New skills in adult education and training: the field of mediation in Portugal and France

The concept of competence has been much substantiated, studied and discussed. As the result of new educational models developed in the field of Adult Education and Training (AET) during the last decade, new professionals have emerged, whose intervention is located mainly in the field of Educational Mediation and Adult Education. These professionals have had to develop a set of specific competences for their work. This article will present some results from a predominantly qualitative multi-case study carried out in Portugal and France and discuss data related to those competences and the role of the professionals in these challenging processes