INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF EDUCATION最新文献

This article examines the key role that adult learning and education (ALE) has played and continues to play in addressing the challenges faced by critical engagement with identities and crossing borders in the Mediterranean region. Despite the great cultural, economic and educational diversities characterising the region, the author explores whether a distinctive and recurring pattern of ALE exists or is likely to emerge. His analysis highlights historical and contemporary landmarks (features) of ALE in the region which exist alongside others from “mainstream” European education put forward by such funding agencies as the European Union (EU). While the landmarks are distinctive, they do offer recurring patterns which are characteristic of social-purpose ALE provision in the region. Much can be drawn from ALE in the Mediterranean, together with useful insights from other parts of the world, to foster intercultural engagement in response to mass migration in the region.

This research note is based on the premise that Paulo Freire is an educator of the present and the future. Contrary to research that has confined him to the past, the author emphasises the construction of Freire’s thought-action in five historical periods, noting the timeliness and foresight of his ideas for the 21st century. From his first books (Educação e atualidade brasileira [1959] and Educação como prática da liberdade [1965]) to the last ones published during his lifetime (Pedagogia da esperança: um reencontro com a Pedagogia do oprimido [1992] and Pedagogia da Autonomia [1996]), the author of this research note discerns reconstructions of concepts, arguments and paradigms that bring Freire up to date and continue to impact educators and specialists around the world. The emphasis, here, is on the inseparability between education and politics and his radical humanism as central axes of his pedagogy. The relevance of dialogic-communicative action in the learning process and the valuing of the learners’ knowledge as the starting point for elaborated knowledge enhance the choice of freedom, autonomy and democracy. Freire’s defence of the pedagogy of the question and research against the pedagogy of belief and the deposit of knowledge, among other crucial proposals, remain current and are forward-looking. These and other theses, articles, speeches, courses and works recorded over 50 years of Freire’s career (1947–1997) justify his inclusion today among the most-cited thinkers in the human sciences, and Pedagogy of the Oppressed among the 100 most-read books in the English language. After the centenary of Paulo Freire’s birth (2021), references to his political-pedagogical legacy (both practical and theoretical) continue to grow, encourage dialogue with other current thinkers and reaffirm his hope for the work of educators of the present and the future.

The use of participatory research and participation to promote the empowerment of the poor and marginalised began in the 1970s and gained momentum in the early 1980s. The approach builds on the learning for change paradigm in which everyday experience is the basis for developing agency, and committing to and taking action to create change, both individually and collectively. The paradigm has been used over decades, and in several contexts (e.g. women’s literacy and political leadership, work health and safety, access to and control over natural resources, prevention of sexual harassment and violence against women, social accountability and participatory monitoring, access to basic services, and climate adaptation and resilience). In this research note, some of these contexts – work health and safety, women’s political leadership, the urban poor and gender-based violence – are used as practical exemplars of work conducted by the non-profit research and training organisation Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) to support poor, excluded and marginalised communities. The experiences shared in this research note bear witness to the power of popular knowledge and the inclusion of marginalised voices for transformatory, people-centric development.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), launched by the United Nations in 2015, established ambitious targets to be achieved by 2030, including in education. SDG 4, which focuses on ensuring “inclusive and equitable quality education and promot[ing] lifelong learning opportunities for all”, attracted attention from the adult education sector for the role that adult learning and education (ALE) can play in its realisation, and the potential for the SDGs to boost the visibility and support of ALE. This article reports on a study that explored the role of ALE in lifelong learning in eight case study countries (Australia, Brazil, India, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa, Thailand and Ukraine). It explores the literature and examines the supports for and challenges of ALE to better understand its potential in helping to realise SDG 4, using a mega-, macro-, meso- and micro-level theoretical framework. Twenty-seven experts in ALE from across the eight countries were interviewed, and data analysis was undertaken using a grounded theory approach. The findings indicate that while SDG 4 was not a strong driver for ALE activities in these countries, initiatives were focused on the same issues targeted by SDG 4. The analysis also points to the unequal policy support given to formal and non-formal ALE activities, and the critical role that ALE networks and associations can play in addressing some of the most ambitious SDG 4 targets.

The “1919 Report” of the British Ministry of Reconstruction’s Adult Education Committee, produced as the First World War was ending, reflects the optimism of its committee about the possibilities for a more socially just and democratic society and its concern to find an alternative to economic deprivation and disenfranchisement. Its central thesis is that adult education is “a permanent national necessity” for an active informed democracy, which should, therefore, be both “universal and lifelong”. Despite the report’s lukewarm initial reception, its influence on the development of adult education over a century in Britain and in other anglophone countries has been marked. As R. D. Waller argued in 1956, it “is probably the most significant single contribution made to the literature of adult education”, certainly in the United Kingdom. It may well also be the first major national report on adult education published anywhere to be grounded in a comprehensive survey of existing provision. This article examines the context of its creation, its core arguments and their strengths and deficiencies, as well as its reception and subsequent impact. The article ends with a consideration of the report’s contemporary relevance and how its core ideas of voluntarism and co-construction of knowledge can support democratic renewal through education.

This study examined the association between literacy and quality of life among rural seniors in the Republic of Korea. A sample of rural seniors (N = 1,000) was surveyed by the Korea Rural Economic Institute in 2018, which assessed their literacy levels, their lifelong literacy education status and their quality of life. The authors’ analyses of the data collected in this survey reveal that higher literacy levels are positively associated with a greater likelihood of social inclusion and better mental health status among rural seniors. Furthermore, seniors with functional literacy demonstrated a higher probability of being included in the rural community compared to those with only basic literacy. Lastly, lifelong literacy education was found to play a crucial role in enhancing the literacy levels of rural seniors. As a policy recommendation, the authors suggest that local governments expand literacy education programmes to more rural areas of South Korea.

Distance education (DE) has a unique potential to ensure continuity of education in extraordinary circumstances such as pandemics and earthquakes, in addition to its advantages such as flexibility in terms of time and space and self-paced learning options. Institutional support provided for instructors engaged in DE programmes is one of the factors which directly affect the efficiency of DE and the quality of the education provided. This study aimed to determine the criteria of institutional support offered to DE instructors through document analysis, and to reveal the importance weights of those criteria by using the method of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). The author examined the standards published by a number of accreditation institutions and international educational organisations for DE, and determined the importance weights of those criteria by applying an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). She determined seven support criteria, namely (in order of importance): (1) technical training and orientation; (2) teaching material and resource support; (3) technical support; (4) professional development support; (5) support during the course; (6) evaluation and report submission support; and (7) career development, incentives and financial support. In presenting her study, the author provides an effective evaluation framework for DE support systems which includes a comprehensive set of indicators based on a literature review and feedback from experts.