Abstract

Despite the recent increase in the number of publications in the field of educational gerontology, remarkably little has been published on "gerogogy". The aim of this research piece is precisely an attempt to integrate critical gerogogy within a praxeological epistemology, as a continual reconstruction of thought and action in the living historical process of older persons. Following a critique of the critical educational gerontological position, seven principles are recommended for a 'really' praxeological gerogogy. These include the embodiment of a political rationale; a commitment towards the transformation of the ageist world; refusing that any type of education empowers older persons; led by facilitators that take sides with and are committed to the sufferings of older people; reaching out to all distinct segments of older persons; embracing a self-help culture; and finally, taking the role of a "progressive" movement by engaging in counter-hegemonic activities.

Rationale

Thirteen years ago, a prominent critical theorist in older adult education, David Battersby (1987, p. 4), argued that "there has always been a reluctance among adult educators to examine the principles and practices of teaching and learning as they might apply to the elderly". Unfortunately, the validity of this quote is still legitimate at present. Notwithstanding the recent increase in the number and focus of publications in educational gerontology (e.g. Glendenning, 2000; Jarvis, 2001), and the prevalent emphasis on pedagogical/andragogical frameworks in mainstream educational discourse (Shor, 1992/ Welton, 1995) remarkably little has been published on "gerogogy" - as the strategies employed in teaching older adults are referred to. One paradigm that has given gerogogy a relatively high profile is "critical educational gerontology" [CEG] ? as that educational practice which aims to lead older adults to higher levels of empowerment and emancipation (Glendenning and Battersby, 1990). Distancing itself from the functionalist and psychological paradigms so ubiquitous in mainstream educational gerontology, CEG advocated a "critical" gerogogical practice that unsettles older persons" complacency about their social conditions and conviction of their powerlessness to transform society (Glendenning & Battersby, 1992). Whilst, there is absolutely no doubt as regards CEG's emancipatory intentions, critical gerogogy was still not embedded in a dialectical context that includes the simultaneous interplay of reflection and action. In addition, with rare exceptions (e.g. Cusack & Thompson, 1998), both older learners" voices and practical circumstances within older adult education are absent from its discourse. Such a shortcoming has surely served to restrict CEG's audience to academics that have the time, energy, and inclination to struggle with such an abstract discourse, and to alienate practicing senior adult educators. The aim of this research piece was precisely an attempt to integrate critical gerogogy within a praxeological epistemology as a continual reconstruction of thought and action in the living historical process of older persons. Its objective was to progress the development of critical gerogogy by coalescing critical reflective processes with actual experiences so as to offer more workable principles for the practice of critical gerogogy.
The Critical Movement in Educational Gerontology

Critical educational gerontology [CEG] initiated from two major concerns. First, from a radical concern to overcome the oppressions which locked older adults into ignorance, poverty, and powerlessness. And secondly, as a reaction to the uncritical and apolitical disposition of mainstream educational gerontology. The origins of CEG can be traced to Allman's (1984) political appeals for older adult education when claiming that the enhancement of the quality of life of older persons will not be achieved by just any learning experience, but only through a liberatory education. The latter aids older learners to become in control of their thinking, and employs the self-help concept which endows older learners with higher levels of power and control in all the aspects of the educational session including organization and curriculum planning. These reflections were consequently elaborated by Battersby (1985a) when asserting that biological, physiological and psychological explanations of learning in later life were unsuccessful to recognize the social and cultural characteristics of old age. Battersby (1985b) also called for educational scientists to take stock of this third age educational revolution and examine critically whether the continued proliferation of these innovations is justified.

The rationale for a critical educational gerontology was eventually firmly grounded in Glendenning and Battersby's (1990) ground-breaking publication where it was argued that most older adult educational programs are based upon erroneous taken-for-granted assumptions. These included the dominance of the psychological "deficit" model of older adults" learning abilities; assuming that any type of education is emancipating and empowering; an uncritical stance on the programs" aims and purposes; disregarding the programs" inherent bourgeois bias; overlooking the diverse degree of marginalization amongst older persons; and finally, assuming that older adult education is exercised in the interests of older people. Following a sound challenge of the such conventional wisdom the authors put forward four major principles for CEG (see also Battersby & Glendenning, 1992; Glendenning, 1992). These included (i) a socio-political framework which examines society's treatment of older people within the context of the economy and the state, (ii) founding educational gerontology within the traditions, the literature, the experience and the debates present in critical social theory, (iii) establishment of a new discourse that includes such concepts as emancipation, empowerment, transformation, and social and hegemonical control constituted the third principle, and finally, (iv) predicating CEG on the notion of praxis as the dialectical practice between theory and practice.

