F a i r
D e a l i n g
( S h o r t
E x c e r p t )
Reading: Ch. 1. Education for Adults: Exploring the Foundations (The Purposes of Adult Education: An
Introduction)
Author: Spencer, B.; Lange, E.
Editor: N/A
Publisher: Thompson Educational Pub.
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 1-26
Course: ADHE 330 63D 2023W2 The Community Practice of Adult Education
Course Code: 63D
Term: 2023W2
Department: ADHE
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CHAPTER 1
Education for Adults:
Exploring the Foundations
A
basic tenet o f adult education is that adult students come to
the “classroom" with considerable life experience, and there­
fore adult education should build upon that experience. A
second tenet is that a vibrant democratic society requires informed
citizens who are willing to debate and dialogue and that these skills
can and should be fostered in adult education. A third tenet is that
life itself (what is sometimes referred to as the “lifeworld”) should
be the fundamental subject matter o f adult education and that adult
education should teach people how to live, not just how to make a
living. Further, adult education is considered a social process, not a
process o f information transference. Together, these tenets illustrate
a fundamental belief in the importance o f dialogue in adult educa­
tion. However, a problem facing a textual discussion about adult
education, which wishes to use adult education principles, is how to
replicate the dialogue o f an adult education “class” on paper. How
can a text be experiential and encourage interaction between stu­
dent and student, and between student experience and text?
I f you are reading this book as part o f a course on adult educa­
tion, it will be possible to share experiences with fellow students,
discuss questions, and develop responses to issues raised. In other
circumstances, you may wish to discuss some questions with friends,
colleagues, or family. Either way, you are asked to see this text as
an opportunity to study, discuss, and argue. You are encouraged to
share the reading experience with others. This book is an invitation
to test your own experience and knowledge against the experience
and knowledge o f others. Most importantly, we hope this text will
foster critical reflection on your practice as an adult educator as well
as being a learner.
What Is the Purpose of Adult Education?
This first chapter focuses on the question, “What is the purpose
o f adult education?” In doing so, it considers the foundations o f
1
The Purposes o f Adult Education
2
adult education (the various disciplinary approaches that inform the
field), definitions o f adult education, and what activities comprise
the field o f adult education. It also looks at the range o f provision o f
adult education/leaming by examining the terms formal, non-formal, and informal education. A brief review o f philosophies o f adult
education and a debate on how to interpret historical examples o f
Canadian adult education complete this first chapter.
Every area o f study and professional field has a history, debates
on its purpose, philosophies that undergird practice, and questions
about how to respond to the forces o f that particular historical
moment. The field o f adult education is no exception. Discussion
on the purpose o f adult education typically revolves around the
normative question o f “what ought to be the fundamental reason
for educating adults?” Responses to this question are usually based
on core beliefs about humans, how they leam, a vision o f a “good
society,” and what role education should play in the creation o f this
good society. Thus, one debate in the adult education field regards
the general emphasis that should be put on either social and/or indi­
vidual purposes.
Of course, responses to this question vary over time, as do the
emphases. Historically, the purpose o f adult education gravitated
more toward societal purposes, including using adult education
for nation-building and social cohesiveness, particularly as large
numbers o f immigrants flooded into geographically isolated com­
munities in early twentieth century Canada. Now, however, the
economic purposes o f adult education are dominant and intersect
with adult education for individual development. As you read more
deeply about the history o f adult education, you will notice how the
sponsors and funders for adult education have changed accordingly.
Currently, there is a vibrant debate in the field o f adult education
about the significance o f this shift in purpose and i f it is a betrayal
o f the early social purpose roots o f the field. You are encouraged to
draw your own conclusions as you leam more about the field.
Another w ay to approach the field is to discuss the functions o f
adult education. When we discuss functions, we mean the conse­
quences that the activity o f adult education has for the daily life o f
society and individuals. For instance, Selman et al., in The Founda­
tion o f Adult Education, Second Edition, list four functions for adult
education as seen from the individual’s viewpoint:
1 / Education f o r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
3
• Vocational
• Social
• Recreational
• Self-development (see pp. 29-30 o f their text)
The authors discuss a number o f other formulations and then give
two listings from other authors (see pp. 31-32). The first is from
Jarvis (1985) and is representative o f the social purpose emphasis in
adult education:
• To maintain the social system and reproduce existing social
relations
• To transmit knowledge and reproduce culture
• For individual advancement and selection
• To provide for leisure time pursuit and institutional
expansion
• To further development and liberation
Obviously you would have to go back to the original source to see
exactly what Jarvis means by these categories but as you re-read
them you may wonder how distinct one is from another-for exam­
ple, the first four would essentially seem to be saying the same
thing—that the one social purpose o f adult education is “ reproduc­
tion” o f culture, institutions, and society and the placement o f the
individual in this existing system. The last function o f “ development
and liberation” emphasizes the “transformative” social purpose o f
adult education. Thus, in both schooling and adult education, these
two social purposes o f reproduction and transformation are present,
often in conflicting and contradictory ways.
The second list comes from Darkenwald and Merriam (1982); Selman et al. comment that this list combines both the personal and
social functions o f adult education, but the individual function is
emphasized:
• Cultivation o f the intellect
• Individual self-actualization
• Personal and social improvement
• Social transformation
• Organizational effectiveness
The Purposes o f Adult Education
4
While Darkenwald and Merriam talk about social transformation,
they are understanding it to be the combined result o f individual
development. We will examine this list again in the philosophy sec­
tion o f this introductory chapter, but there is one issue we should
contemplate at this juncture. To the extent that it is true that these
American authors (Darkenwald and Merriam] are more concerned
with the personal, even when discussing the social, than is the
European Jarvis (who is from Britain), this may itself reflect cul­
tural norms. American society places more emphasis on individual­
ism than does British society-where social forces are more readily
acknowledged as powerful. Therefore, when we read a text, we also
have to “ read" a context.
In Canada, the social purpose o f adult education has historically
been dominant and is often closer to European understandings than
American understandings. The historical roots o f the Canadian adult
education field have been community-based and often located in
regional and national social movements, such as the co-operative
movement, the wom en’s movement, and the union movement.
