Issues and Trends in Adult Education 

Introduction

Individuals and institutions reflecting on their place in the education system have access to a great body of research to help with their deliberations. Professional journals such as Educational Theory and Adult Learning are available online and offer current findings in research areas. Proceedings from Adult Education Research Conference and other conventions are also online and offer an inside look at the directions adult education is heading. Textbooks for students enrolled in the field of adult education reveal the grounding in theory and practice the next generation of educators is receiving.

This essay takes advantage of all three of the above sources, professional journals, convention proceedings and course textbooks, to understand the future of Canadian adult education by examining historical and modern, issues and trends.

Adult education has a long history of freeing people from, rather than as some fear, enslaving them to employers and places through workplace training. Exemplars of education programs in Canadian history are used to establish the socio-cultural basis for our education system. Today's socio-economic atmosphere is then examined to show its effect on adult education. The Theory of Adult Learning Community is introduced as a lens through which to focus on the educational needs of society, individuals and corporations. Lastly, two important directions in adult education are noted and compared: the learning organisation and the self-directed learner.

The history of adult education

Selman suggests that an historical understanding is essential to contemporary practice of adult education (1998, p. 34). In Canada, before government funded education began, adult learning was created by organisations such as: the Mechanics Institute in 1827, to provide technical information for tradesman, the Women's Institutes in 1897, to provide women an opportunity to exchange views, and the Frontier College also in 1897, to provide education for men who didn't live in big cities. The Frontier College claimed 50% of men in stable lumber camps sat in the reading tents. Most were reading for their own enjoyment (Spencer, 1998, pp. 29-32).

Perhaps the most important example, in Canadian history, of the emancipatory potential of adult education is the Antigonish Movement of 1928. Father Moses Coady, in charge of an extension department of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, used leadership, organisational and study material from the university to respond to the economically depressed conditions of the area. A program of education about co-operative organisations, credit unions and working together to improve living conditions attracted fisherman, farmers, miners and other industrial workers to form from 179 to 1,300 study groups (Selman, 1998, pp. 27-29). Together, as a community, the people of Antigonish were able change the way they lived.

The above examples were institutions run, for the most part, by volunteers. The curriculum was whatever expertise was available and learner gatherings were unstructured. Today, learners and teachers have many choices beyond tents but the increased choice of venue and delivery styles is causing educators to question their roles in teaching. Rose (1998, p. 4) asks, 'are adult educators teachers, program developers, administrators or community organisers?' Grace asks (1998, p. 120), how did contemporary adult education practice come to be 'Learn to cope; be happy; don't ask questions?' How, many educators wonder, did adult education change from being a medium for social change, to a medium for economic growth?

 Today's socio-economic atmosphere

To answer those questions we must look at the changes in our society. According to Morin (1998, p. 69), two major trends have appeared in adult education: (1) responding to employers demands to increase workers capability and output, (2) encouraging adults to follow a critical path to understanding what really is at stake at this juncture and acquire tools for action. Solar believes the current preoccupation with the economy, the job market and labour force training, has a tremendous impact on adult education (1998, p. 79).

The purpose of adult education has caused education practitioners to have an uncomfortable relation with the state. Practitioners in the public sector want both an arms length relationship with government and close ties to funding. Essentially, educators want to be free to develop curriculum without interference and prejudice of the interests held by the government.

On the other hand, both Government and citizens want tax monies to be used meaningfully. It appears, in these economic times, that the meaningful use of money means money being tied to training and re-training to enhance economic productivity and profits.

Fenwick (1998, pp. 141-147) asks whether the work place should be an individuals: educator; personal development counsellor and spiritual mentor, and should productivity be the indicator of our personal growth, relationships or building a community?

Nesbit (2000, p. 2) contends that 'any society, and the educational system it promotes, are inextricably linked, the political, economic, and social structures of society have effects on educational processes and can be regarded as frames.'

