Papers by Katarina Popovic
Adult education policy is being created on the international level through several instrument – g... more Adult education policy is being created on the international level through several instrument – global commitments, agreed agendas and global programmes, common actions. Literacy is widely recognized as one of the most important goals in the global agendas – starting with MDGs and in EFA, both adopted in 2000, till the new one – SDGs. The authors took actively part in the policy creation and were able to conduct analysis of concepts, actors, events, policy planing and implementation. In the paper they offer the examination of the role of literacy in MDGs and EFA. Through the analysis of the documents and text, and monitoring reports and researches, the authors show that there is a big gap between policy plans and results, and highlight the reasons for the failure, which may influence the achievements of SDG agenda too. Their main focus is on the civil society perspective - being an important partner in the global policy making, civil society offers a concept and approach that may help in overcoming the existing gap and achieving better results in the field of adult literacy. Examples from several continents are given and advocacy is stressed as one of the main instruments for more effective NGO participation in decision-making and dialogue about adult education on the global level.
Although self-directed learning is one of the concepts that has captured the attention of researc... more Although self-directed learning is one of the concepts that has captured the attention of researchers and authors in adult education for a long time, there is still considerable theoretical and methodological confusion about it. Viewed as one of the main concepts in adult learning and/or the most typical form of adult learning, it has been the subject of inquiries on its nature, processes and characteristics, with many attempts at theory building and considerations of similar concepts in adult education and learning. There are number of terms which are used by writers and researchers. Tough (1971) quoted seventeen authors who use twelve different terms, while Hiemstra (1994) compared six main competing terms. The most used terms include: self-directed learning, self-education (used mostly by scholars from Russia and other Slavic language areas), self-organized learning, self-planned learning, self-teaching, learning projects, autonomous learning, autodidaxy, independent study, open learning and so on. Self-directed learning as a concept has been around for a long time – from earlier periods when it was recognized, but neglected as a phenomenon not relevant from a scientific point of view, until the interest in it " exploded " and it became almost a kind of a " fashion " in adult education research. Nowadays a new interest in this phenomenon has emerged and new research issues have arisen including the need for modern, adequate, fresh conceptualization, combined with continuous attempts at theory building. Kulich in 1970 (Brocket & Hiemstra, 1991) and Brocket and Hiemstra (1991) showed that self-directed learning has a long history, and illustrated it with examples of famous personalities as self-directed learners, from classical Greece, Rome, renaissance Europe and colonial America. On the other hand, self-directed learning among " common people " in different historical periods has not been explored so much. Tröhler described several such examples in the context of informal learning in the middle ages (Tröhler, 2005). Early studies of self-directed learning go back to the nineteenth century, with Craik's description (1840) of several self-learners, and Smiles' book " Self-help " in 1859. Modern research started in1961 with Houle, who described three groups of adult learners, divided according to their motivation to participate, and it is the third group-those motivated by the learning process itself, that could be characterized as self-directed learners. Systematic approaches to self-directed learning were developed by Knowles (1975) and Tough (1971). In his book " Self-directed Learning " Knowles (1975) compared attributes of teacher-directed and self-directed learning (such as: the role of the learner's experience, subject-centred orientation of the learner vs. problem-centred one, external vs. internal incentives etc.), also offering a kind of a working guide, i.e. a set of learning resource exercises with recommendations in the form of steps for self-guided inquiry. This book presents the concept of self-directed learning as an essential component of the maturing process, highlighting the capacity and need to be self-directed as almost typical for adult learners, even if they are not well prepared for this type of learning. A "classical" study, which also offered a conceptual framework for self-directed learning, was carried out by Tough. He proved that a great deal of adult learning happens independently, outside of institutions of formal education and in the form of learning projects. Some of the learning projects are aimed at the increase in new knowledge, insight, or understanding; others at changes in attitudes, habits, and emotional reactions. Adults undertake several learning projects a year (around 700 hours a year – 100 per project), although they are not always aware of them. Tough further defined the learning project as a series of shorter, connected episodes lasting not less than seven hours, where more than a half of person's motivation is to gain and retain knowledge and skills for a minimum of two days. These episodes can happen in a variety of settings e.g. in the library, classroom, kitchen, hotel or train, and the person might learn with a teacher, in a group or completely alone. Tough explained the complete phenomenon of adult learning using the " iceberg " metaphor – the visible, smaller part happens within the organized forms of learning and education (such as courses and seminars), but some 80% is not visible and consists of learning planned, organized and guided by the person him/herself.
The aim of the paper is to analyse the different types, role and specific characteristics of eval... more The aim of the paper is to analyse the different types, role and specific characteristics of evaluation in the contemporary European projects about education. The methodology used includes the analysis of existing models, especially goals, criteria and procedures. Evaluation in education, especially in adult education is described, as part of andragogic cycles, evaluation as element of scientific research, as well as two main models of project management and evaluation in Europe – PCM and MAPA. Further on, this kind of evaluation is compared with the more traditional type of evaluation.
