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Socrates and Erasmus programme:
Adult Education in Europe Montpellier, France (February-May 1999) "Life is opening and closing the borders": Attitude to deal with change Group 2:Blanco Noemi INDEX INTRODUCTIONA) Group culture B) Structure of our paper Chapter 1: ADULT EDUCATION AND NEW TECHNOLOGY Chapter 2: LEARNING IN A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY 1. INTRODUCTIONChapter 3: COMMUNITY EDUCATION I. INTRODUCTIONChapter 4: LABOUR, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT PART 1: HUMANISTIC STRATEGIES OF CHANGEChapter 5: ADULT EDUCATION AND SOCIAL POLICY: an international perspective I. INTRODUCTIONChapter 6: FOUNDATIONS OF ADULT EDUCATION I. INTRODUCTIONCONCLUSION I. MAIN FINDINGSBIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX I.SOCIOLOGICAL FUNDATION FOR THE CURRICULUM
The title of our work „Life is opening and closing the borders" refers to an attitude to deal with change. A change which is going on the different levels of identity e.g. personal, organisation, communities, society, culture, et.. This paper is a result of the Socrates- Erasmus- Programme 1999 in Montpellier. The main subject we worked on here together is adult education in Europe.
Our multicultural group consist of four different countries: Belgium (Cathy Camertijn), Spain (Noemi Blanco), Finland (Inger Osterlund- Oller) and Germany (Anke Engling). Every chapter in this work is a result of the discussions and contributions from all of us. It was important for us that everybody participates in each chapter. So we can say that it is a really multicultural common work.
Our group work was organised in four steps:
If we now look back to the last three months, we notice a positive evolution in our group dynamic. We were respecting each of us and everybody was in the same way engaged in the work. After a while we could see in every group member special skills that we could use for our work. For example: The strength of Noe B. was to explain and to generalise the subjects in figures and schemes. Cathy C. supported us through a good structuring and formalising of the content. Inger and Anke could much contribute through their work experience. Also we remarked that we had different knowledge about the different chapters because we've studied different courses in the countries. This was an enrichment of our knowledge. We worked step by step and week for week closer together. So we had strong group cohesion.
We had always long and interesting discussions and we think our main learning process happened in these evenings. The two main dimensions of a „task orientated" group are present, namely the task and the relationship dimension (process model of Leirman). Indeed we have seen that there is a close connection between the task and the relationship of the group members. The fact that we felt ourselves included and comfortable in the group, has influenced our work in a positive way. We also think that is was very good that we had four different countries in our group. In this way we were all in the same position to explain the subjects of our natural countries and we had the same language problems. Moreover that excluded the fact that there grew a little country group in our multi- cultural group. The fact that we couldn't converse in our mother tongue created sometimes a misunderstanding of certain words and concepts.
In the chapters we discussed about following subjects: 1.chapter: New technology and the influence of the adult education 2.chapter: Learning in a multicultural society 3.chapter: Community education 4.chapter: Labour organisation and management related to the field of adult education 5.chapter: Adult education and social policy an international perspective 6.chapter: Foundation of adult education In all chapters we also discussed the new role of adult educators related to the certain subjects and the elements of change that the Adult Education must deal with. Our work is only based on the theory of the lectures and also some texts. Our discussions were more in practical reflections about the theory we have seen. In our work we always tried to make a link between theory and practice. Nevertheless we couldn't really mention all points of view. We discussed only the most important ones from our point of view. In our paper we will use following abbreviation: Adult education: AE New technology: NT
Chapter 1: ADULT EDUCATION AND NEW TECHNOLOGY Module of P. Thomas
During our intercultural group discussion we first talked about the philosophy behind the use of 'new technology'. In a second part we reflect on the use of these new technologies in adult education. The questions that we ask ourselves are: 1. What are the consequences of the introduction of NT in the educational field? (Does it create social duality? Competitive or emancipatorical use? Does it create new needs? Relation of NT with democracy). 2. What are the new skills that teachers and learners must have to use NT as a tool to learn? 3. Does NT create a shift from the old to the new model in learning methods?
I. PHILOSOPHY BEHIND NEW TECHNOLOGIES We see two kinds of philosophies (cf. module 5) This philosophy is based on the principal of using NT for a progress in an economical way and. So those NT will be used to become more competitive and powerful on the labour market. The use of NT will have as a consequence that the society will split up in one part which can require the new technologies and strategies in business and another part which have difficulties to build up the same thing. This evolution will increase the existing duality in the society and in the world, (footnote 1) because not everybody has the same access to these new technologies. For example the percentage of people who have access can vary from 5% to 45% off the people in one country (class discussion, 18-02-1999). The amount of access depends on de development of the country. For example in Finland you can have free access to the NT in the libraries. But also the network itself is highly developed and spread around in the country. This is not the case in all the countries represented in this program.
Organisations use new technologies in an educational meaning. But the goal is to become more powerful, for example France Telecom. The competition is increasing between the organisations. To take part in this competition the company has to follow the principle of life long learning and to be a learning organisation. It means that has to renovate the technologies and the knowledge of the workers in a permanent way. These competitive strategies are used on the organisational level.
2) Emancipatorical an qualitative philosophy
This philosophy is based in the principal to improve the quality of life for everybody. The NT are used as a tool to create more possibilities and methods in the educational field and on the communicational level. The adult learner has to develop himself. On one hand in an emancipatorical way and on the other hand he has to develop the qualifications that he needs for his profession so that he will not fall from the society. Forming an adult learner in that way helps him to form his identity so that he can develop his (critical) thinking, problem solving and decision making. To form the person, NT can be used. But a danger that can arouse if we only use the NT in this process, without teaching the critical thinking of people, is that they will believe everything what the NT shows them. NT is not like a superman (a person) that has all the knowledge. Therefore the NT should be used as a tool in the learning process to achieve this personal or emancipatorical, development (see further). This emancipatorical and qualitative philosophy is located on the personal level.
Figure 1. This figure explains the effects of these kind of philosophy behind NT; taking into account the new problem and needs that arouse in the society with the introduction of these NT.
II NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN ADULT EDUCATION New technologies are creating new needs and new functionally illiterate people that need new qualifications and competencies. Besides people who can not read and write this evolution creates people who are illiterate in a technical sense. This situation is creating new questions in the local centres of adult basic education. The educators don't know exactly how to handle this new situation; how to combine these new technologies with the low educated people? Our goal of adult education is that everybody should have the same opportunities (democratisation of NT). For example not everybody has the possibility to use Internet. So this NT-system should be more democratic. On one hand we (professional educators, government and others) have to make sure that everybody reach the basic level of this new qualifications. Another way to make it more democratic is to give the opportunity that everybody has access to the NT for example by creating public places with free access. AE should make programs that fit the needs and level of the adult. 2.1. General Use Multimedia is only a tool that is complementing the pedagogical resources or thinking. It is a very narrow and poor pedagogical strategy if we only use multimedia, because we'll miss the traditional face-to-face interaction. Teaching helps to develop other skills like dialogue and social competencies. Otherwise it would lead to social isolation and alienation (footnote: 2). We must deal with the strengths of the two paradigms in education: old and new model. There are some cons in both models as: 1) old model: can be segmented; centralised and passive; 2) new model: can create duality, anxiety (in distance learning because there is not immediate feed-back, problems in motivate people...) But there are also pros that we can use: 1) old model: face to face, feed-back, group relation and teamwork; 2) diversification of strategies, adaptation to the society reality, more possibilities to reach information (internet). There are two kinds of possible dialogues when we are dealing with NT: One written dialogue using the email and the other is discussing with the teacher and the group. It has always been and it should always stay like that. The dialogue part in learning is the main element in learning situations. Paulo Freire, a South American (Brazilian) pedagogue, has showed that the dialogue between teacher and learner is very important in learning situation. His point is that the participation in the learning process is an important way of (learning) active critical thinking. His theory also says that the context of the learning situations has to refer to the daily life of the learners. This last element is very important if you are working with adults because they have lots of experiences. (C.f. module 2) Today the context is changing and we have to introduce NT in education system. Freire explains also that through this way of dialogue people can develop their emancipatorial skills. The principals of Freire can be adapted in the new learning situations of today. The dialogue is very important when you are working in a group because you can reach higher levels of information. For example the dialogue in learning organisation is very important because it is a way of exchanging experiences and knowledge. In France Telecom they have Intranet. We found it very interesting (to see) and hear that everybody can have access to it. This is one from of creating global thinking, you feel as a member of this organisation and how the global system of the company is available. But how it actually works in the reality we haven't seen. One way to transfer the knowledge in learning organisation is 'learning by doing' and NT can complement this process. In using the NT we have to keep in mind that there is no super technology. All technologies have their strengths and weaknesses. We must try to combine the strength of the different kind of media in the learning situation. And this is the responsibility of the educator. (C.f. module 6)
2.2. Distance learning as an example Some people of our group had some experiences with 'distance learning' for example Inger from Finland and Cathy from Belgium. But in both countries there were some practical problems in using this principle namely technical problem. For example in Finland you had to follow the course through a microphone and in Belgium only two of the six classes could see the teacher on the video scream. The technical part may be still a problem but the principle as it self is a very good way to reach people for whom it is impossible to come to the courses. If we want to use 'distance learning’ in adult education we must follows certain criteria like: -Access: how accessible is a particular technology for the learners? -Costs: what is the cost of using this technology? -Teaching and learning: what kind of learning is needed? What approaches should we use and what are the best technologies for supporting this teaching and learning? -Interactivity and user-friendliness: what kind of interaction does this technology enable? -Organisational issues: what are the requirements and barriers use it successfully? -Novelty: how new is this technology? -Speed: how quickly can courses be programmed and how quickly can materials be changed? (Bates, 1995)
2.3. New Roles in Adult Education Educator The traditional roles of educators are changing and they get a broader field of teaching. Instead of bringing in the information of knowledge to the learner, this information (or data (footnote: 3)) is present in the NT. The educator has to select the main information because there are a lot of data where you can get lost in. Teaching helps to know how to transform data into information using rules and operator skills.
The educator has to accompany the learner through the learning process to get to self-directed learning of the learner. For that the teacher has to master new skills for guiding, in making training programmes and exercises. The educator is now like a film director who co-ordinates the whole process, he has to have a global vision of all the possibilities and know how to make the right combination for each individual. In this new learning situation the teacher must also be a learner in new technologies, and from that position he can transfer the new skills better. He also has to be a learner during the learning process. To get the learners attention the teacher should show the goals for the learning process and to bring the subject in an attractive way to the learners. You can compare it with the way of making an "advertisement". This is the main thing in the learning process. One kind of motivation is the knowledge of the learners 'prerequisite': before beginning the learning the teacher should find out the base of the learners. The other strategy could be that the teacher has to try to impress the learner. For example by using innovated resources like videos, CD-ROM, computer programs etc. The third base for motivation can be the experience of the learner. This experience could be transferred into the NT (pedagogical resources). They can, on this base, build up his course.
Conclusion: It will be more difficult for an educator because he has to acquire more skills in different fields (NT, teaching, social communications, dialogue,...)
Learners The most important skill to possess is to be able to work in a self directed way because the society and technology are changing very fast and the learner has to adapt himself all the time. But actually this self directed learning is not a starting point, there are a lot of skills the learner must possess before achieving this level and getting there can take a long time, especially for low educated people. Another skill that is important is that you are able to work in a team, because teamwork is the base the learning organisations (cf. above) and NT are improving the intern communication and organisation. In teamwork every member is motivated to work in the group and engaged to give his experience and knowledge concerning one subject to the other group members that are on an equal level as you are.
In every module we are going to introduce the element of change that the education must deal with. In this case the main element of change is the post-modern society, the introduction of new technologies in this globalisation process (and individualisation phenomena) that have been producing on a world level. The education must introduce changes in its methods and roles (explained before) to adapt to the new context and needs. (Cf. module 6) (APENDIX 1: Sociological foundation for the curriculum design)
In this module we have seen some applications of the NT namely using the NT in a professional way. But we think that there are also others fields of AE where we can use these techniques for example with low educated people. These techniques should be adapted to their level knowledge, interests, skills etc. It could be interesting for us to see these other fields too. AE must deal with these changes in post-modern societies and try to adapt to the new requirements and needs introduced by NT using the adequate methods for each situation and person.
Chapter 2: LEARNING IN A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY Dr. Ruud van der Veen
The multiculturalism as a phenomenon has existed always but the difference today is the globalisation as a process with its particular character. The right to learn is a human right, but if you are outside of the society you often cannot use this human right. People come more and more from poor places of the world into the more attractive rich European countries. Although it is comprehensible and understandable, it creates many problems on both sides. Different cultures push on top of each other. The migrants have different levels of education and often the people don’t speak the language of this new land. In this respect they have been discriminated still before they have reached their new home country. Perhaps one can generally say that the degree of discrimination often depends on the individual educational development. On the other side the Europeans themselves are confronted with many new cultures too. Often there is a fear of loosing the own culture, values, work, security and changing of old habits. In one word there is a fear of foreignness and unknown strangeness. There is also a need of information, education and clearing up. One has to learn to deal with the new situation and the perceived strangeness, so that it will not feel like personal threat. In what follows we are going to discuss the theories and practice concerning the learning in a multicultural society. Moreover we ask ourselves: How is the situation for the second generation of migrants? But first a short introduction of immigration in each country that is represented.
1.1. Migrants in Finland, Belgium, Spain and Germany Finland Finland’s short independence, since 1917, have to be remarked as on the one hand a capacity of learning and opening the horizon and on the other hand a fear for a big brother or a foreigner. In the history, Sweden and Russia have tried to incorporate the country during several centuries but Finland asked themselves once: "We are not Swedish, we do not want to be Russians, so why not be FINNISH! " To achieve this state the main goal has always been diplomacy in every matter. For diplomacy there is a need of language, Swedish, English, German, French and of course Russian. Learning languages was an important part of the Finnish culture, which flourished during the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century before the First World War. Immigrations to Finland have been small but increases now that we are a member of European Union and EMU. Our economic base is good for companies to build up a market. In many ways Finland is the port for other countries to enter the Russian market and this part of the world. Russia is in need of infrastructures, products and network-systems. The Finnish capacity to welcome foreign companies increases at the same time. The main part of the migrants in Finland is entering the borders from the east. The goal is to integrate them in as many parts of Finland as possible and to avoid environments with only migrants (ghetto). Families are together moving but here is a problem with some of the Africans cultures where the families are a never-ending family. The government is offering supports like accommodations and grants for daily living. In return the migrants have to take part in training programs e.g. learning about the Finnish society and the language. If the environment is Swedish the migrants have to learn the Swedish language also! The cultural activities are placed in certain organisations, and during the summer multicultural happenings are arranged on the marketplaces. Migrant-problems in Finland are obvious in some part of the country and can be seen as violence against for instance black people. The attacks of the skinheads are few but it could increase and grow out of control, to include the whole country, without the government protection. Also fear against strangers appears like silence and not recognising the migrant when he/she is entering a shop. If there is a group of migrants talking and laughing, the fear appears because the majority does not understand the language, the customs and the behaviour of this group. The migrants from Russia are increasing in Finland. Often it is not poor migrants or low-educated. The customs and behaviour tells that these people may have knowledge about several subjects that never have been discussed in the society. The great taboo in Finland is still how to deal with people that for about 50 years ago bombed Helsinki? One generation before carry these deep injuries in their mind trying to forget. For this reason it can be a solution to teach about the history in programs of adult education and open the Finnish culture to other kinds of perspectives. But first there is a need of knowing your own culture!
