Good Practice in the Education and Training of Older Adults

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Good Practice in the Education and Training of Older Adults
Prof. Keith Percy and Dr. Alexandra Withnall, Lancaster University, Great Britain

Introduction

Although any international compilations of demographic data need to be treated with some caution, particularly in view of the political upheavals in Europe in recent times, it is apparent that one significant feature of today`s industrialised societies is the relatively high proportion of older people in their populations. In addition to these demographic trends, the effects of economic recession resulting in redundancy, unemployment and early retirement, cause us to face the reality of a substantial "postwork" population - although, of course, a population which is by no means homogeneous in its make-up, nor, indeed, stable in its composition. The implications of these related trends are now beginning to impact, perhaps somewhat belatedly, on policy-makers and service-providers in Europe as a whole - for example, the designation of 1993 as the European Year of Older People and Solidarity Between Generations. The notion that a radical re-examination of ageing in its own right is long overdue has also informed the work in the early 1990s of the Carnegie UK Trust`s extensive research inquiry into the "Third Age" - identified for statistical purposes as the age range 50-74 years - carried out in order to establish a firm factual basis on which to set out the policy implication of an ageing population for society as a whole and to launch a public debate on "Third Age" policy issues (Carnegie UK Trust, 1993). The National Institute for Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), which is the national organisation for adult learning in England and Wales, has also recently announced its "Older and Bolder" initiative, designed to increase the numbers of older learners taking part in formally-organised learning activity.

In this paper, we want to make a further contribution to the debate through an examination and analysis of a pertinent issue - what currently constitutes good practice in the education and training of older adults. We begin by examining, firstly, some attempts we have encountered to categorize older people. Secondly, we discuss the concept of education and training in this context. Thirdly, building on the admittedly fragmented knowledge base which has been assembled over the last two decades in the field of educational gerontology, we examine some emerging definitions of what constitutes good practice. Finally, based upon some of our own recent case study research of different types of learning activity in which older people are taking part in the UK, we offer a fresh perspective on good practice and suggest a set of guidelines for its future development.

Who Are These Older Adults?

Chronological age is often favoured as a method of differentiating phases of the life cycle so that statutory retirement age marks the begining of life as an "elderly" person. Nevertheless, Young and Schuller (1991) argue persuasively against the adoption of such a practice on grounds of its restrictive nature and its contribution to structural dependency. A more fashionable approach is to adopt a social life cycle perspective in which the lifespan is viewed as a fourfold division. The First Age is seen as a period of childhood and socialization; the Second Age is that of raising a family and work; the Third Age is that period of active independence in the post-work phase; and the Fourth Age is seen as one of dependence and decline, although, as Midwinter (1993) points out, older people may gravitate between the Third and Fourth Age, according to their circumstances.

We believe, that these divisions of the older population into necessarily artifical categories are inappropriate since, for many individuals, the transitions from one phase to another are not easily recognisable; people enter and leave different stages of the life cycle at different ages. Neither should extreme old age necessarily be equated with inevitable decline and decrepitude. In addition, such divisions perpetuate the kind of structural ageism and age stereotyping which those who work with older people - and doubtless, older people themselves - would be anxious to dispel. In dicussing older adults in this context, then, we refer to people, whatever their chronological age, who are post-work in the sense that they are no longer primarily involved in earning a living or with major responsibilities for raising a family. This does not, of course, preclude the fact that such people may be seeking some kind of paid employment and/or be involved in a caring role in some capacity. Nor does it preclude the view that the notion of "work" is a dynamic one in our current society and that, therefore, analyses of who is and who is not "post-work" are subject to redefinition.