While educators question whether workplace education is appropriate, members of our society, now deeply steeped in capitalism and consumerism, are wondering why educators object to workplace training that may lead to maintaining jobs, getting better jobs, and resulting in more and better food, housing and entertainment.

            While adult education researchers do not wish to deny anyone's 'right' or access to whatever society has to offer, they are sounding the warning bell that education should not be restricted to the needs of the economy and the individual. In fact Nesbit (1999, p. 266) believes that economic factors 'have undermined long-held ideals about educational opportunity and social mobility and have led to a shift in focus from education as a public and social good to education as an individual and private good.'

Educators are concerned that our society may deteriorate if the emphasis on education shifts further away from social needs to corporate and personal needs.

To that end, educators are theorising how education can serve society, the individual and corporations. The table of contents in Learning for Life lists: Life Long Learning, Lifelong Education and Transformative Learning, Competence Based Learning, Spiritual Learning, Transitional Learning and Distance Education as issues of concern to researchers.

One of the most comprehensive of today's theories is the Theory of Adult Learning Community or TALC (pronounced as talk). Embodied in five themes, TALC: encourages educators and learners to inform and challenge each other, focuses on, and appreciates, knowledge production over knowledge consumption, acknowledges that theory and practice inform each other, values critical reflection and interdisciplinary practice and, invites invigorate forms of adult education to address the instrumental, social and culture needs of society (Grace, 1998, pp. 119-123).

TALC creates a lens through which educators, individuals and employers can view the purposes and needs of education. Though TALC is not a checklist for higher education, it can direct curriculum planners and practitioners to create holistic learning opportunities to suit society, the individual and employer.

Two important trends in adult education

            Teachers are pulled in many directions when considering the purposes of adult education and contemplating their roles in today's society. Besides the theoretical, there are some practical issues to contend with. Increasing immigration has created increased needs for qualified English as a Second Language instruction. Labour Unions are bargaining for, and creating, more educational opportunities for their members. Speciality studies such as feminism, diversity and cultural appreciation are further broadening the scope of educational mandates (Selman, 1998, pp. 24-34).

Spencer illustrates the viewpoint that the purpose of adult education differs depending on the context. The needs of society may differ from the needs of the individual. Individuals require their vocational, social, recreational and self-development needs be met. A society has broader requirements. Societies needs are to maintain social systems, transmit knowledge, reproduce culture and permit institutional expansion while providing individuals with advancement and leisure time (1998, pp. 12-14).

            As the needs and discussions of adult educators have broadened in the last few decades, so have the needs of learners since Malcolm Knowles presented his model of adult learners in the 1970's.

            Adult learners, Knowles contends (as cited in Nesbit, 1999, p. 274), are different from children in four ways. Their personality is more independent; they have a depth of experience which can be drawn on to aid leaning; they are drawn to personal development to enhance social roles; and their need for knowledge is more problem centred than subject centred.

            Nesbit distils the thoughts of Knowles critics by saying his theories are simply a set of assumptions that ignore societal context. Practitioners who accept Knowles' principles may be designing inappropriate instructional techniques. For instance, not all adults are engaged in personal development willingly. Nor are all adult learners engaged in problem centred activities.

            As described above, the organisational needs of education are different from the personal needs. Bearing in mind the comments of critics, many educators still find relevance in Knowles construct of adult learners when assessing the needs of a growing body of self-directed learners compared to the needs of another recent development, the learning organisation. 

Learning Organisations, according to Fenwick (1998, p. 141), arose from three converging points: organisational development of organisational learning concepts; economic shifts to globalisation and information-based technology; and Total Quality Management (TQM).

Organisational learning developed out of a need to stabilise and distribute worker knowledge throughout a workplace. Companies are more productive when workers are cross-trained to step into other jobs whenever needed. With economic shifts, organisations were spurred to find new ways to deal with competitors from all over the world. TQM provided a framework to regroup employees into work teams whose goal was 'continuous improvement.'

