(Neu 03.05.) Theory of Adult Education (MA:EAE 2d; MA:EB 15.2; MA:EB 17) - Einzelansicht

This course introduces participants to the principal theoretical concepts underpinning adult education. In doing so, attention will be drawn to adult education as a contested field- both theoretically and empirically. To what extent can it be defined as a discipline? To what extent is it a social movement? Or, to what extent, is it primarily a field of practice? Do the distinctive claims associated with the adult education tradition retain validity in the light of contemporary developments associated with the ‘networked society’ the ‘knowledge society’: and the promulgation-through national and international policy discourse- of concepts such as continuing education and lifelong learning?

This course will explore these debates through an examination of the main analytic perspectives that constitute the foundations of the field of adult education.

The course adopts a comparative and socio-historical perspective: commencing with 18th century links to intellectual strands of thought -and action- associated with diverse social movements: political, feminist, agricultural, industrial, religious, educational and national.

Content outline

Part I: Historical context

I.1 Exploration of 18th, 19th and early 20th century connections with enlightenment and reform movements: intellectual, political, femist, religious, agricultural and industrial (including: the folkhighschool movement, workers’ education, reading societies, mechanics institutes).

I.2 Bringing university study to the wider community: the origins of extra-mural work of Cambridge and Oxford in Britain, and university extension in the USA.

Part II: Theoretical perspectives

11.1 Emancipatory adult education Including: links to liberation movements; the women’s movement; the labour movement; emergence of cultural studies; and community education.

II.2 Sociological Including: socio-demographic studies of adult learners; patterns of participation; issues of power, gender, status and knowledge; and biographical analysis. Also, the social organisation of learning and providers: including formal and non-formal; vocational education and work-based learning.

II.3 Experiential and psychological Including: experiential learning; andragogy; and, the notion of ‘learning communities’. Brookfield’s Critical Incident Questionnaire will be used in the class as an illustration of reflective practice emerging from adult education- in practice!

Part III: From ‘adult education’ to ‘the education of adults’?

III.1 Critical policy analysis Including: national policy debates; governmental divisions of labour; and, the role of international and intergovernmental agencies such as UNESCO, OECD and the EU.

II.4 Contemporary developments Including: changing notions of public and private; connections with civil society and the public sphere; discourse analysis; the role of technology, the ‘creative commons’ and the ‘networked society’.

III.4 The course will conclude with an exploration of current debates around contested notions of adult education.

Structure

This course will mainly be delivered in two-hour sessions, including two on-line interactive sessions.

Student tasks and assessment

Engagement:

Core reading list and reference materials are provided for this course. In addition to interpretations and critiques, students are encouraged to return to original sources. Students should become familiar with key concepts and are required to engage actively in both face-to-face sessions, and on-line.

Assignment A

Students are required to select for investigation either (a) a particular theoretical perspective, or (b) a particular historical period. In either case, they may choose to focus on their home country or internationally. This investigation will form the basis for an oral (and visual) presentation to the group. Assignment b

Students are required to write an analytic essay drawing on relevant theoretical literature. (Maximum 4,000 words)

Selected reading

Introductory text (available through Moodle): M. Slowey (2009) ‘University adult continuing education- the extra-mural tradition revisited’ in International Encyclopaedia of Education, 3rd edn, Oxford: Elsiver.

Guidance to the literature will be provided, along with reference to e-sources. Participants are encouraged to search original material.

Part I: Historical perspective

Cunningham, P., Oosthuizen, S., and Taylor, R. (eds) (2010) Beyond the Lecture Hall: universities and community engagement from the middle ages to the present day, Cambridge: University of Cambridge Faculty of Education

Fieldhouse, R. (1996) A History of Modern British Adult Education, Leicester: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education.

Goldman, L. (1995) Dons and Workers: Oxford Adult Education since 1850, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Jarvis, P. (ed) (2001) Twentieth Century Thinkers in Adult Education, (2nd ed). London: Kogan Page

Jarvis, P. (2003) Adult and continuing education: theory and practice (3rd ed) London: Routledge

Poeggeler, F. (ed.) The State and Adult Education. Frankfurt: Ver- lag Peter Lang

Steele, T. (2007) Knowledge is power! The rise and fall of European popular education movements:1848-1939, Oxford: Peter Lang.