Belgium After the Second World War there was first a migrant-stream coming into the country that included men from Italy, Spain and Greece. In the 1960’s and 1970’s a second immigration-stream entered the country from Turkey and Morocco. All of these people came to work in the mines. In 1970’s and 1980’s the families of these men entered Belgium. Migration through marriage was also one form of immigration. In the 1990’s the mines were closed and the consequence was unemployment and a loss of income. In Belgium the 3rd generation of migrants are automatically naturalised. Immigrant-groups in Belgium are Moroccans, Turkish, Jews, Italians and, in certain cities, these groups have experienced a policy of repression (violence of police) and are creating " ghettos ". The Jewish are an exception concerning migrants because they create their own income out of jewels. In big cities extreme right is coming up. The position of governmental support is that grants are usually small for renewal of some neighbourhoods for instance north of Brussels. Antwerp has neighbourhoods of migrants from Morocco, Turkey and Jewish and Gypsy’s. In short the borders are closing more and more and the policy of asylum is very tough, although it is an active one.
Spain Spain is a country with a central government. There is a constitutional monarchy in a democratic system, but formed by different autonomic communities. Each of them has their own concessions to govern some aspects. The official language for the whole country is Spanish, but it is co-official with other languages in some regions like: -Galicia: " gallego " Apart from the Peninsula there are some regions in Africa that belongs to Spain like: -Ceuta There is also a zone in the Peninsula (apart from Portugal) that belongs to the United Kingdom, Gibraltar. The official language in Gibraltar is English and there is another government and other customs. This region is little but important because of the narrow strategic position from Europe to Africa. After the dictatorship of Franco the nationalism in zones with different languages has increased and the existence of independent parties is obvious. In Catalunya during the 1950’s and 1960’s a lot of migrants from Andalucia, Extremadura (south of Spain) and from Galicia moved because of the industrialism. Some cities were built for these people and were like " ghettos " and the people were seen as migrants even if their language was Spanish, i.e. Badia del Vallès and L’Hospitalet del Llobregat. In Euskadi exists problems of violence and these problems have been activated by a terrorist-group, ETA, during the dictatorship. Even nowadays in the time of democracy these groups have been active. The general culture comes from the catholic tradition (with customs, churches, religions, parties and holidays etc.) but minorities from other traditions exist. The Gypsy culture and Gypsy communities are spread all over the country. Their nationality is Spanish but they are in marginalized because of their culture, customs etc. Migrants from other countries: Africans and Arabs: have nowadays difficulties in finding job and most of them are working in bad conditions and with black money. Some of these people have big problems when they are trying to cross the border by "Estrecho de Gibraltar". They save a lot of money to pay people who have boats in bad conditions. This people pass them to the other side. Many people have been killed in the sea and other have to return because they are "illegal migrants". In their home countries their problems increase. South-Americans: with families and with better possibilities to manage in Spain partly because they have the same language and mostly of having more money. Migrants from Japan with good conditions are not seen as a problem. Spain has received refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina and this last year was the time to return back.26 of April: 150 refugees have entered to the south of Spain (all they are living together). Spain has also been an example of emigration and this is important to mention while analysing the situation of migrants in Spain. To understand migrants in Spain one cannot forget the emigration part. During the dictatorship a lot of people emigrated to France and during the Civil War people moved also to Germany and South of America to earn money and have a better life. Recently arguments of closing the borders because the high level of unemployment has increased. The right party doesn’t give lots of possibilities to open the borders. The problems with young people joining the group of « skin heads » have also been obvious. The NGO’s are doing most of the work to help the migrants. Main activities are helping with bureaucracy papers and language courses. But there are also educators and social workers from the public administration working on it.
Germany Many foreigners live in Germany especially in Berlin. Most of them came in a time in which Germany had a lack of workers (1960-70). The Turkish has already lived in the second and third generation in Germany. One could think they are integrated after so many years, but that isn’t the case. The opposite applies to for many of them. They keep old home traditions from the home country and go back to a conscious isolation. They dream of a return to their former home country. One reason could be that most of the first emigrants belonged to the rural population of Turkey and thus they are more anchored in old traditions. In some parts of Berlin (Neukoeln, Wedding) there are living more than 50 per cent foreigners. It is a difficult situation for both sides. Especially the distinction in many fields of lifestyle leads to tension between the people i.e. for many Turkish women are not allowed to go outside without their man or to meet friends alone outside of the own houses. It is very hard to understand for German woman because we still nowadays fight for the complete equality for women. The high unemployment in Germany causes a more critical mutual observing. The danger in this kind of situation is that single acts of abuse (abuse of welfare) may form a general judgement about foreigners. Position of the government in Germany The double citizenship in Germany is nowadays discussed. After the change of government last year the social democratic party is in power. They would like to implement foreigners, who are born in Germany, and to give them two nationalities namely the German (where they live) and the nationality of the home country of their parents. The goal is more freedom and less pressure for a fast decision for them. But a result is still open, because there is not an agreement to expect in short time.
Nowadays the continents and spheres of life are on the " Spaceship Earth " interconnected in a closer net web of mutual dependencies. What up to now seemed historical and spatial far away appears now increasingly more intensive through proximity. Foreignness is not longer only an exclusively spatial tension but more and more appears as a " potential conflictual contemporality of different contexts of meaning, between which often lies an unbridgeable historical distance ". For instance the identity in the European context and the identity in a national context can be strained because of the different levels. Our spheres of life have less and less clear separation of " interior " and " exterior ". Following areas of overlap arise. Foreignness is perceived more intense through spatial nearness and " only through direct contact do we become sensitised for the significance of incompatible " intrinsic times ". The development towards overarching contexts of experience doesn’t create " greater unity; uniformity, or universal accord, but rather to an increase and intensification of rifts between what is perceived as " one’s own " and what is experienced as " different in kind ". " Former times where the strangeness was looked for in a distance is finished nowadays. ( Schäfter, 1998) There are different kinds of strangeness not only spatial distinction, but also between another person (a man towards a woman, grandfather towards grandchild) or foreignness towards yourself. If one have a strangeness incidence it is depends on the level of identity how one reacts and feels in this special situation. It is important to know which different levels push in top of each other to understand the concrete case. There are:
We are very sensible to what is part of me and what is not a part of me. The distinction and separation construct the identity and this limit makes it possible to recognise what is outside. It is always very interesting to see what you have inside when it is outside. Sometimes you feel this circle of identity as very peculiar for instance if you drink water and pour it back to the glazes and start to study it.
2.3.1. The foreign as that from some place else There is a clear difference between inside and outside of our selfhood. The border divides the accessible and the inaccessible. The border is connecting, not separating, and it is very unusual to see the other part as a victim.
2.3.2. The foreign as the alien The foreignness appears as abnormal and unconform in contrast to your own. One example could be a religious custom that seems very abnormal for you in the context of your own religion or belief.
