What's a Current Trend in Adult Education?

Photo from the TRC website

De-colonization of Adult Education in Canada

After googling 'trends in adult education' I was drawn to one of the listings from an organization I had once attended a conference for way back, called CASAE: Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education (CASAE). I downloaded the proceedings from Adult Education in Global Times Conference held at UBC in June 2021, the first global adult education conference in over two decades. I reasoned that there should be some great information in the conference proceedings about latest up-to-the-minute trends in adult education.

I wasn't really prepared to read or summarize the whole 661 page document and 120 presenters, so I honed in on one article of interest called 'Colonial Acts and Critical Voices: Adult Education for the Public Good' by Cindy Hanson from the University of Regina. I highly recommend reading these conference proceedings because there is so much food for thought!
 

According to Hanson (2021), scholarship in adult education that directly challenges colonial values is sparse. This author situated adult education historically in 'the colonial project', as part of church and state sponsored movements and systems, and contends that it remains, albeit in the guise of continuing or lifelong education.

Learning about de-colonization provides me with the opportunity to view it through a 'colonizing lens' that connects gender, religion, race, class and the enjoyment of the spoils of meritocracy: colonialism in other words. The author cites English (2005), who writes of the close connections between adult education’s history and its links to social change and spirituality or 'liberation theology and emancipatory education' and points to epistemic injustice because it makes absent the narratives of women, Indigenous, Black, and other vulnerable populations. Examples include Moses Coady and Father Thompson of the Antigonish Co-operative Movement in Canada, and the global influence of liberation theologist/educator, Paulo Freire.

The author cites Spivak (1994) who contends that the overarching principal of decolonizing education is the interrogation of who speaks for whom (Spivak, 1994), and how knowledge is embedded in colonial systems of power.

The author posits that adult education practices in communities and non-formal learning might actually interrupt hegemonic practices embedded in state politics, institutional hierarchies and pedagogies that go on unchallenged. She then points to contributions to decolonizing practices through community and place-based engagements, which I will focus my next blog on.

"Being an ally is hard and humbling work", says Hanson (2021)"it is not only about place but the relationships within the place" and that adult education rooted in community engaged learning can offer a critical perspective on the colonial gaze.

Given that the overarching principal of decolonizing education is the interrogation of who speaks for whom, I decided to take a look at the Truth and Reconciliation Calls for Action in Education, and find out what First Nations people in Canada have to say in order to be an effective ally.

As an adult educator, the following 'calls to action' should be incorporated into my work moving forward:

1. Aim for full Participation of Indigenous People from the get go. Article 10 speaks to incorporating drafting 'new Aboriginal education legislation' (aka policy that results in programs) with the full participation and informed consent of Aboriginal peoples. To me, this means that what-ever program I end up developing or leading I need to include a decolonizing lens from the get go, and include First Nations / Indigenous / Aborginal peoples from the get go - be it in the planning, design, implementation, funding phases. In other words 'nothing about us with us'.


2. Use culturally appropriate curricula including Aboriginal languages, concepts, ways of learning, teaching etc. Article 10 of the 'Calls to Action for Education' speaks to this concept in order to:

iii. Develop culturally appropriate curricula.
iv. Protect the right to Aboriginal languages, including the teaching of Aboriginal languages as credit courses.
v. Enable parental and community responsibility, control, and accountability, similar to what parents enjoy in public school systems.

3. Remove barriers so that Indigenous learners can participate fully. This could look like providing day-care to attend, open source textbooks, free tuition, subsidies etc. And better yet, instead of removing barriers look for ways to be be pro-active. Article 11 of the 'Calls to Action for Education' speaks to this concept in order to: provide adequate funding to end the backlog of First Nations students seeking a post-secondary education.