Dušana Findeisen, Ph.D., Slovenian Third Age University, National Association for Education and Social Inclusion
Shall we professionalize older adult education?
Abstract: Society has changed and so have older adult education and older adult educators’ competencies. The author discusses the concept of competence arguing that skills, knowledge and attitude get united in a competence on condition they are related to performance in real professional contexts. When in tune with changes, competencies are not stable. The author goes on discussing relations between older adult learners, older adult educators, society and culture that shape older adult educators’ competencies. Since one of the dilemmas in older adult education is the relationship between disciplinary knowledge and professional knowledge, she is concerned with the issue of professionalism and professional competencies as well as the process of professionalization in older adult education.
Key words: professional competency, professionalism, skills, knowledge, attitude, older adult educator, older adult education, culture, older adult education programme
Introduction
Reflecting upon the concept of competencies in older adult education my primary inspiration was Noam Chomsky’s theory in the field of generative linguistics. Namely, Chomsky contrasted competence with performance, opposing linguistic competence (the ability to shape thoughts) to performance (expressing thoughts). Consequently, having a competence means being able to perform in a given context. Competencies are always contextualised.
Further, in cognitive psychology competence is what could ideally be done with its help.
Finally, Peter Jarvis (1990, p.72) defines competency as level of knowledge, skills and attitude needed for successfully performing tasks according to professional standards.
A consensus is still to be reached as to what a competency is and which basic professional competencies adult educators need today.
(1) Relations between older adult learners, older adult educators and society shape older adult educators’ competencies
It has been generally admitted that older adult education is responsive to both individual and social changes (Findeisen, 2004). Thus one of the basic competencies in older adult education is adapting to changing circumstances and to the changing older adults’ position in society. Moreover, it is required that older adult educators contribute to shaping older adults’ social position.
Over the last thirty years, the learner audiences have changed due to demographic developments: migration, demographic ageing, the ageing of labour force, shrinking and ageing of the labour force and the advent of information society.
In addition, sources of knowledge have been multiplied and older adult audiences have become more informed and knowledgeable.. Therefore, understanding tolder adult learners and older adult learning audiences is one of the basic competencies an older adult educator acquires and improves when confronted with them.[1]
Older adult educators are being required to create learning situations in tune with the learners’ needs, wishes, aspirations and expectations.(Charlot, 1977 )
More learner-focused methods, new methods, and a combination of different learning locations and learning methods have been gaining importance.
Older adult educators are trained to use dialogue and discussion as methods of choice in older adult education, as well as other methods enabling reciprocal and mutual learning. Dialogue and discussion make it possible for older adult educators to adapt themselves to learners, thus getting aware of both how their learners learn and what they have learned.[2] Simultaneously educators learn to what extent their efforts were worthy and how much they have learned from the learners. Learners’ searching and their attempts to understand are for adult educators learning opportunities where adult educators act as learners. According to Knowles (1990, p.43) each adult learner in their speciality know what(older) adult educators do not know. Thus adult learning is actually peer learning.
Lindeman (1926) argues that one of the major differences between traditional education and education of adults is in the process of learning. Managing this specific process is one of the adult educator’s basic competencies.
Older adult learners are not aware of the knowledge they have. They know without knowing, though hidden knowledge does influence their opinion and has been integrated in their representations. Thus, older adult educators’ task and competence is to clarify, whether the older adult learner’s knowledge is valid, or less valid or not valid at all. An older adult educator critically helps the older adult student to put order into his or her representations. Questions are put and knowledge is questioned against the background of what the learners have learned informally through life phenomena and events. Consequently, an older adult learner determines the direction of his or her learning. When older adult learner’s knowledge has been identified, it is up to the older adult educator to confront it with scientific theoretical knowledge that has to be acquired. The older adult educator has to be a guide, a guarantee that the learners’ thinking and learning go in the right direction.
The same is true of other types of professional activities in older adult education. Management staff, for example, have to be aware of the great variety of organisational formats and different approaches that can be applied. They deal with changing contexts, they can be faced, for instance, with the decline /increase in government spending on adult learning or they have to mirror the mission of their organisation in the light of the needs of their target groups / learners.
Complexity and diversity also characterise the task profile of administrative staff who cooperate with trainers, programme planners and management, acting as an interface between their institution and its users.
Against this background older adult education calls for professionalization which means both, constructing and developing competencies that are indispensible for working in older adult education. Competencies encompass knowledge drawn from different disciplines and various other resources. The process of professionalization implies bringing together a number of those who need a certain amount of knowledge and skills and who need to acquire a moral attitude towards their profession. The latter is particularly important since many older adult educators bring their stereotypes to their study groups.
(3) Profession, professionalization, professional competencies and their dimensions
Professionalization means that a professional can perform. Thus, professionalization stands for development and construction of competencies that are needed for professional work. In already institutionalised professions competencies encompass both knowledge drawn from different disciplines and professional knowledge from different resources.