The history o f conflict and negotiation between (and within) three
groups-Aboriginal, British, and French-and the continual adapta­
tion to others, yielding one o f the most multicultural populations
per capita in the world, illustrates that Canadians have been shaped
by a much different political economic context. In a far-flung coun­
try with small clusters o f isolated inhabitants amid a challenging
geography, a sense o f collectivity was required for simple survival
and national cohesion. This reality spawned many adult education
initiatives in early frontier locations, among miners, fisherfolks,
and loggers as w ell as among new settlers in small rural communi­
ties. Further, many Canadians maintained connective tendrils with
Europe and former commonwealth countries, which have in part
shaped our parliamentary processes, a predisposition towards com­
munitarian principles, and a critical intellectual tradition. This real­
ity has changed over the late twentieth century, shifting the practice
o f adult education as well, which we hope you w ill continue to
explore and discuss.
Selman and his co-authors go on to explain another way o f
grouping the different types o f adult education provision (p. 410):
“As we look to the future, it is possible to discern several main clus­
ters or groupings o f adult education services.” The three groups they
identify are:
J / Education f o r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
5
• Academic, credential, and vocational
• Personal interest and development
• Citizen action and social change
This grouping is particularly useful because it links this discussion o f
the purposes and functions with our later discussion o f state support
for adult education. They argue that government funding is now
concentrated on the first category and that, while publicly funded
agencies may be involved on a cost-recovery basis in the second,
they have withdrawn from the third in the late twentieth century.
Other writers describe the purposes o f education as being:
• For reproduction (o f the culture, society)
• For economy (to prepare people for work)
• For transformation/social action (to help bring about societal
change)
The first purpose is usually concerned with citizenship, social order,
and maintaining the existing culture; the second with investing in
human capital, training, and human resource development; and the
third may focus on both individual and social transformation. This
is the framework that w ill inform the structure o f this book.
There are obviously a number o f overlaps in these various cat­
egories and other writers have expressed the distinctions differently,
linking them to ideological viewpoints. For example:
• Reproduction could be labelled “conservative” (including
education for economy as above).
• The concern with personal improvement and knowledge
might be labelled “ liberal.”
• Education for social change is often referred to as “critical/
radical/transformative."
It could be argued that, in terms o f outcomes or rather functions,
both conservative and liberal education are accommodative/adaptive (they have the essential purpose o f adapting and accommodating
citizens to the status quo). Typically, therefore, education generally
and adult education specifically could be depicted as either accommodative/adaptive or transformative in purpose.
6
The Purposes o f Adult Education
What Are the Foundations of Adult Education?
A t this stage you do not need a definitive response to this ques­
tion. You should, however, have some understanding o f the pur­
poses and functions o f education, and in particular adult education.
To some extent the answer to this kind o f question is found in the
practice o f adult education. In fact, the theories o f adult educationor the foundations o f adult education-emerge out o f practice. When
Lindeman was writing about adult education in the 1920s, 30s, and
40s, he was basing his understandings on his practice. The same can
be argued for the 1919 Report (Adult Education Committee o f the
Ministry o f Reconstruction 1918-19, UK, see Wiltshire, 1980) which
began with a discussion o f “The History o f Adult Education Since
1800,” and for many more recent seminal works in adult education
including those o f Freire (1970) and Knowles (1973). This link to
practice is also clear in some o f the contributions to the Canadian
adult education texts that CASAE has developed: Learning f o r Life:
Canadian Readings in Adult Education (Scott et al., 1998), Contexts
o f Adult Education: Canadian Perspectives (Fenwick et al., 2006),
and Building on Critical Traditions: Adult Education and Learning
in Canada (Nesbit et al., 2013).
Another approach to understanding the foundations o f adult edu­
cation is to examine all the foundation disciplines such as history,
sociology, philosophy, and psychology to shed light on the purposes
and functions o f adult education. Each o f these disciplines has their
own structure o f inquiry and its own constellation o f concepts and
theories. Each foundation discipline, then, offers its own insights on
the practice o f adult education. (Chapter 2, for instance, w ill discuss
sociological foundations o f adult education.)
Yet another approach is to consider adult education as essen­
tially located within the broader study o f education and, as a social
activity, within social science. Viewed in this way, we might be less
concerned with the particular discipline and more focused on adult
education’s place in an understanding o f the general fields o f educa­
tion and social science.
These approaches do not have to be regarded as mutually exclu­
sive. It is possible, for example, to consider adult education as
rooted in practice and to ask philosophical questions as to its pur­
pose and methods. It is also possible to give specific emphasis to
particular subject areas-histoiy and sociology/social theoiy are
1 / Education fo r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
1
obvious examples—to underscore an understanding o f the key foun­
dations o f adult education.
Also note that adult education, as a social activity, takes place
within specific social, political, and economic relations, particularly
power relations, and because o f its social purposes, often links with
community development domestically and internationally.
Defining Adult Education
Every field undergoes some debate about what constitutes the
field, as a way to define the activity it is concerned with. This is
particularly difficult in the field o f adult education as many peo­
ple do not recognize what they do as “adult education.” They may
define it as professional development, human resource training, lit­
eracy education, workplace learning, or community volunteerism.
Many people come to the adult education field already established
in a profession, such as nursing, policing, health care, or commu­
nity development. Thus, how we interpret what we do shapes how
we engage with it. Yet, some agreement on what bounds the field
enables the forging o f a basic, shared understanding o f the activity.
In the adult education field, the most obvious debates address
the questions: what is an adult? What is education? And thus, what
qualifies as adult education? These questions are not as obvious as
they seem. For instance, do you define adult by legal age, social
maturity, social roles, or completion o f compulsoiy schooling? In an
international setting, the identifiers would be very different. Further,
what is the difference between education and learning? Learning is
much broader than education and generally refers to any elements
that together produce a change in mental constructs or behaviour.
Education, however, is an organized w ay o f providing for the pos­
sibility o f learning. It is planned learning. The Latin word educere
is a beautiful word that means “ to draw out, to lead, to evoke or
elicit something that is hidden or latent.” This coheres with some
general understandings in adult education that knowledge is latent
and needs to be nurtured into emergence. One o f the earliest defini­
tions o f adult education was provided by the 1919 British Ministry
o f Reconstruction:
Adull education is ... all the deliberate efforts by which men and women attempt
to satisfy their thirst for knowledge, to equip themselves for their responsibilities
as citizens and members o f society or to find opportunities for self expression.
