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LIFELONG EDUCATION
AS THE STARTING POINT IN THE MEANING
OF THE LIFE OF A SENIOR CITIZEN
M. Zumarova
"Occupation gives a man the opportunity to live purposefully" [4]. Every profession, every job gives the chance to do something meaningful. Every day, work and occupation put us in new situations that need to be solved. From a certain point of view, these are opportunities for decision making and thus also opportunities to show our own personality. The transition of a man/woman into the senior age group and retirement represents a complicated life phase, accompanied by many biological, psychological, social and spiritual transformations [5].
Specialized, broadly organized education of senior citizens occurred in the 1970s as a new phenomenon of educational practice when the first institutions and programmes for senior education were established. In Toulouse, France, the first University of the Third Age was established; since 1990 Universities of the Third Age have been built in the Czech Republic and their network has been gradually extending across the entire republic. Nobody has any doubts of their necessity; they are based on documents supporting lifelong education [3]. According to this author, education became a symbol of a new, active, purposeful and informed attitude of a senior citizen towards his/her life, which is an attitude, in which education becomes one of the opportunities to get to know and create new areas of interest, activities, contacts, development or at least preserving the quality of life of a senior. In this connection we can talk about three streams of educational activities set in the conditions of our country:
• typical school (university, tutorial-educational);
• popularization of gerontological knowledge focused on healthy ageing (mainly by means of physicians);
• specialized activities orientated towards education in residential facilities for senior citizens.
The importance of lifelong education as the meaning of life is thus reflected by Universities of the Third Age, Academies of the Third Age, Senior Centres, Senior Clubs, etc., where various educational programmes are organized for different groups of participants through which the need of senior citizens for education is fulfilled, as well as the need to have a
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meaning of life in old age within the interpretation of the following motto "Give life a meaning".
Balogova [1] claims that the development of senior education was supported by the factors listed below:
• increase of the number of senior citizens in the population;
• prolongation of human life or prolongation of old age;
• varying life expectations of senior citizens;
• effort to achieve quality and dignity in old age;
• searching for social significance in old age;
• secondary economic aspects of education;
• the factor of change as a modern phenomenon;
• the democratization of society and searching for new life models in old age;
• the social support of senior education;
• the growing importance of lifelong education of people.
The educability of senior citizens depends on internal conditions - the ability of cognitive functions, motivation, the skill to learn, state of health, the present level of knowledge, and on external conditions - the attitude towards education, external motivation and availability of instructional forms. The internal conditions of senior educability are affected by ageing; the individual biological, social and psychological transformations that accompany ageing. In organizing educational programmes it is important to be familiar with the mental, age and individual peculiarities of the education participants. The individual, as well as the typical, specifics of the spiritual and physical peculiarities of senior citizens, which act as essential determinants of the learning process, have to be taken into account in the educational process.
The educational process of senior citizens has to be based on identification of the basic areas or situations in the life of a senior citizen, which show the need for targeted education support and the creation of specific educational activities and opportunities for senior citizens. In senior education we are mostly focused on the aspects listed below [6]:
• the target group;
• the goals of education;
• the content of education;
• the lecturers;
• the organization of education.
If the target group in our case is adults, we should adapt all other aspects to this one; for instance we should be focused on the specifics of
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teaching an adult - a senior citizen. We should realize that senior citizens enter a teaching situation with a self-classification that is based on the classification of others, so their emotional side should be regarded. The lecturers should be emphatic and sensitive to the attendees throughout the educational activities, they should strengthen the right procedures, provide room for feedback, enable critical thinking and stimulate self-classification. An understanding of the experiences of the educational-process participants is very important, with the possibility of respecting even the individual qualities.
The following are among the most frequently utilized methods applied within senior education:
• explanatory - illustrative methods;
• methods of dialogue;
• methods of solving problems within small groups;
• case studies;
• staging methods.
The selection of the right method always depends on the content of education, on the participants, forms and material/technical conditions. To select the right method, the lecturer takes into consideration all the stated aspects of the process. However, we must not forget that the educational process originates in a certain social context, so the educators within their educational activity must not forget the social aspects, which are mainly -the tradition, integration, reforms and reality in which we live.
It must be realized within the educational process implementation that the target groups of the senior population are highly differentiated and specific. They often include a large age interval, from 50 to 90 years of age. Participants in these processes have to be regarded as individuals in terms of a complex of certain psychophysical features and as personalities with a specific social role, value orientation and status, i.e. as individualities [3]. In relation to senior age we should at least realize pre-senior and pro-senior education that differs in terms of content, time and involvement.
Education thus adapts to the conditions and requirements of the senior citizens themselves, through which they satisfy their needs, emphasizing the individual potential of senior citizens. Thus the educational process itself can become the meaning in life, the fulfilment of activities for a senior citizen who has lost his/her professional role and associated status by reaching retirement age. He/she looks for a new role, a new position. In this case, an adult is able to be an object and a subject of the effect of
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pedagogy, education and socialization even at an older age, though in a specific form.
Education can thus contribute significantly to the development of a senior citizen's personality, in the process of which the emotional tune-up of a senior citizen improves, he/she creates a more positive self-concept (selfimage), and the circle of his/her interests increases. For instance, Balogova's study [2] demonstrated that the biggest motivational aspect of senior citizens for further self-education was an improvement of their selfimage. This comes to light significantly in subjective well-being, which is one of the aspects of the quality of life - thus education brings a benefit to the senior citizen himself/herself. However, the education of senior citizens has a macro-dimension when society utilizes fully valued people up to high age, superior intergenerational relationships, the decreased dependence of senior citizens on social services and the positive attitude of other citizens towards senior citizens. Typically, every human being needs freedom, direction, objective and transcendence. Of these characteristics, this has a great importance for him/her. In this context, Viktor Frankl talks about the need for meaning, for man's longing for fulfilment of his existence in the most meaningful manner: One of the possibilities of the high-quality fulfilment of the life of a senior citizen is also the lifelong education of senior citizens.
References
1. BALOGOVA, B. Senior Citiziens in the Spectrum of Contemporary World. Presov : Akcent Print, 2007.
2. BALOGOVA, B.World of Senior Citiziens - Senior Citiziens in the World. Presov : FF PU, 2008.
3. CORNANCICOVA, R. Education of Senior Citiziens. Bratislava : FF UK, 1998.
4. FRANKL, V. E. Will the Meaning of Life. Brno : Cesta. 1994
5. KRIVOHLAVY, J. Having to Live for. Praha : Navrat domO, 1994.
6. PRUSAKOVA, V. Adult Education in the Scope of Cities and Municipalities. Bratislava : Stimul, 2001.
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