2.3.3. The foreign as the still unknown This kind of foreignness refers to the different between unknown strangeness and perceived strangeness. It is a part of my identity to know what I know and what I don’t know. Here exists the possibility to change the unknown to the known. There is a need of learning to cope or handle the differences and to be aware of the fact that you don’t know everything.
2.3.4. The foreign as the ultimately unrecognisable This kind of foreignness includes unknown strangeness. I have never the possibility to get to know it. For my identity is it very important to learn my limitation.
2.3.5. The foreign as the uncanny This kind of foreignness includes the experience that " one’s own " and familiar may become foreign. The border between inside and outside get lost and the home becomes uncanny (for example a nightmare).
2.4. Modes of experience Strangeness Referring to our lecture there are four modes to experience yourself and the environment.
2.4.1. Foreignness as Sounding Board of the self In this mode of experience foreignness is the distinction directed towards the foundation of a still undivided basis. Foreignness appears as separated from the originality. This Separation is necessary for the constitution of selfhood (interior and exterior, human and animal) and develops a relation of tension. Foreignness acquires the function of origin and is necessary for the selfhood. After a while the selfhood has to distance itself from the original. The borderline between selfhood and foreignness thus refers to a relationship of " stressful connection ". This tension develops a relationship between dependency and emancipator movement. But nevertheless the foreignness stays transcendent for the own experience. Thus emphatic and basic comprehensibility are essential assumptions to experience strangeness.
2.4.2. Foreignness as Counter Image This mode of experiencing foreignness describes the contradiction between others and me. All what is ok is inside and all what is not ok. is outside. In this experience of foreignness the borders will be observed very sensitive. All what is different (outside) will be excluded. The foreignness arises as " abnormal " and " unthinkable ". It get a " character of a negation of the self " and the sense of " mutual incompatibility ". It seems to threat the own identity and as a danger for one’s own order. The counter image can change into a model. Sometimes we look of the other side, for example in holidays. Than the other side appears more interesting as our own. One can be impressed about it, but one cannot do it. There is a turning point where the border will be clear again and one realised for himself it is not may way. Therefor the contrast between selfhood and foreignness may strengthen one’s own order.
2.4.3.Foreignness as Supplement In this mode of experiencing appears foreignness still unknown but desirable for the complete selfhood. One appropriate foreignness for the goal to be perfect. It includes the possibility for a self-change and a self-regulation through adapting foreign things, as a part of one’s own identity.
2.4.4.Foreignness as Complementarity In this mode of experiencing appears the foreignness as not able to understand. There is a limit of my own person and I will never rally understand the other side. I am strange for the person opposite and the person opposite is strange for me, but the form of strangeness is different. This relation of " mutual foreignness " is not to solve, but if I know my border I can learn to deal with it. I will never be perfect, that’s why I can never understand the whole world.
In the history and after the Second World War people moved from Europe to North and South America. The multicultural society that was built up have nowadays been studied by researchers. The results of the research and also the way USA have dealed with these society could be one variation of a model for the problems of the migrants that are recognised in Europe. Prof. Ruud van der Veen have given us important information about the problems that migrants are dealing with. The great discussions about migrants have resulted in some main problems, like minority-majority problems and the second generation conflict, because of the experience we have.
3.1. Second generation conflict The situation of the second-generation people who are born in the new country is difficult to understand. They don’t belong to a certain culture and whether they are born in this country they don’t feel like members of the society where they are living. A lot of them are not anchored in the old tradition of the originally country of their parents. So they feel homeless and looking for a fixed belonging in a existing culture. The life of the second and third generation is like a swing. Hopefully one day the balance will stop and will find a resting position. Noe’s experience of the second generation conflict will be here explained by her own words: "As I explained in the introduction, inside Spain was a migration process during 60‘ and 70‘ . People came from the south of the country to Cataunya and Euskady because of the industalization. My grandparents were living in Extremadura (My father‘s parents) and in Andalucia (my mother‘s parents). They had to move to Barcelona. My father was 16 years old and my mother 5 years old when they came in the north. For my father it was harder to adapt the new region, with other customs and language, than for my mother. He had his friends and his life in the south, although it was during the dictatorship and the Catalan language was not recognised. My situation has been different, because I was born in Barcelona and all my life has been built up there. In my town there are lot of people in the same situation as me, so I think, this feeling is common in my generation. I identify myself with my town, but not really with the Catalan traditions and customs, because my family follows some traditions from the south. So, in some moments I felt a contradiction. Some Catalan people (with Catalan origin) didn‘t see me as a Catalan, but I didn‘t felt as someone from the south, because I haven‘t lived in the south of Spain. My reaction was fight for my identity in Catalunya and react in some way against traditions from the south as flamenco. There was a time when I was a child that I danced flamenco and then I felt shame because of that and I didn‘t talk about it and I didn‘t want to dance flamenco. I said I didn‘t like it. At the same time I tried to improve my Catalan speaking, because we talk in Spanish at home. But after some time I could MATURATE this feeling. I felt stronger and I could deal with those both cultures that are part of me. I was not shame about my origins and I liked flamenco again. But also I feel that I am not from the south, I am Catalan and inside me exists the culture because I have been living with that and constructing my life with this costumes and language. Now I think that this situation is really nice, because I have the richness of knowing and experiencing different cultures."
The last century has been a never-ending evolution of technical equipment. The distance between countries in the western world has almost disappeared and some parts of the world elsewhere have joined this success in the technical world. Communication and networking has been established in every part on a historical, medical, economical, social and educational level. The global market has increased in a faster and faster way. The main decisions that have a great influence in the global financial market are done rapidly and sometimes in a very superficial way. What can an adult educator do in this globalisation of the world and how to handle with multiculturalism? The Ethnic war in Kosovo has turned into a dangerous power-conflict with complex problems concerning human rights. Where is the limit of what is acceptable? Where is the respect of another person, the tolerance and the solidarity? Refugees are moving into another country in a desperate situation and not because they want to leave their homeland. It is to much for just one person to reflect on the global problems that Europe are facing. Dialogues and discussions are not giving any help to these people. AE can be a science together with sociology to open people’s mind and perhaps try to activate people in a constructive way. The adult educator could inform and organise people in small associations in the meaning of making actions to help these people, this homeland and this country they are moving to. In the history we have seen movements turning into real conflicts after actions that was meant to be helpful. Sensitiveness and reality has to be balancing all the time. The morality and ethical principals in global view have to be prominent in this vision. There are dangerous elements to be aware of in all political situations. As an adult educator there is a need of reaching the complementary level to be open towards complex subjects but knowing also the limits. Sometimes you are not the right person to be involved in solving complex matters. The capacity of handling problems that have been in your own experience is higher and we will therefor explain the problems of the minority and majority.
