Dear Editorial Office,
I am writing to express my support for more education and training opportunities for the adults. In the recent years adult education has become a major concern across the countries and our community is not the exception. As the world is developing fast, more opportunities for professional development are appearing; however, as far as adult education is concerned, there is still a place for the improvement. Society offers multiple opportunities for children and young professionals, but somehow the adults are often ignored in this regard. It is inspiring that our community acknowledges the lack of educational opportunities for adults in the area. For this reason, I strongly advocate the actions in order to create favorable conditions for the adults to develop their skills and knowledge.
Firstly, it is essential to figure out who are modern adult learners, as it is generally difficult to place them within one homogeneous category. The adult learners are a diverse group that has different abilities, working experience, educational, cultural and social backgrounds, who no longer study full-time. In formal education they are often placed within the group of non-traditional learners that nowadays has become a large part of college and university educational programs. There is no universal view of the age of adult learners, as it largely depends on the life circumstances of the particular individual. Nevertheless, adult education is different from the children education, and it requires the specific adjustments in the curriculum and development of the strategies to meet their educational needs.
The excessive growth of adult education is also connected with the rapidly changing demographics. As the life expectancy is increasing and the population is aging, there is a great shift towards non-traditional, adult students in educational institutions: those, who have dependents of their own, who earn their livings while studying part-time. In the modern world, adults are searching for formal educational opportunities, and the study has shown that 33 percent of postsecondary students are age 25 or older (King, Anderson, and Corrigan, 2003). People, who did not have a chance to finish their studies earlier, now have a whole range of possibilities and are actively pursuing them. With modern technologies and innovations, lifetime learning has already become the reality. What is more, the government is actively participating in the introduction and promotion of adult education and literacy, while new governmental educational programs across the regions are constantly elaborated. The government controls the process of learning opportunities’ creation on both federal and state levels. It is of utmost importance for our region to be part of this process.
The nature of adult education requires from the government and institutions, which are devising the programs, collaboration and deep understanding of the specificity of this kind of education. Therefore, there are established principles of adult education on the basis of which the educational programs are elaborated. These principles were formulated by Knowles, and are based on the fact that adults usually have wide life experience, and tend to be more self-reliant, goal-oriented and practical, as far as the learning process is concerned. The adult learners are selective in terms of the knowledge they want to acquire, as they are result-driven and relevancy-oriented and do not search for the knowledge as such, but rather for its practical application. The motivation of the adult learners varies, but they learn best actively participating in the process “when given timely and appropriate feedback and reinforcement of learning” (Collins, 2004, p.1485). Every adult learns in different way, but all of them need to feel respected and have the learning environment that allows to voice their opinions freely.
The introduction of more educational and training opportunities for adults is one of the most perspective programs in our area. It is essential for the sustainable development and establishment of equal possibilities for every person interested in widening their knowledge and polishing their skills. Lifelong learning is the activity that keeps a person young and happy regardless of the age. With the help of the experience of previous generations, the popularization of theories and teaching practices, as well as governmental contribution our community has a chance to improve our current programs regarding adult education and bring them to a new level. We should collaborate to make our area a place for more developed and effective adult education.
Best regards,
References
Collins J. (2004). Education Techniques for Lifelong Learning. Principles of Adult Learning RadioGraphics, 24, 1483–1489.
King, J.E., Anderson, E.L. & Corrigan, M.E. (2003). Changing student attendance patterns. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. (2013). An American Heritage—Federal Adult Education: A Legislative History 1964-2013. Washington, DC.
