The age we are living in is characterized by continuous change, an acceleration of time and a reduction in space. People's lifestyles have changed; we live in a complex society where the information is constantly updated. Zygmunt Bauman,...
moreThe age we are living in is characterized by continuous change, an acceleration of time and a reduction in space. People's lifestyles have changed; we live in a complex society where the information is constantly updated.
Zygmunt Bauman, in 'Conversations on Education', argues that today, access to culture is the prerogative of a few and identifies three orders of factors that make education inshort of education. (Bauman & Mazzeo, 2011)
Firstly, there are no opportunities: once there was talk of"solid modernity",that is, security, almost mathematics, for those who studied, to be able to access a job in line with their own skills. Today, however, having a degree is not necessarily synonymous with adequate employment.
Secondly, there is an "inequality of prospects for students". In the past, the middle class could aspire to a safe workplace; today his children are precarious. Each country should invest in the discovery of new talent and offer concrete opportunities; In fact, young people are no longer guaranteed access to prestigious occupations.
The third factor that contributes to diminishing the value of modern education is the crisis of meritocracy: in the years of the welfare state, therefore in the immediate post-war period, there were inequalities of a social nature, difficult to defeat. However, with the right skills and goodwill, it was possible to attempt the ascent of the social ladder.
In this regard, Bauman points out that at the top of society there is no place for everyone: well-paid and satisfying roles from a professional point of view are few, are coveted and not impossible to fill even with poor preparation. The current generation is the first generation in which 50% of graduates are unable to access a job consistent with their title and, in the worst case, are unemployed or have access to so-called rubbish jobs or underpaid jobs.
Aureliana Alberici states that: "Adult Education, branch of general and social pedagogy, once a discipline that essentially studied the teaching-learning process in order to create optimal methodologies for the recovery of knowledge fundamental for adults, today has been revisited, has become self-orientation of the adult. In fact, precisely because we live in a complex society, people need to individually redesign their lives and, in the context of learning, to update themselves with new knowledge for the construction of a democratic society in which all citizens can be free and active."(Alberici, 2008, p. 11)
Paul Lengrand, already in the 70s, stated that "education is not only acquiring a wealth of knowledge, but also development of the individual who progressively becomes more and more himself, through the different experiences of life. As a result, the tasks of education are in two directions: to encourage the activation of structures and methods to help individuals in the continuity of their learning and training throughout their lives and to equip them, including through forms learning, so that they can be subjects and tools of their development."(Lengrand, 1970, p. 36)
He differentiates adult education and education among adults. Adult Education implies a standardization, conformation, processes aimed at training an individual to meet the needs of society. According to the author this is the man of the answer who uses logic, needs security, whose knowledge is good. Adult education, on the other hand, is informal when adults form a group, in their daily dimension, in work or in social activities, growing up as people. Every life situation is a source of learning and self-learning. For Lengrand this is the man of demand, he does not need certainties except his will. For him there is nothing else to know than the particular relationship he has with the universe in which he finds himself, so every opportunity is an opportunity for learning.
Adulthood is therefore self-care, need to reflect on one's own path in the projection and design of a possible and achievable future. Education has the task of promoting, undertaking and developing a process aimed at enhancing oneself in the relationship with others and the world; in the case of adults in particular, Education promotes the realization to the full of subjective value in person, making the adult active organizer of their life project and therefore of their own development.
Duccio Demetrio and Aureliana Alberici identify four objectives that are now considered essential for Adult Education (Demetrio & Alberici, 2002): "the facilitation of change; participation in the life of the state and the dissemination of the values of democracy; Promoting and increasing economic productivity and entrepreneurship; improvement of all forms of development and personal growth."
In practice, the authors emphasize the functions of Adult Education which are essentially social, economic and psychological; no longer a pedagogical discipline to compensate for gaps in adult knowledge, but a fundamental tool in the service of today's society, so that everyone can be active citizens.
Franco Blezza, dealing with Adult Education, reiterates the urgency and the need for action on this discipline today. He writes: "Speaking in general, and coming out of the specificity of each individual author, there is an 'ageless' problem that can be called rigorous pedagogical. It is a complex of problems and purposes, problems, means, and (most important and more specific) problems of reconnection and integration between the specific considerations of the means and those specific to the ends". (Blezza, 2007, p. 303)
By this master's thesis, we aim to illustrate how Adult Education has developed in Europe since the middle of the last century, also in view of European education policies. In particular, it will seek to highlight the impact this discipline has had on people and political, social, economic and educational systems in Italy and some European countries. The latter were not chosen randomly, but considered representative for the content covered by this thesis.
The paper was divided into three chapters:
The first chapter explains the policies of the European Union, the origins, influences, developments and, in particular, how the Community institution has accepted the educational "need" unanimously recognized by pedagogues in academia necessary for today's man.
The last paragraph of the first chapter, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in particular Objective 4, which is relevant for Adult Education as it is not only dedicated to children's primary education, but also provides a point of focus on contact between basic education and vocational training. In addition, the emphasis is on the fairness and quality of education with a lifelong learning perspective.
In the second chapter, the Italian case is discussed, related to some European realities. Italy has its own educational history that has necessarily had to be compared both with the policies of the European Union and with the growth of importance of Adult Education in the pedagogical field. In the first paragraphs, this is briefly the long pedagogical controversy between those who would like adult education equivalent to vocational training and those who place it in a context of non-formal education. In the following paragraphs we explain the educational offer for adults today in Italy, also following recent legislative interventions.
Three European states, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, are then examined, and the most economically advanced nations in Europe are examined, analysing in particular how the political structure of these countries (Germany, Centralised France and Unitarian (UK) influences the educational and social policy of these states with unavoidable consequences for Adult Education.
Rocco Mincone, a philosopher of the Catholic area, on the subject of the societies of European and northern European countries in particular asserts: "On the one hand individualism, anthropological pessimism, the strong emphasis on the economy, wealth and on the other high levels of respect for rights and the person, the search for morality in social behaviour, together with the need for personal freedom, the challenge of imposition that generates a conflicting relationship with the authorities. In this context there is no place for old age that becomes more and more taboo, nor do parents go to end their days in family homes. We are mainly interested in the education of children, emotional dimensions, sexual liberality that can completely overturn the conception of traditional man and family."(Mincone, 2018, p. 171)
In light of this, in the third chapter of the draft, it was considered useful to deepen the analysis of the 'Finnish Model'. This country can be considered an eminent representative of that set of northern European countries that from an educational point of view (and adults in particular), albeit with some subsidence, is considered to be an example for the rest of the continent.
At the end of the work, in the conclusions, in addition to proposing a comparison between the development of Adult Education in Italy and the situation in other European countries, it is hoped to be able to offer a general framework that will inspire new future insights.
