Critical adult education is inspired by Paulo Freire’s educational writings. For him, the aim of the pedagogy of the oppressed is to emancipate people from social and economic repression. Critical adult education is intellectual work that aims to make the world more just. One might ask what exactly justice and injustice mean here, however. Is the work against social injustice mainly concerned with the redistribution of material goods or recognition and respect? This is the issue debated (...) by Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth. Honneth claims that in the context of social justice, recognition is a fundamental, overarching moral category and redistribution is derivative. Fraser denies that distribution could be subsumed under recognition and introduces a “perspectival dualist” analysis of social justice that considers the two categories as equally fundamental, mutually irreducible dimensions of justice. In this essay, Rauno Huttunen reflects on the relation between maldistribution and misrecognition, in order to think through critical adult education’s task in fighting against social injustice. (shrink)

"The Third Edition of Philosophical Foundations of Adult Education presents seven theoretical approaches to adult education: liberal, progressive, behaviorist, humanist, radical/critical, analytic, and postmodem. The book gives the historical grounding as well as the basic principles for each approach. In this edition each chapter has been revised and brought up to date. The chapter on radical adult education incorporates recent developments in radical education, phenomenology, feminist educational theory, and critical social theory. The book (...) contains an entirely new chapter on postmodem adult education.". (shrink)

Cette recherche propose d’étudier succinctement, à la suite de travaux de Foucault, deux textes de Platon dans deux contextes différents : au moment de l’apogée de la démocratie athénienne, celui sur Alcibiade, et au moment de la décadence des cités et démocraties grecques, sa Lettre VII. Dans les deux cas, il s’agit de l’éducation d’adultes, le premier, Alcibiade, prétendant à la gestion de la cité, le second, Denis II, nouvellement en exercice. Il est question ici d’identifier dans les deux cas, (...) les présupposés et les obstacles pour que les idées d’éducation et de formation participent à l’accroissement d’une conscience éthique et à la réalisation du politique. Le but étant de montrer, comment cette approche proposée par le jeune et le dernier Platon, peut encore revitaliser l’idée de la formation de l’adulte dans le contexte qui, comme le nôtre, a extirpé sous l’influence du modèle des sciences modernes, du champ de l’éducation et de la formation toutes questions métaphysiques comme celles qui donnent pourtant sens à nos actions, à notre existence et à celle du monde. (shrink)

In this article the author examine the type of mobilization processes that occur via interactions between the UNESCO and other political actors, and how these processes led to the creation of standard-setting and monitoring instruments, like the Belèm Framework for Action (UNESCO 2009) and the Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (UIL 2003, 2013). The findings point at three concurrent processes or modes of mobilization in adult education: landmarking, brokering and framing. Landmarking refers to the (...) process of co-constructing a shared past for a broad set of actors with policy will in adult education; Brokering captures the process of supporting the transaction of values, ideas and information to envision a viable future for adult education; finally framing addresses the structuring of information and intentions to produce materials changes at governmental level in the field of adult education. Drawing on different data sources, for each mode the author present and discuss few of its incidences and visible marks. (shrink)

Discussion of the sociology of adult education (nonformal education) - examines social theory approaches; looks at the functions and role of the curriculum; provides a cost benefit analysis of educational innovations; outlines the scope of distance study with examples; reviews adult education and modernization in developing countries with case studies of Botswana; makes a comparison of formal and nonformal education models. Bibliography.

This work acknowledges that spirituality is an integral part of adult learning and development. Building on the history of adult education and training, the authors suggest that the profession needs to recover some of its early concerns for holistic and spirituality informed practice.

The practice of adult learning and education in Hong Kong is lesser known to the wider community of ALE practitioners due to lack of exchanges with international peers. There is a small community of full-time ALE practitioners working mainly in university continuing education schools but a larger body of uncharacterised or alternative practitioners can also be found. Essentially, both types of practitioners are conservative in their outlook and they adopt strategies that align with market needs and priorities (...) set by public funders. Under the backdrop of neoliberalism which has harmonised ALE practice worldwide, a dominant form of individualised learning makes it difficult to promote group learning for societal advancement. ALE practitioners in Hong Kong are no exception to this influence and have been found to profess philosophical orientations favouring the behaviourist/narrowed progressivist notions of learner empowerment for economic and personal gains. Given recent worldwide renewed enthusiasm in making ALE responsive to societal issues, this paper examines the options and learning areas that ALE practitioners in Hong Kong can make their contributions to, such as: health advocacy, climate justice, and media literacy. Through engaging in these aspects of work, practitioners will have to incorporate methods of facilitating group learning in formal and non-formal ALE programmes and courses. An embrace by practitioners of the original notion of progressivist philosophy in adult education may emerge as one of the outcomes to make ALE practice inclusive, relevant and socially responsible. Even with the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, it is deemed even more pressing to pursue a balanced practice approach that can take care of individual's skills transformation for post-COVID economy as well as developing human bonds that would help to make society progressive as a countercheck to neoliberal-inspired individualistic adult learning. (shrink)