The Purposes o f Adult Education
8
Does this definition identify what it means to be an adult, what
particular activities qualify as adult education, or what the central
purpose is? Another definition is provided by Cyril Houle in 1972:
Adult education is the process by which men and women ... seek to improve
themselves or their society by increasing their skill, knowledge or sensitivities; or
it is any process by which individuals, groups or institutions try to help men and
women improve in these ways.
Again, does this definition identify what it means to be an adult,
what particular activities qualify as adult education, or what the
central purpose is? Finally, we offer the 1976 UNESCO definition:
Adult education is ... the entire body o f organized educational processes, what­
ever the content, level and method, whether formal or otherwise, whether they
prolong or replace initial education in schools, colleges and universities as well
as apprenticeship, whereby persons regarded as adult by the society to which
they belong:
•
develop their abilities,
•
enrich their knowledge, improve their technical or professional qualification, or
•
turn them in a new direction and bring about changes in their attitudes or
behaviour ... in the tw ofold perspective o f full personal development and
participation in balanced and independent social, economic and cultural
development.
How is this definition different and does it bound the field o f adult
education differently? Is there an underlying ideology in each defi­
nition and what is implied in terms o f the content and process o f
adult education?
As you can see, adult education is an amorphous, slippery field. It
can be seen as alternative programs that replace schooling, supple­
mental programs to the formal education system, complementaiy
programs to an extensively developed formal system or as a social
movement. However, there are a few more considerations in terms
o f what comprises the field.
The Field of Adult Education
As discussed in the opening paragraph, a key focus is on adult
experience and the value o f experiential learning. This prompts fur­
ther questions for our consideration such as:
• Is all learning “ good”?
• Is all experience unproblematic?
• What kind o f adult education should be promoted in a liberal
democracy?
1 / Education fo r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
9
• What distinctions can be drawn between formal, non-formal,
and informal adult education, and do these help us identify
what adult education is?
• Can adult education be seen as a “ movement”?
The answers to these questions are explored in the following discus­
sion.
Experiential Learning
Alan Thomas (1991) commented that: “education floats on a sea
o f learning." He points out that learning is going on all the time and
that education, which is structured, is but a small part o f it. However,
while we should acknowledge that ongoing learning exists, would
we want to argue that all learning is “good” or that the purposes to
which learning is put are socially beneficial? For example, is it good
that people learn how to use cocaine or how to con pensioners out
o f their savings? Lists o f positive and negative learning might differ
but only a purist would argue that all learning is inherently “ good”
or, more specifically, that learning should be seen as a value-free
activity.
Experience can be very problematic. People may have to “unlearn”
racism or abuse-for example, some males have to “unlearn” their
violent behaviour towards women, or people may have to overcome
their particular fear experiences before they can learn tolerance or
co-operative behaviour. Experience is also constantly being inter­
preted, by individuals and by others. The same experience can lead
to radically different conclusions. Although experience is a start­
ing point for adult education, and experiential learning is seen by
some as the essence o f adult education, experience still remains
problematic. The challenge for adult educators is to draw from and
connect to student experience in ways that allow for development
and growth both individually and socially (aiding the principles o f
democracy and civil society). Students have to use socially learned
knowledge but, at the same time, not be limited by their experiences.
State Support for M u l t Education
I f education in general reflects society, then so, too, does adult
education. A ll education will reflect the current norms and values o f
the political economy. For example, there is an emphasis on training
and retraining, reflecting the current demand that adult education
10
The Purposes o f Adult Education
must meet the needs o f the economy. This mirrors the concerns o f
governments, influenced by economic neo-liberalism, for a more
skilled workforce equipped to compete with others in the global
marketplace. The neo-liberal argument that governments have to
cut public spending and concentrate resources on core activity also
fits neatly within this perspective: there are no resources, the argu­
ment goes, to subsidize liberal adult education (a term sometimes
used to describe all non-vocational, non-credential adult education
including, for example, both leisure and social-purpose provision);
it can only be undertaken on a cost-recovery basis. In short, in this
analysis, “adult education” equals job training.
This narrow interpretation o f the state support that can be expect­
ed does not apply universally. It can be argued that a liberal, demo­
cratic state should fund diverse educational activity reflecting the
pluralist nature o f liberal democracy. An example o f this argument
can be found in the 1919 Report:
It is said that the educational work o f sectarian bodies ought not to be subsidised
out o f public funds. W e do not agree; in our judgment whether the State ought
to help such education depends upon the quality o f the work and not upon the
institution which conducts it. A n y other standard puts the State in a position o f
censorship which it ought not to be expected to take. It would inevitably give
rise to a differentiation between the knowledge which in the opinion o f the State
is desirable to disseminate and the diffusion o f which should not be encouraged.
The State could, indeed, hardly avoid the charge o f “ manufacturing public opin­
ion." In our view the only sound principle is that the State should be w illin g to
help all serious educational work, including the educational work o f institutions
and organizations which are recruited predominantly from students with, say, a
particular religious or political philosophy (Wiltshire, 1980, p. 20).
After the devastation o f the First World War, the 1919 Report could
have been forgiven for insisting on adult education for economic
reconstruction—a much more critical time than the economic crises
o f today-but they did not: they argued in support o f education for
life not just livelihood.
This approach has also generally guided the funding o f adult edu­
cation in the Scandinavian countries, and to a lesser extent his­
torically in Canada, with differing religious and social groupings
receiving state support. But we should recognize the importance o f
this statement and acknowledge that today adult education is no
longer being broadly supported through public funds. Consequently,
governments could be accused o f “manufacturing public opinion”
rather than supporting a plurality o f opinion.
1 / Education fo r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
11
It can be argued that the 1919 Report was a product o f its time.