As already stated CEG has given gerogogy a relatively high profile. The term "gerogogy", which refers to the practical teaching strategies employed in older adult education, has been utilized in European academic discourse since the 1950s. However, it is unfortunate to note that the notion has been employed in a highly condescending and psychological manner. This is especially evident in John's (1988) publication titled Gerogogy : A Theory for Teaching the Elderly where "being somewhat confined to frail and vulnerable elderly people... the result is patronizing on the one hand and ignores elders in the community on the other" (Glendenning, 1992, p. 16). As a reaction to such an intellectual environment, CEG configured gerogogy in a critical epistemology where older adults are in control of their thinking and learning, and who have the possibility for further development, thinking, questioning and reflecting on what they know or on new areas of content for this learning. Rejecting "the rampant psychologism that has accompanied the very initial theorizing about the concept of gerogogy", Battersby (1987, p. 7) argued that "gerogogical principles should be predicated on known theories and concepts about human development, learning and teaching as they relate to the elderly". Consequently, Battersby (ibid.) formulated a radical objective guideline for the practice of critical gerogogy -  one that "conceptualizes teaching and learning as a collective and negotiated enterprise amongst older adults" and assumes "a liberating and transforming notion which endorses principles of collectively and dialogue as central to learning and teaching". In later publications it was asserted that critical gerogogy consists "of the practical articulation (i.e. praxis) of the principles of critical educational gerontology", and recognized "that education is not a neutral enterprise and that it involved moral and ethical dimensions" (Glendenning & Battersby, 1990, p. 228). Hence, through the practice of critical gerogogy, CEG "would encourage tutors and students to examine the relation between knowledge and power and control" (Glendenning, 1991, pp. 215-16). From the above-passage, Paulo Freire's (1972a) influence is highly evident, but especially when CEG declared that "critical gerogogy requires people to be engaged in the process of questioning their existing knowledge" (Battersby & Glendenning, 1992, p. 120). In fact it is not surprising to find the claim that

Freire's ideas inform us as to how we might go about creating these transformations for older people through a more liberating and empowering form of education than that which is currently available for many adults
Glendenning and Battersby, 1990, p. 119

Older Adult Education in Context

Undoubtedly, CEG has been a major contributor to the progressive development of the field of educational gerontology. These included the embodiment of the field in a normative and ethical engagement (Cusack, 1999); highlighting the possible hegemonic effect that older educational programmes may entail (Formosa, 2000); as well as injecting a critical twist in the analysis of why membership is closely linked to gender, class location, and previous exposure to education (Formosa, 1999). As a result, it is no longer assumed that all such programmes are examples of good practice or that any education empowers elder learners. Critical gerogogy has also developed a socialist vision for educators, one that seeks to embed the learning situation in a politicized vision for equality and social justice. Nevertheless, critical gerogogy has still remained short of providing older adult educators viable principles as how it may be practiced in actual educational settings. This is to an extent a major disadvantage since questions of process are central to everyday practical educational practice. Despite Giroux's (1981, p. 219) argument that "theoretical work itself is a form of practice andÖ[can] create the terrain and necessary preconditions for a radical [educational project]", there is no doubt that there are partial equivalencies, commonalties, objective relations that exist independently of the particular contest that we work in (Gore, 1995).

At the same time, in order to be able to formulate a really praxeological rationale for critical gerogogy, both the voices of present facilitators and learners must be acknowledged. In the past four years the author had the opportunity to perform non-participative fieldwork in University of the Third Age in Valletta, as the only older adult educational programme in Malta. At the same time, I also had the possibility to act as a facilitator for a number of sessions at various Pre-Retirement Educational Programs. Both experiences provided with a rich insight on the practical dispositions inherent in older adult education. Unfortunately, space does not permit to report in detail such field experience and only a brief synopsis of the most salient issues can be presented. First, it was evident that facilitators held functional and psychological rationales for older adult education. One facilitator commented that:

Education is fun. It is a means to spend one's leisure time in a fulfilling manner. Education is also informative. The more one knows, the better he/she can function in life... Education functions to augment levels of self-satisfaction and self-esteem.
U3A tutor and colleague

Evidently, such a rationale only serves to delimit the emancipatory goals that were once at the core of initial educational programs for the aged (Vellas, 1997). The fact that most programs failed to escape the "pervasiveness of schooling" found in traditional education was a second precarious feature. Sessions generally took the form of a top-down model of instruction that cultivated respect for authority, experts, and universal knowledge. Whilst such an approach was really appreciated by learners with extensive educational dispositions, it alienated other learners :

