Transcript Using ODL as a tool for development Commonwealth of

CAPACITY BUILDING
FOR EDUCATORS OF
ADULTS
Veronica McKay
Norma Romm
Herman Kotze
ADEA
GABON
March 2006
AIMS OF PAPER
1 To examine the development
of capacity for
adult/nonformal education in
three non PRSP countries
• South Africa
• Namibia
• Botswana
2 To examine capacity building
within the philosophy of
Lifelong Learning (LLL)
Impact of globalisation on learning
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Globalization and the new
emerging economic and
social order demand new,
more complex competencies.
The poor have acute
knowledge needs to cope
with globalization.
The poor need opportunities
for meeting their basic
learning needs, to go beyond
basic learning, and to have
their knowledge validated.
The paper looks at the extent to which
these countries
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•
Global changes mean moving
beyond communal validation of
knowledge to a more public
system of validation
The new knowledge economy &
social interactions transcend
national borders (as people are
compelled to pursue work
opportunities) highlighting the
need for the validation of basic
learning.
Challenges for nonformal education
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Challenges for people with low
levels of education are
exacerbated by eg drought,
famine poverty, unemployment
and work instability, violence,
conflict, environmental
degradation, HIV/AIDS
Adult basic education has come
to be viewed as a key strategy
within the overarching goal of
poverty alleviation
Lifelong learning as an organising principle
presupposes that nonformal learning
•is accredited as being
equivalent to a corresponding
(formal) qualification.
•Receives the same value as
formal learning
•Requires that learners might
access the same benefits and
opportunities as learners of the
formal system
Why locate basic education/NFE within
the NQF?
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The perspective of lifelong
learning requires articulation (or
bridges) between the different
levels and different kinds of
learning (formal, nonformal and
informal).
From education to learning, from
time & space bound to lifelong
and lifewide education - across a
variety of sites and through a
variety of modes
“Gone are the days when educators are
drawn from the streets”
Qualification equivalence and
accreditation within the system
of non-formal education brings
to the fore the need for
educators to be sufficiently
capacitated to work within the
framework of lifelong learning.
The relationship between formal and
nonformal systems
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•
There are many practices within
the non-formal system of
education which could be
emulated by the formal system.
The relative freedom and the
space for experimentation within
the mode of non-formal education
has given rise to many methods
and processes which can (and
have) contributed to and enriched
the formal systems of education.
What is defined as an adult educator?
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Nonformal education embraces
all those whose job function
includes helping adults to learn
such as:
Literacy, agriculture extension
workers, trainers for water and
sanitation, trainers in health,
nutrition, HIV/ AIDS, and family
planning, environmental
educators, job skills trainers,
trade unionists, worker
educators, youth service
workers, community organizers,
materials developers
Areas of foci
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How long are teachers trained,
where, and what is involved?
What is involved in “quality
assuring” the quality of educator
training and delivery?
What conditions of service do
educators have?
Have roles and functions of
educators become (re)defined?
The scope of the research
•
•
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What policies support adult
education, and what is the
relationship between policy and
practice?
Examples of reforms to the
education system which may
facilitate change in practice –
including across sectors
What curriculum issues are
there?
How are sites of teaching and
learning dealt with?
Some findings
• There is a need for “mass” training where
quality is not compromised
• Educator development as an imperative of
LLL
• Professionalizing adult educators
• Other partners and stakeholders can help
• Distance education can be used for going to
scale
• Issues of quality assurance: balance between
bureaucratic burden and accountability
• Materials and other learner support for
educators and learners – cross country
sharing
• The conditions of service for educators
including “workplace”conditions
• Policy and practice: developing a culture
supportive of adult learning
Thank you …