It reflected:
• Some recognition for the contribution o f working people to
winning the war
• The strength o f radical ideas and events
• A desire to incorporate radicalism within the mainstream o f
political life
• The balance o f class forces which favoured concessions to
labour
On the other hand, it could be argued that the report expressed a
genuine “ liberalism,” a model o f state behaviour which should guide
a liberal democracy, supporting a spectrum o f ideas.
One interpretation o f Scandinavian support for this perspective
could emphasize the extent o f the power o f organized labour and
social democracy within those countries—the balance o f class forces
favours state support-while another might emphasize the commit­
ment to liberal democracy and a welfare state sustained over a long
period o f time. Both arguments point in the same direction; only
where there is a commitment (either genuine or forced) to the princi­
ples o f liberal democracy can we expect the state to support diverse
adult education provisions. In other cases, the state support will
generally (though perhaps not exclusively) reflect entrenched eco­
nomic interests. We should, therefore, not be so surprised to find a
shift to economic liberalism (neo-liberal global market economics),
resulting in a narrowing o f adult education provision to serve eco­
nomic goals. The modem state’s support for “ lifelong learning” does
not reflect the 1919 Report’s or Lindeman’s perspective o f “educa­
tion for life, not for livin g” ; rather it reflects the reverse-a continual
emphasis on training and retraining and a neglect o f the “lifeworld”
(see Welton, 1995; 2005; 2013a).
“S ite s" of Learning: Formal, Mon-Formal, and Informal Education
Many authorities currently define all post-secondary education as
adult education, or as an “adult learning system” (Alberta Advanced
Education and Career Development, 1994). With this definition,
adult education loses its distinctiveness. One way o f making some
distinction is to identify the various “ sites” where learning takes
place.
The Purposes o f Adult Education
12
• Formal education carries credentials, has a set curriculum,
and is usually provided by an educational institution. In
many cases formal education is more accurately described as
further or higher education (or generally “post-secondary”)
and is linked to achieving vocational or academic
credentials.
• Non-form al education is organized by educational or other
institutions or groups. It is usually non-credential (essentially
non-credit), part-time, delivered via linked weekends, day
or week-long schools, and targeted to satisfy individual,
recreational, organizational, or social objectives. It is what
we have always understood adult education to be.
• Inform al education is more often described as informal
learning. It is the learning that goes on daily, individually
and in groups. For example, a local environmental action
group (or individuals in the group) might learn how to
organize meetings, prepare submissions, or write newsletters
as an integral part o f their group activities. A ll o f these are
examples o f informal learning.
I f the group puts on a day-school for themselves or the public, they
are then structuring an educational event-an example o f nonformal education. I f a member signs up for a course on “toxic waste
disposal” offered by the local college, as part o f a waste manage­
ment certificate, the member may be considered as entering formal
education.
While the non-formal educational provision for adults might be
considered “adult education” in the traditional sense, the above
example illustrates how different kinds o f adult learning can be
connected. In this book we w ill continue to consider the range o f
formal, non-formal, and informal adult education and learning as
“adult education.” While recognizing the strength o f the argument
that true “adult education is social,” that is, it has a social purpose
and that we should distinguish between “education for adults and
adult education,” the term adult education will be used here to cover
all forms o f education for adults. (See Selman et al.,1998, pp. 25-26
for further discussion o f formal, non-formal, and informal educa­
tion. Please note that these categories are describing the various
“sites” o f learning.)
I / Education fo r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
13
With the above understandings, let us end this section with the
UNESCO 1997 definition o f adult education by the International
Council on Adult Education (ICAE), from the Hamburg Declaration:
Adult education denotes the entire body o f ongoing learning processes, formal
or otherwise, whereby people regarded as adults by the society to which they
belong, develop their abilities, enrich their knowledge, and improve their techni­
cal or professional qualifications or turn them in a new direction to meet their
own needs and those o f their society. Adult learning encompasses both formal
and continuing education, non-fom ial learning and the spectrum o f informal and
incidental learning available in a multicultural learning society, where theoryand practice-based approaches are recognized.
Adult Education as a Movement
There is one last introductory question to address: to what extent
can we refer to adult education as a “ movement"?
Selman et al. (1998) (see p. 15) refer to adult education as a move­
ment. A social movement can be defined as organized activity that
encourages social change or as counter-movements that discour­
age or resist social change which might disrupt tradition (Macionis
Et Gerber, 2008; Bantjes, 2007). The theme o f adult education as a
social movement is scattered throughout the adult education litera­
ture. When the 1919 Report reviewed the practice o f adult education
at the time and looked at the social and religious groups promot­
ing adult education, it reported on adult education as “a field o f
practice” and as “a movement.” It argued that the thrust o f adult
education provision was emancipatoiy, an “education for life” not
just “ for livelihood.” It also argued that there were common social
change goals o f personal enlightenment and ability to participate
actively in citizenship. Others, such as Lindeman, writing in the
inter-war period, also emphasized adult education's goal as one o f
promoting democracy. Thus, adult education, although diverse and
in some cases involving competing groups, could be depicted as “a
movement,” that is, it emerged out o f widespread concerns regard­
ing isolation, poverty, and exploitation, it was not institutional­
ized, it generally enjoyed a commonality o f purpose, and it had a
momentum to catalyze social and individual change.
How does this description fit today? I f the field o f adult education
refers to all adult education and training, including vocational and
workplace learning, post-secondary provision, credentialized and
non-credentialized, it is difficult to view adult education as a “m ove­
ment.” Today’s diverse goals reflect some fundamentally opposed
The Purposes o f Adult Education
14
philosophies and values (we can see these in our discussion below
o f workplace learning and new human-resource-management prac­
tices); it is not at all clear that most adult education today is geared
towards emancipation and democracy. We should not abandon the
idea that adult education can provide critical reflection, empower­
ment, and social change. However, another way o f looking at this
issue is to consider that adult education today is best understood as
a process which can aid other social movements.
Philosophies of Adult Education
Earlier w e argued that the purposes o f adult education can be dis­
covered through an examination o f practice. W hile this might be the
preferred route, it is also possible to approach the question from a
“ foundational discipline" perspective, in this case philosophy. Often,
students o f adult education suffer from “philosophobia,” the fear o f
philosophy, as it conjures images o f dry, esoteric discussion between
bespectacled professors irrelevant to the “real world.” Yet, all adult
educators already carry within them a mental map o f ideas, some­
times unarticulated, that inform the way they practice. Therefore, it
is important to systematically think through the ideas populating
their minds and test out the consistency between ideas and practice
as well as between the expectations in their workplaces and their
preferred practices.
