Second Chance/Adult Education/Further Education encompasses a number of programmes which include Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS), PLC, Back to Education Initiative (BTEI), Youthreach, Senior Traveller Training Centres, Adult Guidance, Adult Literacy3 and Education Equality Initiative (EEI)4.
Ted Fleming in his journal article on “The State of Adult Education” draws a comparison between the situation Adult Education finds itself in and the States involvement in Adult Education. He also insists that “lifelong learning must be clearly
established as a right” (FLEMING, T, 2004). Adult education is not just about
teaching a subject but is fundamentally an “education that speaks to people’s highest
aspirations; that aims at reaching the full potential of what it is to be an adult and opens the possibility that adults will be able to engage in the most significant kind of learning possible” (FLEMING, T, 2004).
One of the biggest problems facing the entire Adult education sector in Ireland is the involvement of the state and its setting of standards and assessment of standards. Governments and the general public demand to see a return on investment, value for money etc. The main standard that is applied through the education system is results, but more so results in formal examinations, the ABC count. While it is beneficial for learners to achieve grades and results, this form of assessment omits a huge portion of real education i.e. the personal development of the learner and the empowerment of the
3 For more information on the Further Education Sector
http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?pcategory=11397&ecategory=11397&language=EN
learner as a fully developed adult. This cannot be measured with slide rules and graphs. Results from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) International Adult Literacy Survey show “that one in four working age adults had problems with even the simplest of literacy tasks” (NALA, 1997)
Adult education should be about the betterment of the person and the awarding of results. However this is not the case in some further Education courses. Many of the courses are just about the award. Many people who have become unemployed need to be retrained and certified but that is only half of the battle. These learners have undergone one of the most traumatic experiences in their life, that of losing a job, many of whom have worked in the same job for 20 or more years. (HOLMES, T and Rahe, R, 1967) The recently unemployed learner needs a readjustment period with support to re-evaluate their existence. This cannot be achieved in a short 6 week course where the emphasis is just on the recertification of the learner. One such body offering these types of courses has been FAS5. The Training and Employment Agency(FAS) offers courses on a part-time, full time and evening basis for people wishing to improve their skills. (FAS, 2012)
The results driven bring them in, churn them out approach to education that is delivered by FAS is where recertification is the deciding factor. And we have seen all too well in Ireland the fiasco that is FAS, from huge misspending of finances (INDEPENDENT.IE, 2010(a)) to the tampering with results in FAS centres. (INDEPENDENT.IE, 2010(b)) This is what can happen when results are the yard stick. Yet funding still flows into FAS in vast amounts! Moving towards the future FAS and the VEC Adult Education sector are to be amalgamated into one body “SOLAS”6
with full oversight of all further education need in Ireland. Unfortunately most of the new board of SOLAS are the old board from FAS.
Over the many years of tutoring in the Further education sector in VTOS there has been so many examples of students achieving outside of the award spectrum. The following anecdote illustrates some of the examples:
A few years ago there was a learner who had difficulties writing and as a result was suffering from low self esteem. For years he had holidayed in a certain part of Ireland where there was a light house. Each year his children had asked to visit the lighthouse, but he had always given them some excuse. The real reason was that in order to visit the lighthouse he would have had to write a letter to the organisation overseeing the lighthouses. This he felt he was unable to do. In his first year on VTOS he had taken courses in basic computing, basic maths, English and personal development. Near the end of that year he wrote a letter seeking permission to visit the lighthouse. That summer his children had a huge surprise in store for them when they visited the lighthouse on their holidays. The sense of pride this learner exhibited, when he recounted the joy on his children’s faces after they visited the lighthouse was remarkable. This pride was because he had overcome his fear by writing a simple letter.
This result will never be seen on a league table or results sheet, but he was well on his journey to achieving his full potential.
Another problem with Adult education is the requirement for tutors to be seen as teachers with teacher training by the Teaching Council. The fact that for a long time the only qualification that was acceptable for teaching in further education was a post primary teaching qualification. Thankfully in recent years there has been an acceptance of the simple fact that teaching adults is a different experience to teaching children. There are now courses for training tutors in adult educational philosophies like those offered by NUI Maynooth7, Galway and many other colleges and universities throughout Ireland.