Education, Training and Older Adults

It follows that we need also some parameters for the concepts of education and training in this context. We are aware that older people may take part in a whole range of activities which offer opportunities for acquiring new knowledge, practising new skills, or re-evaluating attitudes and ideas. Some of these may be recognized as belonging under the general umbrella of formal adult education provision and are for all adults; other activities do not necessarily have "education" as their prime focus, yet may provide learning opportunities and specific training in a range of skills. It must also be recognised that learning can take place in a variety of everyday contexts. Marsick and Watkins (1992) for example, discuss the consept of informal and incidental learning which is learning from experience and which takes place outside formally structured, institutionally-sponsored, classroom-based activites.

Attempts to classify approaches to adult learning are substantial and these issues obviously merit further debate and discussion. However, in examining the concepts of good practice in relation to education and training for older people, we concentrate on examples of organised activity where the main focus is specifically older people`s learning but not necessarily under the banner of formally-organised educational provision.

Some Concepts of Good Practice

Much of the evidence about older people`s learning activity rests on descriptive or anecdotal accounts of practice or is derived from small-scale research projects, although some contrasting and competing frameworks within practice might be located are beginning to emerge (eg Glendenning and Battersby, 1990; Percy, 1990; Battersby, 1993). Building on the knowledge base which has been assembled over the last two decades, it is becoming possible for a number of those whose interests lie within the field of educational gerontology, broadly conceived, to be able to give some sort of meaning to the term "good practice" in relation to the education and training of older adults. For example, within the UK there have been various attempts over the last decade to stress the need for and to formulate policy statements for the expansion of older people`s educational activity (e.g. Unit for the Development of Continuing Education, 1988; Harrison, 1988; Schuller and Bostyn, 1992). However, as Glendenning and Battersby (1990) have pointed out, education for older adults, in today`s political climate, has little more than slogan status. It is simply not on the political agenda in the UK. This comment illustrates succinctly the difficulties of translating well-intentioned policy recommendations into practice when the climate is unreceptive.

Emerging from the literature of educational gerontology, we may also discern a recurring emphasis on the desirability of choice in the provision of learning opportunities for older people. This necessarily implies adequate knowledge of what is on offer and thus the availability of information and guidance services - indeed, these facilities are required for adult learners of many age. Emphasis on choice and flexibility is also apparent in discussion concerning the provision of learning opportunities for older adults and the organisation of provision. Institutions need to be "more welcoming, accessible, aware, encouraging, supportive, responsive, willing to take risks and flexible" (Schuller and Boostyn, 1992). Much the same message comes from Mc Givney (1990); and there are various suggestions for ways in which local needs could be researched, consultation with users developed and the skills, knowledge and experience of older people harnessed in order to improve provision.

Allied to discussions of provision is emphasis on the creation of an accessible and appropriate learning environment. This refers not just to the physical surroundings in which learning takes place, but also to the psychological or emotional conditions and the socio-cultural influences affecting the growth and development of an adult embarking upon a learning enterprise (Hiemstra, 1991, 1992). Good instructional approaches, it is said, need to take into account possible student health-related limitations and overall health status, to personalise teaching methods and to consider carefully the pace of learning. The development of new technologies is thought to have considerable implications for older people`s learning activity, especially computer-aided learning. Thus, an important aspect of the provision of education and training opportunities for older people is the kind of staff development. available to those who work with them in varying capacities. It is suggested that any staff training should encourage the view that professionals are enable and providers of resources to assist older people to support themselves. Good practice should seek to enable older people to take responsibility for their own activities where possible (eg Age Concern England et al, 1992).

Finally, Schuller and Bostyn (1992) observe that it would be a step forward in defining good practice if all those who provide education/training for older learners would stop to examine the effectiveness of what they offer using a range of methods, especially those which involve older students themselves. Whilst the kind of indicators of effectiveness they prescribe - perceived student outcomes, enrolement/productivity figures, qualifications gained, forms of progression, for example - might be appropriate in a formal educational or workplace setting, different criteria would need to be developed in order to draw conclusions about the outcomes of informal provision and learning activity and to analyse the kinds of benefits which older people might feel have accrued even if it were possible to recognize and articulate them to any degree. However, Schuller and Bostyn are right to note calls for an increase in the amount of research on learning in later life and the sharing and dissemination of research findings. They suggest the use of a range of research methods which would help to provide reliable data on how older people learn.

