Working Groups • Understanding and integrating adult learning principles into learning settings and Professionalization of the field

• Understanding and integrating adult learning principles into learning settings and Professionalization of the field

Summary

Part A:

COABE: Celebrating 25 Years of Adult Education Leadership in America

The Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) is a leader in Adult and Continuing Education in the US and is driven by its mission to “Inspire Educators so Adults Succeed and Communities Thirve.” Serving over 79,000 adult educators across the United States, COABE equips and aids adult education practitioners to help serve their learners effectively through professional learning opportunities, including webinars, a national conference, a national journal, and providing support for state and local adult education organizations. COABE has also served as a unifying voice for adult education through its advocacy initiatives that have equipped and empowered adult educators and learners to meet with decision-makers at the local, state, and federal levels to support funding and legislative initiatives to benefit adult learners and the programs that serve them.

The proposed session will feature a panel of COABE leaders who will discuss the organization’s efforts and role in advancing the development of adult educators and their programs in the following areas:

• Understanding and integrating adult learning principles into learning settings,
• Professionalization of the field,
• Integration and effectively using digital technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, to support adult learning and
• Effectively working with adults considering their prior learning, particularly in specialized settings such as English language learning and corrections. 

Part B:

Building Professionalism and Learner Success in Adult Learning and Education   

Professionalism in adult learning and education (ALE) is an ongoing concern and has primarily focused on the professional development of adult educators, particularly on the skills and competencies they need to work in this field. The increasing dynamics of change of demands for new skills and competencies by the labor market and society, especially the recent digital and green transformations, require elevated levels of responsiveness from teachers in updating their competencies. Multiple frameworks have been developed to guide professional development that can be delivered using different formats and sequences, but the frameworks may not differentiate the skills needed to work with the heterogeneous population of adults who access ALE, especially adults seeking to strengthen their basic skills. The online space, including MOOCS and OERs, have significantly broadened access and offer flexible and on-demand opportunities, however with limitations in inefficiencies. To incentivize adult educators to participate in professional development, new forms of recognition are being developed such as certificates and badges. Questions arise as to whether the forms of recognition are a step toward a formal system of credentialing that can lead to upward mobility in ALE or are a personal motivator that is not linked to job progression.  A formal system of credentialing in ALE requires an organizational or bureaucratic infrastructure to administer and provide quality control, which would increase the professionalism of the field of ALE.     

There are challenges to professionalism of ALE, including insufficient funding for the development and delivery of training courses and for the compensation of adult educators to participate in courses and redesign their instruction using the skills and competencies they have acquired. The advent of COVID provided new challenges to adult educators, which has required new professional development on the integration of digital technologies in instructors’ teaching and students’ learning.    

It is often assumed that professionalism will result in a more stable adult educator workforce and higher quality instruction that can enable adults to achieve their learning goals. However, there is limited research on approaches to professionalize the ALE field and the effectiveness of those approaches. This workgroup will explore common interests in the professionalism of ALE and ways to expand the knowledge base about efforts to increase professionalism of ALE and to address barriers to serving the heterogenous learners who access ALE.

The Florence meeting aims to:

1. Identify topics and challenges related to professionalism in adult learning and education on which further research activities on an international scale can be developed
2. Prepare a call for submissions from a magazine/journal and a special issue dedicated to approaches to professionalism in adult learning and education which constitute added value built upon what already exists
3. Explore the possibility of building a transnational path for the training of professionals who operate in adult learning and education contexts, particularly those that support adults in developing their basic skills    

Participants

Preparatory Webinars

Contact Persons

Sharon Bonney sharonmbonney@coabe.org

Judith Alamprese judy_alamprese@abtassoc.com

Zoltán Várkonyi secretary.general@basicskills.eu