Adult and Lifelong Education for Poverty Reduction: A Critical Analysis of Contexts and Conditions

Poverty reduction is deeply implicated in structures of politics, economy, culture, and technology, from the global down to local levels. Irrespective of the particular political ideology of a nation and of the specific strategy of mobilization, adult and life-long education can and must play a significant role in reducing poverty, including preventing its inception. Yet the adult-education sector does not seem to be ready for this challenge. The present study argues that the re-education of adult educators is a dire necessity for effective poverty reduction. It also maintains that adult educators must be re-socialized in terms of their potential new roles as intellectual-activists. Only so can they work successfully towards introducing systems of adult and life-long education that are truly comprehensive and genuinely commensurate with the goals of poverty reduction.

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Zusammenfassung ERWACHSENENBILDUNG UND LEBENSLANGE BILDUNG FüR DIE VERMINDERUNG VON ARMUT: EINE KRITISCHE ANALYSE VON ZUSAMMENH?NGEN UND BEDINGUNGEN – Die Verminderung von Armut ist tief verankert in den Strukturen von Politik, Wirtschaft, Kultur und Technologie, von der globalen bis hinab zur lokalen Ebene. Ungeachtet der jeweiligen politischen Ideologie einer Nation und der spezifischen Strategie zur Mobilisierung kann und muss die Erwachsenenbildung und die lebenslange Bildung eine bedeutende Rolle dabei spielen, die Armut zu vermindern, was mit einschlie?t, ihrer Entstehung vorzubeugen. Dennoch scheint der Sektor der Erwachsenenbildung für diese Herausforderung nicht gerüstet zu sein. Die vorliegende Untersuchung legt dar, dass die Neuausbildung der Erwachsenenbildner eine unbedingte Notwendigkeit für eine wirksame Verminderung der Armut darstellt. Sie stellt auch fest, Erwachsenenbildner auf ihre m?gliche neue Rolle als Bildungsaktivisten neu vorbereitet werden müssen. Nur so k?nnen sie erfolgreich darauf hinarbeiten, Systeme von Erwachsenenbildung und lebenslanger Bildung einzuführen, die wirklich umfassend sind und den Zielen der Verminderung von Armut tats?chlich entsprechen.

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Resumen EDUCACIóN DE LAS PERSONAS ADULTAS Y DURANTE TODA LA VIDA PARA LA REDUCCIóN DE LA POBREZA: UN ANáLISIS CRíTICO DE CONTEXTOS Y CONDICIONES – La reducción de la pobreza está profundamente implicada en las estructuras de la política, la economía, la cultura y la tecnología en todos los niveles, partiendo desde niveles globales y bajando hasta los niveles locales. Independientemente de la ideología política particular de cada nación o de la estrategia específica de movilización, la educación de las personas adultas y durante toda la vida puede y debe desempe?ar un papel importante en la reducción de la pobreza e incluso en la prevención de sus comienzos. Sin embargo, el sector de la educación de las personas adultas aún no parece estar preparado para enfrentar estos retos. Este trabajo sostiene que la reeducación de los educadores adultos es imperiosamente necesaria para lograr una reducción eficaz de la pobreza. También sostiene que los educadores adultos deben ser resocializados en cuanto a sus potenciales nuevos roles como activistas intelectuales. Solamente de esa manera podrán trabajar con éxito para implantar sistemas de educación de personas adultas y durante toda la vida que sean realmente completos y que, efectivamente, cumplan con los objetivos de reducción de la pobreza.

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Résumé éDUCATION DES ADULTES ET TOUT AU LONG DE LA VIE EN FAVEUR D’UNE RE′DUCTION DE LA PAUVRETé : UNE ANALYSE CRITIQUE DES CONTEXTES ET DES CONDITIONS – La réduction de la pauvreté est profondément impliquée dans les structures de la politique, de l’économie, de la culture et de la technologie, du niveau global jusqu’aux niveaux locaux. Indépendamment de l’idéologie politique particulière d’une nation et de la stratégie spécifique de mobilisation, l’éducation des adultes et tout au long de la vie peut et doit jouer un r?le significatif dans la réduction de la pauvreté, y compris en empêchant son commencement. Cependant, le secteur de l’éducation des adultes ne semble pas être prêt pour ce défi. L’étude présente soutient que la rééducation des éducateurs d’adultes est une dure nécessité pour la réduction effective de la pauvreté. Elle maintient également que les éducateurs d’adultes doivent être resocialisés en termes de leurs nouveaux r?les potentiels en tant qu’activistes intellectuels. C’est seulement ainsi qu’ils peuvent travailler avec succès afin d’introduire des systèmes d’éducation des adultes et tout au long de la vie qui soient vraiment complets et véritablement adaptés aux objectifs de la réduction de la pauvreté.

