Regulations and Working Conditions for Trainers in Adult Education: A Comparative Glance

Adult education is a fundamental and strategic part of the new strategies for Europe. Education, learning, lifelong and lifewide learning are the central pivots for a sustainable, smart, and creative growth of people for the future, a very close future, as a mid-term ho- rizon. Thus, the training of the trainers appears to be one of the most important points of research and practice fields in adult education, and it is possible to say that the beginning and continuous training of adult educators, adult teachers, trainers, guides, and coaches/ mentors is a sensitive and central point for professionalisation. This chapter focuses on the qualitative pathways for the training of adult trainers from a comparative perspective. The authors describe the differences at the legislative level and the variations in the training situation in three European countries: Italy, Germany, and Portugal. The aim of the article is to confirm the initial hypothesis. Although trainers are highly regarded in the develop- ment of societies, economies, and people, their working conditions and job situations seem to be underestimated (reflected namely in unstable labour contracts, long working hours, and a precarious payment system).