Rad se bavi pitanjima kvaliteta obrazovanja i učenja odraslih u Evropskoj uniji, determinantama k... more Rad se bavi pitanjima kvaliteta obrazovanja i učenja odraslih u Evropskoj uniji, determinantama koje su uslovile prioritetan karakter ove teme u programskim dokumentima i aktivnostima Evropske komisije i među zemljama članicama. Rad dalje analizira dostignuća na ovom planu, pre svega u oblasti stručnog obrazovanja i u visokom obrazovanju – razvijene sisteme kvaliteta, programe i zajedničke mere u okviru EU. U učenju odraslih analiziraju se postojeći pristupi pra-ćenju i obezbeđenju kvaliteta, dimenzije i komponente kvaliteta, pitanja kriterijuma i indikatora. Poseban osvrt učinjen ja na tri ključna problema za oblast kvaliteta obrazovanja – andragoški kadar, institucije i participaciju odraslih. Ključne reči: kvalitet obrazovanja odraslih, kvalitet učenja odraslih, Evropska unija Savremene tendencije razvoja u EU kao determinanta bavljenja kvalitetom Shvatanja o kvalitetu obrazovanja i učenja odraslih u zemljama Evropske unije definisana su nizom faktora – zajedničkom i nacionalnom politikom obrazovanja, realnim potrebama koje definišu svet obrazovanja s jedne i svet rada s druge strane, kao i naučno-istraživačkim konceptima na kojima se u kontinuitetu radi u profesionalnim telima na nacionalnom i na EU nivou. Dinamičan razvoj ove oblasti u poslednjih nekoliko godina ipak je najviše pod uticajem ekonomskih promena i promena u globalnim ciljevima EU koje su uslovljene globalizacijom i ekonomskom krizom. U trenutku kada je definisan cilj da Evropa postane najkompetentnija i najdinamičnija ekonomija sveta utemeljena na znanju, sposobna za održivi ekonomski rast, uz stvaranje novih kvalitetnih radnih mesta i uz veću socijalnu koheziju, (EC, 2010) obrazovanje i učenje odraslih su dobili na značaju. U kontekstu značajnih globalnih promena, evropski fokus je pomeren sa stvaranja što jedinstvenijeg evropskog obrazovnog prostora sa visokom unutrašnjom mobilnošću i obrazovanjem kao opštim dobrom – na profesionalnu, visokoorganizovanu, standardizovanu oblast čija društvena, ekonomska i socijalna relevantnost nameću pitanje kvaliteta kao prioritetno.
Obrazovne reforme koje je Srbija počela da sprovodi 2000. godine značajno su promenile sistem vis... more Obrazovne reforme koje je Srbija počela da sprovodi 2000. godine značajno su promenile sistem visokog obrazovanja, ali ne na način koji bi podržao odrasle da studiraju i otvorio univerzitete za obrazovanje odraslih. Zakon o visokom obrazovanju je dozvoljavao zaposlenima da studiraju dobijajući status vanrednih studenata, ali u stvarnosti je to bilo veoma teško izvodljivo, jer nije bilo odgovarajuće ponude za njih. Odrasli u visokoškolskom obrazovanju u Srbiji su više “tolerisani” nego podržani. Od 2000. godine i od potpisivanja Bolonjske deklaracije ukinut je i status vanrednog studenta. Time je drastično smanjena mogućnost studiranja za odrasle, naročito zaposlene, što je potpuno u supprotnosti sa aktuelnim potrebama društva i sa savremenim koncepcijama visokoškolskog obrazovanja, a zaposleni studenti su “gurnuti u sivu zonu” gde se njihov način studiranja u najboljem slučaju na individualnom nivou “toleriše”, ali sistemski ne podržava.
Problemu položaja odraslih studenata u visokoškolskim ustanovama i mogućnostima njihovog uključivanja u proces studiranja prilazi se u ovom radu kroz analizu aktuelnih dokumenata koji se odnose na regulisanje visokog obrazovanja ili rada fakulteta: Zakon o visokom obrazovanju, Strategija razvoja obrazovanja u Republici Srbiji i Statut Univerziteta u Beogradu – Filozofskog fakulteta. Sem toga, analizira se i terminologija koja se odnosi na ovu oblast kao indikator aktuelne koncepcije, shvatanja i pristupa (u sladu sa pristupom analize diksursa). Na kraju rada su istaknuti faktori koji doprinose ili otežavaju uključivanje odraslih u visoko obrazovanje, kao i preporuke za stvaranje sistema otvorenog, pristupačnog i inkluzivnog (za različite kategorije odraslih!) sistema visokoškolskog obrazovanja.