Öalthough the facilitators are knowledgeable on their respective subject matters, we do not really get a chance to explore certain problematic themes in more detail. In lieu of our extensive experience in life, we should be given greater share of involvement. I do not know how this can be achieved but surely not by the presentation of a multitude of informationÖ
67 year old male learner at a University of the Third Age

Third, most programs did not function to meet the needs of older persons but only those of social "elite". Whilst, as a result of its financial support for such programs, the government succeeded in camouflaging its direct role in the enactment of ageist policies, on the other hand commercial entrepreneurs benefited by having access to a promising pool of financially secure persons. At the same time, bourgeois older persons found them highly appropriate to their lifelong interests and dispositions, as well as to recoup lost status resulting from mandatory retirement.

Another area of concern consisted in determining who really controlled the learning process. Fieldwork experience uncovered an extensive bourgeois-patriarchal bias as regards both the foundation and coordination of programs. The bourgeois bias is clearly evident in the available curricula which consist largely of field-dependent and non-instrumental subjects that focus on artistic, literary and historical areas of interest. What is perhaps even more disquieting is the fact that despite the great majority of female participants and feminist gerontologists" focus on the double jeopardy of older women (e.g. Browne, 1997), programs were characterized by an absolute insensitivity towards gerontological feminist issues. The program reflected largely men's ideas, assumptions, and priorities ? resulting in a situation where older women learned about society from a male point of view. In addition, it was evident that learners had absolutely no involvement or control of the programs" content and instructional methods. This resulted in an educational experience that was both conservative that fell short of failing completely to re-invent society by unveiling dominant ideological agendas. In this respect a learner commented

The lecturers are somewhat naïve. They approach old age as a time of rest and leisure. But social reality is not as rosy. I would like to question a number of things that are taken-for-granted. Why is mandatory retirement just? Why are increases in pensions not uniform for every living pensioner? Why are medical services, despite being free, not of a high quality as private ones. It is not that what is taught is not interesting but only that it may not relevant to my worries.
57 year old male learner at a Pre-Retirement Educational Session

Hence, by not recognizing the political nature of its pedagogical work, programs do not seek to promote a possible world-view for particular subaltern older persons who tend to be incessant victims of oppressive social relations. Finally, and perhaps more importantly, the embodiment of the educational process in a critical gerogogical perspective is far from being straightforward and results may not always be those intended. From my personal experience, I learnt that many learners do not expect to be given any role and withdraw at once when they are give a share of power in the educational experience. Others are afraid. At other instances, learners may know the subject more than the facilitator, especially when focusing on age discriminations. Moreover, the dialogic format may make it difficult to acknowledge the multiplicity and contradictory nature of human experience.

Towards A Praxeological Manifesto for Critical Gerogogy

It is against such the preceding reflective and practical background that this research piece attempted to construct praxeological principles for critical gerogogy. The following principles are a direct attempt to situate Shor and Freire's (1987, p. 19) fourteen year old query "What type of teaching could make critical learning happen?", in the hope that critical educational gerontology becomes more an actual example of "transformative education" rather yet another euphemism for glorified occupation therapy. I believe that :

Critical gerogogy must directed by a political rationale so as to highlight its commitment to the transformation of ageist social structures. In asking why older adults should take part in educational classes, educators must move beyond the conviction that meeting the learner's felt needs is the goal of "good" educational practice, as these may be shaped by the dominant ideology. Older persons as a group are an oppressed class due to ageist national policies and social practices that discriminate against them because they are old, just as racism and sexism achieves this as a result of skin color and gender. There is no doubt that in contemporary societies, ageism is a powerful discriminatory force and manifests itself as a complex and subtle phenomenon in historical, social, psychological, and ideological dimensions that places older persons in a "culture of silence" (Freire, 1972a). This is witnessed by the fact that politicians and professionals are constantly dictating what they think is best for older persons. Since CEG is grounded on a recognition of the existence of such oppression, it stands to reason that the forces of such oppression have to be clearly identified from the beginning. In this respect, critical gerogogists must direct all their energies in the formulation of strategies that first highlight older persons" subjugated role in the social matrix of domination, and secondly, which treats the prospect of social transformation, empowerment and emancipation as a real possibility.

