What Change in Adult Education?

written by Husni Ayesh, Jordan, 1995

Change is the only constant in this universe, in matter and in life. It is no longer in any one individual or group's power to ignore the pressures of change in this age, or to discard its demands and challenges from within and with-out, whether they be psychological, educational, vocational, cultural, social, economical, or political.

The quantity, quality, intensity, speed and acceleration of such change may differ from North to South, and between developed countries, countries in transit, developing, and underdeveloped countries. However, the most prominent of all change today is the change in knowledge and its techno-logy and the challenge it poses to our values, our ideals, our stances and our beliefs according to what Alvin Tofler, two and a half decades ago, called the "Future Shock".

Consequently, this change, if left unaddressed or accommodated, will become a heavy burden on individuals and communities, threatening stability and development, as opposed to becoming a chance for them to benefit from.

Adult education/learning is one of the most conducive methods to respond to contemporary change and to accommodate it. This gathering here in Finland, and all the similar seminars and conferences held regionally and internationally, only go to prove how much we are all in need of a positive approach towards this change, pressures, demands and challenges it carries with it.

In the humble realm of my knowledge and experience in this matter, I would like to outline the main forms/phases of adult education/learning and its challenges and demands, as they have been known and developing over time:

The Alphabetical Phase/Form

Since its inception and only up to a recent point in time, adult education/learning was constricted -and continues to be so in many developing and underdeveloped countries - to running special classes or centers for illiterate adults within the working age who missed the opportunity of primary education (reading, writing, and arithmetic, the three R's). Such classes would be opened in the evenings in schools and taught by paid or volunteer teachers whose day time job is teaching children. All this is usually done by initiative of government agencies related to this field of work, especially ministries of education.

The challenge here is to which, concerned countries, should give priority and allocate the diminishing resources: to the universal basic education (and to the girls as well ) or is it to the education of their parents?

The Functional Phase/Form

Dring the spread of development, the concept of adult education/learning expanded and came to include what is now called Functional education/ learning. This type of adult education/learning is generally known to be initiated by NGO's and business organizations.

The challenge here is to which is priority to be given: is it for employable functional education/ learning skills, or for personal growth of adults, or for both? How should this matter be organized within the limited resources we have? Should business concentrate on functional education/ learning while NGO's concentrate on personal growth?

Life-long (continuing) Education/Learning Phase/Form

As change became stronger and faster in the age of the knowledge/information explosion and communication technology, it became imperative to develop adult education/ learning in a way to keep up with such change. In places where such an information explosion took place or reached, there developed the concept of Life-long (continuing) learning, including the possibility of "unlearning" what one had previously been taught in order to make way to learn the new.

This form of education flourished in developed countries and transit countries and in developed islands in developing and underdeveloped countries. In these areas, new methods have been improvised to facilitate this learning process. Such methods include Programmed Teaching (printed, audio and visual material), learning by correspondence, distance education, and the attempts of traditional educational systems to adapt partially, but slowly to new adult education/learning requirements, the emergence of completely new educational systems, such as open universities and non-campus universities ("To campus, or not to campus, that is the question", A. Walden University none campus university ad), as well as the involvement of business organizations and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and consulting firms, think tanks, data banks, networks. It is important to note that the common denominator for this phase is the growing global dimension.

The challenge here is to determine who is more responsible for this kind of learning: Is it the adult himself and thus his education be commercialised? Or the state and NGO's? What are the subjects that need to be basically addressed? Is it sustainable development literacy or ecology literacy, besides others we now, learn and teach.

Learning by Shopping Phase/ Form

With the consistent advancement and in-depth expansion of information and technology, especially in the field of communications, the opportunities for Life-long (continuing) education/learning have expanded both horizontally and vertically: in the work place, during work, in all sectors, in all areas of life. In fact, adult education/learning has become one of the important educational and economic sectors in society. And computer literacy has become a major learning need, leaving the individual with the power of choice in a day and age where adult education/learning is becoming a service control-led by supply and demand, besides what is offered by the state and NGO's.

Adults are now faced with vast opportunities for education: self-learning, life-long learning, individual learning, group learning, learning by correspondence, distance learning, learning while work, and learning without leaving ones job. This education market has expanded so much, that there are hardly any subjects left that cannot be learned from it, ranging from learning hair dressing and how to cook a certain dish, to flying an airplane or performing a medical surgery!

