Definition

Adult education is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and

sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge,
skills, attitudes, or values.[1] It can mean any form of learning adults engage
in beyond traditional schooling, encompassing basic literacy to personal
fulfillment as a lifelong learner.

Adult education programs are generally continuing education programs for

those older than standard high school or college age. Most commonly this
is an adult who would like to earn a GED, become specialized in a
particular technical or business skill in order to advance their career, return
to or begin a degree program, or simply take a class on a topic they are
interested in.
Introduction:-

An adult is a human being who has attained the age of 21 (or say 18) years as specified by law.An adult
is considered to be a developed and mature person Adult education is the practice of teaching and
educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace,through"extension“schools,communities
colleges,folk high schools, and lifelong learning centers.. It has also been referred to as andragogy

Agencies of Social (Adult) education may be categorized as under:

(a) Teachers, Government servants, NSS and other volunteers, social education workers etc.

(b) Regular educational institutions like schools, colleges, rural colleges, community centres, agriculture
extension groups, worker's educational associations and voluntary organizations.

(c) Informal educational devices like forums, study circles, group discussions, listening groups, camps.
(d) Recreational, educational bodies like theatres, cinemas, clubs, societies, fairs, melas, nautanki etc.
(e) Institutions whose primary aim is not education, such as religious bodies, the Army, Parents
Associations, Co-operative Societies and other Government Departments.

According to Darkenwald and Merriam (1982),there is a change in time perspective as individuals

mature from one of future application of knowledge to immediate application of knowledge.Thus an
adult is more concerned with problem centred than subject centred learning.

• The central problem in getting adults to learn is motivation. Motivation largely determines the rate of
learning.Desire to learn must be aroused by teachers adopting methods appropriate to the situation.To
learn the adult must find meaning and significance in the subject matter to be learned.
• Lack of literacy need not stand in the way of one’s learning. Age is also not the hindering factor as
many have supposed for tests have shown that throughout life learning ability does not change
significantly and there is no sex difference in learning power.

Scope:

• The scope of Adult education is very comprehensive. Social education covers all those topics that are
not touched by education in general at school. Topics like religion, politics and family planning can now
be discussed with adults who have a mature understanding. Moreover, it aims at giving a new
orientation to the outlook of adults to suit the dynamic world. Then, the growth grooves of each
individual are different from those of others. Social education harmonizes differences in growth and it
also provides an opportunity for growth to those who have not been able to grow properly or
completely earlier.

The Principles of Adult Learning as given by Knowles (1989)

• Learning of adults must be problem centered.

• Learning of adults must be experience centered.

• Learning of adults must be meaningful to the learner.

• The learner must be free to examine the experience.

• The learner must have feedback about progress towards goals.

Modes of adult education

1. Self-Directed Learning:
Knowledge, skills and abilities can be learned through personal research, study, application and
assessment. Self-directed learning has several advantages; there is no cost for formal tuition and learning
is self-paced, providing plenty of flexibility and freedom.

However, there are also some disadvantages including:

• it may take a long time to complete the learning process
• learning may not be systematic and thorough enough
• there is no support, direction available, difficult courses/skills/abilities may simply be abandoned
because of lack of support and direction.
• there is no knowledgeable or objective measure of proficiency. The learning process is a process of
making and correcting mistakes. Without objective assessment and support any errors might be
completely overlooked.
• self-directed learning requires good self-assessment, objectivity and high level of persistence.

2. Online or Distance Education

Nowadays there are a lot of courses available online or through distance education. These courses come
with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Key advantages include schedule flexibility, course
instructor availability and formal evaluation and assessment.
Although these advantages target the issues found in self-directed learning, there are still key
disadvantages:
• although an instructor is available to provide guidance and support, course information is still largely
self-taught.
• formal evaluation might exist but there is a lack of feedback, or an effective error correction process
needed to ensure learning occurs.
• there is a lack of interaction with the instructor, other students/learners and limited opportunities to
make professional connections

3. Instructor-Led Courses
Formal courses and programs offered by educational institutions offer a number of inherent advantages:
• courses are developed in a systematic manner and constantly revised to ensure effectiveness
• learning is guided, assessed and corrected with immediate feedback
• peer-to-peer interaction encourages learning and professional networking
• Learning is more in depth thanks to the availability of immediate, constructive feedback from instructors
and peers.
• With scheduled classes and a course timeframe, new knowledge, skills and abilities can be learned in a
shorter period of time
• Many courses include a practicum or co-op job placement providing students with the opportunity to
apply new skills/abilities to real-world situations and gain work experience.

Adult education important

Adult education is essential to developing new skills or
retraining
The key role of adult education is to allow workers to develop their skills and acquire new ones. In the
wake of the economic crisis, it gives adults a chance to retrain, which is particularly important to people
who will need to work past pension age and need support to train for a new role.

Being able to access further education is particularly important for adults in disadvantaged groups, such
as migrants or women from ethnic minorities.
Adult learners are physically and mentally healthier
Research has proven that taking up studies later in life has a positive effect on health: a study that
focused on the 33 to 42 demographic found a number of benefits to their overall life, including giving up
smoking, decreasing alcohol consumption and exercising more.
Learning throughout life is also responsible for improved mental health, with respondents of a 2004 study
confirming that they felt more self-confident, hopeful and purposeful, and had a overall higher self esteem
after taking up adult education.
Learning later in life makes you more open-minded
Adults who choose to resume their learning later in life have been found to be more open-minded and
accepting of differences, and many studies have shown that more educated people are more trusting and
tolerant.
More educated individuals are also more likely to be active citizens: the European Social Survey
found that every additional year of education makes a person 3% more likely to vote.
 Learning reduces the propensity to re-offend
Adult learning is a fundamental component of prison rehabilitation, and data have shown that it is an
effective way to discourage reoffending. With statistics showing that 52% of male offenders and 72% of
female offenders have no qualifications, education in prisons is more important than ever. Rod Clark,
Chief Executive of the Prisoners’ Education Trust said: "We know that education can stop people from
committing crime, every day we hear from prisoners and ex-prisoners who tell us ‘education transformed
my life’”.

Advantages of Adult education:

It gives an opportunity to the mature ones after school to develop their valuable skills regarding their career
perspective.

It helps to increase the literacy rate of India among the citizens of the age group of 15 to 35.

it helps them to gain confidence in their skill after adult education and make them strong to take the decision with full
potential.

The confidence and aptitude gained with adult education are valuable both in and out of the workplace.

Challenges To implement Adult education

 Each learner has individual needs, and there are also more general factors to consider, like age.
 Having sufficient time for assessment and learning opportunities given the structure of adult education programs
and students’ limited participation
 developing the expertise needed for assessment development, implementation, and maintenance.
 Other common challenges include the difficulty of returning to a classroom setting after spending years in the
workplace. Many adult students also struggle to find the time to pursue education alongside their obligations at
work and at home.

Conclusion
Learning is a continuous process and can get at any age of life. Being in touch with the learning and knowledge all
through the life is very important for everyone to go together with the competitive and ever changing
environment. Adult education can take many forms and cover many different subjects, as well as literacy and
numeracy, many mature aged students study languages, sciences and a range of other important subjects.
 Kulbs learning cycle

The learning cycle is a dynamic process that involves four specific stages:

 Concrete Experience - (a new experience of situation is encountered, or a reinterpretation of existing

experience).
 Reflective Observation (of the new experience. Of particular importance are any inconsistencies between
experience and understanding).
 Abstract Conceptualization (Reflection gives rise to a new idea, or a modification of an existing abstract
concept).
 Active Experimentation (the learner applies them to the world around them to see what results)
