| CODE | ACA5001 | ||||||
| TITLE | Adult Education in Malta and Beyond: A Critical Introduction | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Part 1 International and local overview of Adult Continuing Education: This initial part of the study-unit is intended to provide an overview of the area. It will focus on the different dimensions of adult education, formal, non-formal and informal and on some of the various aspects of adult education and training as gleaned from the existing international literature on the subject. The major themes to be discussed will include: 1. State of Adult Education (intro.) internationally and in Malta; 2. Lifelong education/learning, competences and citizenship; 3. Adult education, communities and social movements; 4. Adult education and work (overview); 5. Adult Education and the State; 6. Women and adult education; 7. Adult education and the environment; 8. Adult education, post-structuralism and post-colonialism; 9. Adult Education and the Media (Radio, ICT etc.); 10. Introduction to Paulo Freire. Part 2 Introduction to Adult Education and Work:This part of the study-unit is intended to provide an overview of the different angles related to Adult Education and the world of work. We will view this area from two perspectives: Adult Education for the Economy primarily from the perspective of the employer and Workers’ and Trade Union education from the perspective of the employees. This division is being made for heuristic purposes since the relations between the two are much more complex than as suggested by this separation. We will be drawing from readings by both Maltese and foreign authors. Issues to be discussed include: What is vocational education?; Functionalism and Human Capital Theory; Educational Training in Malta in the 20th century– Emigration; Recent developments in education for work: HRM, Workplace Learning, Worker-management teams Adult Continuing Education and the Professions; Globalization, Neo-liberalism and Education; Adult Education, Training and Lifelong learning; Alternative conceptualisations (or not?) 1: Trade union education: Tool and Issue courses; Alternative conceptualisations 2: Workers’ Education (really alternative?); Alternative conceptualisations 3: Cooperatives and education; Alternative conceptualisations 4: Diversity, work and adult education. Study-unit Aims: The unit aims to provide, as far as possible, exposure to the range of provision in the field, including the Maltese field. The goal is to provide an initial knowledge of the different orientations in the area e.g. top down as opposed to community-oriented bottom-up approaches; educator centred and self or collective learning approaches; individualistic learning as opposed to collective learning, education from employers’ perspective as opposed to education from workers’ perspective (for the economy or engaging critically with the economy) etc. The second part enables us to focus on one aspect of the provision in greater depth. 'Work' is a recurring theme throughout adult education. The introductory unit therefore focus throughout the second part on this specific aspect to set the tone for the rest of the course: Education for the economy, education to transform the economy, education to engage critically with the economy, education to bridge the managerial-employee divide at the workplace, education for professional development, education to provide access to the working class (Ruskin College) radical education from the perspective of the working class (e.g. Plebs league). The aim is to equip course participants with a nuanced view of adult education in general and the relationship between education and work in particular. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. have a good knowledge of the different dimensions of this amorphous and very broad field as well as a grasp of the different orientations to learning involved; 2. obtain the basis to proceed with in-depth and more focused later investigations (later study-units in the programme) of specific areas by specialist lecturers engaged for this purpose. For example, in the second part, the student will be able to draw on a good introductory knowledge of education and work which provides the basis for units on 'employability' and the labour market to be tackled later on in the course; 3. differentiate between holistic (broader array in first part) and more narrow notions (e.g simply employment skills) of adult education and training. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1. handle the literature in the field; 2. read broadly within a restricted period of time; 3. draw on initial experiences of participation in seminar based sessions; 4. synthesise a wide range of readings and to sift them with a view to marshalling arguments both in class and in their assignment; 5. write confidently on adult education, work education and related topics; 6. draw on vast range of literature in the field; 7. analyse discourses around adult education in terms of their underlying ideological perspective; 8. draw on a politically sophisticated knowledge of very politically charged areas of adult education provision; 9. have a strong historical sense of an area which is born out of a long history of conflict, negotiation and renegotiation by representatives of labour and capital and other social agents; 10. have a strong historical sense of the field, including adult education and work, from both an international and Maltese perspective, including in the latter case, the small state condition. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: English, L. and Mayo, P. (2012) Learning with Adults. A Critical pedagogical Introduction, Rotterdam, Boston and Taipei: Sense. Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, New York and London: Continuum. Mayo, P. (ed.) (2013) Learning with Adults. A Reader. Rotterdam, Boston and Taipei: Sense (set reference text). Mayo, P. (2007) Adult Education in Malta, Bonn: DVV International set text: free circulation. Borg, C, Mayo, P and Raykov, M (2016) Adult Learning in Malta. Insights into current participation, content and forms of adult learning, Malta: Faculty of Education, University of Malta. Supplementary Texts Part 1 Baldacchino, G and Mayo, P (eds.) (1997) Beyond Schooling. Adult Education in Malta, Malta: Mireva. English, L (ed.) (2005) International Encyclopedia of Adult Education, London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Hall, B. L, Clover, D, Crowther, J and Scandrett, E (eds) (2012) Learning and Education for a Better World: The Role of Social Movements, Rotterdam, Boston and Taipei: Sense. Torres, C. A. (2013) Political Sociology of Adult Education, Rotterdam, Boston and Taipei: Sense. Supplementary Texts Part 2 Baldacchino, G. (1990), Worker Cooperatives with particular reference to Malta. An Educationist’s perspective, The Hague: Institute of Social Studies (pdf available). Borg, C. and Mayo P. (2007) interview with John Fisher from T&G, in Public Intellectuals, Radical Democracy and Social Movements. A book of Interviews, New York Peter Lang. Carnoy, M. (1999) Globalisation. What Planners ought to Know, Paris: UNESCO. Bauman, Z. (2013) ‘Learning to walk on quicksand. Lifelong Learning and Liquid Life’ in Mayo, P (ed.) Learning with Adults. A Reader, Rotterdam, Boston and Taipei: Sense Publishers. English , L .and Mayo, P. (2012) Learning with Adults. A Critical Pedagogical Introduction , Rotterdam, Boston and Taipei: Sense Publishers (ch. 12). Mayo, P (2015) ‘In and Against the State. Gramsci, “War of Position” and Adult Education’ in Mayo, P., Hegemony and Education under Neoliberalism. Insights from Gramsci, New York & London: Routledge. Ministry for Education and Employment. (2014). Malta National Lifelong Learning Strategy 2020. Malta: MEDE. Spencer, B. (2005) ‘Labor education.’ In L.M. English (Ed.), International encyclopedia of adult education (pp. 339-344). Basingstoke, UK & New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Waugh, C. (2009) Plebs. The lost legacy of independent working class education. Occasional paper. Sheffield, UK: Post 16 Educator (available in pdf). * Excerpts from novels Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Supplementary Readings for both parts will be available to students though VLE. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Seminar | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Peter Mayo |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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