Writing this editorial whilst many people are experiencing a second wave of the global COVID-19 pandemic, it is interesting to reflect on learning and the role of education providers. Arguably, in some countries such as the UK, the media has constructed a bad-news story about online learning in these times. Rather than discuss areas of community and adult education provision that have been neglected or the potential of formal, informal and non-formal learning – as a means of recovery – learning has been ‘mediatised’ – online learning in schools, colleges and universities has become the dominant problem (Rawolle & Lingard, 2014). Undoubtedly there are difficulties: online learning exacerbates existing inequalities in people’s access to technologies and the spaces to study in homes, and parents working from home have to juggle the expectations of their employers with supporting the learning of their children, and perhaps also their own needs as adult learners. Yet constructing the focus on online learning as the main bad-news story neglects the gaps that are opening up in learning opportunities as adult education provision is being marginalised (see UIL blog, 2020). In adapting to working from home many adults may need to engage in fresh areas of professional development, whilst others are having to consider engaging in new learning or retraining as their jobs change or disappear. Moreover, comparative research of catastrophes and major disasters in five different countries has highlighted the centrality of adult education concepts, such as transformation learning and role of adult educators in helping communities learn to navigate change, reframe their thinking, and organise and develop resilience for disaster preparedness and recovery (Preston et al., 2015).