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UNIT 4 CONCEPT OF ADULT EDUCATION IN

organisation. It may therefore be considered as economic resource and in this context, it represents the aggregate skills and attitudes resulting from education plus training that equips the labour force with the capacity to plan, organise and carry out economic activities when, efficiently, allocated. De-Bettignies (1975) defines manpower development as the attempt to improve manpower effectiveness through a planned and deliberate learning process. Manpower development brings a balance between demand and supply of skills needed for production and management.

Adult education is a necessary tool for national development because adult is developed to be useful to both himself and the country at large.

Therefore, the essence of adult education is to train and develop the needed manpower for the nation’s economy. It is necessary to identify the various programmes that adults are involved in, such as full educational programmes, literacy programmes, distant learning programmes, on-the-job training etc. Looking at these various programmes and trainings, one can analyse them as follows- functional literacy programmes and vocational or job oriented programmes and extended educational programmes.

3.2 Functional Literacy and Vocational Programmes

Functional illiteracy is a term used to describe reading and writing skills that are inadequate to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level. It is contrasted with illiteracy in the strict sense, meaning the inability to read or write simple sentences in any language. It can also be defined as incorporates reading materials that relate directly to community development and to teaching applicable or useful life skills. Vocational education prepares trainees for jobs or careers at various levels from a trade to a craft or a position in engineering, accounting, nursing, medicine and other healing arts, architecture, pharmacy, law etc. literacy serves as a link that elevate primitive life of an individual to a modern life. It serves as a key to the realms of skills and also improves the human personality and the attainment of self-realisation (Anyanwu 1980; 76).

In the process of developing the individual and the society at large, functional literacy should be a life-long education that is an education from the cradle to the grave. Adult education should serve as bedrock of literacy and functional literacy programmes. Functional literacy programme should be channelled to develop the receipt and the community to which he belongs, politically, socially and economically.

In summary, Omolewa (1981) sees functional literacy as the eradication of illiteracy, development of manpower and promotion of civic training.

Therefore, in order to meet the much fast dynamism of the society, there

is need for education and this includes adult education in which functional literacy and various vocational training activities serve better and can be developed upon.

3.3 Extension Education as Part of Adult Education and Manpower Development

Cooperative education learning system is a dynamic, non-formal system for developing and implementing programs. The system consists of numerous complementary and interactive components, each contributing to the success of the total system. The individual components are the organisation's mission; situation analysis; target audiences; needs assessment; program objectives; content; learning strategies; and the non-formal learning system, which includes inputs, evaluation and adjustment. An adult education programme designed to reach out to those adult who are not close to the institutions where adult education programmes are being offered, is referred to as an extension education programme (Braimoh 1990). It is a programme designed to bring education to the center where recipients can receive it. It entails community project and help in urban-rural integration.

Most Nigerians reside in the rural areas and there is a need for them to be educated. In order to achieve a balanced social, political and economic development, these set of people need to be included in the development plan particularly the education plan, so as to enable them contribute their own quota to the overall development of the nation. To get this done, the need for the cooperative programme is highly essential for the development of the nation’s manpower. The cooperative programme can be given throughout the nation and this is now taking place through different government ministries, such as the ministry of agriculture, ministry of health, and other adult education agencies. This enables the rural areas to increase in their productivities, for example, farmers are given this programme to improve their skills planting and harvesting through the cooperative workers from the ministry of agriculture who serve as agents in the rural areas.

Apart from this, correspondence education also helps as extended programme. Many adults were able to develop on their own through correspondence colleges because ‘‘they could not enjoy the formal school system and they could also not resign their appointments to go to formal school’’ (Braimoh, 1990). This takes care of one of the aspects of the adult education objectives in the National Policy on Education. This process helps the recipients to improve academically and at the same time keep his job and earn a steady salary because it is a kind of on the job programme. Many higher institutions and universities now have this type of educational programmes. Such institutions include the National

open University of Nigeria, Open and Distance Learning(ODL) programme of the University of Lagos and so on.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

Discuss functional literacy and vocational programmes.

4.0 CONCLUSION

In this unit, you have learnt the concept of adult education in cooperative. This unit also considered functional literacy and vocational programmes. These concepts are essential in the cooperative extension education as part of adult education, manpower development, community development and organisation development.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this unit, you have learnt about the following:

 the concept of adult education in cooperative.

 the functional literacy and vocational programmes.

 cooperative extension education as part of adult education and organisational development.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Abdullai, A. (2002). Motivating Farmers for Action. How a Strategic Multimedia Campaign Can Help. Frankfurt: GTZ, pp.125-126.

Laogu, E. A. (2005). ‘Extension Teaching/Learning Process and Methods’. In, S. F. Adedoyin (Ed.). Agricultural Extension in Nigeria. Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria, pp.202 -203.

MODULE 4

Unit 1 Training and Visit System in Cooperative Education

Unit 2 Concept and Overview of the Use of Extension Methods in Cooperative Education

Unit 3 Cooperative Education Extension Methods

Unit 4 Communication and Information Process in Cooperative

UNIT 1 TRAINING AND VISIT SYSTEM IN