This paper invites us to reimagine parents as history makers and parenthood as a political space where parents and adult educators collaborate in reading and acting on the world that is, with a view to achieving a world that is not. The pandemic provides a backdrop to a fundamental understanding that while the virus may claim to be entirely democratic, the pandemic has failed the equity test. The asymmetrical world that is calls for a reinvention of adult (...) class='Hi'>education as a space in which the excesses of neoliberalism are resisted in preparation for a shift in consciousness that might promote collective action against today’s far-from-equitable reality. Parents as ‘Subjects’ is a cris de coeur for a liberatory parent-focused education that rehumanizes parents in a world that will be. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The concepts of experience and experiential learning are of critical significance in both the study and practice of adult education. Adults are seen as uniquely characterised by their experience, experiential learning an alternative to didactic and knowledge-based modes of education. In this paper a critique is presented of the powerful discourse of the autonomous subject based on humanistic psychology which, it is argued, has shaped adult education in a misleading, inappropriate and unhelpful way. A (...) postmodern perspective drawing on Continental philosophy is utilised. The ‘situated’ subject provides a conception of subjectivity and experience which preserves a needed dimension of agency whilst avoiding psychologism and individualism. (shrink)

Cet article saisit la question des fondements philosophiques de la formation des adultes en faisant fond sur les thèses du penseur critique de la modernité tardive Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017). Le texte s’ouvre par un regard englobant et synthétique sur l’oeuvre intellectuelle de Bauman (1). Il isole ensuite plus spécifiquement ce qui en son sein nous aide à prendre la mesure de la centralité de l’éducation tout au long de la vie comme défi majeur de ce que l’auteur appelle une vie (...) liquide (3). La focale est ensuite encore resserrée sur ce qui, dans la pensée baumanienne, permet de faire signe vers un type polymorphe de formation des adultes à même de permettre aux individus contemporains tout à la fois d’apprendre à naviguer et d’apprendre en naviguant dans un monde problématique (3). Une ouverture conclusive permet enfin de récapituler les apports les plus décisifs de Bauman dans le cadre problématique qui est celui du présent numéro et de dégager les linéaments ou les têtes de pont de ce qu’une discussion de fond du diagnostic baumanien sur le monde hypermoderne et la philosophie de l’éducation qu’il requiert pourrait être (4). (shrink)

My purpose in this paper is to outline a philosophic orientation for the practice of adult education that is consistent with the developmental nature of adult experience and involvement in an intersubjective world. Drawing upon the frameworks of existential phenomenology and hermeneutics, we will argue that the liberal education of adults must take as its starting point man's primary and irreducible need for meaning. The capacity for meaning-making through the lifespan is contingent upon the growth of (...) perception of novelty in experience and self-trancendence, the act of going beyond one's own self-enclosed meaning-perspective. Both of these processes are fostered by a collective model of learning, in which self-reflection and dialogue within a community of interpreters penetrate the taken-for-granted and sedimented meaning structures of its interpretive skills permits the ongoing constitution of meaning and construction of self within the social context. (shrink)

Originally published in 1920, this collection of essays presents and discusses some of the principal subjects addressed in the Report of the Committee on Adult Education in 1919. The authors examine topics such as women and adult education, and the democratic foundations and implications of further education for those past school-leaving age. One essay is written by an adult student from Southport who is a self-described 'working-man'. This book will be of value to anyone (...) with an interest in the history of education. (shrink)

Previous scientific contributions show that interactive learning environments have contributed to promoting learners' learning and development, as interaction and dialogue are key components of learning. When it comes to students with special needs, increasing evidence has demonstrated learning improvements through interaction and dialogue. However, most research focuses on children's education, and there is less evidence of how these learning environments can promote inclusion in adult learners with SEN. This article is addressed to analyse a case study of an (...) interactive learning environment shared by adults with and without special needs. This case shows several improvements identified by adult learners with special needs participating in this study. Based on a documental analysis and a qualitative study, this study analyses a context of participatory and dialogic adult education. From the analysis undertaken, the main results highlight some improvements identified in the lives of these adult women and men with SEN, covering educational improvements, increased feeling of social inclusion, and enhanced well-being. (shrink)

One of the important determinants of development during the transition to adulthood is the undertaking of social roles characteristic of adults, also in the area of finishing formal education, which usually coincides with beginning fulltime employment. In the study discussed in this paper, it has been hypothesized that continuing full-time education above the age of 26, a phenomenon rarely observed in Poland, can be considered as an unpunctual event that may be connected with difficulties in the process of (...) identity formation. Relationships between identity dimensions and identity statuses, and age and educational context were analyzed. 693 individuals aged 19-35 took part in the study. The participants attended three types of educational institutions: full-time university studies, part-time university studies, and full-time post-secondary school. Among the students of full-time university studies predictable dependencies, also in respect of highlevels of indicators of identity crisis and a high frequency of diffused identity occurrence, were observed. Such dependencies were not found in the group of full-time post-secondary school students. (shrink)

