Adults' Personal Development in Non-Formal Education

Author(s):

Ludmila Babajeva(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2011

Network:

21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES H 02, Parallel Session H 02

Paper Sesiion

Time:

2011-09-13

14:00-15:30

Room:

J 27/14,G, 69

Chair:

Christoph Wulf

Contribution

The problem of an adult's personal development is very topical in present-day circumstances, as changes Europe has undergone result in the need for a personality to be competitive both in the educational space and the labour market. The technological and information progress requires a constant human's personality development, the development of skills and abilities to ensure a person's self-actualization in the rapidly changing world (Commission of the European Communities - A Memorandum on Lifelong Learning, 2000).

Having analyzed theoretical guidelines of the European Union, the conclusion was drawn that an adult person develops throughout the whole life cycle in different dimensions, which comprise “competitiveness and employability, social inclusion, active citizenship and personal development across Europe”. However, having analyzed the practical application of the guidelines through different political documents and plans (Commission of the European Communities “Adult learning: It is never too late to learn”, 2006; Commission of the European Communities ”It is always a good time to learn”, 2007; The Council of The European Union “Council conclusions of 22 May 2008 on adult learning”, 2008; European Commission ”Key competences for adult learning professionals”, 2010), a tendency towards a human work potential development and preparation for the labour market is more obvious. In turn, having analyzed the contribution of the leading European, Latvian and foreign scholars in the field of adult education – Knowles (1973), Jarvis (1983, 2004), Walklin (1990), Koke (Koķe) (1999), Lieginiece (Lieģeniece) (2002), Zmejev (Змеев) (2003) and others – it is revealed that adults is a much more complex group of people, who implement and develop their competences for both professional and personal goals.

Research object: adults' personal development.

Personal development is based on the correlation between abilities predetermined by cognitive-practical experience and its highest manifestation - creativity and the traits of a value-motivated sphere. (Piaget, 1960; Vygotsky (Выготский), 1983, 1991; Leontjev (Леонтьев), 1975; Ananjev (Ананьев), 2001).

Research goal: to design a non-formal education model and analyze its efficiency if applied to adults' personal development.

The non-formal education model (Fordham, 1993) for personal development is revealed in the humanistic conceptions (Huitt, 2009) based on the ideas, which are extensively outlined by such humanistic scholars as Maslow, 1954; Rogers, 1961; Frankls, 1990; Cehlova (Čehlova), 2010. Up to present, this model has not been thoroughly worked out in the theory of andragogy.

Method

The theoretical framework is based on Latvian, European and foreign education and personal development pedagogical, psychological and philosophical conceptions. The research was worked out based on the humanistic (Maslow, 1954; Rogers, 1961) and culturological (Vygotsky (Выготский), 1983) approaches for the study of the research problem. The inter-disciplinary nature of the research substantiates the neccessity to analyze pedagogical, psychological and culturological conceptual ideas. The most crucial methodological basis of the research is the idea of unity of adults' education and personal development, i.e., understanding/recognition of adults' education as the basis for the implementation of personal potential, development and self-awareness. The empirical study was conducted at 5 non-formal adult education institutions in Denmark which provide non-formal education in different fields of interest, such as psychology, astronomy, astrology, geoecology, phylosophy, yoga courses etc. The respondents (25 students, 5 from each non-formal adult education institutions) were interviewed with the aim to find out their opinion on the learning process in the framework of non-formal education and their expected outcomes. Data qualitative analysis was conducted using AQUAD 6.0 (Huber, 2008) program.

Expected Outcomes

The analysis of theoretical literature and empirical data substantiates the conclusion that: - a non-formal education can be discussed as a systematic and goal-oriented educational activity aimed at personal development and satisfaction of the needs of a society; - based on the principles of continuity and complementarity, non-formal education is inextricably linked to self-education and personal development; - according to the humanistic approach adults should be seen as individuals possessing their own personal qualities, traits and abilities, their own values and worldviews; - based on the analysis of the interviews, the conclusion was drawn that adults usually participate in non-formal education because of their motivation for personal development and self-realization; - also participants elucidated that their aim was to be more successful in their career and family life by developing communicative competence, analytical ability, decision making and intrapersonal skills; - other respondents chose non-formal education basically because of learning motivation, they wanted to learn and enrich their knowledge in more flexible and informal conditions; - therefore, there is a necessity to humanize adults' education process based on the idea that people are individuals possessing their own individual features and differences; - the designed non-formal education model gave opportunities to define circumstances for effective personal development of adults.

References

Commission of the European Communities (2000) A Memorandum on Lifelong Learning [Online: acessed 10 November 2010] http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/policy/memo_en.pdf Čehlova, Z., Čehlovs, M. (2010) Humanizācija un humanitarizācija: jēdzienu diferenciācijas metodoloģiskais aspekts, ATEE Spring University, Rīga: Latvijas Universitāte, 210.-215.lpp Fordham, P. E. (1993) 'Informal, non-formal and formal education programmes' in YMCA George Williams College ICE301 Lifelong Learning Unit 2, London: YMCA George Williams College. Jarvis, P (1983) Adult Education and Lifelong Learning : theory and practice, RoutledgeFalmer, London and New York Huitt, W. (2009). Humanism and open education. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date], from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/affsys/humed.html Knowles,M (1973) The Adult Learner: The Definitive Classic in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, Elsevier Inc., USA Koķe, T. (1999) Pieaugušo izglītības attīstība: raksturīgākās iezīmes. Rīga : SIA "Mācību apgāds NT" Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.) - New York: Harper and Row. Piaget, I (1960). The child's conception of the world. - London: Routledge. Rogers, C. and Freiberg, H. (1994). Freedom to learn (4th ed.) - New York: Merrill. Walklin, L (1990) Teaching and Learning in Further and Adult Education, Stanley Thornes (publishers) Ltd Ананьев, Б.Г. (2001) Человек как предмет познания, СпБ: Питер Выготский Л.С. (1983). История развития высших психических функций // Собр. соч.: В 6-ти т. – Т.3. – Москва: Педагогика. Выготский, Л. С. (1991) Педагогическая психология. Москва: Педагогика. Змеев, С.И. (2003) Андрагогика: основы теории и технологии обучения взрослых, Москва: Perse Леонтьев, А.Н. (1975) Деятельность. Сознание. Личность, М.: Политиздат

Author Information

Ludmila Babajeva (presenting / submitting)

University of Latvia

Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art

Riga

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