Despite the diverse heterogeneity of older persons critical gerogogy must employ a communal approach towards the transformation of the ageist world. Research has clearly shown that diverse segments of older persons ? such as females, lower class elders and persons from minority ethnic groups - experience higher levels of discrimination. Whilst critical gerogogy has a responsibility to highlight such disparate subjugated experiences, and to focus on each group's unique experiences, the process of liberation is ultimately a communal effort. This is possible by integrating all older persons in a close network of "affinity groups". Affinity groups are not based on "sameness" but rather on similar conditions "among the multiple, shifting, intersecting, and sometimes contradictory groups carrying unequal weights of legitimacy within the culture and class" (Ellsworth, 1989, p. 317). These affinity groups allow group experiences to be heard whilst using a common and shared language and without positing any experience as better or worse than another. Through affinity groups it is also possible for participants to share not only what they have in common, but also what they do not share. Despite such heterogeneity of oppressive experiences, critical gerogogy is ultimately a communal educational effort for liberal and postmodern agendas run the risk of turning in favour of relativism and pluralism that could destroy the possibility of collective action and suppress political will. This quest for a communal quest is aptly found in Freire's (1997, p. 310) conviction that only through "unity in diversity" can "the various oppressed groups become more effective in their collective struggle against all forms of oppression".

Critical gerogogy refuses the myth that any type of education empowers older persons, and is grounded on liberatory education. Critical gerogogy rejects traditional models of education "in which the students are the depositories and the teacher the depositor" (Freire, 1972a, p. 45). On the other hand, educators must embrace a liberating practice which aids learners to perceive social, political, and economic contradictions. This involves two major steps. First, is to generate a liberating curriculum. This involves the immersion of educators within older persons" thematic universe in order to generate "generative themes" which then are codified into other motifs that older learners can identify with. Once such motifs have been formulated, the second step consists of aiding learners to perform a successful decodification of the former. Only so will the inherent social, political, and economic oppressions become apparent. This can be achieved through the strategies of dialogue and problem-posing. Whilst dialogue "demands the problematic conformation of that very knowledge in its unquestionable relationship with the concrete reality in which it is engendered" (Freire, 1974, p. 124), problem-posing "involves a constant unveiling of reality [and] revolutionary futurity" (Freire, 1972a, p. 54). Through such strategies learners "not as recipients, but as knowing subjects, achiev[e] a deepening awareness both of the socio-cultural reality which shapes their lives and of their capacity to transform that reality" (Freire, 1972b, p. 51). Another central strategy for critical gerogogy is critical reflexivity. This consists of the educators" and learners" recognition of their biographical existentiality which includes a micro-narrative replete with instances of personal domination and subordination. Critical reflexivity "reconfigure[s] the relationship between the past and the present" (Simon, 1992, p. 140), as a form of redemptive remembrance and social dreaming. The latter serves to "enable the past to be perceived in a way that made the present visible as a moment within which people could act to alter the material grounds and social terms on which their lives were lived" (Simon, 1992, p. 142). Hence, the teacher aids older learners to confront "the social amnesia of generations in flight from their own collective histories ? the subjugated knowledge of the marginalised, the excluded, the disenfranchised, and immersed groups" (McLaren and De Silva, 1993, p. 73-4).

Critical gerogogists are not just facilitators; they take sides with and are committed to the sufferings of older people. Albeit in critical education one speaks of "teacher-students" and "students-teachers" (Freire, 1972a, p. 67), the educator and learners are not immersed in what Jarvis (1985) terms an "education of equals". This is because the educator is attributed with the authority to direct the learner's education towards a political goal, namely to recognize the world "not as a given world, but as a world dynamically in the making" (Freire, 1985, p. 106). Yet, this does not mean that teachers can be authoritarian : a critical gerogogist has authority in so far as s/he helps "learners get involved in planning education, helping them create the critical capacity to consider and participate in the direction and dreams of education, rather than merely following blindly" (Freire, in Freire and Macedo, 1995, p. 379). In this sense critical gerogogists are "organic intellectuals" in that they are committed to "active participation in practical life, as constructor, organiser, "permanent persuader" and not just a simple orator" (Gramsci, 1971, p. 10). Without organic intellectuals it is impossible for the CEG to act as a social movement which articulates and refines the older persons" world wide and collective identity, since somebody has to play the crucial role of defining the "other" - a social force against which the movement pits itself.