Tawney, R.H. (1964) The Radical Tradition: Twelve Essays on Politics, Education and Literature, Harmondsworth: Penguin,

Part II: Social science perspectives

Aldridge, F. and Tuckett, A. (2009) Narrowing Participation, Leicester: National Institute of Adult Continuing Education.

Alheit, P. and Dausien, B. (2002) ‘The ‘double face’ of lifelong learning: two analytic perspectives on a ‘silent revolution’, Studies in the Education of Adults, 34:1, 3-22.

Bourdieu, P. with Passeron, J-C. (1990) Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture (Theory, Culture and Society Series) London: Sage (Translated from French 1970

Bourgeois, E., Duke, C., Guyot, J.L., and Merril, B (1999) The Adult University, Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press

Brookfield, S. (1995) Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Brookfield, S. (2010) Radicalizing Learning: Adult Education for a Just World, San Francisco: Jossey Bass

Edwards, R., Nicoll, K., Solomon, N. and Usher, R. (2004). Rhetoric and Educational Discourse: Persuasive Texts? London: Routledge

Edwards, R., Biesta, G. and Thorpe, M. (2009) (eds) Rethinking Contexts for Learning and Teaching, London: Routledge.

Fenwick, T., & Edwards, R. (2010). Actor-network Theory in Education. London: Routledge

Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Harmondsworth: Penguin

Freire, P. (1972) Cultural Action for Freedom, Harmondsworth: Penguin

Habermas, J. (1962) Strukturwandel der Offenlicheit, Hermann Luchterhand Verlag, Darmstadt and Neuwied. English paperback translation,

Habermas, J. (1992) The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, Cambridge: Polity Press

Jarvis, P. (2004) Adult Education and Lifelong Learning: Theory and Practice, London: RoutledgeFalmer

Jarvis, P. (ed) (2006) From Adult Education to the Learning Society: 21 Years from the ‘International Journal of Lifelong Education, London: Routledge

Jarvis, P. (ed) (2009) The Routledge International Handbook of Lifelong Learning, London: Routledge. (In particular chapters by K. Rubenson and A. Tuckett)

Lave, J., and Wenger, E. (1983) Communities of practice: learning, meaning and identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nesbit, T. (ed) Class Concerns: Adult Education and Social Class. New Directions in Adult and Continuing Education, No. 106, San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Rogers, A. (2002) Teaching Adults (3rd ed) Maidenhead: Open University Press.

St.Clair, R. and Sandlin, J.A. (2004) Promoting critical practice in adult education, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Sutherland, P. and Crowther, J. (eds) Lifelong Learning: Concepts and Contexts. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Taylor, R. (2000) ‘Concepts of self-directed learning in higher education: re-establishing the demographic tradition’, in J.Thompson, (ed) Stretching the academy, Leicester: NIACE.

Taylor, R., Barr, J, and Steele, T. (2002) For a radical higher education: after post-modernism, Buckingham: SRHE/Open University Press. 68-79

Thompson, J. (1983) Learning Liberation: Women’s Responses to Men’s Education, London: Taylor and Francis.

Watson, D. and Slowey, M. (eds) (2003) Higher Education and the Lifecourse, Maidenhead: SRHE and Open University Press.

Part III: Critical policy analysis

Ball, S.J. (1994) Education reform: A critical and post-structural approach, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Desjardins, R., Rubenson, K., Milana, M. (2006) Unequal chances to participate in adult learning: international perspectives. Paris 2006 UNESCO: International Institute for Educational Planning http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001488/148815e.pdf

European Commission (2001) Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality

EC (2006) Action Plan on Adult Learning: it’s never too late to learn, Brussels: EC

Field, J. (2005) Social capital and lifelong learning, Bristol: Policy Press.

Field, J. (2006) Lifelong Learning and the New Educational Order, 2nd edition, Stoke on Trent: Trehtham.

OECD (1987) Adults in Higher Education, Paris: OECD

OECD (1996) Lifelong Learning for All, Paris: OECD.

UNESCO (1996) Learning: the treasure within (the “Delors Report’’) Paris: UNESCO

Rubenson, K. (ed) (2011) Adult Learning and Education, Academic Press.

Schuetze, H.G. and Slowey, M. (eds) (2000) Higher Education and Lifelong Learning: International Perspectives, London: Routledge.

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