at AVP. It isn’t top-down teaching or expertise that transforms people — it’s meeting as equals, listening deeply, and learning from one another.
Thanks to the support of AONTAS, we were delighted to host a stand throughout the entire event, which allowed us to engage in meaningful conversations about our work in Irish prisons, conflict transformation, and community connection, as well as the role of experiential learning in adult education.
We invited everyone to reflect on a simple yet complex question:
The responses people shared were a heartening reminder of how closely aligned the wider adult-learning sector is with AVP’s principles. Even those who had never heard of AVP before named values that underpin our work: trust, listening, empathy, confidence, and genuine human connection.
Across areas such as literacy, community development, trauma-informed practice, mental-health supports, and social inclusion, so many groups are striving toward the same vision of a more connected, peaceful, and empowered society. And that is the world AVP is working towards as well — one workshop at a time!
A huge thank-you to everyone who stopped by our stand, shared their insights, asked about our work, or simply paused for a chat, and AONTAS for hosting such a thoughtful and energising event, as well as for their ongoing commitment to supporting adult learners and community education across Ireland!