The practice of critical gerogogy must not only occur within the walls of the older adult educational program but must reach out to all distinct segments of older persons. Although the majority of the older learners come from the ranks of the middle classes, it is wrong to assume that other older persons have disengaged themselves from educational processes. Given equitable circumstances, they will surely also render themselves available to older educational programs. Critical gerogogists therefore have a moral responsibility to recruit older persons who are normally under represented in older adult educational classes. Two adequate strategies consist of outreach education and distance learning. Since outreach succeeds in recruiting older learners who beforehand did not necessarily think that they desired or needed education, it has a definitive consciousness-raising and transformative potential. At the same time, distance education is successful in transmitting educational classes to older persons who are physically prevented from attending educational sites. Tactics may range from the co-ordination of educational classes in residential institutions to a critical use of broadcasting media. Critical gerogogists must not be fatalistic about distance learning, because for older people especially, distance learning are flexible in time and place of delivery, as well as embodying open access to subject choice regardless of prior knowledge or qualifications.

Critical gerogogy embraces a self-help culture towards a more decentralised and autonomous older adult education as power is shifted to older learners. Critical gerogogy is ultimately education for older persons by older persons. Liberating education is only possible if the older adult educational movement organises itself, producing its tutors from its own ranks, and developing educational concerns situated to their own circumstances. Hence, older persons must enjoy an absolute degree of involvement and control in the coordination of older adult education. This would enable them to enact and coordinate educational policies that are congruent with the older persons rights and needs, as well as instilling an informal and supportive environment where older adults feel valued and a sense of camaraderie is present. Government and other local agencies must only assist as far as financial and logistic resources are involved for in truth, it is very difficult for non-older persons to be aware of the exact needs and preferences of older persons, considering that they possess different generational and cohort experiences. Moreover, they are surely the right persons to coordinating in-service training for persons wishing to work as older adult educators, to establish democratic evaluations of the enacted programs, as well as to locate a flexible approach to settle the pending debate between intra- and inter-generational education.

Finally, critical gerogogy must enable older adult education to take the role of a "progressive" movement by engaging in counter-hegemonic activities. Critical gerogogy is rooted in "critical activity" which is oppositional and involved in a struggle for social change and the unification of theory and practice. "Critique" in this context therefore involves both the criticism of oppression and struggle for a better society. Hence, a critical gerontology posits educational practice in both the languages of 'critique and 'possibility' (Giroux, 1985). An anti-ageist hegemony is a real possibility if educational programs adopt a pro-active leadership that guides both learners and citizens to become aware of the oppressiveness inherent in the dominant ideology, and subsequently, form a political vision which contains wider discourses for revitalizing social democracy. In this respect, the role of critical gerogogists is also educate that an ageist society leaves much to be desired and that equity, democracy, and justice, are not its forté. The political struggle against oppressive social structures is, essentially, an educational revolution at all spheres, irrespective of any social boundaries such as age, gender, sexual orientations or political preferences. Such a revolution grants citizens the opportunity to develop their potential to challenge and transform existing ageist social and political forms, rather than simply adapt to them in keeping with the prevailing hegemony.

Conclusion

This research piece has attempted to propose a set of praxeological principles for the practice of critical gerogogy in the hope that they act as a catalyst for the achievement of the goals of critical educational gerontology. In conclusion I feel that two important statements have to be forwarded. First, that such principles presented herein are not intended to be a didactic manual to be adopted in a non-critical fashion but should always be characterized by a critical flexibility. They have only been presented as a cluster of themes inspired by emancipatory intent. This is because both culture and history play a major role in the construction of personality and identity. Personal identities are produced under different social conditions and so, no such thing as a universal, ahistoric human identity is possible. Therefore, critical gerogogy is neither a system nor is it reducible to any fixed set of proscriptive models. CEG can only open a frontier of liberating education which then has to be reinvented and molded in a sensitive manner in our actual situations, on our own terms, and in our own discourses. Secondly, critical gerogogists are not to believe that critical educational gerontology and critical gerogogy has all the answers for the emancipation of older persons. For emancipation to reach its fullest ideal, CEG must also be supplemented by other emancipatory acts contained in other institutions. It would be utopian to think that older adult education by itself can transform all the ageist practices inherent in society. For instance, it is not yet clear how CEG can combat effectively the socializing process of persons into ageist hegemony in the personal domains (e.g. in the family) or public domains (e.g. by the mass media). However, this is not the same as saying that critical gerogogy has no emancipatory critical role to play. CEG includes a theory of action where, through their sense of agency, learners are given the opportunity to act and change oppressive social structures. CEG surely has the potential to provide older adults with the opportunity to form a type of organisation through which they can find strength and purpose in a common vision to denounce mystification, as well as to support subaltern older persons by acting as a catalyst towards the enhancement of just and equitable relationships that further democracy, authenticity, and freedom.

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