Elias and Merriam (2005) identified seven philosophies o f adult
education:
• Liberal—this philosophy emphasizes a concern essentially
with the liberal arts, a “love o f learning,” and developing
the intellectual powers o f logic and rational discussion. The
most important goal for educators embracing the liberal
philosophy is to liberate the innate power o f the human
mind and acquire wisdom. In the belief that “knowledge sets
you free,” the role o f the educator is to develop the rational
and moral powers o f learners.
• Progressive-following Dewey, this philosophy is learnercentred by encompassing other origins o f learning such
as experience, feelings, and innate curiosity, not just
reason. Education is considered a social activity, and in
response to the disruption occurring from urbanization and
industrialization early in the twentieth century, education
1 / Education fo r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
15
should serve the purpose o f social reform where common
people have access to learning, particularly scientific
methods, problem-solving skills, and the new technologies.
In North America, progressivism has had a greater impact
upon adult education than any other philosophy, particularly
as it was the driving force behind universal public education,
general social improvement, and the development o f
democratic citizenship skills. You will have seen these ideas
reflected in some o f the definitions o f adult education cited
above.
• Behaviourist—education is seen as having definite
behavioural objectives, being linked to skill training,
planning, and evaluation. It is most concerned with
observable and measurable behaviour, and thus is
competency-based. The assumption is that humans try to
avoid pain and pursue pleasure; therefore learning can be
shaped by the stimulus given, such as reinforcement in
the form o f rewards, or by what is removed or punished.
Educators can design experiences to produce the desired
behaviours they have deemed important.
• Humanistic-this approach emphasizes the autonomy and
creativity o f the individual, and holds the freedom and
dignity o f humans as sacred. There is no fundamental
purpose for existence other than what people determine
for themselves, but it assumes that humans will want to
create a better world, will strive for the highest good, and
assume responsible selfhood. This approach is “ personcentred” in that it seeks to assist learners in deriving
personal meaning, achieving self-actualization through an
affirming environment, all motivated by an inner desire for
learning and a strong self-concept. It has been associated
with self-directed learning, self-improvement, the discovery
process, and is claimed by some engaged in human
resource development. This has also been a very influential
philosophy in the field o f adult education.
• Critical/Radical-this sees education as a means for
consciousness-raising, empowerment, and social change.
The raison d ’être o f the critical philosophy is to challenge
injustice and the lack o f freedom wherever it is found and
to promote individual and social transformation, to manifest
16
The Purposes o f Adult Education
peace, security, social justice, environmental sustainability,
and deep democracy. This approach encourages learners to
carry out a social analysis as well as to understand their
own situatedness in society, particularly by class, race,
and gender. This analysis reveals how power is located
in a society and therefore what changes are needed. This
approach views people as good but society as flawed. For
instance, it would be critical o f the self-interest, greed, and
concentration o f power that presently exists in the economic
and political systems, as it marginalizes many groups from
equal access to social goods, such as the poor, the working
class, women, minority groups, immigrant newcomers, those
with disabilities, the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transsexual/queer
(LGBTQ) community, and indigenous groups. It believes that
a good society would elicit the good in all individuals and
genuinely value their contributions. Thus, education and
educators should be linked to social movements in helping to
work toward this social vision.
• Analytical-follow ing Paterson and Lawson, this philosophy
argues for the careful analysis o f the words, concepts,
metaphors, and principles commonly used in education
and how this language and the values associated with it
functions to shape practice; it sees the aims o f education
more in terms o f its function, particularly the effect on the
practitioner and its utility to the individual, and less in terms
o f its social implications.
• Postmodern—questions the basic tenets o f the modem
age inherited from the Enlightenment, such as the ability
to determine universal truth, certainty o f knowledge,
inevitability o f progress, the possibility o f full rationality,
a unified self, and grand narratives/ theories that attempt
to universally explain societal patterns. It is an attitude
o f “ unmaking" that carries out a critique o f critique and
acknowledges ambiguity, fragmentation, multiplicity,
plurality, and contingency. The Enlightenment goals o f
freedom, justice, and emancipation themselves are suspect.
Postmodernism is anti-foundational-resists the notion
o f essential ideas and concepts, and that these previously
regarded ideas are complicit in perpetuating current issues.
Post-structuralism and post-colonialism are associated
1 / Education f o r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
17
streams o f thinking that deconstruct beliefs in order and
control as well as categorizations o f people that have created
the most violent and divisive age in human history.
These seven philosophies o f adult education have been widely
used and refined by others. In their 1982 edition, Darkenwald and
Merriam conclude that the philosophies represent the differing
functions embedded in adult education. It is worth quoting their
conclusion at length:
This chapter has attempted to present an overview o f the philosophies o f adult
education. Hie differing aims o f adult education provide a focus for organizing
the diverse philosophical writings ... with their respective views on content, the
role o f the teacher and learner, and the nature o f the instructional process.
The cultivation o f the intellect is one objective o f adult education. Proponents o f
this view conceive o f adult education as a neutral activity divorced from social
action. A curriculum emphasizing liberal studies and a traditional view o f the
teacher-student interaction characterizes this approach.
Personal development constitutes a second emphasis in adult education. Drawing
from humanistic and existential orientations, educators with this bias see adult
education as concerned primarily with promoting individual growth and devel­
opment. A by-product o f this emphasis will be benefits to society. Content thus
becomes whatever promotes individual growth, the student is the focus o f the
process, and group interaction is the favoured instructional mode.
Perhaps the major proportion o f American educational philosophers reflect the
progressive view o f adult education. Here the aim o f adult education is both
personal development and social progress. Content is drawn from life situations,
the preferred method is problem solving, and teachers and learners are partners
in the task o f learning.
In direct opposition to the proponents o f “ neutral knowledge" are those who
advocate radical social change through adult education. Here education is viewed
as value-laden and never neutral. Content comes from the consciousness o f the
oppressed and the disadvantaged, the teacher is also a learner, and the methodol­
ogy is a dialogical encounter that leads to praxis-that is, reflective thought and
action.