     

Taking the Time to Improve the Validity of Low-Stakes Tests: The Effort-Monitoring CBT

The attractiveness of computer-based tests (CBTs) is due largely to their capability to expand the ways we conduct testing. A relatively unexplored application, however, is actively using the computer to reduce construct-irrelevant variance while a test is being administered. This investigation introduces the effort-monitoring CBT, in which the computer monitors examinee effort (based on item response time) in a low-stakes test and displays warning messages to those exhibiting rapid-guessing behavior. The results of an experimental study are presented, which showed that an effort-monitoring CBT increased examinee effort and yielded more valid test scores than a conventional CBT. Thus, unlike previous research that has focused on identifying rapid-guessing behavior after it has occurred, the effort-monitoring CBT proactively attempts to suppress rapid-guessing behavior. This innovative testing procedure extends the capabilities of measurement practitioners to manage the psychometric challenges posed by unmotivated examinees.     

A policy analysis of adult literacy promotion in the Third World: An accounting of promises made and promises fulfilled

To the individual, literacy has promised a new mentality, a new social definition, and new economic capacities. At the collective level, literacy has promised modernization of institutions, democratization of political systems, and cultural renewal of societies in the Third World. Have the promises of literacy been fulfilled? The processes of policy formulation, policy analysis and policy assessment are essentially social processes and a search for ‘proof’ of the effects of literacy is naive, to say the least. What we need is a position on literacy promotion that is plausible, credible and probable, and thereby compelling for action. While both the enthusiasts for literacy and the sceptics continue to draw different conclusions from the same research and experience, a consensus is emerging that the question ‘Why Literacy?’ should now be laid to rest. The question to ask now should be: ‘How Literacy?’ In regard to the question of ‘How Literacy?’, there are two basic positions: Should literacy be taught within the specific small-frame of the selective and intensive approach to literacy, with the provision of basic needs? Or, should literacy be taught within a large-frame of literacy as a ‘potential added’, on a mass-scale and with the political orientation? This paper clearly opts for literacy asgenerative rather than merelyinstrumental.     

World Trends And Issues In Adult Education On The Eve Of The Twenty-First Century

The forces of globalization today seem to have overwhelmed the historical political-cultural mission of adult education. Both in the North and the South, adult education is asked to contribute directly to productivity and thereby to competitiveness in the global market. The social component that survives is expected to help in coping with globalization. Voices of conscience and sanity have been raised at world summits in Rio (1992), Cairo (1994), Copenhagen (1995), Beijing (1995), and elsewhere. However, policies, plans and practices have not matched the declarations and agendas from the summits. The programs spawned by the Education for All conference of 1990 side-lined adult education, and so did the Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century (1996). The Fifth International Conference on Adult Education held in Hamburg during July 14–18, 1997 was marked by renewed commitment and solidarity. However, challenges of problematizing globalization, democratizing development, and socializing humanity for life together in the new century remain.     

Adult and Lifelong Education for Poverty Reduction: A Critical Analysis of Contexts and Conditions

Poverty reduction is deeply implicated in structures of politics, economy, culture, and technology, from the global down to local levels. Irrespective of the particular political ideology of a nation and of the specific strategy of mobilization, adult and life-long education can and must play a significant role in reducing poverty, including preventing its inception. Yet the adult-education sector does not seem to be ready for this challenge. The present study argues that the re-education of adult educators is a dire necessity for effective poverty reduction. It also maintains that adult educators must be re-socialized in terms of their potential new roles as intellectual-activists. Only so can they work successfully towards introducing systems of adult and life-long education that are truly comprehensive and genuinely commensurate with the goals of poverty reduction.