The Lancaster Research

In examining the kinds of issues which have been addressed, we would argue that they are largely based on the premise that responsibility for developing good practice resides solely with those charged with marking provision in the formal education sector. This seems to be the case even where stress is laid on the desirability of involving older people in contributing their experience to the design of programmes and in the valuing of such experience in the teaching/learning situation. Whilst we could with these practical approaches, we have tired to develop a different perspective on good practice, based both on the literature and on our own recent examination of some of the kinds of learning opportunities in which older people are involved, at least in some parts of the United Kingdom, regardless of their chronological age, financial resources or state of helath. These were explored through a series of seven case studies of very diverse activities ranging from training provision made by a large commercial organisation which had chosen to employ older people as a labour market strategy to a very small but innovative community education scheme involving only a few housebound older people learning on a one-to-one basis. We located examples within the various case studies of customer relations training, self-regulating study groups on local history, one-to-one teaching of practical skills, training in skills of negotiation with officialdom, group reflection on spiritual matters and learning the skills of intergenerational communication (Withnall and Percy, 1994).

It was particularly apparent that in none of the case studies were older adults passive recipients. In all of them, even when there was a providing agency, there were older adults who did not conform to negative stereotypes of older age, but who sought to help themselves and others. They went out to seek paid work, to join organisations, to learn, to teach, to help housebound learners, to find out how to exercise political will, to run their own groups and to inform those younger than themselves. Contrary to conventional stereotype, it could be said that these case studies suggest that, for some people, older age does seem to generate an aspiration, if not a determination to exercise control or at least to reject what they do not want. The case studies also revealed that older adults’ experiences - the knowledge, skills, attitudes, memories and commonsense that come from a longer life - form the backdrop, if not the backbone of apparently successful learning situations in which older adults participate. Indeed, our evidence suggests that experience, brought to learning, appears to have a multi-layered negotiability - it can, for example, be fitted together and built into a meaningful whole, used to help others, improve effectiveness in social and political action, an so forth.

These somewhat cursory remarks upon the case studies may serve to show how guarded we need to be in seeking to draw general conclusions on the education and training of older adults. Older adults are heterogeneous, they do not necessarily have many common characteristics which differ from those of the generation which precedes it; remnants of each generation co-exist and intermingle in society as each generation grows older. Education and training are not simply circumscribed entities involving educators and trainers on the one hand and learners on the other. Particularly with older adults, it seems, teaching and learning may be interchangeable activities and the boundaries between life and learning, between education and experience and between socialising and study may be fluid and changing. And what, then, of good practice? Defined by whom for whom according to whose criteria?