To belong to a minority it means that sometimes there is a need of let the majority be aware of the existence of minorities. Nothing is obvious and it is the minority who has to bring up their needs and thoughts in a constructive way for the whole society. As a member of a minority in Finland, Finnish-Swedish, Inger will explain one variation of this experience that is based on Karmela Liebkind book "We and the strangers". 1 STEP As a member of the society you try to balance your need rights with your obligations. As a member of the minority you try even so hard to be noticed but you always turn into " walls " where you can’t go further. You try to fight for your personal rights but you are not so aware of the cultural difference between the minority and the majority. You fight for your personal rights as a member of the society. You are starting to criticise the majority and their culture. (Sounding board, counting image) 2 STEP Stagnation is entering in the mind. " I cannot do anything, there is no use and I will give up ". This controversy of giving up and fight leads to a criticism of your own culture. Why is it better to speak this other language and have these customs and behaviours? Are these things ridiculous? How is it with the majority and their language? Is it perhaps easier to be as they and integrate in their culture? The majority culture seems to someone as an easier way of dealing with this controversy so they try to change culture (surrender). In some cases the integration succeeds but in other this controversy drives you to learn about your own culture. The knowledge hunger is so great that you are going inside yourself and your family to get answers. You want to know about the writers, the painters, the artists of your own culture who has succeeded in bringing out the main thinking and problems you face. The family and the circle around are very important (Supplementary, interior). 3 STEP You begin to respect your own culture and are curious of all subjects that are included in the cultural meaning. There is at he same time a need of telling people who belong in the majority, about the importance of cultural bounds and aspects that are important, especially in this culture. (Supplement, exterior) 4 STEP Respect for other cultures increase. Tolerance and solidarity are expressions that need to be more defined. Some cultures and behaviours are not understandable and you don’t have to accept all. There is a limit for everybody in trying to understand. The limit is known and this understanding can be the top of the iceberg that you recognise. (Complementarity)
Figure 2
The following part is a reflection from Cathy about steps that the majority in a country to change attitudes towards the minorities and perhaps migrants. "For 23 years I have belonged to the majority in Belgium, but it is a new thing for me to conscious about it. I didn’t see myself as a majority and the others like a minority. In the past I never have had real contact with this kind of people when I was working with projects, apprenticeship and so on. Through these subjects Inger has shown me her feelings in a scheme, as someone belonging to a minority, namely Swedish. Because of this I started to think about who I am and where do I stand or belong in the society. Inger as a minority has given me the motivation to open myself to others and then I have closed myself again to think about it and to analyse it. By this incident my attitudes towards the minority has become more comprehensible. So far the position of the majority should be made sensitive and to become conscious about the presence and feelings of the minorities because most of the time the majority just doesn’t know and understand the problems of the minority. The majority doesn’t have to reflect on this matter because they are not in a need of change from their point of view. Life goes on for them or us." 1 STEP The life goes on as usual until something strange happens that catches the eye and you start to analyse. (Sounding board) 2 STEP Reflecting and deeper thinking emerges and you close yourself. (Counter-image) 3 STEP The mind is again opening and you are analysing the situation. Possibilities to be more sensitive in this matter in the future and you want to know more. (Supplementary) 4 STEP There is an attitude change for people belonging to majority and to migrants (Complementarity)
3.5. The role of Adult Education in a multicultural society 3.5.1. One example of a training program in a multicultural society The following example is a idealistic way of forming a training program but because of our need of constructing a concrete situation this part could be evaluated after and perhaps completed. The multicultural training program is designed for high-educated people from Russia who want to live in Germany because of their German roots in the past. The centre where the training program is supposed to occur is called " Further Education Centre TREPTOW ". The migrants have master-degrees in subjects like music and economy in Russia. First some questions is to be answered: On which level will this training be? What is the goal for this training and is there a job for them in the future? It is not appropriate to train people for a job that doesn’t exist! These high-educated migrants cannot be put in jobs for example to sell tickets! 1) Because of these people’s high education the training programs can begin with intensive courses in German systems in many fields: German history, economy system, social system, new technologies and the German language. The main points are what is globally the benefit for them and goes together with their goals. In this part the mix of different levels of education is not a goal. The training is to be started from what the migrants know about Germany. 2) Networking and search for available opportunities that perhaps exists and which are in the direction to the migrants own goals. 3) For example these people could be orientated to work with Germans in the Third world. It is easy to discuss for others who are not living in this situation of migrants. The majority will have a future with many opportunities and the migrants are not making a concurrence because they are seen as a lower class. This may be the form of discrimination called " racism ". When these practical problems are solved by social workers together with educators (or trainers) the goals can be achieved. The field-visit to Paillade was an interesting way of giving one solution of these problems that educator and trainers are at this very moment working on in France! Referring to the field-visit at "Institute Formation Animation Development" it might be better to start in small things but in many fields of economical, social and educational systems. The global idea is to build up the situations for each person in all of these three fields at the same time. The social worker can get councils from the educator and vice versa in the organisation. Different steps of education are to be distinguished and the individual training program goals start by learning basic roles for instance by working in restaurants and of course learning the language.
3.6. Life is opening and closing the border Germany has been in an evolution of the time after the break of the walls of Berlin. Anke has written her experience of this time in her country. "My example of opening and closing the border refers to the time after the foaling of the wall between East- and West- Germany. This event was a absolute change in my life. Not only my own identity, but also nearly all levels of identity like lifestyle, ethnic group, nation and culture was affected. After a while I changed my life completely. I began my second education way, moved house from a little village in a big town and arranged my private life total new. But also my family and friends were suddenly split up in Germany. Many of them changed their jobs, costumes and got new hobbies. A new environment was developed around me. But not only my own life was changing through the suddenly open border. All around was in movement and nothing was as before. For many people who were deep anchored in the old social and cultural life in East- Germany the break was very hard. Often they loos their old jobs where they have worked sometimes 20 or more years. All was so simple and regulated by the state before and now everybody would responsible for all this things alone. The belief in politic organisations general got lost too through many uncovered scandals. It shows if one level of identity is changed it could be, that other get into movement. The levels of identity are not fixed and unchangeable. They can be variable the whole life."
What can we do with the theory related to AE in the multicultural society and how can we link this theory with our practical task as an adult educator? There will be always different kinds of respect and tolerance but we have to accept it. In one way you have to be open but there is also a limit for yourself. We think there has to be a international minimum of accepting people and human rights. In AE the multiculturalism with levels of identity, the identity process and the modes of experiencing strangeness are of great importance when you are in contact with people of different ages, countries and opportunities. Here are also links to the awareness of the political situations and the different ideologies concerning morality and ethics. The adult educator has to be sensitive to differences and to build up mutual understanding in some degree. Education is also a dialogue between two individuals and it can succeed only with a try to understand the other person and the situation (context) behind. Some cultures are strongly connected to their religion. Their rituals are hard to be accepted in a new country, because of the limits of what is acceptable. For instance how women and small girls are treated in some cultures are not understandable for countries with equality between men and women. Also there is a question of how much one religion can be learned in schools with another religion. How much is acceptable? There has been a very interesting discussion between the group members and we have tried to focus on some theme that for us has been important in our experience.
Chapter 3: COMMUNITY EDUCATION Prof. T.Janssen
Our western societies tend everyday to go more towards the individualist philosophy. That means that the individuals are more important than the community. This process is going contradictorily next to the globalisation process of the culture provoked by the New Technologies effects and the international organisms. In this situation, however, the need of the people is evident to belong to a community for the development of their identity. On one hand this globalisation process makes people feel that they have a lot of common aspects with others in faraway countries. On the other hand the individualism creates feelings of insecurity. Both evolutions results in a situation were people don't know their own bases and differences between other cultures. This means that people don't have a strong identity to deal with others without problems. There is an evident example in Europe. We are trying to make a big community namely the European Union. On the other hand there are a lot of nationalistic political parties who defend the culture of the regional communities. For example in Spain there are a lot of nationalists parties (in each autonomic community) defending their cultural characteristics that are different from the rest of the country, although they (some) agree with the European Unification. This is a process that is also happening in other countries in Europe. Another very extreme example is the war in Kosovo. The bases of this war are not a religious one, so they say, but a nationalistic one. The Serbian’s want Kosovo back because, in the 10 until the 15-century, Kosovo was the spiritual and cultural hart of Serbia (La Croix, 12 April 1999, p.6). If we want to make a strong identity, we must also take into account the community level. This is very important to deal with other cultures, but also to make the population strong in front of the government. Otherwise the real Democracy doesn't exist. The individualism and mass media are dragging people into the anonymity. The only action that citizen are doing in this kind of a situation (and not always) is voting. But it isn't a real social participation. We can link this situation to the risk society (footnote: 4) where the institutions that are created to make people participate in social and political affairs, are doing totally the contrary. That's why a strong and active Civil Society (footnote: 5) is important. To reach this goal a community feeling and development is needed.