U radu se analiziraju tri strategija obrazovanja odraslih koje su u Srbiji donete u periodu od 20... more U radu se analiziraju tri strategija obrazovanja odraslih koje su u Srbiji donete u periodu od 2001. do 2012 godine. Predmet analize su bazični diskursi i narativi koje ove strategije promovišu i zastupaju, vrste promena koje predlažu i podstiču i njihova efikasnost u ostvarivanju postavljenih ciljeva i strateških mera. Analiza je pokazala da strategije obrazovanja odraslih počivaju na različitim diskursima, da postuliraju relativno različite ciljeve i strateške mere, ali da im je zajednička neefikasnost u ostvarivanju. Manji broj mera ostvaren je zahvaljujući kontinuitetu strateške, političke i finansijske podrške EU, što upućuje na zaključak da je politika obrazovanja odraslih u Srbiji rezultat pre uticaja međunarodne politike obrazovanja, nego izraz nacionalnih interesa i reformske odlučnosti. Ključne reči: obrazovanje odraslih, politika obrazovanja odraslih, transfer politika, strategija obrazovanja odraslih, strateške mere, globalni diskursi. Uvod Političke promene u Srbiji nakon demokratskih promena i izbora 2000. godine označile su kraj višegodišnje političke i ekonomske izolacije i početak složenog procesa socijalno-ekonomske tranzicije koji je podrazumevao reforme svih oblasti društvenog života i uspostavljanje institucija, mehanizama i instrumenata koji omogućuju uspešnu integraciju Srbije u globalno, i posebno u evropsko okruženje. Javne politike, kojima se ključne društvene promene predviđaju, konceptualizuju i promovišu, i razvojne strategije kao njihov operativni i transparentni iskaz, predstavljaju jedan od osnovnih reformskih instrumenata. U periodu od 2001. do 2014. godine Vlada Srbije je donela 114 različitih strategija 1 , što ukazuje na intenzitet reformskih zahvata i značajnu javnu političku volju za transformacijom svih oblasti društveno-ekonomske stvarnosti. Od januara 2001. godine do oktobra 2012. godine, između ostalih, donete su i tri strategije za razvoj obrazovanja odraslih, što takođe ukazuje na izuzetnu, čak ekskluzivnu društvenu i političku zainteresovanosti za ovu oblast, imajući u vidu da ni za jednu drugu, izuzimajući stručno obrazovanje, nije donet toliki broj strateških dokumenata za isti vremenski period. Prvu od tih strategija (Strateški pravci razvoja obrazovanja odraslih, 2001) donelo je Ministarstvo prosvete i sporta, a dve kasnije (Strategija razvoja obrazovanja odraslih u Republici Srbiji, 2007. godine i Strategija razvoja obrazovanja odraslih, 2012.godine) Vlada Republike Srbije.
The new SDGs and EFA are being developed, without looking back deeper to the previous global agen... more The new SDGs and EFA are being developed, without looking back deeper to the previous global agendas – MDGs and EFA. A reminder on several analysis of the failures and ommits may rise the question if the new plan is based on wrong premisses and the real challenges are being ignored.
The paper explores the question how gender identity creates resistance to education and learning.... more The paper explores the question how gender identity creates resistance to education and learning. We start from the generally accepted assumption that gender identity is largely socially constructed through social mechanisms, especially in times of crises. Internalization of such disciplinary technologies (Foucault, 1988) that transmit and maintain discourse creates a need for confirmation and reproduction of gender identity. The need often manifests itself in specific sets of attitudes which should be transformed, before the process of (re)construction of knowledge intended by the creators and implementers of educational activities. The field of our research is informal learning, and theoretical framework is the theory of transformative learning and change perspectives of meaning (Mezirow, 1997). However, we focus on a special case – regressive transformative learning, which occurred in the time of war, crises and isolation in Serbia. We believe that this kind of transformative learning strengthens heteronormativity (Berlant and Warner, 1998) in society, especial among young males, who are exposed to these influences and to the drastic reshaping of the social structures which are based on “masculine”, physical and political power. Through power-relationships such persons are forced into the traditional gender roles, including all their social manifestations. The heteronormativity includes gender-specific types and contents of learning and creates resistance to other types of learning, even in the informal field. A discourse analysis is applied via interviews conducted with young urban male in the capital of Serbia. The participants answers are suggestive of the strong social pressures that caused collective regressive transformations. The socially constructed role turned to a social mask, being internalized to the personal identity. Any kind of informal learning that would include “expressing emotions, being soft...” is refused by these males. In opposite cases, this is done explicitly in order to resist heteronormativity. We conclude that gender identity is determining goal, content and type of informal learning in a restrictive way, creating resistance to the new kinds of learning which arguably create the significant change of perspective.