Finally, organizational effectiveness is the aim o f a large segment o f Am eri­
can adult education. Public and private sector organizations strive to become
more efficient deliverers o f goods or services. To this end, they may engage their
employees in training, education, or development activities characterized by a
variety o f purposes and instructional methodologies (Darkenwald ft Merriam,
1982, p. 69).
It might help you to conceptualize the philosophical approaches i f
you try to put the different adult educators or historical programs
that you have read about under different headings. For example:
• Liberal-Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler in the Great
Books Program, the Couchiching Conference modelled after
the American Chautauqua Movement, and the original Banff
School o f Fine Arts.
18
The Purposes o f Adult Education
• Progressive—The progressive school has had the most
disciples in North America over time—Eduard Lindeman,
Adelaide Hoodless, Malcolm Knowles, Edward Corbett, Moses
Coady, Ned Corbett and the Canadian Association for Adult
Education (CAAE), Jane Addams, Roby Kidd, and Alan
Thomas may all be listed here.
• Behaviourist—Influences on adult education came from
Pavlov, Watson, and Thorndike; Skinner was particularly
influential in designing higher education; cognitive
psychology influences are best represented by David
Ausubel, Jerome Bruner, and Robert Gagne; most training
authors.
• Analytic-R .W .K. Paterson.
• Humanistic-Knowles could also be included in the
humanistic philosophy along with Abraham Maslow, Allen
Tough, Carl Rogers, and Sharan Merriam.
• Radical-The radical grouping could encompass Paulo
Freire, Antonio Gramsci, George Counts, Watson Thomson,
Theodore Brameld, Violet McNaughton, Myles Horton,
Ivan Illich, Ira Shor, Phyllis Cunningham, Jane Thompson,
Michael Collins, Michael Welton, Peter Mayo, and Daniel
Schugurensky. But should it also include Coady, Lindeman,
Brookfield, or Mezirow?
• Postmodern/Post-structural-Perhaps Robin Usher, Richard
Edwards, Derek Briton, Donovan Plumb, Mathias Finger,
Andre Grace, Tara Fenwick, Leona English, and Ian Bryant
could all be grouped here.
Before m oving on we should recognize that postmodernist ideas
present a particular problem when seeking “ purposes” o f adult edu­
cation—its diffused set o f ideas, while providing some useful insight
into neglected areas o f social behaviour and adult education, do
not amount to a description o f postmodernism as a "philosophy” or
“ grand narrative” (such a description would be denounced by post­
modern supporters). In postmodemity, it is complexity and a myriad
o f meanings, rather than profundity, the one deep meaning, which
is the norm. “To be consistently postmodern one should never call
oneself postmodern” (Usher ft Edwards, 1994, p. 3 ft 10). It has been
seen as failing to offer any real challenge to entrenched interests or
to promote a “just learning society” and therefore the postmodern
1 / Education fo r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
19
perspective can be said to acquiesce to the fundamental inequities,
power imbalances, and environmental degradation o f contemporary
society (Taylor, Barr, ft Steele, 2002). For this reason many o f the
listed “postmodernists" marry postmodern insights to other perspec­
tives outlined above and/or to radical psychoanalysis or spirituality
(both briefly discussed in Chapter 4).
At this point it might be enlightening to reflect on Anatole France’s
quote with which Lindeman begins his Foreword to The Meaning o f
Adult Education (1926): “Each o f us must even be allowed to pos­
sess two or three philosophies at the same time.” Lindeman inter­
prets this for the purpose “o f saving our thought from the deadly
formality o f consistency.” W hile many o f us have several philoso­
phies informing our practice, particularly in the different contexts
in which we may educate, some coherence is important. It’s impor­
tant to examine and compare the key underlying assumptions about
human nature, society, and education present in each philosophy.
Finally, it is important to systematically ponder one’s predilections
honestly and critically in terms o f described beliefs, to develop one’s
unique working philosophy where your practices are conscious, well
articulated, and contribute to your vision o f a good society.
Social Purpose Education
An alternative view for categorizing the purposes o f adult edu­
cation can be found in the way the term “liberal adult education”
is often used in Britain. In the “ great tradition” o f pre-1945 adult
education (particularly, in the Workers’ Educational Association
and university extramural work), “ liberal adult education” came to
mean:
liberal humane studies, particularly social studies, non-vocational courses, edu­
cation for reflective citizenship and a special focus on serving the working class
(Spencer 8t Mcllroy, 1991).
In recent times, “liberal adult education” has continued to be defined
as inclusive o f both traditional liberal education and radical per­
spectives. It encompasses “social action,” “community education,”
“social purpose” (defined as education to prepare for and facili­
tate change aimed at improving the social, political, and economic
conditions o f disadvantaged groups), and “social transformation”
education (Taylor, Rockhill, ft Fieldhouse, 1985). Its broad usage has
been contested by North American-based scholars (e.g., Brookfield,
The Purposes o f Adult Education
20
1987) who generally have a more restricted view o f “liberal” adult
education (essentially interpreted as liberal studies or liberal arts),
but it remains viable in Britain (for a recent survey o f the use o f the
term “lifelong education/leaming" that discusses some o f the same
issues, see English ft Mayo, 2012).
This discussion illustrates that the purposes o f adult education
should be viewed within a social and historical context. Other exam­
ples could be provided from other countries. For example, in Nepal,
the term non-formal education is used widely to describe all non­
school education. The main thrust o f this work is literacy training,
and participants include adults and young persons, many o f whom
have experienced little formal schooling and accept adult respon­
sibilities at an early age. For example, a fourteen-year-old would
not be exceptional in a Nepalese adult education class but would be
considered out o f place in a Canadian adult education class.
The purpose o f this foray into philosophies is to provide you with
alternative ways o f looking at adult education. You can then begin
to explain your own understandings and approaches to the practice
o f adult education.
Historical Examples of Canadian Adult Education
Another approach to discovering the purposes and functions o f
adult education is to look at actual practice. We can do this by
examining historical examples o f Canadian adult education.