Questions: For writing this paper we had following questions in mind : 1° Why are communities important if we relate it to the theory of chapter 2 2° Is individualism a reality? 3° What are the steps we have to follow to set up an activity centre in the case of River Side District? In what follows we will first reflect on the relation between the individual and the community. In the following part we will start with an example and link this with the theory we have seen.
II. INDIVIDUALS IN A COMMUNITY We will start with a theoretical reflection on the identification process to explain the link between the individual and a community.
As a person we have to develop our own identity, our 'I' (cf. the theory of chapter 2). To do that we need others. The contact point between 'I' and the 'others' is 'Me'. And I will incorporate the way others see me. In addition to the others where Schäffer refers to, namely all the different levels such as Culture, environment, social group, family and so one, Maffesoli introduced us a new concept namely that of 'Neo-tribalism'. He refers to the feeling of living in a tribe. If you live in a tribe (read also community) you have the feeling of belonging somewhere. This tribe or community gives a meaning and sense to your life. If we now adapt this concept to our identification process we see that 'the others' can be divided in two concepts namely a 'we' and a 'them' (concept introduced by Norbert Elias). The 'we' refers to whom we can identify ourselves with and the 'them' refers to whom we can not identify ourselves with. Both kinds of identification are necessary to develop the 'I' aspect of the person. To make this abstract thinking a bit more concrete we made a scheme that visualises it: Figure 3
For example people can identify themselves with a (social) movement because of the same moral, political and in time maybe also an emotional connection. Or they can identify themselves with a certain neighbourhood which refers to a same consciousness of space namely all of us are living in the same neighbourhood. In a more general way we can identify ourselves with different communities. In this paper now we will concentrate us on the community level. Inherent to this level is also the element of group and culture. This scheme shows us that community has everything to do with identification. There can be certain mutual contact points, which enrich the individual identity. This insight is really important for the adult educator, he has not only to work on the individual level but also on the community level. In what follows we will further explain this.
It is important to notice that the definition of individualism can be different in another country. Here could be remarked also that individualism is a popular word used in mass media. Therefor we will explain our own points of view, which are very personal and subjective.
2.2.1. The individualism (footnote: 6) in the different countries (our point of view) Individualism in Germany Like the development in other European countries the individualism increases more and more, also in Germany. Especially in the rural area existed former more connection between the population. Nowadays you can observe wide spread individualism. The reason for it could be that many well-off city dwellers move out in the rural area, because they want enjoy the advantages of it. The rural population is mixed with the population in the town that could lead to separation and "splitting up". In Germany don't exist real neighbourhood centres. There are more spread community adult education centre, church organisations and associations that work more orientated in target groups. There is also a different between East- and West Germany. The people from East- Germany 10 years ago were forced to be organised in company collectives and in other kind of organisations. After the unification I think there was a Need for the East- German people to be free without any kinds of bonds in associations. In the university we can also observe a trend to a individualistic development. There is a feeling of competition or fighting between the students. It is perhaps because the demands of different skills increase and it will become harder and harder to find a job.
Individualism in Belgium At this moment most of the individualism is located also in the cities. Often people don't even know their neighbours. On the countryside we can still see some typical village mentality, where everybody knows everybody. But because the big cities are getting to crowded people flee to the more quiet places in Belgium. With this movement they bring also the individualism to the countryside. Another sign of individualism is that people haven’t a long and only membership anymore related to certain kind of organisation. People can chose for themselves in which kind of an organisation they engage themselves in and for how long. We see also the same tendency at the university like in Germany. In one way we are all follow-students but when it is exams people are closing up and some feeling of competition increase.
Individualism in Spain The process of individualism is also developing in Spain, but after having discussed with people of other countries I can see some differences. For instance there are some values that are still strong, like the 'family'. Some people are used to eat alone. In Spain we use to eat with the whole family (if it is possible). The children are nowadays living very long with their parents, more or less until 28, but this is a problem of unemployment, but also a problem of lack of responsibilities. We can recognise this individualism increase for example with the old people. It was normal to be with the children when they were ill and nowadays the parents go to the residences (health centres). It could be because of the weather that we have a lot of live on the street. The groups, associations’ etc. are very important. But we see a big difference between the life on the countryside and in the cities. In the cities we also see a higher anonymity and individualistic lifestyle.
Individualism in Finland The individualism has grown in Finland at the same time as the welfare state. To achieve this state with the history in the background (political, foundation etc.) and all community work, that has been done before, the market and competition have been important to remain as an independent country with one big, whole part of the world just outside our east front door. In the history the fear of extreme left has been influencing the society that tendencies appear to balance on the other side (neo-liberalism). The social-democratic discourse is deeply grounded but perhaps there are nowadays elements to practice it in a neo-liberal way. The competition between individuals has increased in an egoistic way. The competition could be positive when altruism is connected to it. In Finland some tendencies of individualism connected to egoism, are seen as a kind of materialistic view. This direction can result in not respecting another, especially people who have not succeed and age could be the final to exclude another person. Therefore in Finland there is a need of respect for older people, perhaps your parents and grandparents, who have build up this welfare state.
2.2.2. The reason of an increased individualism Individualism is created not by individual person but by the state. Because of some major changes in the past like the growing economies, the globalisation, new technologies depolarisation et cetera. Dominique Wolton (La Croix, 19 March 1999, p.1-5), a French sociologist, says that the new technologies creates "des êtres solitudes interactives". Because Internet valorise the individual freedom and research and by that Internet reinforce the individual dimension in the communication.
2.2.3. The consequences of individualism People become more independent and responsible in what they are doing. But people who have troubles in organising their lives don't know what to study or because of the circumstances there are no possibilities to study. Without a diploma it is hard to find a job, if there even is a job. The unemployed are feeling ashamed and guilty (Lagrou, 1997,p.45) and feel the unemployment as a personal failure. People in this kind of situation normally don't protest. Maybe that is why we haven't seen any protest in our countries of the unemployed people although they have a right to do that. Everybody nowadays is so busy in organising their own life that they don't see the others anymore. Because of this, there has become a split between the individual and the collective. Although the individuals are getting more attention, we can not underestimate the feeling concerning the collective. Examples of were this collective feeling suddenly arouses are for example with the death of Diana. In this case we can even speak of an arousing of a world connecting feeling mostly because of the tragic accident and the publicity. Another more nation-bounded example is the big protest in Finland when two policemen where shut by a Danish. Another example is the White Mars in Belgium as a reaction on the Dutroux affair. In daily life people are maybe not so nation-bounded or religion bounded but everybody of them still angers to belong somewhere as a part of something. The old collectives maybe have lost theirs strength but smaller and new ones have taken their place. A feeling of competition has been created. Only the best can survive in this created technological and intellectual society. It has become a 'survival of the fittest' like Darwin would say. Another consequence is that people start to envy each other. They want to have what the other has. A feeling that is link to this situation is jealousy. But in a reflexive way of thinking, people must become aware that this high development of the first world (Western Society) has reached that level because of the poor development of other regions (third world or regional poor people). But the disadvantaged people don't have to envy them. It could be better to look at those who are in a similar situation and to build up a community and try to create in that way a more equal society instead of trying to be as someone who has a different situation. But also the rich countries must realise what they have and what they don't need. They also have to take into account the consequences of their actions.