Rođen 1878. u Beču, živeo i radio Beču, Lajpcigu, Berlinu, Cirihu, Frankfurtu, Jerusalimu, bio ak... more Rođen 1878. u Beču, živeo i radio Beču, Lajpcigu, Berlinu, Cirihu, Frankfurtu, Jerusalimu, bio aktivan u najznačajnijim akademskim sredinama Evrope svog vremena, ovaj jevrejski mislilac, religijski filozof, predavač i praktičar ostavio je dubok trag u nekoliko oblasti ljudskog duha, uključujući i obrazovanje odraslih. Teško je iz fundusa bogate misli Martina Bubera izdvojiti samo neke, tim pre što se filozofska, religijska, politička, psihološka i andragoška misao snažno prožimaju, a s druge strane, poznavanje njegovog praktičnog rada je takođe od velikog značaja za razumevanje ovih ideja. No ono što i jeste jedan od ključnih kvaliteta ovog kompleksa ideja, ono što ih čini toliko drugačijim i posebnim, jeste upravo činjenica da se Buberova misao ne odlikuje klasičnom interdisciplinarnošću, već deluje kao „naddisciplinarna“, jedinstvena celina, sa novim kvalitetom, čije se implikacije mogu očitavati u svim pomenutim disciplinama. On sam je često isticao da ne poseduje nikakvu čvrstu doktrinu, već je govorio: „Ja samo pokazujem nešto. Pokazujem stvarnost, nešto u toj stvarnosti, što do tada nije viđeno, ili bar ne dovoljno. Onog ko me sluša uzimam za ruku i vodim do prozora. Otvaram prozor i pokazujem van. Ja nemam nikakvo učenje, ja samo vodim razgovor.“ Iz obilja Buberove misli, ideja i teorija, u ölanku se izdvajaju neke koje imaju direktan andragoški karakter ili su indirektno važne za njegovo poimanje obrazovanja odraslih. Sem toga, ilustruje se i duboka ukorenjenost ovih ideja u evropsku filozofsku, ali i andragošku misao i ukazuje na njihovu aktuelnost i veliki filozofsko-humanistički potencijal koji nude savremenim teorijama obrazovanja odraslih.
Europäische Integrationsperspektiven, 2001
Bildung und Erziehung, 2003
Books by Katarina Popovic
Contemporary adult education policy development and lifelong learning practice are experiencing a... more Contemporary adult education policy development and lifelong learning practice are experiencing an autonomy loss imposed by the dominant neoliberal economic paradigm. As a consequence, in many countries, especially those that depend economically from supranational organizations and donors, the critical approach and its adjunct idea of emancipation have been sacrificed in favour of ambiguous developmental goals like employability, flexibility and adaptability. On the other hand, in many countries, adult education as a social movement is deeply rooted in the conviction that learning is an essential process related to personal transformation and social change. The result of this conflict between the external pressure for policies in favour of the labour market and the internal assumption about the value of emancipation has led to interesting insights that have produced policies and practices that attempt to reconcile these two forces of development. In this volume, we offer a consideration of the above paradoxical situation, and the critical view of adult education policy and practice in the region of Southeastern Europe. Some chapters in this volume present also positive lifelong learning practices, policy development analyses and conceptual understandings that highlight the efforts to develop adult education within a framework of the dominant neoliberal forces that shape European and international adult education policy.
REVIEW: In her latest book, Katarina Popović gives herself an colossal, and very timely task of a... more REVIEW: In her latest book, Katarina Popović gives herself an colossal, and very timely task of analyzing the historical developments and contemporary trends in global adult education policy, and their implications for the regional and local contexts, and the academic field of adult education research alike. She completes this task with much gusto. With her feet planted both in academia and policy circles, Popović has a unique vantage point from which to analyze the changing world of adult education, and she is using it to her best advantage, painting the global policy landscape in great detail, and with great verve. This results in eight ingeniously titled chapters in which the author maps the contextual development of the concept through its various iterations.
The analysis takes major global policy actors (UNESCO, World Bank, OECD, EU, and the international third sector) as a point of departure, competently weaving together detailed explanations of the actors’ preferred styles of governance – including policy creation, diffusion, homogenization, monitoring, and support – in the individual, national, and global struggle to secure the knowledge in the fight against postmodern uncertainty (pp. 30-34). Importantly, the author reflects in particular on the historical positioning, influence, and the power play between these actors, and its effect in creating connections and antagonisms between different concepts launched throughout the past six decades or so: adult education, continuous education, recurrent education, lifelong education, and its contemporary iteration in lifelong learning, and in thus transforming the field of (adult) education and reshaping the ways of the learning self.
Distinguished from its conceptual predecessors the current, seemingly minor alteration with the focus on learning, creates, in one of the book’s main arguments, a new vehicle for the neo-liberal development agenda, in which knowledge is highly functional, montesiable, and most importantly, the responsibility of the individual with the notion of the greater (economic) good for themselves and the society, as the chief motivator of (primarily) individual development. Such changes, the author argues, have led to the post-structuralist, seemingly post-institutionalist (at least in the way of execution) approach to education, with the sites of learning becoming diffused, and the learning activity self-directed and self regulated (p. 122). Alongside this argument, Popović also reflects on the effects of the diffusion of sites of learning, and responsabilitisation of the individual, on the science of adult education, potentially rendering it redundant altogether. In this way, the book never veers from one of its proclaimed aims, which is considering the implication of the concept development not just for the global learning community, but for the educational paradigm and the adult education discipline as well.