A New Approach to Good Practice

In seeking to address these questions, we argue firstly that, if older people`s learning activity is to be seen in a wider context, we have to consider all older adults and their learning potential, not just who wish or are able to attend specified classes or courses. For this reason, it is important to consider the ethical basis on which consideration of good practice might rest. This is something more than just a call for educational "rights" advocated from a quasi-political stance where reasoning is grounded in concepts of equality and justice derived from notions of the relative deprivation and structured dependency of cohorts of people in later life. Rather, it eschews notions of equal opportunities in the commonly accepted sense of the "same" opportunities for all in favour of a focus on the importance of human dignity, on the fulfilment of individual potential and the promotion of fair treatment for everyone. Expressed in these terms, we can appreciate that notions of good practice must begin by encompassing all older people and acknowledging them as valued members of society and as potential learners whatever their personal circumstances and inclinations. Secondly, we believe that the education and training of older adults should be located within a framework of lifelong learning. We believe that the overall aims of the educational process are the same for all adult groups whatever their age. The problems may be different; the methods may be different; the methods may have different emphases. However, this conclusion does not at all remove the raison d'être of those who claim to be educational gerontologists. There is a particular threat confronting older adult learners. That threat is the stereotyping in society of older adults as passive, non-productive, unmotivated, intellectually declining, non-educable, and generally not worth educational investment. Our society in the past has valued older adults more; other societies elsewhere currently value older adults more. Yet now older adults live longer, enjoy improved health, increasingly have had more education and - at least some of them - are financially better off. The paradox is that many older adults internalize the external stereotypes about themselves which society provides; they take on the values and meanings provided which thus become reality. The crisis out of which older adults need to learn their way, in order to achieve the aims of lifelong learning, is one for which many of them have inadequate preparation and which they will scarcely perceive. The threat with which educational gerontologists must deal lies within older adults as well as around them - negative stereoptypes of the educability of older adults. These threats, we believe, can be confronted both in the nature of educational provision and in the teaching and learning processes in which older adults are involved. For with threats, also come opportunities. The findings of our case studies seem to show the importance of self help and mutual support among older learners and the many layers of meaning which can be peeled away from claims that the special characteristic of teaching and learning among older adults is the experience which the learners carry with them. We believe that recognition of these factors is important in addressing issues of the development of opportunities - and these may be in the inter-related spheres of formal, non-formal, informal and self-directed learning - and in discussion of pedagogical stances.

In drawing upon the literature of educational gerontology and the illustrative case studies, we have departed from conventional wisdom regarding the education and training of older people by attempting to locate our arguments within an alternative discourse. Concerning future developments in the field, we contend that responsibility for good practice must reside not just with those charged with making provision in the formal education sector. The task for all those who are concerned with different aspects of education and training in later life - and this must include older people themselves - is to be more receptive to new approaches and to consider less restrictive ways of thinking the role of learning in the lives of those who are post-work. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly important to take into account changes in the interrelationship of work and other areas of life and to develop new propositions about the nature of the ageing process in relation to these changes. It may be that we need a more sophisticated research agenda in order to re-formulate some of our long-held assumptions about later life and to address those issues where our knowledge base is still inadequate.

Bearing these limitations in mind, we attempt here to offer a fresh perspective on the education and training of older adults to all those whose interests lie within the field of educational gerontology whether as practitioners, researchers or older learners and teachers themselves. Accordingly, we suggest the following guidelines to the future development of good practice:

The education and training of those who are post-work should be considered within the framework of lifelong learning.
It is crucial to recognize the diversity of the post-work population and to respect and value their individuality.
All older people, whatever their individual circumstances should be regarded as having the potential to continue learning.
Learning in later life can take place in a variety of contexts; learning opportunities do not have to be restricted to the formal of education.
It is important to avoid making assumptions about the potential and motivation of older people to become learners at any age and thus to avoid labelling provision in certain restrictive ways.
It is the responsibility of professional educators - and of older people themselves - to contribute to the challenging of traditional stereotypes of later life.
The visibility of older adults in a range of education and training contexts should be stressed and encouraged.
Education and training which includes older learners in whatever setting should be organized to draw upon the energy and creativity of older adults and their potential both for mutual support and for independence.
Pedagogical approaches should make use of the life experience of older adults. Ways should be sought to identify, acknowledge, value use, share and build on this experience for the benefit of both individuals and groups of older learners.
It should be acknowledged that education, training and learning take place against the background of rapidly changing socio-economic and political world scenario where methods of communication are developing rapidly. It is therefore vital to be receptive to new ideas, to be prepared to take on new challenges and to recognise the changing role that older people are coming to play in society.

Conclusion

In this paper, we have attempted to address some of the issues which we believe are those with which educational gerontology needs to grapple as we approach the millennium and beyond. Predicted demographic changes, coupled with the kinds of developments suggested above and the different life experiences of future cohorts of adults as they reach later life mean that education, training and learning may come to take on different functions and meanings during the next century in ways which we can scarcely perceive at present. The task is to stimulate continuing debate and discussion in the interest of us all.

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