The contributors to Knowledge f o r the People, edited by Michael
Welton (1987) stimulated a renewed interest in adult education his­
tory and excited the imagination o f many students o f adult educa­
tion.
The movement towards a new history, a social history rooted in
ordinary people’s experience, essentially grew out o f adult education
classes as did cultural studies (Mcllroy Et Westwood, 1993). The first
generally acknowledged new history text was that o f E.P. Thomp­
son, The Making o f the English Working Class, published in 1963,
which was written when Thompson was teaching adult students in
liberal adult education classes while in the Extramural Department
o f the University o f Leeds in the 1950s and 60s (Goodway, 1996).
Welton’s introduction to Knowledge f o r the People raises a num­
ber o f issues about the nature o f history. For the moment, we will
concentrate on two questions raised in Welton’s discussion:
1 / Education fo r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
21
• What was the purpose o f education—was it social change or
accommodation?
• How much control did the learners (“the people") have over
the provision/institutions?
As Selman et al. point out in Chapters 2 and 3 o f The Founda­
tions o f Adult Education in Canada, there were a number o f exter­
nal influences on Canadian (including Quebec) adult education and
there were specific Canadian responses to Canadian conditions. We
will start by looking at a British import, the Mechanics’ Institutes.
We w ill then move on to consider two Canadian responses to the
emerging frontier/immigrant/farming nation-the Women’s Insti­
tutes and Frontier College. This history section w ill conclude with
Canada’s most renowned (now, perhaps more so outside o f Canada
than within) adult education initiative, the Antigonish Movement.
M ech a nics’ In stitu tes, î S ^ /- i 8 ç o s
Mechanics’ Institutes were created in Britain as a means o f provid­
ing scientific and technical information for workers, especially skilled
workers or “mechanics." As has been argued by Robins in Welton’s
Knowledge f o r the People, these tradesmen knew how to carry out
the procedures o f their trades but frequently had no opportunity to
learn the scientific background or the “w hy” o f those procedures.
The Institutes started with a mixture o f self-help and philanthropic
motivation. Mechanics’ Institutes were experimented with as early
as 1800 in Edinburgh, but the movement did not begin in earnest
until the foundation o f the London Mechanics’ Institution in the
1820s. (Over the years the Institutes in Britain, like those in Canada,
strayed from their original purpose and became general cultural
organizations.)
In 1827 a Mechanics’ Institute was established in Toronto. The
following year, Institutes were started in Halifax and Montreal.
Institutes were set up in British Columbia as well but not until
the early 1860s. The Institutes were most developed in Ontario;
there were 311 o f them by 1895. The Department o f Education in
Ontario even saw the Institutes as the chief agency through which
“the upgrading o f workers in the technical arts could be achieved”
(Vemon, 1960, p. 481). Importantly, the Institutes were the origins
o f the public library as we now know it.
22
The Purposes o f Adult Education
Women’s Institutes (W l)
Even in rural areas, women were often divided by politics, reli­
gion, and language. As argued by Dennison (in Welton, 1987), one
o f the few organizations which admitted all women was the Wom­
en’s Institute (WI). The W I was initiated in Stoney Creek, Ontario, in
1897 by Adelaide Hoodless, a woman well known in Ontario for her
campaign—follow ing the death o f her son—for clean milk.
The formation o f the British Columbia Women’s Institute came
as a direct result o f the BC Farmers’ Institute’s efforts to provide
speakers on topics o f interest to their members’ wives. The talks
were so popular that the provincial government decided to organize
Women's Institutes throughout the province. By the end o f 1909,
sixteen institutes had been organized. In 1911, the government gave
them statutory authority and provided funding.
Each area was suited to different types o f agriculture and women
were, therefore, divided by geography, type o f work, and market
practices. In isolated farms and small communities, women seized
the opportunity to get out and meet other women. Education and
community have always been at the heart o f W I activity.
The focus o f the Women’s Institutes was on “ homemaking” includ­
ing household crafts and child-rearing, home economics, domestic
science, primary health care, and topics o f local interest, including
aspects o f farm management. Women also exchanged views about
world issues. For example, two legal areas which aroused widespread
concern among publicly minded women were guardianship laws,
suffrage or the right to vote, and married women’s property rights.
In western Canada, mothers didn’t become legal parents until after
the First World War. Before that, a father was empowered to man­
age his children’s property, collect their income, and determine their
religion and education. The law made it clear that the father was to
be the sole and unchallenged parent. Property rights denied women
the right o f any return for their work as farm wives, particularly the
right to stay on their home farms after husbands died. Unlike the US,
Canada did not open homesteads to wives or single women. Only if
she was the head o f a household could a woman, like any male over
eighteen years, earn title to a quarter section o f land by farming it.
Activists within the Women’s Institutes joined other campaigners to
bring about changes in these and other laws.
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23
Women’s Institutes spread across Canada and were “exported” to
the UK and other (primarily British Empire/Commonwealth) coun­
tries. An international organization was established under Canadian
leadership in the 1930s. Many Women’s Institutes still exist across
the country.
Frontier C ollege
Cook (in Welton, 1987) observes that Canadian society at the turn
o f the last century was guilty, in the words o f Alfred Fitzpatrick, o f
the “crime o f the desertion and demoralization o f the frontiersman,
the crime not only o f robbing him o f ... the right o f an education,
but the equally damnable crime o f licensing men and institutions
to degrade him.” Alfred Fitzpatrick, a promoter o f the social gos­
pel, made the above charge as he waged war to secure justice for
the camp men. His foundation o f the Reading Camp Association in
1901, and its evolution into Frontier College, represented a prag­
matic response to the human needs o f the frontier and to the failure
o f government to accept responsibility.
The Frontier College created the labourer-teacher, one who lived
and worked with the students. As a teaching method, this has gained
some acceptance in development programs. In Fitzpatrick’s day, the
frontier condition was most clearly exemplified by Canada's third
great wave o f railway building, which saw the country's railway
lines increase from 24,000 to 64,000 kilometres between 1891 and
1921. As a result, thousands o f largely unskilled and uneducated
labourers worked in virtual isolation and were cut o ff from even the
most rudimentary social and educational services that were begin­
ning to be offered in cities and towns.
