Expanding the mind

I’ve had my mind expanded recently.  I heard how adult education had lifted someone out of depression.  I discovered organisations in Britain that I never knew existed.  And I’ve been reflecting on whether Britain is particularly focussed on adult education.

It may not be the right question.  “Adult education” seems a British term.  There is an American term of “continuing education” that is apparently more about what we in Britain call “further education” (or FE) – education beyond compulsory school education.  FE covers a very wide range of teaching from basic skills, to expert vocational education.  FE is distinct from “higher education” (or HE) that is provided by universities.

To risk confusing readers further, I’ve found that the leading British organisation that promotes adult learning is called the “National Institute of Adult Continuing Education” (NIACE).  It aims to encourage all adults to engage in learning of all kinds.

What conclusions have I drawn from my reflections?

There are several reasons why we need adult education.  It seems to me that the most important is that school education may not be best for all children.

Each of us has our own preferred learning style.  Some children develop at different speeds.  I would presume that teachers – probably inevitably – focus on teaching the largest number of children as efficiently as possible.

Different teaching styles have developed, including active learning which I learnt about when my younger son was at school.  But there must be the limit to how many teaching styles one school, let alone one class, can accommodate, or how far a state’s resources can stretch to teach everyone.

Some of the most successful people have little formal education, because they weren’t suited, or not motivated, to learn in a formal school setting.  There’s a long history of autodidacts, like Leonardo da Vinci, who succeeded despite (or because of?) not having a formal education.

The formal school setting may be fine for most, but there are always those who don’t prosper for a variety of reasons.  And an unmotivated child can be disruptive for other children.  One of the great joys of those who teach or learn in FE institutions is the high level of students’ motivation.

Then there’s the need to “upskill”.

I hope my American friends will forgive me for admitting that when I first heard this term many years ago, I thought it was an ugly sounding Americanism.  But it is a short word, and even I now occasionally use it.

There are other terms:  lifelong learning seems to be the favourite British, and now European, version.  We even had an independent (but government funded) “inquiry on the future of lifelong learning” in 2009 in Britain.

Rapid technological developments and changing society make lifelong learning necessary.  With the advent into the global economy, businesses in particular need to keep developing the skills of their workforce to stay competitive.

Even in the state sector in Britain, learning and developing is now a “core competence” for civil servants like me.  We talk about developing transferable skills for the day when we may no longer have a job.

And there’s a tradition of self improvement.  I was reminded of the Workers’ Educational Association, that was set up in 1903.  This was specifically aimed at those workers who had not had the opportunity to develop their education.  I’m delighted the WEA is still prospering.

But there is another good reason.

I spoke about social policies for older people in Britain to a group of people last week at the Golden Age University in Grodno.  I explained how pension age in Britain is going up (to 66 by 2020, and 67 by 2028).  However, a formal retirement age no longer exists.  Rather, people have flexibility to work part-time up to, and beyond, when they are eligible for a state pension.

One woman told me how she had lost her job, and because she was beyond retirement age, she had little choice but to retire.  She found the experience a major shock, and had gone into depression.  But through a friend, she had learnt about the Golden Age University, and a few months after taking some courses, she found she had thrown off her depression.

I would imagine that there are similar stories in Britain.

I came across a similar organisation called the University of the Third Age in Spain.  This was developed by retired Britons, who found that the university was a focal point for their community.  I see that it was merely an offshoot of the organisation based in Britain.

This is “learning for the sake of learning”, or for “the simple joy of learning”.

This isn’t just for older people.  People of all sorts of ages attend FE courses in Britain.  The sheer variety available is amazing to me – whether for upskilling, self-improvement, to keep the mind active or for the joy of learning.

I haven’t come to any firm conclusions about whether adult education is a particular British interest or not.  But there seems to be a lot of it.  It’s never too late to start learning.