The rich contextual, historical, and institutional analysis enables the author to provide strong support to her reservations towards the adult education discourse change; she certainly is not lonely in providing a critical view of these trends, but the way in which she does it is thorough, innovative, and pertinent. One of its greatest contributions lies in a nuanced approach to adult education policy development through a prism of intersecting analyses of the adult education research conceptualization and methodology (with a strong focus on the distinction, or indeed lack thereof, between policy and politics) and the ongoing changes in education policy making that come as a result of a post-structural diffusion of power and governance between the state, the private sector, and the supranational entities. Another is in the author’s inter-national positioning, which enables her to dissect the topic using multiple linguistic, cultural, and academic tools. This results in a comprehensive and well-balanced overview of the topic’s treatment from diverse cultural and academic – including, without wanting to sound atomistic, non-Western – perspectives.
From re-building the world post-WWI to looking beyond the Millennium Development Goals, from UNESCO’s ‘softer’ and more inclusive approach, reflected in the early postulate of ‘education in the service of peace and humanity’ (p. 38), to the rising influence of the World Bank and its effect on the neoliberalisation of educational discourse, we are given a somewhat discomforting portrayal, as if in a room of distorting mirrors, of what it means to be a learner, to learn, what knowledge is, and what its purpose is supposed to be; we are shown how this is influenced by the economic and geo-political trends and decided on a global scale, but on a very uneven playing field, with different rules for different players.
Beyond criticism of the WB’s neoliberal, unidirectional, and almost neo-colonial (as the author notes on p. 253) ways, which is truthfully not entirely unusual in educational research, particular attention seems to be given to the elite club that is OECD and its enthusiasm for comparisons and rankings, its technocratic approach instrumentalising education into a way of providing the individual with a set of tools and competencies, and producing very specific – and potentially most widely internalized (hence the concern) governance mechanisms that measure, but at the same time (re)create the goals of education. Of PISA, applicable to its adult education counterpart PIAAC discussed later in the text, the author says: ‘PISA diagnoses, but it also creates, it studies, but it also carries with it a cultural dictum; in this way, it confidently redefines basic concepts – of how we see learners, learning, knowledge, curriculum... With very concrete consequences, for example in curriculum restructuring’ (p. 134). This is an observation that could easily be extended to any and all of the players described in this book, but relevant to OECD due to its rising influence (see, e.g. pp. 140-1 for the comparison of the extent of participation and influence of OECD-produced PIACC with that of UNESCO-produced GRALE, and UNESCO’s recent acceptance of some of the efficacy and efficiency narratives and advocacy of a stronger cooperation with OECD and the WB).
In the meantime, EU, with its overt focus on unity, cooperation, and stability, is seen to have embraced what the author recognizes as a neoliberal form of the concept of lifelong learning, possibly due to the fears surrounding Europe’s competitiveness alongside the US and the Asian tiger economies. Although Popović is not neglecting the more humanist discourse constructed in the, for example, Lisbon strategy, she wryly asks whether ‘this new, upgraded, up-skilled, trained, and re-skilled [Homo Economicus] would also manage to be innovative, proactive, creative, and critical [...]’ (p. 176).
In the final chapters, Popović turns to INGOs in all their diversity and lobbying power, noting in particular their power of creating a forum for other, supra- and inter-governmental actors to meet with the bottom-up demands, contributing thus to the ‘democratization of global governance’ (p. 228), offering a diversification of approaches to the question of adult education, and some alternatives (including feminist, postcolonial, environmental) to the dominant discourses constructed by the actors discussed earlier in the text.
A prospective reader would be incorrect in assuming that the volume before them is a cynical, defeatist cry of the academic left. In her concluding remarks, Popović very soberly, and quite pragmatically, asks about the purpose and the future of adult education, both as a concept and as a discipline, in the world portrayed in the previous 300-strong pages. Reflecting on the current economic, environmental, security and geopolitical crises faced by us all, she invites a more constructive grappling with challenging issues, a more productive dialogue, and a more proactive, engaged attitude from the academic community, in a plea not to let the beautifully coined ‘unbearable lightness of indifference’ (p. 306) leave the future of adult education in the hands of others.
In spite of its sardonic veneer, this review of contemporary policy developments does not leave behind a barren wasteland depiction of the adult education’s multifarious potential – on the contrary, at its best, it gives both the scholars and the bureaucrats sharp tools to continue carving it out. Thorough in its background research and confident in handling the different iterations of the concept, but relentless in its cool assessment of the current trading in the term and its many uses and users, this book is a necessary read both for those wading through the murky waters of adult education, and those only beginning to dip their toes. Perhaps the best way to describe the author’s cautious, yet hopeful attitude is in its nurturing, what a young andragogy student recently described as healthy pessimism. In these days of seeking easy fixes and quick solutions to deep-rooted problems of inequality, insecurity, and power imbalance, or indeed, resorting to giving them an ivory tower treatment, everyone who is a part of the adult education discourse – and we all are – could do with a healthy dose of it.
