Older adults,in Lebanon,committed to learning: Contextualizing the challenges and the benefits of their learning experience

ABSTRACT

The University for the Third Age, a relatively new concept in Lebanon, provides educational and social opportunities for older adults. The goal of later-life educational institutions supposedly covers more than a mere provision of learning. This being said, highlighting the significance of rewards associated with older adult learning—and the barriers it faces—is needed. Through this study, we hope to deepen the understanding of the benefits of later-life learning. In addition, we also payi special attention to environmental and social factors that were previously excluded dimensions of the challenges to learning. We explored the benefits perceived by older adults after finishing one term at a University for the Third Age in Lebanon. Also, we distinguished between the different types of barriers faced by seniors in the same context. We included 461 older adults from two cohorts, and we followed a qualitative approach, using content analysis of 247 solicited answers to our research questions. The data consisted of relatively short answers describing self-perceived benefits of the learning experience, as well as its perceived challenges. Findings indicated the existence of three types of benefits: social, cognitive, and psychological, with cognitive benefits the most reported ones. In addition, educational challenges were categorized into dispositional, situational, and institutional, with the latter being the most reported. After interpreting the findings with the Self-Determination Theory in mind, it was concluded that educational challenges negatively affect the well-being of older adults, while educational rewards could enhance it.     

The Development of a University for Older Adults in Taiwan: An Interpretive Perspective

ABSTRACT

Education for older adults is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon. Taiwan, a small island in the western Pacific Ocean, has responded to the educational needs of its aging population with the development of its version of the University of the Third Age (U3A). However, the title of U3A has never been used in Taiwan. Taiwanese people call their U3A the University for Older Adults (UOA). This paper traces the creation of UOAs in Taiwan and explains why UOAs are as they are. Hence, there are 3 main sections in this paper. First, the researcher briefly explores the context of Taiwan, in terms of historical, socioeconomic, and educational backgrounds in relation to this study. Second, this paper aims to trace the historical development of UOAs in Taiwan in order to reveal their developmental processes. Finally, the researcher explains UOAs are as they are in the historical, socioeconomic, and educational context of Taiwan.     

PROTEUS IN A KALEIDOSCOPE: THE EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIST IN OPEN UNIVERSITY COURSE PRODUCTION

The educational technologist's work in Open University course production is described in terms of its context and the potential roles and tasks that may be assumed. Although potential roles and tasks might be shared with other educational technologists, the Open University context of course production is singular to that institution and provides special problems. It is concluded that the educational technologist must continually construct and reconstruct his own role according to a number of sets of criteria.     

A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 1915‐1958

The subject of this paper is the evolution of the Theobgical Faculty in Pavia from the late Middle Ages to the end of the 18th Century. At the down of the Modem Age, the Medieval educational model underwent a deep crisis, mainly for extemal reasons. The educational model promoted by the University, based on open access and ment, no longer fulfilled the expectations of an increasingly closed society, jealous of its privileges. At the same time, internally coherent educational programmes were offered by the schools and colleges of the new religions orders, which were both rigorous in moral education and open to the new cultural orientations of Humanism and the Renaissance. As a conseequence, the University lost its central place to become an element within a complex System of educational institutions. It was only during the last decades of the 18th Century, under Austrian rule, that the University regained its central role: with the closing of the religious schools, the University became the only institution allowed to grant legal degrees.     

Social Support,Psychological Well-being,and Health Among the Elderly

This article is based on the influence that participation in the Third Age University Program has on the health and well-being of the elderly and with the mediation of social support. The data were obtained from a longitudinal study of 147 elderly students of the Third Age University of Seville (Spain). The hypothesis was that the elders who belong to the program would have, as a consequence of their participation in it, better health, well-being, and social support. The results revealed the influence that social support exercises on well-being and, as a result, upon health.     

Education and Older Adults at the University of the Third Age

This article reports a critical analysis of older adult education in Malta. In educational gerontology, a critical perspective demands the exposure of how relations of power and inequality, in their myriad forms, combinations, and complexities, are manifest in late-life learning initiatives. Fieldwork conducted at the University of the Third Age (UTA) in Malta uncovered the political nature of elder-learning, especially with respect to three intersecting lines of unequality—namely, positive aging, elitism, and gender. A cautionary note is, therefore, warranted at the dominant positive interpretations of UTAs since late-life learning, as any other education activity, is not politically neutral.     

The case of educational gerontology in Lebanon: a harbinger of empowerment,emancipation and social change?

