Special Adult Education Issues - Essay Example

? Adult Education By Henry Mbae Nabea # Adult education refers to any form of education, whether formal or informal, that is undertaken by a person identified and recognized as an adult. Adult education, therefore, encompasses all tertiary forms of education, and also, elementary adult education undertaken by the adults who, as children, did not undergo the basic formal education. This paper, therefore, traces the history of adult education focusing, specifically, on the elementary adult education. The paper also discusses the current legislations that shape adult education in the contemporary world. Also, the paper discusses both the improvements and the challenges that the elementary adult education has underwent in course of its developments. Again, the paper looks at the modern technologies that are used in the elementary adult education. And lastly, controversial issues surrounding adult education are discussed. ADULT EDUCATION The main purpose of any form of education is to enlighten the learners and to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to overcome many life challenges. And since it is not possible to have knowledge of everything, education therefore is a lifelong process; we spend all our life learning, whether formally or informally (Lindeman, 1926). Education is one, therefore, in terms of its goals and aims. However, education can be classified in terms of the category of learners (age of the learners) who undertake it, and in this classification we have, early childhood education, elementary education, middle School education, High school education, and adult education. This paper deals with adult education, focusing specifically on elementary adult education. It investigates the historical development of adult elementary education and the current legislation that shapes it, the paper goes on to discuss many other pertinent issues on adult education in the contemporary world. Adult education defined, is any form of learning, whether formal or informal, undertaken by a person(s), identified as an adult (UNESCO, 2009). Thus defined, adult education encompasses all tertiary studies, i.e. university and college studies, as well as elementary education offered to adults who have had never had an advantage of undergoing the studies when they were young. Adult elementary education has a long history. In formal setting, adult elementary education in Western world was pioneered by Reverend B Morgans, Vicar of Trelach near Monmouth in 1754 (Hudson, J. W., 1851). After realizing that many adults in his congregation could hardly read the scriptures, Rev. Morgans decided to do something for them. He therefore started special classes for the illiterate adults in his congregation. In these classes, the adults were taught elementary reading and writing skills. And to his surprise, as time went on, many more illiterate adults volunteered to join his classes. All the participants benefited greatly from the classes and from then henceforth, the programme of adult education continued in his parish. In 1811, Reverend T. Charles, B.A, established a school in Great Britain at Bala, in Merionethshire. This school was dedicated exclusively for the education of the adults. And just like Morgans school in Wales, some time back, the main intention of starting this school was to help the old illiterate members of the congregation to read the bible. Rev. Charles’s enterprise turned out to be a big success for many adults enrolled in his schools from all over Wales. The school became famous in Wales, and many more such Schools were opened in Wales to help many illiterate adults who had desire to read. And by 1813, there were adult schools established as far as in Bristol. These schools were started by the lay people and not the clergy men/women. From 1813- 1818, adult elementary schools spread all over European countries, and by around 1819, adult elementary schools had been established in the USA. Later, during the colonization period, the Europeans established elementary adult schools in their colonies to help the illiterate adults to know how to read and write, and also to know their languages, European languages, for effective communication with the local people. Currently, there are numerous legislations that shape and guides elementary adult education. But the legislations varies from one jurisdiction to another, this is because different countries have different jurisdictions. But overall, there are some common basic tenets that form the back bone of any legislation on elementary adult education. The tenets are based on the respect of the right of any human being to acquire education. This human right is one of the basic human rights in many jurisdictions in the world. Legislations on adult education, therefore, revolve around respect and promotion of this basic human right. In the USA, Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998, gives legal guidelines on adult education, including guidelines on what constitutes adult education and what ought to be taught in the elementary adult education classes (Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998, n.d, online). The act guarantees government financial support to the system of adult education, and gives a raft of other directions on adult education in the USA. Many other jurisdiction in the world guarantee financial and any other necessary support from the government, and other directions on the curriculum of adult elementary education. There are a number of current best practices related to curriculum and instructions in the area of elementary adult education. To begin with, the curriculum of elementary adult education encourages participatory learning (Adult Learning, n.d, online). This is because, although the adults under instructions have not undergone formal education before, they nonetheless, have a lot of experience in different spheres of life, which they have acquired through informal means. This experience is valuable in learning and it can help to send more light in the formal learning set up. Adult teachers, therefore, respect these experiences and they encourage their adult students to participate actively in class. Another current good practice in the instruction of adult students is the practice of group discussions. Giving adult students an opportunity to discuss and share ideas amongst themselves will make the students to feel more comfortable and confident since as adults, they don’t want to feel over-directed like little children. Giving adults an opportunity to discuss and to share newly learned ideas will boost adult students morale and this will impact positively on their performance. Another equally important practice in the elementary adult education is ensuring that what the students learn is relevant to them. Unlike little children who have not fully developed mentally, and therefore, unable to make independent decisions on the content of what they learn, adult students can contribute in deciding what