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Papers by Katarina Popovic
Problemu položaja odraslih studenata u visokoškolskim ustanovama i mogućnostima njihovog uključivanja u proces studiranja prilazi se u ovom radu kroz analizu aktuelnih dokumenata koji se odnose na regulisanje visokog obrazovanja ili rada fakulteta: Zakon o visokom obrazovanju, Strategija razvoja obrazovanja u Republici Srbiji i Statut Univerziteta u Beogradu – Filozofskog fakulteta. Sem toga, analizira se i terminologija koja se odnosi na ovu oblast kao indikator aktuelne koncepcije, shvatanja i pristupa (u sladu sa pristupom analize diksursa). Na kraju rada su istaknuti faktori koji doprinose ili otežavaju uključivanje odraslih u visoko obrazovanje, kao i preporuke za stvaranje sistema otvorenog, pristupačnog i inkluzivnog (za različite kategorije odraslih!) sistema visokoškolskog obrazovanja.
Books by Katarina Popovic
The analysis takes major global policy actors (UNESCO, World Bank, OECD, EU, and the international third sector) as a point of departure, competently weaving together detailed explanations of the actors’ preferred styles of governance – including policy creation, diffusion, homogenization, monitoring, and support – in the individual, national, and global struggle to secure the knowledge in the fight against postmodern uncertainty (pp. 30-34). Importantly, the author reflects in particular on the historical positioning, influence, and the power play between these actors, and its effect in creating connections and antagonisms between different concepts launched throughout the past six decades or so: adult education, continuous education, recurrent education, lifelong education, and its contemporary iteration in lifelong learning, and in thus transforming the field of (adult) education and reshaping the ways of the learning self.
Distinguished from its conceptual predecessors the current, seemingly minor alteration with the focus on learning, creates, in one of the book’s main arguments, a new vehicle for the neo-liberal development agenda, in which knowledge is highly functional, montesiable, and most importantly, the responsibility of the individual with the notion of the greater (economic) good for themselves and the society, as the chief motivator of (primarily) individual development. Such changes, the author argues, have led to the post-structuralist, seemingly post-institutionalist (at least in the way of execution) approach to education, with the sites of learning becoming diffused, and the learning activity self-directed and self regulated (p. 122). Alongside this argument, Popović also reflects on the effects of the diffusion of sites of learning, and responsabilitisation of the individual, on the science of adult education, potentially rendering it redundant altogether. In this way, the book never veers from one of its proclaimed aims, which is considering the implication of the concept development not just for the global learning community, but for the educational paradigm and the adult education discipline as well.
The rich contextual, historical, and institutional analysis enables the author to provide strong support to her reservations towards the adult education discourse change; she certainly is not lonely in providing a critical view of these trends, but the way in which she does it is thorough, innovative, and pertinent. One of its greatest contributions lies in a nuanced approach to adult education policy development through a prism of intersecting analyses of the adult education research conceptualization and methodology (with a strong focus on the distinction, or indeed lack thereof, between policy and politics) and the ongoing changes in education policy making that come as a result of a post-structural diffusion of power and governance between the state, the private sector, and the supranational entities. Another is in the author’s inter-national positioning, which enables her to dissect the topic using multiple linguistic, cultural, and academic tools. This results in a comprehensive and well-balanced overview of the topic’s treatment from diverse cultural and academic – including, without wanting to sound atomistic, non-Western – perspectives.
From re-building the world post-WWI to looking beyond the Millennium Development Goals, from UNESCO’s ‘softer’ and more inclusive approach, reflected in the early postulate of ‘education in the service of peace and humanity’ (p. 38), to the rising influence of the World Bank and its effect on the neoliberalisation of educational discourse, we are given a somewhat discomforting portrayal, as if in a room of distorting mirrors, of what it means to be a learner, to learn, what knowledge is, and what its purpose is supposed to be; we are shown how this is influenced by the economic and geo-political trends and decided on a global scale, but on a very uneven playing field, with different rules for different players.
Beyond criticism of the WB’s neoliberal, unidirectional, and almost neo-colonial (as the author notes on p. 253) ways, which is truthfully not entirely unusual in educational research, particular attention seems to be given to the elite club that is OECD and its enthusiasm for comparisons and rankings, its technocratic approach instrumentalising education into a way of providing the individual with a set of tools and competencies, and producing very specific – and potentially most widely internalized (hence the concern) governance mechanisms that measure, but at the same time (re)create the goals of education. Of PISA, applicable to its adult education counterpart PIAAC discussed later in the text, the author says: ‘PISA diagnoses, but it also creates, it studies, but it also carries with it a cultural dictum; in this way, it confidently redefines basic concepts – of how we see learners, learning, knowledge, curriculum... With very concrete consequences, for example in curriculum restructuring’ (p. 134). This is an observation that could easily be extended to any and all of the players described in this book, but relevant to OECD due to its rising influence (see, e.g. pp. 140-1 for the comparison of the extent of participation and influence of OECD-produced PIACC with that of UNESCO-produced GRALE, and UNESCO’s recent acceptance of some of the efficacy and efficiency narratives and advocacy of a stronger cooperation with OECD and the WB).
