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EXTENDED EDUCATION OF ADULTS IN THE CONTEXT OF LIFELONG EDUCATION
L. А. Trigubova
The extended education of adults (hereinafter EEA) is defined in the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Education (Chapter 50 , Article 240) as “a kind of further education, aimed at the professional development of a student, a trainee, and satisfaction of their cognitive needs.” There are twelve educational programs of EEA, which can be arranged by both specialized EEA institutions and by higher educational institutions. In the latter case, the extended education from an organizational standpoint is based on primary higher education, its personnel and scientific potential, and its material and technical base. The inextricable link between higher and further education is explained by the fact that the advanced training institutions and retraining institutions are structural units of the universities, which means that the quality of the extended education is provided by the quality of teachers of a university, in the absence of specially trained andragogy personnel -professionals working with adult audiences. Close and indissoluble unity of higher and further education is logical, as extended education continues out of higher education, at the same time we should note that historically, more attention was paid to the system of higher education than for example, the system of advanced training and retraining of staff, which for a long time were in the position of outsiders. We should note that the period of higher education is 5-7 years, whereas a specialist needs to improve his/her professionalism over the next 30-35 years of his/her activity.
The extended adult education in Minsk State Linguistic University is largely organized by its Institute of Advanced Training and Retraining (hereinafter lATaR), which was founded in 2008. Students are represented by foreign language teachers of higher and secondary specialized educational institutions, teachers of institutions of general secondary education, managers, and specialists mastering the content of various educational advanced training programs in ten foreign languages.
Let us analyze how the essential functions of extended adult education are implemented in the educational context of teaching foreign languages. The function of compensation involves providing relevant information to specialists and the formation of language skills that were not received by them in the process of obtaining higher education. The function of restoration involves the reproduction of knowledge and skills that have been lost or forgotten over the course of professional activities. This is particularly noticeable, when due to a number of reasons (lack of self-education, age-related features of memory, and realization of a limited amount of linguistic knowledge in professional work) some specialists “lose” active knowledge of a foreign language. It is known that practical language skills tend to be lost over the years, in cases of insufficient or irregular use. The function of correction involves correcting and even breaking the stereotypes in the study of a foreign language. Extended education also has the function of distribution of innovative ideas and teaching experience in educational practice, the function of implementation of the advanced social and information technologies of
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teaching, and the function of feedback, which involves identifying and systematizing the needs of professionals in extended education and its content. Thus, by means of implementation of the above functions, the extended education of adults, which is developing on the basis of interweaving of spiritual, economic and other needs of people under the influence of external and internal motives, has a purpose to fulfill a social demand for highly skilled professionals with high level of proficiency in a foreign language and its active use in professional activities.
It should be noted that there is a number of contradictions in the organization of extended language education. Here are some of them, identified on the basis of experience in this area: (1) between the need to approach EEA from the standpoint of future needs of language education, and the approach focused on current, often limited, needs of professionals; (2) between the conditions in which training is carried out, and the conditions in which the knowledge gained will be used; (3) between the needs and expectations of professionals in learning a foreign language, and the real effectiveness of educational programs; (4) between the rapidly aging regulatory framework and the need for changes to reflect and anticipate the existing conditions of organization of the educational process; (5) between the need for organization of broad theoretical developments on the issue of extended education, and its actual elaboration; between the need to consider the psychological and pedagogical features of working with adults, and the often traditional influence upon them by analogy with the students; (6) between the need for specialists knowing the technology of adult education and lack of special training of andragogy teachers; (7) between the complexity of work with adult audiences, and the lack of public recognition of such work.
Organizers of extended education of adults in the Minsk State Linguistic University are in constant search for new forms and content of educational programs to meet the educational needs of professionals in various fields in a changing socio- economic and educational situation in the country. They develop and test the innovative in terms of content and flexibility of form of educational programs, which more and more take into account the requests of professionals, their sponsoring organizations, and society as a whole, which give consumers a wide selection to fit their specific profile, professional experience, and degree of knowledge of a foreign language, and which can really positively affect the future professional activities of specialists. There are positive changes in the attitude towards extended adult education on behalf of faculties, departments and other departments of the University. It is starting to be seen as one of the priority areas of education, in relation to which the originally received higher education is understood as its basic condition and prerequisite. In connection with the expansion of the scope of activities, leading experts of the University are invited to take part in the organization of extended education, authors of curricula, educational standards, and national educational systems. Cooperation with the departments of the university is becoming closer, because along with participation in the implementation of IATaR educational programs for teachers in the country and specialists of different sectors of the economy, the departments are interested in maintaining the linguistic and methodological qualifications of their teachers, which is also carried out in IATaR of Minsk State Linguistic University.
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Analysis of the relationship, interaction and mutual influence of higher and extended adult education allows us to make the following conclusions: (a) EEA is a more flexible system that responds quickly to user requests; (b) EEA is constantly searching for new forms and content of educational programs, where they are being actively tested; (c) in EEA, special attention is paid to the development of strategies and techniques of autonomy and self-education, the differentiation of education, and development of reflection; (d) educational programs of EEA become a kind of platform, where practitioners master new technologies, and university scientists find customers for the implementation of their scientific developments; (e) EEA actively exercises an external function of the University, making a contribution to the further improvement of its credibility in the country.
We are witnesses to an important global trend - the increasing role of the extended education of adults as a part of lifelong education. The emerging improvements in the assessment of its role in the Republic of Belarus help us to hope for its achievement, by this system of a qualitatively new status. With its own strategy, this type of educational activity becomes a condition and a leading factor in the development of education as a whole, developing the authority of lifelong learning as a guarantee of sustainable development.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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