The Frontier College claimed that, in the more stable lumber
camps, 50% o f the men would attend classes; but on the more vola­
tile railway camps, attendance ranged from 2 to 10%. The reading
“ rooms” were used by 90% o f the literate men (about 50% o f the
camp). Cook notes the peak o f the operations was reached in 1913
when 71 labourer-teachers were placed in camps. By 1919, over 600
instructors, including a small number o f women, had served in every
province and territoiy except Prince Edward Island. Today, Frontier
College serves inner city residents and immigrant newcomers.
24
The Purposes o f Adult Education
Antigonish Movement
This is perhaps the most significant Canadian adult education/
community education project. How should it be judged? Was it
transformative or reformist? It was seen as an alternative to “social­
ism” by many sponsors and, yet, there certainly were elements o f
radical social change. It definitely is an example o f adult education
as social activity and not just education for individual adults, to use
Lindeman’s distinction.
The Antigonish Movement was a product o f its time and place
(although the model has been replicated and the contemporary
Coady International Institute teaches these same skills to commu­
nity leaders in a number o f developing countries). Lotz and Welton (in Welton, 1987) note that, in the interwar recession years, the
Maritimes experienced a long series o f depressions and depopula­
tion with no real recovery. As a result, working people were recep­
tive to arguments for alternative ways o f creating and organizing
work. In the Maritimes, people generally lived in settled communi­
ties dependent on farming, fishing, and some extraction industries
like mining. They accepted the church as playing a key role in their
communities. They had also had some experience with co-operative
organizations where family farms shared the use o f equipment, pur­
chase o f fertilizer, and sale o f products.
The leaders o f the movement, such as educator Jimmy Tompkins,
had been influenced by Danish folk-schools and believed in a uni­
versity for the people where knowledge and resources were made
available to ordinary men and women. His first initiative was to set
up “Peoples’ Schools,” which were traditional liberal adult educa­
tion classes. The movement leaders also realized the importance o f
gaining access to local people’s savings for reinvestment in their
localities. This gave rise to a high priority in founding credit unions.
Perhaps the most significant development which led to the take­
o ff o f the Antigonish Movement was the organization o f the fish­
ermen in 1929 by Moses Coady. Tompkins had been influential in
establishing a provincial investigation into the semi-feudal eco­
nomic and social conditions o f the industry and, follow ing the com­
mission’s report, had pushed for Coady, a Catholic priest, to be given
the task o f organizing. Coady took on the merchants (“ fish lords”)
and cajoled the fishermen into establishing their own co-operative
organizations, preaching collective values.
1 / Education fo r Adults: Exploring the Foundations
25
The public meetings and lectures organized by Coady and oth­
ers at the Extension Department o f St Francis Xavier University
were followed up with community study clubs/circles that identi­
fied community problems and sought solutions in collective actions
and co-operative work. In a university publication, “The Antigonish
Way,” Coady writes:
The technique was discovered by facing the actual situation and planning a way
by which the people o f eastern Canada could be mobilized to think, study, and
to get enlightenment. We found the discussion circle. This did not involve any
teachers. It was in line with our whole co-operative idea. We would make educa­
tion part o f the self-help movement. The people would come together by them­
selves and discuss problems. The first logical step in this process was for someone
to round up the people, so to speak. This involved the mass meeting (1943, p. 66,
reproduced in Crane, p. 231).
The movement has been described as “education plus organiza­
tion”—it started by identifying and analyzing people’s economic
problems and then organizing to change those economic conditions.
Conclusion
The history o f Canadian adult education illustrates the diversity
o f educational purposes, ranging from education for citizenship and
conformity, to radical social change, education for accommodation/
adaptation, and education for transformation. The examples we have
looked at are o f non-formal and informal education for social and
economic purpose; they are essentially examples o f education as a
social activity with a social purpose-adult education as opposed
to just education for adults (with the strongest examples being the
Antigonish Movement and the Women’s Institutes and the weak­
est, the Mechanics’ Institutes). In terms o f educational philosophy,
these historical cases can be interpreted mainly as demonstrating
elements o f progressive, humanist, and critical/radical ideas.
Suggested Readings
Nesbit, T., Brigham, S., Gibb, T. ft Taber, N. (Eds.). (2013) Building on Critical
Traditions: Adult Education and Learning in Canada. Toronto: Thompson Edu­
cational Publishing. (Hereafter referred to as Nesbit et al., 2013)
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 o f The Foundations o f Adult Education in Canada, 2nd
Edition (Selman et al., 1998). Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.
Section 1, Part 1 (“Historical and Current Contexts”) and Part 2 (“Aims o f Adult
Education") in Learning fo r Life (Scott, Spencer, a Thomas, 1998). Toronto:
Thompson Educational Publishing. (Hereafter referred to as Scott et al., 1998)
26
The Purposes o f Adult Education
Section 1 (“ Contexts in Transition”) in Adult Education in Contexts (Fenwick,
Nesbit, £t Spencer, 2006). Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing. (Hereaf­
ter referred to as Fenwick et al., 2006)
Welton M. (2013). Unearthing Canada's Hidden Past: A Short History o f Adult
Education. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.
Welton, M. (ed). (1987). Knowledge f o r the People. Toronto: OISE. See the con­
tributions, particularly Welton's Introduction.
Welton, M. (2001). Little Mosie from the Margaree: A Biography o f Moses
Coady. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.
English, L. ft Mayo, P. (2012). Learning with Adults: A Critical Pedagogical
Introduction. Rotterdam, NL: Sense Publishers.
In the Foreword and the first two chapters o f Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy o f the
Oppressed (1970 re-printed 1990, New York: Continuum), he argues for a liberatory adult education. Freire uses these two chapters to frame his argument.
Note that Freire does not use the term andragogy; he contrasts traditional
pedagogy (what he calls “banking” education) with liberatory education (using
problem-posing and dialogical concepts). The Foreword is useful as a summary
o f some o f Freire's key ideas. You may wish to read both the Forward and the
two chapters more than once.
English, L. (ed). (2005). International Encyclopedia o f Adult Education. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, provides lots o f useful definitions and relevant
summaries.