Context: In Lebanon, older adults face socioeconomic challenges that are expected to worsen due to an increase in older adult population, chronic governmental neglect, institutionalised ageism and a lack of educational and social gerontologists. Consequently, local older adults are in dire need for social change, which can be initiated through later life learning. The University for Seniors (UfS) is a University for the Third Age providing learning opportunities for older people in Lebanon. While most older adult learning programmes are occupied with their learners’ self-fulfilment, Critical Educational Gerontology promotes emancipatory learning and social change. Study Objective and Design: A case discussion based on a variety of data sources is used to showcase and then challenge the practices of UfS from a critical educational gerontology perspective. To do that, we consider the semantic difference between emancipation and empowerment in their relation to power. Recommendations: We recommend programme-specific measures starting by revisiting the current philosophy of learning, targeting social change as an additional goal to later life learning, and advocacy for the establishment of educational degrees to prepare professionals and academicians in the field of social gerontology. We also recommend a more critical use of empowerment and emancipation within critical educational gerontology.     

我国老年大学发展初探

我国老年大学发展历程虽然短暂,但二十多年来所取得的成绩令人鼓舞与欣慰。作者对我国老年大学的发展情况进行了初步了解,归纳了其在发展过程中的成就与问题,最后对其发展策略提出几点见解,并从宏观的角度对其发展前景进行展望。     

The Cuban Model for Higher Education of Older Adults: Generativity,Social Commitment,and Collaborative Work

The present work is an approach to study the Cuban model for educating the elderly, and its aim is to describe the main features of the experience developed by this country. The University of the Third Age is more than three decades old in Latin America, but none of the countries in the region can show a state educational policy regulating and orienting its development. Cuba is the only country that has designed an educational program for older adults at a national level. The model is the most outstanding one among the rest of the countries in the American continent. This research is based on documentary analysis and interviews held with leaders and managers of the Chair for Older Adults, who were located in different towns of Cuba. Results led to a reconstruction of a set of dimensions of the Cuban model, such as the process of institutionalization, syllabus organization, the process of expansion and universalization, and educators' training strategies for elders. Finally, bearing in mind the features of Cuban political organization and gerontological positions, it was possible to draw the future evolution and challenges faced by the Cuban model for educating older adults.     

Interview with Ariadne

Ariadne's story advocates the impetus for launching initiatives to raise awareness on the multiple returns of investment in educational initiatives during the Third Age. Ariadne, a 69-year-old Greek widow, discovered the “world of learning” back in 2009 when she joined Adult Education Centres (AECs), referring with enthusiasm to a series of wider benefits having emanated from her encounter with Lifelong Learning. However, in May 2011, due to the economic recession, the Greek Ministry of Education abruptly closed all AECs and along them the “gateway” for many individuals like Ariadne to knowledge, socializing and active aging.     

重塑学校：基础性变革面面观

不同时代的标志性特征有着巨大差异。整个社会正在由工业社会向信息社会转变,我们有理由相信,范式变革必须也最终将发生在教育领域。一个过时的教育体制不可能为学生在现实生活取得成功做好充分的准备,片段零散的改革难以满足新的教育需求。让我们致力于重塑学校,鼓起勇气,踏上破冰之旅。     

U3As in Australia and New Zealand: Society's $4 million bonanza

The self-help model of the University of the Third Age (U3A) has developed strongly since its comparatively recent introduction to Australia and New Zealand. This article reports on findings from a survey of 84 U3A groups in Australia and 14 U3A groups in New Zealand. The survey had three discrete aims. The first was to demonstrate a method for explicating the nature and extent of the voluntary activities underpinning the self-help approach, and to ascribe a dollar value to these activities. Conservative calculations show that the annual value of voluntarism in Australian U3As is in excess of $4 million and, in New Zealand U3As, in excess of $300,000. A second aim was to reveal regional similarities and differences in approaches, as well as to highlight the educational characteristics of the very successful self-help model of adult education. The third aim of the study was to gain a measure of U3A administrators' preparedness to respond to possible social change, by analysing responses to 18 futures-oriented questions. Findings show that U3A administrators have a vision that extends well beyond the immediate confines of their own groups and are prepared to consider the introduction of research projects, communications involving new technology, and activities that involve their groups in interactions with the wider ageing community.     

微观政治视角下的教师个人解释框架与专业脆弱性——与比利时鲁汶大学格特·凯尔克特曼教授的对话

格特·凯尔克特曼(Geert Kelchtermans)是比利时鲁汶大学(University of Leuven, KU Leuven)心理与教育科学学部教授,同时担任鲁汶大学创新、教师与学校发展中心的主任(Centre for Innovation and the Development of Teacher and School)。他还是卑尔根大学(挪威)、奥卢大学(芬兰)和林茨大学(奥地利)以及悉尼大学的客座教授。Kelchtermans教授的研究专注于个体教育专业人士(及其传记)与组织和制度背景之间的复杂互动以及定性研究方法。他的主要学术专长包括:政策实施、教师专业发展(包括入职培训和在职培训)、学校发展与教育创新、学校微观政治、教学和教育领导的情感维度以及解释性研究方法(聚焦于叙事—传记研究方法)。他在众多国际知名教师教育类期刊上发表了大量围绕上述主题的经典论文和著作章节,在教师教育研究领域做出了大量原创性学术贡献。Kelchtermans教授主持过教师教育与教育创新领域的多项课题研究,如"职前教师专业发展:入职期间的时间与关系""教师入职培训:通过参与网络进行专业发展"等...     