they want to learn since they are mature enough to make such decisions. This practice of allowing the adult students to participate in deciding what they will be taught ensures that the adult students studies only what is relevant to them. This, also, increases their interests in the studies since there will be no waste of time studying materials that are not relevant to them. And to ensure that the interests of the adult students are always upheld in the drafting of the curriculum of elementary adult students, and in all the practices related to the elementary adult studies, there are, a number of professional organisations associated with this area of study. These organisations ensure that the elementary adult institutions fulfil their roles of impacting relevant and quality knowledge to the adult students. The organizations, also, ensures that the proper and appropriate pedagogy is followed in teaching adult students. Such professional organisations in the USA includes, National Adult Educational Professional Development Consortium (NAEPDC), and the, American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) (Adult and Continuing Education Organizations, n.d, online). Besides giving other forms of support to the system of adult education, the primary function of these professional organisations is to carry out research on the adult education and to compile a report on the challenges that the system is undergoing, and also, to make recommendations on ways of improving the system. These professional organisations, therefore, are quite important in adult education, and they have a lot of positive impact in the drafting of curriculum for adult education. These organisations help to overcome the many challenges that adult education systems face. In the modern world, technology has been applied to make elementary adult education more efficient, effective and accessible. Most of the technologies associated with adult elementary education are computer related technologies. These technologies include, first, the use of computers in teaching through the power point presentations. Use of power point presentations in teaching makes the work quite simple the teacher doesn’t have to write everything on the board by use of chalks, this saves a lot of time, and makes the learning to move faster. Secondly, elementary adult education can now be accessed through e-learning/distance learning. And this has made access of adult education quite easy. This also saves a lot of time, and energy on the sides of both the students and the teachers. Thirdly, in the modern internet era, teachers can send their students study material, or questions online, this again has made elementary adult learning simpler and more accessible. Also, one can, in the internet era, download reading materials from the internet. Technology therefore is playing a pivotal role in elementary adult education. Over the years, elementary adult education has undergone various improvements. One of the major improvements that the system has undergone is the separation of children from adults in learning. When the programme was started by Reverend Morgans in 1754, little children and illiterate adults were taught in the same class, they were combined. However, some years later, an exclusive programme for the adults was started. This marked a major improvement in the area of adult education. Again, development of a curriculum that suits adult students only marked another major improvement in adult education. This ensured that adult students studied only what is relevant to them. There have been a lot of improvements in the curriculum of elementary adult education over the years. Also, the emergence of the internet era led to many improvements in both the methods of teaching and learning. Internet eased both teaching and access of learning information. But, despite all these improvements, elementary adult education hasn’t been without challenges. In the history of the development of elementary adult education, the system of education has faced numerous challenges. The main challenge has been convincing the adults, that despite their advanced years, they can still enrol for elementary studies in school. Some adults are quite reluctant to join such programmes, not because they don’t see any relevance of such an undertaking, but simply because they see such venture as shameful and as lowering one’s dignity in society. This, of course, depends with one’s culture and one’s personality. Some people with strong character are not held hostages by their culture and they go ahead to enrol for elementary adult studies, irrespective, of how the society will take them. The other challenges that this system of education have faced over the years is convincing the government to come up with proper legislation for adult education, and to finance elementary adult education programmes. Many governments viewed such efforts as sheer waste of time, and it has not been easy to convince such government to come up with proper legislations guiding elementary adult education. Some of the controversies surrounding elementary adult education include questions on the relevance of elementary adult education to the society. Some people have argued that it is a waste of time for adults to engage in elementary studies, rather than engaging in ‘’more profitable’’ endeavours of nation building like raising one’s children and engaging in other income generating work like working in the farm or in the factory. These critics of elementary adult education go on to argue that, the disadvantages of going for the elementary adult education at an advanced age far outweighs the advantages of the same, or the practical value of the education to the society. But a critical look at this criticism shows that the criticism is quite shallow for it looks only at the short-term disadvantages of going for an elementary adult education while ignoring the long-term advantages of acquiring elementary education, even at an advanced age. This is because, in the long-term, the acquired elementary education will improve productivity among the people who have acquired it at an advanced age. Elementary adult education, therefore, is quite important in any society, and it should be encouraged and given the necessary support. Reference List Adult Learning . (n.d) . Online .Retrieved on. 19/03/2013. From. < http://www.com/url?q From.=http://www.w> Adult and Continuing Education Organizations.( n.d). Online. Retrieved on 19/03/2013. From. < https://www.google.com/url?q=http://dir.yahoo.com/education/adult_an> Adult Education and Family Education Act of 1998.(n.d). Online. Retrieved on. 19/03/2013. From. < https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ed.gov/policy/adulted/> Global Report on Education and Education, (2009).Germany: UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning. Online. Retrieved on. 19/03/2013. From.< https: //www.google.com/url?=http://un> Hudson, J.W.(1851. The History of Adult Education. London, England: Longman Read More