Adult education
[5] Adult learning can be in any of the three contexts: The World Bank's 2019 World Development Report on The Changing Nature of Work[8] argues that adult learning is an important channel to help readjust workers' skills to fit in the future of work and suggests ways to improve its effectiveness.
The study found that although functionally illiterate adults performed similarly in reading tasks, children were more successful in vocabulary and spelling tests.
Because the abstractions governing the user's interactions with a PC were so new, many people who had been working white-collar jobs for ten years or more eventually took such training courses, either at their own whim (to gain computer skills and thus earn higher pay) or at the behest of their managers.
[12] In addition, there are programs about adult education for existing and aspiring practitioners offered, at various academic levels, by universities, colleges, and professional organizations.
Continuing education can help adults maintain certifications, fulfill job requirements and stay up to date on new developments in their field.
A larger scale goal of adult education may be the growth of society by enabling its citizens to keep up with societal change and maintain good social order.
[30] Teachers who follow the principles of andragogy when choosing materials for training and when designing program delivery, find that their learners progress more quickly, and are more successful in reaching their goals.
[31] Some situational barriers include the lack of time balancing career and family demands, the higher cost of education, and transportation.
[32] Other institutional barriers include the lack of evening and weekend hours from administrative offices such as financial aid, bursar, or academic advising.
[33] The lack of evening and weekend hours impedes these students from receiving the necessary information for their retention and academic success.
[35] Additional research shows that adult learners are more motivated in the classroom when they can clearly identify the application of their education to their professional or personal experiences.
In fast-developing countries, the qualifications of adults fall far behind those of young people, and may no longer match the requirements of a developed economy.
A study based on National Household Education Survey [NCES] in 2001 revealed that although gender difference did not exist much, females were more likely to participate in AE than males in the US.
[40] Individual point illustrated that low self-confidence regarding the learning, which mainly derived from previous bad educational experiences, could be a major obstacle for the less-educated.
On the contrary, typical non-participants tend to be women, older, less educated, and coming from poor socio-economic backgrounds.
In addition, less-skilled, unemployed, immigrants, language minorities, and rural residents are less likely to participate in AE programmes.
Deterrents are characteristics that explain why adults respond in negative manners to participate in education and learning.
[37][38][41] Large sampled (nationwide and international) surveys on barriers to participation such as a study of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the US, IALS and Eurobarometer indicated that time and cost were the main deterrents for adults.
[42] Cost includes tuition fee of a programme as well as extra expenditures for learning such as clothes, food, transportation and other school necessities (textbooks and stationaries).
Johnstone and Rivera found that older adults faced more dispositional barriers such as low self-confidence and too late for being learners.
Chris McAllister's research of semi-structured interviews with older adult learners shows a motivation to communicate with people and to get out of the house to keep mentally active.
[52] When surveying adult education programs in Japan, Nojima found that classes focusing on hobbies and very specific recreational activities were by far the most popular.
[53] The author noted that more time, money and resources needed to be in place so participants would be able to take advantage of these types of activities.
Some experts claim that adult education has a long-term impact on the economy and that there is a correlation between innovation and learning at the workplace.
However, there has been a shift towards a narrow focus on vocational skills, undermining the transformative potential of adult education.
Adult education plays a vital role in enhancing competencies, fostering responsibility, understanding changing paradigms, and shaping a just and sustainable world, emphasizing intergenerational solidarity.
[55] Global Reports on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) are a series of reports that monitor progress on Adult Learning and Education (ALE), promote action, identify trends in the field of ALE, and explore solutions to challenges.
GRALE play a key role in meeting UNESCO's commitment to monitor and report on countries' implementation of the Belém Framework for Action.
This Framework was adopted by 144 UNESCO Member States at the Sixth International Conference on Adult Learning and Education (CONFINTEA VI), which was held in Belém, Brazil, in 2009.
In low-income countries, less than 70% of adults and slightly more than 80% of youth aged 15 to 24 years are projected to have basic literacy skills by 2030.