This new form of adult education/learning has shaken and challenged the traditional education system in its various stages and kinds. Traditional education, thus, took a defensive stand and a self justifying position in order to safeguard its endangered existence after having lost its monopoly of knowledge and reference to the information revolution, which belittled the context of traditional teaching and its ability to comply with the needs of work and daily life.

This new form of learning and its challenges have lead some experts and intellectuals to say that education and training are too important and critical to be left for universities and academics alone.

The information explosion and information technology in professions like medicine and engineering has helped reinforce the third type of adult education/learning, which is life-long (continuous) learning. This is due to the speed in which learning expires; so much so, that some universities abreast with this development now assign an expiry date after which one must prove ones continuity of learning and updating of knowledge in order for the degree to be extended or renewed.

Edutainment (education with entertainment) or learning through merging with the information super highway

The developed countries are now standing on the threshold of this new form of adult education/ learning (and child education as well). In the ministerial meeting of the G7 countries which concluded its work in Brussels at the beginning of 1995, it was stated that one of the major challenges facing the world this decade is the smooth transition into a knowledge/information society.

American Vice President, Albert Gore, who at-tended the meeting, announced the American government's commitment to achieving the aim of connecting every class room, every hospital, every library, and every clinic with the national, regional, and international information infra-structure (Al-Dustour daily newspaper, Jordan, 7/3/1995). As a matter of fact, Singapore, one of Asian countries in transit, is preparing itself to network every household into the information super highway and to multi-media projects. Not only will this network give individuals a chance for life-long (continuing) learning, but it will also give people a chance of "edutainment" with the simple click of a button, and without that affecting other people's chances of learning the same subject simultaneously (Business Week, 28/2/1994, p.23). Hence, adults, living in developed countries or developed islands in developing and under-developed countries, who wish to educate them-selves will have to link their computers to the information super highway, thus opening the doors of science and information worldwide.

The challenge is: How to make this form available to the masses and not only to the elite or rich? Who will be the reference for the credibility of this Form? Will it be for personal growth only?

However, it must not be understood from what has been said that the emergence of one form of adult learning automatically leads to the fall of the one before it or that there is a competition for survival of the fittest. All forms of adult education/learning remain viable, or necessary, but to different extents, depending on the circumstances and level of development of each community.

The new problem that adult education/learning faces today is that while it remains tied to adults within the working age, a new group will be added to it, that is the elderly and retired. This new age group has grown to constitute 20%-25% of the population of some developed countries and is fastly growing in countries in transit and in developing countries.

The challenge then is: What is the form of adult education/learning which this emerging group needs? And how can it best be provided to them? Perhaps it might be through non-functional education; that is, education which is not necessarily aimed at improving their chances to return to work, but to fill up their free time and brighten up the remainder of their life and make it more exciting and fulfilling. Or should it be to remobilize them to start working again?

As for the over all challenge which all forms of adult education/learning have in common, it is providing these people -in this age of information/ knowledge explosion- with skills of critical thinking, critical reading, critical viewing, and critical listening, as well as providing them with methods and programs that are suitable for the different forms/phases of adult education/learning and at minimal cost. In other words, satisfying the demand of the adult education/learning market in a market economy in order to vitalize the economy, on one hand, and to empower the people, on the other.

The major and serious problem which adult education/learning, in its different forms, needs to solve, perhaps in every community, is closing the gap between men and women education/learning , whether it be in adult education/learning or in basic education. "If you educate a man, you educate a person, but if you educate a woman, you educate a family," says Rubi Mankin, a church leader in India.

It is important here to note that the information/knowledge explosion does not enforce upon us the random sacrifice of indigenous knowledge and skills before the alternative one proves to be more efficient and accessible, and the public is more in control of it.

Before closing, I wish to acknowledge the importance of cultural plurality and democracy in every society and the importance of respecting and preserving it in all forms of adult education/ learning and programs. Cultural plurality should be free of discrimination and provide equal opportunities for all, securing a good life not only for the majority of the society, but also to minority groups and immigrants.

As for the highest and most sublime goals of education, in whichever form it may be, it has been best summarized in the introduction of the UNICEF magazine, The Progress of Nations, for the year 1994.

"The day will come when the progress of nations will be judged not by their military or economic strength, nor by the splendour of their capital cities and public buildings, but by the well-being of their peoples: by their levels of health, nutrition, and education; by their opportunities to earn a reward for their labours; by their ability to participate in the decisions that affected their lives; by the respect is shown for their civil and political liberties; by the provision that is made for those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged; and by the protection that is afforded to the growing minds and bodies of their children".