2.2.4. Individualism a bad evolution? In what we have just mentioned it seems that individualism has not done much good. The individualism that develops without complexity and the identity-process is in one hand bad, because the egoism that grows at the same time. But we think that there is also a good side to this evolution. Namely the individualism creates the possibility to develop yourself as a person and create your own biography. The freedom and the lost of guiding makes it possible to choose the easiest way. People have more flexibility to do things, they have more freedom to choose the way to go. But freedom is a concept that is relative. If you have been in "prison" you now the feeling of being a "free person". But freedom, without morality and a sensitivity of common rules, creates an uncertain individual without any limits. (Cf. module 5) On the other hand in the context of the history of the country, a person can be free to take up his responsibilities, be active and motivated (creative) to learn more about several fields in a global meaning. People are more motivated in what they are doing because they are responsible for what they are doing. Here we can refer to the supplementary level of experiencing the strangeness and the fear of all new. Individualism is here developing openness towards the process of the complementarity. The knowledge of knowing what your limits are in this situation and that you can take "this" much responsibility and not more is also a process on the complementarity level. The age and time to reflect are here also important, because you cannot learn everything at the same time. There has to be a learning process with reflection (Mezirow, 1995) and that takes time. Also nowadays there is a need of being aware of the media and the power of media in an "educational meaning". Media has a great influence, for instance, on young people on the way to behave, to act and to express themselves. Young people without any experience are easy to "manipulate" in some certain direction. Therefore as a young adult educator it is very important to BE AWARE OF THE LIMITS AND CAPACITY in the context of experience. It is not easy for a young educator to convince someone that is more old with experience. In this meaning the mixture of age in learning processes could be fruitful for adults. The demographic evolution in Europe shows in the future that old educated people will increase and it is an important recourse for the environment to take into account.
III. COMMUNITY VERSUS ADULT EDUCATION We can see an obvious link between community and education. But in some countries the link with adult education is not so obvious because the curriculum of our studies differentiates. In Belgium we have a very broad view on adult education. Our study is mainly Social Democratic centred but we have also learned to take into account the economical side. In Finland, Spain and Germany the field of community education versus adult education is separated in different kind of study.
We're going to base ourselves on one of the solutions that came out of the political debate concerning River Side District namely "the construction of an activity centre".
Why As we have already mentioned in our identification process it is very important for the individual to have contact with other people. People eager to be involved in something. A way of feeling involved is to participate in the society/community. People can participate in a cultural, political and/or economical way. Forming jour identity has everything to do with learning. The individual can learn through participating, which means trough dialogue, about himself, the others, the history of the community, the language, the social practices,... So by participation the individual develops his cultural identity and social commitment and his authentic self (Jansen, van der Veen,1995) Connected with this theory we have chosen to set up an "activity centre" (external resource) as a first priority because it gives people the opportunity to participate (Learning by doing) in social life. They get in contact with other people and they learn how to organise your own actions or activities. And we think that out of all this activities there will arouse some spontaneous networks for example between generations. In this activity centre we can work on the individual and collective level. On one hand increasing the capacity of the people for example low educated or unemployed people and on the other hand we can construct some structures to influence the political level.
Method Those objectives that we have mentioned are connected with the "community" (footnote: 7) development approach" and especially with "Locally development strategy". So we want to work in a bottom-up way.
How To reach our goal we will follow three steps. (1) Observe and diagnose the situation We want to organise a cultural event that involves the whole community. For example the anniversary of Princeton can be an opportunity to bring people together in the preparation and action. We want to use the women's organisation to do a kind of outreaching work because they have contacts with the men and children and they are already active and organised in the community. The function of this action is to get to together and to create a feeling of community. The role of the Adult Educator (AE) in this phase is that he has to observe, to listen to their problems and detecting capacities before going to the second step. (2) Promoting activities and group forming In setting up the activities we as AE have to take into account the collective needs and the individuals needs and interests. We can base ourselves on what we have seen in the first step. Those activities will create some grouping and organisation of people because of the meetings and encounters on a regular basis. Our goal would be increasing the problem solving capacity, or formulating their needs as a group and as a person. We though of a supposed example of an activity that maybe can be organised namely for the youngsters. If in the first step we have seen that there was a group of youngsters who were really handy with graffiti. We could organise in this second step a graffiti contest to decorate the activity centre. So the first contact we have with them is informal. But then we can offer them space and material to become a group and organise their activities by themselves. All of this has to be done in interaction with the people of the region. This was only a fictive example because we don't know the reality. Our role in this second step is to be a "facilitator" because we want that the activity groups learn how to organise themselves and have their own responsibilities. We are just a support to orient them in this learning process. (3) Influencing policymakers Our way of working is a bottom-up strategy so we don't only want to do activities on the bottom but we also have to go up because the decisions that the government takes have to be in conformity with the real community desires, needs, etc. We also need the support of that municipal government to develop those activities. To have that contact we would organise a council to meet each other on a regular basis. In this council there are the representatives of the different activity groups or associations, the AE and the representative of the municipality. In this way we are promoting the Civil Society (see footnote nr.2) (module 3/5) Our role in that case would be the one of the negotiator between both parts.
Our way of working is based on the emancipatorical and partnership model. For the first one the educator is a facilitator and for the second one a co-ordinator. We chose those models because of their strengths although we see also some weaknesses.
Long term: In a more general way we think that the central role of adult education is to make sure that the people have the feeling of belonging somewhere. The way to do that is to make people feel "responsible" for their actions. By this we have to start with short-term activities which have an immediate effect to motivate people to engage themselves in actions with a long-term effect.
Stable collective: The collective must be strongly formed because an unstable collective creates also unstable individuals and visa versa.
Critical thinking: Adult education also has to develop "critical thinking" with the individual because of the raising possibilities that are in the society for example the new technologies, raising mobility of the people...
Shared situations: Adult education can help to brake the glass of "guilt and shame", elements which are related to the individualism. Which is a reality (see the examples of the different countries).
Adult educator: Due to the variable content, which is inherent to each community, the adult educator has first to be aware of this variability and know how to deal with. So the adult educator has to obtain a great flexibility. We can not base on any certainty. We have to take problem by problem, situation by situation. Like we already said as an adult educator you also have to take into account the collective which refers to the individual but also the economical (labour), the cultural, political and intellectual contents. The individualism is another proves that the Neo liberal policy is the main tendency in the society. But there has to be also an accent on the other policy namely the Social Democratic one. Other wise the community life is in danger.
Chapter 4: LABOUR, ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT by Bouwen,R; ,Muzik, J. & Pineda, P.
PART 1: HUMANISTIC STRATEGIES OF CHANGE
Like we have seen in the previous chapter, "individualism" is also a tendency which occurs in the companies or organisations. Namely by organising networks and by giving more responsibilities to the employees. The employees are like a resource for the company, not a cost. This is called empowerment. To create such an atmosphere we need more education on the different levels that exist in the company.
Questions : For this paper we asked ourselves following questions : 1° What is the role of Adult Educators in organisations? 2° How can we, as consultants, organise training in a context of change and this in a humanistic way ?