In the meantime, EU, with its overt focus on unity, cooperation, and stability, is seen to have embraced what the author recognizes as a neoliberal form of the concept of lifelong learning, possibly due to the fears surrounding Europe’s competitiveness alongside the US and the Asian tiger economies. Although Popović is not neglecting the more humanist discourse constructed in the, for example, Lisbon strategy, she wryly asks whether ‘this new, upgraded, up-skilled, trained, and re-skilled [Homo Economicus] would also manage to be innovative, proactive, creative, and critical [...]’ (p. 176).
In the final chapters, Popović turns to INGOs in all their diversity and lobbying power, noting in particular their power of creating a forum for other, supra- and inter-governmental actors to meet with the bottom-up demands, contributing thus to the ‘democratization of global governance’ (p. 228), offering a diversification of approaches to the question of adult education, and some alternatives (including feminist, postcolonial, environmental) to the dominant discourses constructed by the actors discussed earlier in the text.
A prospective reader would be incorrect in assuming that the volume before them is a cynical, defeatist cry of the academic left. In her concluding remarks, Popović very soberly, and quite pragmatically, asks about the purpose and the future of adult education, both as a concept and as a discipline, in the world portrayed in the previous 300-strong pages. Reflecting on the current economic, environmental, security and geopolitical crises faced by us all, she invites a more constructive grappling with challenging issues, a more productive dialogue, and a more proactive, engaged attitude from the academic community, in a plea not to let the beautifully coined ‘unbearable lightness of indifference’ (p. 306) leave the future of adult education in the hands of others.
In spite of its sardonic veneer, this review of contemporary policy developments does not leave behind a barren wasteland depiction of the adult education’s multifarious potential – on the contrary, at its best, it gives both the scholars and the bureaucrats sharp tools to continue carving it out. Thorough in its background research and confident in handling the different iterations of the concept, but relentless in its cool assessment of the current trading in the term and its many uses and users, this book is a necessary read both for those wading through the murky waters of adult education, and those only beginning to dip their toes. Perhaps the best way to describe the author’s cautious, yet hopeful attitude is in its nurturing, what a young andragogy student recently described as healthy pessimism. In these days of seeking easy fixes and quick solutions to deep-rooted problems of inequality, insecurity, and power imbalance, or indeed, resorting to giving them an ivory tower treatment, everyone who is a part of the adult education discourse – and we all are – could do with a healthy dose of it.
Problemu položaja odraslih studenata u visokoškolskim ustanovama i mogućnostima njihovog uključivanja u proces studiranja prilazi se u ovom radu kroz analizu aktuelnih dokumenata koji se odnose na regulisanje visokog obrazovanja ili rada fakulteta: Zakon o visokom obrazovanju, Strategija razvoja obrazovanja u Republici Srbiji i Statut Univerziteta u Beogradu – Filozofskog fakulteta. Sem toga, analizira se i terminologija koja se odnosi na ovu oblast kao indikator aktuelne koncepcije, shvatanja i pristupa (u sladu sa pristupom analize diksursa). Na kraju rada su istaknuti faktori koji doprinose ili otežavaju uključivanje odraslih u visoko obrazovanje, kao i preporuke za stvaranje sistema otvorenog, pristupačnog i inkluzivnog (za različite kategorije odraslih!) sistema visokoškolskog obrazovanja.
The analysis takes major global policy actors (UNESCO, World Bank, OECD, EU, and the international third sector) as a point of departure, competently weaving together detailed explanations of the actors’ preferred styles of governance – including policy creation, diffusion, homogenization, monitoring, and support – in the individual, national, and global struggle to secure the knowledge in the fight against postmodern uncertainty (pp. 30-34). Importantly, the author reflects in particular on the historical positioning, influence, and the power play between these actors, and its effect in creating connections and antagonisms between different concepts launched throughout the past six decades or so: adult education, continuous education, recurrent education, lifelong education, and its contemporary iteration in lifelong learning, and in thus transforming the field of (adult) education and reshaping the ways of the learning self.
Distinguished from its conceptual predecessors the current, seemingly minor alteration with the focus on learning, creates, in one of the book’s main arguments, a new vehicle for the neo-liberal development agenda, in which knowledge is highly functional, montesiable, and most importantly, the responsibility of the individual with the notion of the greater (economic) good for themselves and the society, as the chief motivator of (primarily) individual development. Such changes, the author argues, have led to the post-structuralist, seemingly post-institutionalist (at least in the way of execution) approach to education, with the sites of learning becoming diffused, and the learning activity self-directed and self regulated (p. 122). Alongside this argument, Popović also reflects on the effects of the diffusion of sites of learning, and responsabilitisation of the individual, on the science of adult education, potentially rendering it redundant altogether. In this way, the book never veers from one of its proclaimed aims, which is considering the implication of the concept development not just for the global learning community, but for the educational paradigm and the adult education discipline as well.