Learning Organisations invest in training employees so the organisation can survive. The employees become the Human Resources or Human Capital of the company. Bouchard (1998, pp. 128-139) thinks 'the ideology of human capital performs a function of reification and legitimisation of the new economic order.' He suggests that the assumptions made about the benefits of considering employees, as human capital, is not convincing when viewed in the proper context.

Many researchers are concerned that Learning Organisations decide when and how workers receive education and retraining in both form and content. Employees are not necessarily given the skills they need to survive and they are not given the knowledge they need to work anywhere they choose. While work place training may not exclude personal development, it is done to enhance profitability through effective use of people. Work place education can become restrictive to a desirable type of work and not reflect a person's desirable type of life.

            'Knowledge for Now' and training of non-transferable skills, prevalent in Learning Organisations, is not helping individuals (Grace, 1998, p. 114). Self-directed learning seems to be the best choice to adults and educators who are looking for more than economic fulfilment from adult education. According to Nesbit (1999, p. 275), the paradox in our current educational system is the realisation we must move toward a learning society at the same time our governments are shifting the responsibility of learning on the individual. Where the government once directed the course of learning, individuals are now asked to direct themselves.

Chovanec (1998, p. 300) claims self-directed learning (SDL) practitioners are divided along two lines of thought. Some educators claim SDL is a process that can be learned, others say SDL is a personality trait, not a process, which is wrongly thought of as the essence of adult education.

SDL may be, as Nesbit suggests (1999, p. 265), the product of K-12 school systems focus on developmental learning skills. Arguing that SDL is personality based, Chovanec suggests the great philosophers Aristotle, Plato and Socrates all favoured SDL (1998, p. 301) and points out that teaching SDL may be an inherent contradiction (1998, p. 310).

Whether it is process or personality, SDL is an educational initiative where the learner is the teacher. One major draw back with self-directed learning is that, without a mentor or teacher, learners may miss or skip information fundamental to their area of interest.

To remedy the flaws of SDL, some educators recommend it is time more people understood adult education's scope and function. Students need to know more about adult development and learning, program planning and the historical, philosophical and sociological foundations of the field of education. (Rose, 1998, p. 4)

The future of adult education

At the dawn of a new economic era of education, that of the information economy, adult educators are scrutinising education via the Internet, interactive CD and through TV broadcast and video tape. There is renewed enthusiasm from education and corporate administrators that web based learning and teaching will allow open and accessible learning for everyone through Self-Directed Learning and the creation of Learning Organisations.

Optimistic as these developments may be, not everyone has access to a computer and online courses may not suit many computer users. To prevent the growing gaps between the educational have's and have not's, I believe our society needs to focus more on what we can do for each other, not what we can get from each other.

In the books and articles referred to in this essay, many of the authors made suggestions about the need for society to re-embrace education for development of the society as a whole, not just to feed capitalism.

Workplace education is a double-edged sword. While advocates maintain that workers skills are sharpened, there are many employees skilled for jobs that no longer exist. Employees must continuously re-skill and reinvent themselves, in different careers, or retire from the pressure and anxiety of keeping up. 

There are many criticisms of employers calling themselves Learning Organisations. Though many of the criticisms are currently justified, I believe the LO agenda will ultimately transform into components of a learning society. It is already apparent that Human Resource Departments, in larger companies, are aware of ethical considerations of training and retraining. The next step, if employers ever take it, is to create open environments, like a Montessori school, that allows for inquisitiveness and self-directed learning in the work place.

There will always be a place for self-directed learning. The future challenge for self-directed learners will be to focus on both the objectives and curriculum of their studies. For educators and employers, the challenge will be to recognise the personal development of the self-directed learner without feeling the need to stigmatise those learners for their lack of 'official' qualifications.