This article explores the 'second chance' myth that surrounds the role of adult education in society. This myth apparently offers all citizens an equal chance to access educational opportunities to improve their life chances. I argue that recent developments in educational policy-making are increasingly shaped by neoliberal discourses that adapt adult education principles, such as lifelong learning and emancipation, for its own economic and political logic. This has important implications for adult education, especially equality (...) of opportunity and social inclusion. (shrink)

The legacy of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research has been a powerful force for critically understanding social reality. Erich Fromm was one of the early and best known members of the Institute. Fromm emphasised the centrality of culture and interpersonal relations in the contruction of the psyche. The unconscious was not only the location for buried repressed matter but also for the imaginative potential of the human person. He is a forgotten and neglected contributor to the story of the (...) Institute having been written out of this history. This retrospective of his ideas explores his work in the light of the recent work of Jürgen Habermas who is also an active but less controversial engager with the psychoanalytic tradition. The implications for adult education will be addressed. The paper outlines Fromm’s radical reinterpretation of psychoanalysis emphasising the importance of social existence as distinct from the impact of instincts; key concepts of the market, commodity fetishism and automaton conformity; The implications for adult education in the tradition of radical (Freire) and transformative learning theory (Mezirow) and addressed and make connections between Habermas and Fromm that further the project of critical theory. Both attempted in different times to identify and realise the potential of (though neither used the term) of lifelong learning as part of the process of bringing about a more just and caring society and a shared attention to the importance of having free conversations about how the emancipated life might be created and sustained. (shrink)

Le travail et la formation des adultes sont aujourd’hui traversés de syntagmes mobilisés par une idéologie managériale dévoyant les termes d’autonomie, de responsabilité ou de capacité. À partir d’une analyse critique, l’article se propose de resituer ces glissements sémantiques dans le champ des recherches et des pratiques actuelles de la formation. Le recours aux travaux de Ricoeur et d’Honneth permet ensuite d’aborder leurs contributions respectives pour prolonger ces questions et leurs apports, en particulier, pour penser la reconnaissance. L’article se termine (...) par l’ouverture que permettent ces travaux pour les fondements de la formation, vers l’horizon d’une « vie bonne ». (shrink)

Central tenets of Freirean philosophy and pedagogy are explored and applied to the emerging field of older adults’ learning, a sub-field of adult education. I argue that many of Freire’s concepts and principles have direct applicability to the tasks of adult educators working alongside marginalized older adults. In particular, Freire’s ideas fit comfortably within a critical educational gerontology approach as they challenge prevailing orthodoxies and provide a robust analytical framework from which radical adult educators can work (...) effectively in promoting social transformation. (shrink)

Uloge edukatora u obrazovanju odraslih kontinuirano se mijenjaju, a sve ih se češće naziva mentorima, savjetnicima, motivatorima i evaluatorima, odnosno pridaju im se uloge za koje je nužno posjedovanje širokog spektra generičkih i specifičnih kompetencija. S obzirom na oskudan broj provedenih studija o kompetencijama edukatora u Republici Hrvatskoj, provedeno je istraživanje s ciljem ispitivanja i analiziranja stavova zaposlenika ustanova za obrazovanje odraslih o ključnim kompetencijama koje su potrebne za rad s odraslima te utvrđivanja stavova o važnosti pojedinih skupina kompetencija. U (...) istraživanju je sudjelovao 91 ispitanik, a podaci su prikupljeni mrežnim anketiranjem. Rezultati istraživanja sugeriraju da zaposlenici ustanova za obrazovanje odraslih smatraju da je za rad s odraslima potrebno posjedovati društvene kompetencije, kompetencije savjetovanja odraslih polaznika, osmišljavanja i razumijevanja procesa učenja, poučavanja i vrednovanja, kompetencije razvoja obrazovnih programa i korištenja novih tehnologija te kompetencije kontinuiranog profesionalnog razvoja, kao i da razumiju njihovu važnost za proces obrazovanja odraslih. The roles of educators in adult education are constantly changing. Educators are increasingly called mentors, counselors, motivators, and evaluators: roles for which it is inevitable to have a wide range of generic and specific competencies. Given the scarce number of studies on the competencies of educators in Croatia, a survey was conducted to examine and analyze the attitudes of employees of adult education institutions on key competencies needed to work with adults and to determine attitudes about the importance of certain groups of competencies. The total number of participants in the research was 91. The data was collected through an online survey. The results of the research suggest that employees of adult education institutions believe that working with adults requires social and counseling competencies, competencies for designing and understanding learning, teaching, and evaluation, competencies for developing educational programs, using new technologies and continuous professional development. In addition, they understand the importance of competencies for the adult education process. (shrink)

Concerns a two-part project about the importance for adult health and well-being of broadly defined school success and participation in adult learning.