The rich contextual, historical, and institutional analysis enables the author to provide strong support to her reservations towards the adult education discourse change; she certainly is not lonely in providing a critical view of these trends, but the way in which she does it is thorough, innovative, and pertinent. One of its greatest contributions lies in a nuanced approach to adult education policy development through a prism of intersecting analyses of the adult education research conceptualization and methodology (with a strong focus on the distinction, or indeed lack thereof, between policy and politics) and the ongoing changes in education policy making that come as a result of a post-structural diffusion of power and governance between the state, the private sector, and the supranational entities. Another is in the author’s inter-national positioning, which enables her to dissect the topic using multiple linguistic, cultural, and academic tools. This results in a comprehensive and well-balanced overview of the topic’s treatment from diverse cultural and academic – including, without wanting to sound atomistic, non-Western – perspectives.
From re-building the world post-WWI to looking beyond the Millennium Development Goals, from UNESCO’s ‘softer’ and more inclusive approach, reflected in the early postulate of ‘education in the service of peace and humanity’ (p. 38), to the rising influence of the World Bank and its effect on the neoliberalisation of educational discourse, we are given a somewhat discomforting portrayal, as if in a room of distorting mirrors, of what it means to be a learner, to learn, what knowledge is, and what its purpose is supposed to be; we are shown how this is influenced by the economic and geo-political trends and decided on a global scale, but on a very uneven playing field, with different rules for different players.
Beyond criticism of the WB’s neoliberal, unidirectional, and almost neo-colonial (as the author notes on p. 253) ways, which is truthfully not entirely unusual in educational research, particular attention seems to be given to the elite club that is OECD and its enthusiasm for comparisons and rankings, its technocratic approach instrumentalising education into a way of providing the individual with a set of tools and competencies, and producing very specific – and potentially most widely internalized (hence the concern) governance mechanisms that measure, but at the same time (re)create the goals of education. Of PISA, applicable to its adult education counterpart PIAAC discussed later in the text, the author says: ‘PISA diagnoses, but it also creates, it studies, but it also carries with it a cultural dictum; in this way, it confidently redefines basic concepts – of how we see learners, learning, knowledge, curriculum... With very concrete consequences, for example in curriculum restructuring’ (p. 134). This is an observation that could easily be extended to any and all of the players described in this book, but relevant to OECD due to its rising influence (see, e.g. pp. 140-1 for the comparison of the extent of participation and influence of OECD-produced PIACC with that of UNESCO-produced GRALE, and UNESCO’s recent acceptance of some of the efficacy and efficiency narratives and advocacy of a stronger cooperation with OECD and the WB).
In the meantime, EU, with its overt focus on unity, cooperation, and stability, is seen to have embraced what the author recognizes as a neoliberal form of the concept of lifelong learning, possibly due to the fears surrounding Europe’s competitiveness alongside the US and the Asian tiger economies. Although Popović is not neglecting the more humanist discourse constructed in the, for example, Lisbon strategy, she wryly asks whether ‘this new, upgraded, up-skilled, trained, and re-skilled [Homo Economicus] would also manage to be innovative, proactive, creative, and critical [...]’ (p. 176).
In the final chapters, Popović turns to INGOs in all their diversity and lobbying power, noting in particular their power of creating a forum for other, supra- and inter-governmental actors to meet with the bottom-up demands, contributing thus to the ‘democratization of global governance’ (p. 228), offering a diversification of approaches to the question of adult education, and some alternatives (including feminist, postcolonial, environmental) to the dominant discourses constructed by the actors discussed earlier in the text.
A prospective reader would be incorrect in assuming that the volume before them is a cynical, defeatist cry of the academic left. In her concluding remarks, Popović very soberly, and quite pragmatically, asks about the purpose and the future of adult education, both as a concept and as a discipline, in the world portrayed in the previous 300-strong pages. Reflecting on the current economic, environmental, security and geopolitical crises faced by us all, she invites a more constructive grappling with challenging issues, a more productive dialogue, and a more proactive, engaged attitude from the academic community, in a plea not to let the beautifully coined ‘unbearable lightness of indifference’ (p. 306) leave the future of adult education in the hands of others.
In spite of its sardonic veneer, this review of contemporary policy developments does not leave behind a barren wasteland depiction of the adult education’s multifarious potential – on the contrary, at its best, it gives both the scholars and the bureaucrats sharp tools to continue carving it out. Thorough in its background research and confident in handling the different iterations of the concept, but relentless in its cool assessment of the current trading in the term and its many uses and users, this book is a necessary read both for those wading through the murky waters of adult education, and those only beginning to dip their toes. Perhaps the best way to describe the author’s cautious, yet hopeful attitude is in its nurturing, what a young andragogy student recently described as healthy pessimism. In these days of seeking easy fixes and quick solutions to deep-rooted problems of inequality, insecurity, and power imbalance, or indeed, resorting to giving them an ivory tower treatment, everyone who is a part of the adult education discourse – and we all are – could do with a healthy dose of it.