The lack of respect for experiential and self-directed learning is readily apparent in how colleges and universities handle course challenges by students claiming to have the knowledge that a particular course claims to instil. Some institutions have no capacity to regard prior learning, some charge assessment fees equal to the course entry fee. In the not too distant future educational institutions and employers will have to create assessment techniques that reflect and formalise the informal (non-classroom) type of learning and knowledge.

Regardless as to whether SDL is a process, a personality trait, or a teachable portion of each, there are enough people engaging in SDL to warrant the creation and study of SDL environments. SDL has a history as long as education itself and, quite often, is the moving force in segments of our ever-developing society.

Most importantly, Canadian educational history illustrates the emancipatory potential of adult education that could, if needed, be called upon again to cut the rope of whatever society is choking on. Our history shows education can allow people to live freer lives rather than being enslaved to employment and location.

Conclusion

It appears there is a relationship between adult education and the environment in which it occurs. The effect of fiscal cuts, cultural and technological environments, such as North Americans acceptance of web based learning, is affecting traditional course availability and selection.

Adult educators are being pulled in many directions to cover new grounds of interest and needs such as ESL, labour movements and speciality studies. The Antigonish Movement is evidence that small, interested, educational bodies can make a significant impact in a region when conditions favour co-operation with the community.

The Theory of Learning Communities (TALC) could, if implemented, provide a more holistic view of adult education that may be able to serve society, the individual and the employer all at the same time.

Learning Organisations and Self-Directed Learning all have their roots in the history of education. Learning Organisations and Self-Directed Learners are growing forces that are shaping education. Though Learning Organisations are often criticised for their narrow view of education, there are indications are that the scope of corporate involvement in education is broadening and may turn out to be a good match for society. Self-Directed Learning is criticised for being too informal yet its roots and potential are in the creation of broad societal developments. For SDL to be effective, learners must actively inquire into the entire field of their interests.

References 

Bouchard, P. (1998). Training and work: myths about human capital. In S. M. Scott, B. Spencer & A. M. Thomas (Eds.) Learning for life: Canadian readings in adult education (pp. 128-139). Toronto: Thompson.

Chovanec, D. M. (1998). Self-directed learning: highlighting the contradictions. In S. M. Scott, B. Spencer & A. M. Thomas (Eds.) Learning for life: Canadian readings in adult education (pp. 300-312). Toronto: Thompson.

            Fenwick, T. (1998). Questioning the concept of learning organisations. In S. M. Scott, B. Spencer & A. M. Thomas (Eds.) Learning for life: Canadian readings in adult education (pp. 140-152). Toronto: Thompson.

Grace, A. P. (1998). Parameters, pedagogy and possibilities in changing times. In S. M. Scott, B. Spencer & A. M. Thomas (Eds.) Learning for life: Canadian readings in adult education (pp. 114-127). Toronto: Thompson.

Morin, M. T. (1998). Paradigm shifts. In S. M. Scott, B. Spencer & A. M. Thomas (Eds.) Learning for life: Canadian readings in adult education (pp. 59-70). Toronto: Thompson.

Nesbit, T. (1999). Mapping adult education. Educational Theory, 49(2), 265-280.

Nesbit, T. (2000). Cultures of teaching. Paper presented at AERC convention. Retrieved March 1^st, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/aerc/2000/nesbitt-web.htm

Rose, Amy D. (1998). Challenges in training adult educators. Adult Learning, 9(3), 4-6.

Selman, G. (1998). The imaginative training for citizenship. In S. M. Scott, B. Spencer & A. M. Thomas (Eds.) Learning for life: Canadian readings in adult education (pp. 24-34). Toronto: Thompson.Sokol, A., Cranton, P. (1998). Transforming, not training. Adult Learning, 9(3), 14-17.

            Solar, C. (1998). Trends in adult education in the 1990s. In S. M. Scott, B. Spencer & A. M. Thomas (Eds.) Learning for life: Canadian readings in adult education (pp. 71-84). Toronto: Thompson.

Spencer, B. (1998). The purposes of adult education: a guide for students Toronto: Thompson.