BERNI BRADY is under no illusions about the difficulties her job entails. Delivering relevant continuing education to those who need or want it outside the mainstream system has never been easy and this was unlikely to change significantly just because "Europe" put lifelong learning into the spotlight during 1996.

However, Berni Brady does feel that the year was useful in bringing certain issues to the fore. For example, she says, it reopened the whole debate about what constitutes learning and highlighted just how wide a gap exists between those making educational policy decisions and those trying to implement them on the ground.

"Overall, I suppose the year was useful as it brought a number of issues into focus. But I was disappointed that there was not a greater emphasis on ways in which the existing barriers to continuing education could be broken down," she says.

"As an adult in this country, you can in theory access higher education as there are no legal barriers to participation. The fact is, however, that very few adults can afford to involve themselves in a system which favours the social and economically advantaged. In practice, only those with money can return to learning on a part-time, modular or distance learning basis.

"Secondly, the decision to abolish third-level fees is unlikely to open the doors of higher education to large numbers of working class or disadvantaged young people. Its lack of extension to part-time adult learners has resulted in double discrimination and it will essentially promote the survival of the fittest.

"It is a similar situation with mainstream vocational training. While it operates under a policy of equality of opportunity, there are significant barriers for women and people with disabilities. In an effort to promote equality of participation the Government has introduced a number of schemes targeted at particular groups of people. These tend to have high visibility and resources but they are much too narrow to allow everyone who wishes or who might benefit from such courses to participate," she says.

As a former teacher and director of adult literacy programmes, Berni Brady's concern about educational matters is broadly based and she was particularly interested in how the whole issue of what constitutes learning came to the fore again and again during the year.

"It was like a re-run of the debates of the 1970s, when people were trying to define what education should be about," she says.

"People seemed very hungry for this debate and there was certainly a view that lifelong learning is vitally important for society in terms of its political education and its ability to think critically. Indeed, one of the speakers during the year made the point that the emphasis on technological and functional knowledge had done away with people's ability to think critically and philosophically about important issues," she says.

As a result of the year, Berni Brady says that organisations such as Aontas will be looking very closely at how they can have more of an impact on education's policy makers.

"We are very worried about the gap between the policy makers and those of us working in education," she says.

"We try to get them to listen and to come and look at what we are doing. But there is little interest or commitment to the adult and continuing education sector and we feel there is a strong need to communicate our message at a much higher political level both at home and in Europe.