It
is common knowledge that adult learning staff in general have a variety
of backgrounds. Many of them enter the profession without any specific
training, though they often have experience in other work settings.
There are several educational pathways offering entry to the adult
education professions (training offered by universities, by adult
learning institutions or by employers of adult learning staff). In other
words there is no standard pathway for becoming an adult learning
professional (i.e. and adult educator or trainer). Yet, it is important
to mention that a high percentage of adult learning staff have a higher
education degree in a specific field, such as management, language,
health, or environment issues, although this percentage varies between
countries, between the formal and non-formal parts of adult education
and even between providers. In general, the occupational field of adult
educators and trainers is poorly regulated on national level. In many
countries and settings, no specific qualifications are required for
becoming an adult educator, not to mention other positions such as
managers, counsellors and supporting staff.
As
yet considerable differences can be detected between the formal and
non-formal part of adult education this particular area of interest. In
some countries, there are national regulations and legislation
concerning the necessary requirements (competences) for people working
in the formal part of adult education (in particular for staff active
within second chance formal education, if we exclude staff working in
the universities). Apart from regulations at national level initiatives
can also be found at the level of associations. But over the last years,
work at European level has mainly focused on teachers in general
education and in initial vocational education.
The
bottomline is that today attention is increasingly being paid to adult
educators and trainers in VET, especially after the Maastricht
Communique has stressed the need to make the profession more
attractive. Most preliminary efforts and some work in progress in this
appealing area, show that there are many pathways to become an adult
educator, VET trainer or practitioner, the profession is not
sufficiently valued within formal career structures, and hence is
scarcely attractive. A number of elements that may be distinguished in
this respect are more explicitly focusing on learning, identity,
training and professional development of adult educators as well as VET
trainers and practitioners in our field. Distinctively and compared
with other educational subsystems, adult education in Europe is
characterised by high percentages of part-time staff (and people
working on a voluntary basis), who may have few career prospects and are
frequently paid on an hourly basis. The recent joint report on
progress with the Education and Training 2010 work programme expressed
regret at the fact that the professional development of vocational
teachers and trainers continues to pose a real challenge in most
European countries. The report could justifiably have extended the
expression of disappointment to the professional development of
educators active in the field of non-vocational adult learning (NVAL)
which is to some extent formal, but to a much larger extent is
non-formal. Consequently, little attention has been paid to defining the
content and processes for initial training of adult education staff.
Below
you will find a list of published material (journal articles, books,
proceedings and study reports) that can be of interest to all adult
educators and trainers. The material only refers to documented research
in the area of adult education and VET in Europe with specific focus
on adult educators and trainers. In some cases -as in study reports and
published research that is the result of an EU funded programme- this
material is accessible for downloading. Certain material is licensed
and it cannot therefore be downloaded. In these cases the full citation
and a relevant link for possible access to the material is provided. A
short description of the publication is included. Site members and
ESREA|ReNAdET supporters are encouraged to contribute with their
knowledge and expertise to the dissemination of any type of research
(empirical, biographical, historical, comparative, etc.) that focuses on issues that are relevant to adult educators and trainers in Europe
(i.e. professionalisation, education methodologies, teaching material,
working conditions, identity issues, policy research, etc.) at a
national or a trans-national level. Material in European languages
other than English is also very welcome as long as a short description
in English is provided. All contributions must be submitted to esrea.renadet@yahoo.com and must include the following:
- Author/s name/s
- Year or date of publication
- Full title of the material
- A summary or short description (up to 300 words)
- Place of publication
- Publisher
- ISBN or ISSN (when available)
- Mode of accessibility (if applicable)
- For papers published in refereed scientific journals or other licensed material, the full citation will suffice.