2.Training as a tool for change In companies, both: profit and non-profit ones, training is often used as a tool in making change or as the answer to change. This can refer to a change in technologies, a change in the job for promotion and a general change in the company. This change can occur before or after the training. So the change can be the cause or the goal! We it is better to act in a proactive way. For example use this way of working to introduce the Euro (cf. slide Pilar p. 6 Organisation, change and training; but you have to look at it the other way around) Figure 4
Besides many positive outcomes or effects of the use of training (cf. point 3.) we also see a danger in using training. Namely training can be used as a way to impoverish some employees. They are forced to take part in the changing process. If they don't follow the training there, is a threat to be fired. We asked ourselves if in this case what will be the result of such a training because we have seen earlier that a first step in the learning process is the presence of a starting motivation (cf. the concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation). An example : In Germany we see that training is used in a way to qualify people and this specially on the low level. If you have a job, you get training to become very specific in what you are doing. But if you lose your job you will have almost no qualifications because what you can do is so narrow and bounded on the old profession. Another thing that is going on in Germany is that they retrain unemployed higher educated people for a lower qualified job for example an engineer gets a training to become a secretary. They don't take into account your previous skills and knowledge. We see the same trends in Finland, Spain and Belgium. Because there is a recruitment of people with high diplomas and the work experiences are not taking into account. If you don't have a diploma, you are advised to follow some continuous training were we, as trainers, want to give them a global view. Most of the time the unemployed people do not see this training in a positive way. Here we come back to the element of the basis motivation to learn.
3. Identify the strategies in changing the culture in a company in humanistic way 3.1. What is the humanistic approach? In most of the time this approach should be defended by the training department (in or outside a company). The objective is to transform training in a focus of personal satisfaction and professional improvement, as well as in a solution for the job's needs. This objective is always put next to the objectives that the company have namely to deal with the rising complexity and to up to date knowledge, skills and attitudes to face change (Pilar, 1999,p.3). 3.2. Case As consultants from the training department we are asked to solve the problems in the company. Problems which can be solved with training. For doing that we have to follow some steps : a) analyse the training needs In all of these steps we do an evaluation. After post-evaluation we transfer the results to the organisation strategic plan. *More in detail : 1. We have to analyse the training needs of the company before we can make a training programme. Because training is still an investment and it's better that it will be effective, a second reason why we analyse the training needs is for the motivation of the people. For this we can look to the problems in the company. But on the other side, we also have to analyse the training needs of the individuals on the other side. We can do this by questionnaires and interviews. We can/should focus ourselves on quality, skills, co-ordination, communication and motivation. 2. In this phase we should clarify the aim’s of the company as well as those of the individuals. We can find the aims of the company in their strategic plan. They will refer in general to the economical part (profit, effectiveness, quality improvement and to be up to date in a way they can compete with other companies) Some general aims that the individuals can have: personal growth, motivation, improving skills, security, health and a good climate. We can find their exact aims out of the needs analyse. 3. In this step we are confronted with our main problem namely how to combine the needs and aims taking into account both parties. We can use some contact strategies for this (we should make a good entry): -show respect for them and build up relationship based on confidence because then they (the managers) will listen to what we have to say -using the same expressions (language or terminology) as the top level of the company. This means we have to learn the economical language, because we want to let the managers see that training leads to benefits on both sides. As a consultant we should act in an intelligent way (cf. figure). Our goal is to leave the situation of impoverishment, steeling the capacities of the individuals for to achieve your own goals of power. On the contrary, the goals for the consultants are to make the change in the organisation in an intelligent way. By acting in this way we also serve the whole society. Figure 5
This is just an example to understand what we mean by "intelligent" way when we are working as a consultant in a company. This intelligence is based in reach the own benefit (company goals) and also the others benefit (workers). This is the way to improve the wellbeing of the global company and society. -motivating the managers in realising the benefits for the company in economical factors: maximising the profit, by using effectiveness in time and quality of the skills and products and being up to date. To be competitive in time of change you have to learn very quickly. So the company needs continuous training. Comment : As an outsider consultant we can criticise more the system because we are asked to do (only) this project. As we saw in the field visit in SANOFI the trainer was working inside the company and therefore without much influence. As an outsider you have a more objective view (footnote: 8). After this first contact phase we can start working on the shared values. This is the "Humanistic way of working". We are now working with the human resource department. *HOW : 1) We start with looking at the strategic plan of the organisation 2) Organisation analyse: -management systems, communication-, information systems etc....(see part 2: Organisation analyse) 3) What is the main approach in the company and their culture on the base of organisation analysis for example adhocracy, entrepreneurial, professional, diversified, machine, ideological or political. We can expect also that our advises will be heard more if we are dealing with an organisation with an open-minded culture. 4) The change we can do is not a drastic one. But we only can start the process of change. We refer here to the expression of the snowball effect. 5) Our training program can only modify the organisation culture but not directly the organisation's strategic plan because in a way our training program is determined by these strategies. 4) Designing the training and motivating the people should be done here in a parallel way. By motivating in this early phase we can reduce the shock effect of the change. Employees become aware and realise the aims of the company which are now related to a broader context namely the society. Some strategies to motivate: - Build up also with them a relationship based on confidence and respect - Encourage and appreciate the employees for example by saying 'Thank You' - Put up feedback systems -The motivation theory of Hertzberg : a two factor theory . On one hand to motivate people by giving them more salaries, career prospective and on the other hand personal growth, development, self-confidence, communication skills,... -Give information about what is going on and what is going to happen but in case of a fusion it is a delicate question Condition: as a consultant we should make sure that the change we introduce doesn't create chaos but introduce a period of stability (see chapter 2 Identification process of Schaffter "Time to open and close the boarder). During this process of planning we should evaluate constantly. Their is an initial, a process, a final and a post evaluation. In this last evaluation we should check if there is a transfer from the training into the workplace. We should ask ourselves "In what range are the aims of the company and those of the individuals reached ?"
As a consultant we concentrate mostly on the combination of the company element and the individual(s) but we can not forget that there is also a third pillar namely the sociological one. Everything we do has an effect on our environment. We should also try to work on this pillar. We can do this by creating a transitional mentality within the company. Transitional mentality means that when a conflict emerge, like in globalisation, it is evident in the future to focus on the needs, which come out of this conflict. By recognising the needs of the local and political market both are forced to move in the same or similar direction (because of the pressure to develop global-scale competitive efficiency). For the company it means, or they should be aware of that fact, that their needs are in the same direction as the needs for the society and the local environment. The goal for the individuals is that they have the same vision as the company. When this is the case their needs are in the same direction as the company! (Bartlett, 1995). "You think globally but you act locally!" Remark: Here again is a great danger of misunderstanding although, with respect of the human aspects in the community, the direction could turn to serve only the economical benefits.
The purpose for the paper was to build up some strategies of entering the company, as a consultant, and make change in directions of human aspects. The evaluation part is important for knowing if the goals have been achieved. The methods to evaluate could be considered more deeply and together with the feedback systems transferred to the strategic plan of the company. Cultural change in a company has to be understood by the managers of the company because they are the engines. Also there is a need for the trainer to be constantly awake in what is happening. The trainer has to be like a sailor. A sailor who works during daytime and nights (in the dark). As consultant you must be aware of the fact that problems can arouse but sometimes you can see them coming (=islands), or not (=you have an accident and you have to repair your boot.) As a consultant you do something in which you can not 100% sure. You cannot see exactly were you are going but the main vision and direction is clear. You just have to follow the different steps by go |