芬兰大学教师发展研究——基于赫尔辛基大学的案例分析

文章从芬兰高等教育概况、教师发展政策、组织机构三个方面描述了芬兰高校教师发展的背景与概况,并以赫尔辛基大学为案例,从教师发展部门、教师发展理念、教师发展项目、评估措施、奖励机制等方面进行研究,归纳出赫尔辛基大学及芬兰大学教师发展的特色,为我国的大学教师发展提供参考。     

Subtle discourses on equality in the Finnish curricula of upper secondary education: reflections of the imagined society

Assurance of citizens’ social rights and minimization of social differences have been central tenets that have framed the educational policy of Finland and the other Nordic welfare states. Equality has been on the official agenda in educational politics and policies since the comprehensive school reforms of the 1960s and 1970s. However, the conceptualization of equality has fluctuated, reflecting the political climate in which the policy statements have been created. In this article, we analyse Finnish curricular documents concerning upper secondary education from the 1970s to the 2010s in order to find out how the aims of educational equality are presented. Drawing on different conceptualizations of equality and social justice, as well as feminist theorizations of intersectionality, we scrutinize how gendered, classed and ethnised patterns are emphasized, challenged or muted in documents. Through the longitudinal data of this study it is possible to analyse the growing impact of this neo-liberal educational restructuring into Finland, which has a reputation for equal education and excellent records in the Programme for International Student Assessment tests. Hence, we ask how the Finnish society as an imagined community is reflected in the documents of different decades.     

基于“研究”的教学实践模式——芬兰小学教师职前教育的经验

芬兰基础教育成功的一个重要原因是高质量的教师教育为其提供专业的师资。培养以研究为本的专家教师是芬兰教师教育的中心任务,教育研究和实践训练相结合是芬兰职前教师教育的重要特征。基于"研究"的教学实践是芬兰小学教师专业成长的有效模式之一。本文在介绍该模式的背景、涵义、目的、途径与实施原则的基础上,提出该模式对我国教师教育改革的若干启示。     

The (mis)use of the Finnish teacher education model: ‘policy-based evidence-making’?

Abstract

Background: International achievement studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have an increasing influence on education policy worldwide. The use of such data can provide a basis for evidence-based policy-making to initiate educational reform. Finland, a high performer in PISA, is often cited as an example of both efficient and equitable education. Finland’s teachers and teacher education have not only garnered much attention for their role in the country’s PISA successes, but have also influenced education policy change in England.

Main argument: This article argues that the Finnish model of teacher education has been borrowed uncritically by UK policy-makers. Finnish and English philosophies of teacher preparation differ greatly, and the borrowing of the Finnish teacher education model does not fit within the teacher training viewpoint of England. The borrowed policies, thus, were decontextualised from the wider values and underpinnings of Finnish education. This piecemeal, ‘pick “n” mix’ approach to education policy reform ignores the fact that educational policies and ‘practices exist in ecological relationships with one another and in whole ecosystems of interrelated practices’. Thus, these borrowed teacher preparation policies will not necessarily lead to the outcomes outlined by policy-makers in the reforms.

Sources of evidence: Two teacher preparation reforms in England, the University Training Schools (outlined in the UK Government’s 2010 Schools White Paper, The Importance of Teaching) and the Master’s in Teaching and Learning (MTL), are used to illustrate the problematic nature of uncritical policy borrowing. This article juxtaposes these policies with the Finnish model of teacher education, a research-based programme where all candidates are required to complete a Master’s degree. The contradictions exposed from this analysis further highlight the divergent practices of teacher preparation in England and Finland, or the disparate ‘ecosystems’. Evidence of educational policy borrowing in other settings is also considered.

Conclusions: Both the MTL and the White Paper reforms overlook the ‘ecosystem’ surrounding Finnish teacher education. The school-based MTL contrasts with the research-based Finnish teachers’ MA. Similarly, the University Training Schools scheme, based on Finnish university-affiliated, teaching practice schools, contrasts heavily with the rest of the White Paper reforms, which contradict the philosophies and ethos behind Finnish teacher education by proposing the move of English teacher preparation away from the universities. The analysis highlights the uncritical eye through which politicians may view international survey results, looking for ‘quick fix’ options instead of utilising academic evidence for investigation on education and education reform.