Exploring Adult Education Challenges and Opportunities in Disadvantaged Groups and Underdeveloped Regions

1. Opportunities and barriers of adult education in disadvantageoussocial groups and underdevelopedregions Gábor Erdei Ph.D University of Debrecen

2. The circumstances of the birth of adult education • The formation of adult education tookplace in the late 18. early 19. century • Pluralism, heterogenety, shaping the citoyensociety • Adult education has on the democratical aspects and features

3. Philosophy of Adult Edcuation • Five main philosophicalmainstreams: • Humanistic • Liberal • Behaviorist • Progressiv • Radicalist

4. Functions of adult education I. • Objectives of adult education and learning • There are more functions than institutional types • Types of functions (Belanger 1997, Siebert 1981, Lowe 1975, Urbanczyk 1965): • Compensation • Integration • Adaptation • Substitutive/expletive

5. Functions of adult education II. • Political • Democratization • Problemsolving • Dissemination • Information • Activecitizenship • Developingindividualskills • Culturelisation

6. Functions of adult education III. • Professionalisation • Orientation • Valueshaping • Further training • New knowledge • Complementary • Etc.

7. Challaenges of education • Quality of life – employobility – educational level and qualifications are stonglyinterconnectedcategories on the level of individuals, society and economy • The big question: creatingbalancebeetwen competition and socialcohesion/socialintegration

8. Challenges of adult education • Adult edcuation playes the role in the societies as ICT does • „Mattheweffect” (accumulatedadvantage) reallyexists in adult education • Disadventageoussituationreinforce the negativelements of the situation • More laborforcedemand from the labor market does not meanautomatically to have jobs for the disadvantageous groups

9. Grouping of the disadvantageous • Limits on the labour market because of social status, family background and cirmunstances, andprejudice • Family and social background is proper, the problem is with the personality • Disadvantageous by health • Being disadvantagedbecause of geographicallocation • Partly or totallyaggregations of the abovementionedfactors

10. Results of being disadvanted • Lack of equalopportunities • Hardshiphaving a job • Situatiom of permanentunderqualification • Learning difficulties • Life is alwaysaccompined by failure

11. Disadvantageoussocial groups • Disadvantageouspersons: whoseopportunity on the labor market is worse than the average • Disadvantegous groups: • Lowereducated/ not finished • Unempoyed/longtermunemployed • Changedcapabilities/handicapped • Thosewho are on maternitybenefit • More than 45 years old people • Minorities, immigrants • Etc.

12. Reduction of socialdifferences • The phenomena is complex > the solutionsshould be complex also • Tools which can be used: • Social policy • Policy of employment • Policy of education

13. What adult education can do and what can not • Financing adult education is based on threepillars (state, employees, individuals) • Who can finance the learning activites of a socialdisadventageousperson? • There are some statesources for educatingdisadventagouspeople plus sources from the EU • In many situation not training/education is the solution (e.g. graduatedyoungunemployed)

14. Adult education for disadvantagoussocial groups I. • Problems: • Analysis of the currentsituation: realneeds from the labour market • Guadiance and support during the training, helping the integration • Fallinto line with the challanges • Success of the education • Follow-up

15. Adult education for disadvantagoussocial groups II. • Specialgroup - specialneeds: • Specialtraningmaterials • Specialteaching and learning methodology • Providingsupportingservices • Open labour market - protectedlabourmarketproblem • More education does not automaticallymeans more and betterjobs

16. Adult education for disadvantageoussocial groups III. • Adult education can: • Re-train • Furthertrain • But AE has limits: can not solve all of the problems • Employment policy

17. Suggestions from empiricalresearches I. • Education and training should focus on reallabour market demand • The objectives, thecontent and the requirements of traningsshould be correspondent with the possibilities of the target group • Flexibility in teaching, shouldrely on the students’ former learning experinces

18. Suggestions from empiricalresearches II. • The teaching process shouldprovide by institutes and experts, teacherswho have experiencedealing with special groups • Traningmodellsshould be as interactiveasit is possible (cooperative and project lerning) • Group and individual learning support > trying to develop the autonom and autodidact learning

19. Suggestions from empiricalresearches III. • Besides the summativeassessment, thediagnostical and personelevaluation also important • Try to find the labour market niche for the special groups • Focus - during the process of the education – on the vocational content < > personeldevelopments and general knowledge, learning and socialcompetencies are also important

20. Suggestions from empiricalresearches IV. • There is a tensionbeetwen the officiallenght of educationalprograms and the necessarytime • Learnersshouldclearlysee the aim of the learning activties and the „destination” of the whole process • Keeping the motivitaion is the biggestchallenge • Socialconditionssignificantlyinfluence the learning process of adults

21. Problems of underdevelopedregions I. • Situation of geographicaldisadvantageous: • Remoteplaces • Regions for agriculture or the old industry • Smallvillages with very less inhabitants • Accesibilty and connection is bad • The structure of the society is not healthy (less youngsters, mand old citizens, less edcatadpeople, roma, immigrants etc.) • No investment and development on the condition of market

22. Problems of underdevelopedregions II. • These regions can not compite

23. Challenges of adult education in underdevelopedregions I. • Problems: • Most of the adult education providers (especially profit oriented training companies) are far from these places • Very fewsuccessstories of adult learning > adult education and learning not reallyseen as opportunity or tool • No labour market demand • The society is unflexible and inmobile • Activecitizenship is not a common phenomena

24. Challenges of adult education in underdevelopedregions II. • Opportunities: • There are lots of room for creativeideas • To developnewtype of education and training materials, methods • Adult education and community development can strenghteneachother (synergy) • Some goodinitiatives could reach greatsuccess in shorttime • Good example: socialcooperative

25. Thank you for your attention! erg@tigris.unideb.hu