New Year Honours: Knighthood for adult education pioneer Published duration 29 December 2017

image copyright Phoenix image caption Prof Tuckett established Adult Learners' Week 25 years ago

A pioneer of adult learning has been knighted in the New Year Honours for services to education.

Prof Alan Tuckett, from the University of Wolverhampton, established Adult Learners' Week in 1992 and is a Unesco adviser on lifelong learning.

The ex-president of the International Council for Adult Education said he was "honoured and humbled".

Wolverhampton vice chancellor Prof Geoff Layer said his colleague was the "voice of adult education".

"Forty years after helping to establish the very idea of the 'adult learner' in the 1970s, today he inspires the next generation of educators," Prof Layer added.

Adult Learners' Week, now rebranded as Festival of Learning, is held annually in 55 countries.

Prof Sir Alan lives in Leicestershire.