Professionalization of older adult education is about mobilising those who need a certain amount of knowledge, a certain amount of know – how, and above all who need to develop professional moral and attitude towards the professions of adult education. Professionals should have a common culture, a sort of common code shared with a professional group, expressing its values, attitudes and representations.
It also means that the knowledge gained is transferrable. Practical knowledge can be gained in a professional course.
Professionalization means a kind of rationalism of the processes of work, making visible for different audiences the tacit knowledge practitioners have.
Formalising knowledge makes possible its acquisition through instruction whereas for contemporary sociologists of professions professionalization is not necessarily applying ideal professional norms. On the contrary, professionalization is a dynamic changing strategy. Nevertheless, the dynamic vision of processes does not mean that they can be performed by just any group.Professionalization is about constructing social identity.
About professional competencies
There is a huge difference between having skills and competencies. To illustrate this point: A brick layer does not have competencies if he can build walls, but he is skilled. He becomes competent, if he is capable of theorising from his experience and other sources of knowledge, if he is capable of applying skills and knowledge in a professional situation within professional activities.
A competent professional is able to interpret the requirements and limitations of real professional situations and is able to combine different resources in a pertinent and efficient way. A competence is not about applying skills , knowledge and attitude. On the contrary it is about constructing.
Competent professionals draw their knowledge and skills from different resources. They themselves are not the only resource. A resource can be their colleagues, professional networks, films, newspaper articles. In accordance with professional standards, they utilise different resources of knowledge and skills channelling them towards set targets.
It has been shown that disciplinary knowledge can influenceolder adult teaching. It definitely has an influence on the choice of contents and activities, planning of aims, the nature of illustrations, the linking of teaching with learners’ everyday life, on designing evaluation etc. Moreover, a competence is not stable it is more a project.
Dimensions of competencies
Older adult educators should be able to trigger their learners’ significant learning. In order to be transmitters of culture, older adult educators activate their, what I call »secondary culture«, the type of culture stemming from their entire life. (Zakhartchouk 1999). Disciplinary knowledge should be activated, though a compilation of disciplinary knowledge does not necessarily mean understanding the discipline, nor does it mean that learning can be stimulated in this way. Piling up bricks does not make a house, in the same way a compilation of disciplinary knowledge does not trigger learning.
If they are not the authors of the educational programme, older adult educators should get familiar with it in entirety before they start teaching. Namely, if they are not familiar with it, they have a tendency to put a greater emphasis on their learners’ individual learning. They limit the learners’ questions, or they are the only ones who talk.
It goes without saying that older adult educators should have a larger comprehension of geragogy and a larger comprehension of their discipline, larger than what they have to teach. Their understanding goes beyond piling up facts. These facts have to be structured and have to be structuring as to enable older adult learners to operate the linking of knowledge with their own hidden knowledge and life.
A critical distance towards the discipline is needed. Older adult educators are not simple, neutral transmitters of knowledge. In the real context of a group of older learners they have to create learning situations for learners to become the owners of knowledge and skills to be employed in a variety of situations. Older adult educators are supposed to establish links between the »secondary culture« and the learners’ individual culture.Though the teaching should be centred on the learners ‘needs, it should not be closed to the world around them. Older adult educators are cultural mediators (Zakhartchouk , 1999), Older adult educators should use what their learners know and what their everyday life offers to motivate them. They should draw their learners’ attention to economic, historic, social and other dimensions of phenomena and events. Oler adult educators should transform their learning groups into a cultural open space constructing together with the learners common identity, values, know-how, creating common comprehension. The collective life of the learning group is an important resource of learning.
Conclusion
Piling up disciplinary knowledge does not trigger learning. Competencies encompass disciplinary knowledge and skills as well as knowledge drawn from various life phenomena and events and different sources. Competencies are always contextualized an related to performing.
One of the basic competencies adult educators have is to be able to adapt to changes and to monitor the learning process by using a variety of methods.
Understanding the older adult learners and older adult learning audiences is one of the basic competencies an adult educator should acquire and keep improving.
More learner-focused methods, new methods, and a combination of different learning locations and learning methods have been gaining in importance.
Older adult educators should be trained to use dialogue as their method of choice as well as other methods enabling reciprocal and mutual learning.
Older adult learners are not aware of the knowledge they have. They know without knowing, though hidden knowledge influences their opinion. Oldera dult educator’s task and competence is to clarify whether the older adult learner’s knowledge is valid, or less valid or not valid at all.
Against this background older adult education calls for professionalization which means both, constructing and developing competencies that are indispensible for working in older adult education. The competencies encompass knowledge drawn from different disciplines and various resources. The process of professionalization implies bringing together a number of those who need a certain amount of knowledge, skills and who need to acquire an appropriate attitude towards professions in adult education.
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[1] Being involved in older adult education means understanding older learners’ past, present and future and the need to create social ties.
[2] I teach transactional analysis. At the beginning of each session I ask my older adult students which concepts from those they were supposed to learn the last time, they associate with their life situations and why.This is how I learn about what they have learned and also how they learn.