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THE PRINCIPLE OF SUBJECTIVITY
AS THE CONDITION OF CONSTANT EDUCATION
R. Tomaszewska- Lipiec
Education of adults, which is included in the trend of constant education, is one of the fundamental requirements of economy based on knowledge and learning society. Changes taking place in all areas of our existence create a phenomenon known as “educational style of life” which can be observed not only in the field of profession but in the sphere of culture or social life as well. However, what should be the foundation of these transformations is universal considerations which arise from the growing conviction that the dignity of a human being ought to be respected. The following paper is dedicated to the problems of this issue.
Considering constant education, what should be taken as its base is the personalistic view of human being which is the source of andragogical work on the whole. According to its principles a human being is treated as a subject, threrefore an individual person creating his or her own living space. Thus, in this view, the most important and constructive attributes of human beings are their rationalism and intelligence and therefore their ability of intellectual cognition of themselves and the surrounding world as well as freedom to make independent decisions and choice of values. Subjectivity is also understood as the opposition of reification - objectification of an individual. As a result, this conception exposes creativity and disalienation of a human being and treats an individual as “the sovereign author of his or her action”. From the educational perspective, however, the term “subject” refers to the status of a human being who has cognitive and moral independence and in consequence consciousness and authorship. The problem of being a subject belongs to the domains of philosophy whereas the feeling of being a subject, which is a subjective experience, is one of the psychological issues. Psychologists have been trying to find an answer to the question: to what degree and range an individual feels as the subject of his or her own action. The psychological studies on the problem of subjectivity concentrate mainly on four groups of issues which in literature are referred to as significant conditions of being a subject. These are: autodetermination, autonomy, freedom of choice and the awareness of authorship1.
1 T. Pilch (red)., Encyklopedia pedagogiczna XXI wieku, Tom IV, Warszawa 2005, s. 452 i nast.; A. Warchal, Podmiot w sferze spolecznej [w:] E. Pietrzak, A. Warchal, t. Zaor-ski-Sikora, Podmiot, osoba, tozsamosc, todz 2007, s. 38 i nast.; A. Galdowa, Tozsamosc czlowieka, Krakow 2000, s. 36; R. Cichocki, Podmiotowosc w spoleczenstwie, Poznan 2003, s. 18 i nast.
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When referring the personalistic view of a human being to analyses connected with the constant education, one should emphasize that an adult is perceived as a person responsible for himself or herself, the subject of his or her own productive activity, a person who decides about his or her plans and deals with any difficulties which may arise in the process of carrying them into effect and only he or she alone is responsible to society for his or her action. The above definition includes the most significant features of the period of adulthood and is the base used to separate the qualities of an adult person which characterize his or her process of learning. Adulthood is strictly linked to the process of learning and as a certain psychical and physical state facilitates or even enables grasping these pieces of information which are crucial in life1.
In the industrial epoch the education of adults depended mainly on the production and work demands as well as the roles performed in the public sphere. The higher level of technical qualities workers had the greater efficiency of their work was and the larger number of material goods was produced. That, in turn, meant bigger chances of improving the standard of living also all social groups and classes. The system of adult education was a continuation and a complement to primary and secondary education. On one hand it enabled adults to achieve the qualifications they needed and on the other hand made it possible for them to recall the knowledge and skills they had learnt at school. As a result, what came to the fore was institutional education and the mechanisms of internalization. In consequence adult education began to lose its traits of subjectivity and was gradually being reduced. Replacing the emphasis from teaching to learning in the early eighties of the 20th century gave the term "education of adults” a new meaning. The conception of constant education, understood as a system of activities in organizing education by an external subject, was replaced by an idea of lifelong learning2.
The change in the approach to constant education has its consequences nowadays. Contemporary writings on adult education treat it as an informal and incidental process and emphasize its voluntary character, free choice, self-evaluation and above all the necessity to base all actions on the principle of subjectivity. What is the most important thing in the idea of
1 W. Szewczuk, Psychologia czlowieka dorostego, Warszawa 1968, s. 40 i nast.; L. Turos, Andragogika ogolna, Warszawa 1999, s. 22-27.
2 M. Malewski, Edukacja dorostych w poj^ciowym zgielku. Proba rekonstrukcji zmieniajqcej si? racjonalnosci andragogiki, [w:] E. A. Wesolowska (red)., Edukacja dorostych w erze globalizmu, Plock 2002, s. 182-203; J. Kargul, Obszary pozaformalnej i nieformalnej edukacji dorostych. Przeslanki do budowy teorii edukacji catozyciowej, Wroclaw 2005, s. 39.
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the personalistic view of a human being is the acknowledgement of dignity and therefore existential value of an individual. This concerns both education and broadly understood up-bringing activities. The idea should be reflected in educational syllabuses, forms and methods as well as in mutual interactions between people participating in these processes. A further postulate would be to involve in the process of adult education various activities which activate broad development in the intellectual, emotional and volitionary areas. What is also important is to trigger creativity through improving professional and other skills and to arouse or bring up to date cognitive interests. Another important process which should be worked on is triggering self-initiative and directing it towards achieving self-formulated goals which are worth obtaining as well as developing skills enabling co-operative and group work as these are indispensable to co-exist in complex and highly organized units1.
The process of education may create in an adult a feeling of being a subject if it includes such factors as: a varied educational offer, appropriate qualifications of educators who know the rules, forms, methods and strategies facilitating education of adult learners and appropriate contents adjusted to the peculiar personality of an adult learner. As it has been already mentioned, integration of all the subjects participating in the process is of crucial importance. Interactions should be based on dialogue and pedagogical tact which manifests itself in respecting dignity and privacy, mutual under standing, the ability to avoid conflicts or solving the ones that have already appeared, and in keeping an appropriate distance. Treating adult learners as subjects also means respecting their right to search their own identity, their independence and individuality or in other words humanistic and personalistic approach to adult learners. What plays a significant role in the educational process based on the principle of subjectivity is the interactions. They should be alternate (taking turns in being in the first and second position in a contiguous pair), should involve changing roles in the interactive sets and should lead to reaching common meaning. This, in turn, requires acceptance, empathic understanding and authenticity2.
The problems become of special importance in the times of the increasing value of an adult person. Therefore we deal with such categories as human resources, social resources or the potential of competence which
1 Z. Matulka, Personalistyczna wizja czlowieka jako podstawa dzialan andragog-icznych, [w:] J. Saran (red)., Edukacja doroslych. Teoria i praktyka w okresie przemian, Lublin 2000, s. 45 i nast.
2 K. Denek, Ku dobrej edukacji, Torun-Leszno 2005, s. 77-87; O. Czerniawska, Dylematy andragogiki. Mi^dzy nauczaniem, uczeniem si§ a autoedukacjq, [w:] B. Juras-Krawczyk (red)., Wybrane obszary badawcze andragogiki, Lodz 2007, s. 11-22.
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stimulate current discussions on determinants of society and economy based on knowledge. Human resources, or a human being as a resource or a potential, have become a key value which decides about the competitiveness of contemporary organizations. In the world of global competition achieving the surplus value depends more and more on creative ideas of employees whose main capital is their knowledge or know-how. Understandably their position gains more and more importance. According to the idea of human resources long-term and professionally organized education advances economic growth and influences the welfare of individuals. A human being is on a par with natural and technological resources and becomes a part of economic resources. However, treating education as a place of enriching human resources alone, may blur the distinction between educational service and education perceived as a multivalent gift. The importance of educating an employee predominates both the importance of developing his or her personality and humanization of economic life1.
In the light of the above, the principle of subjectivity should be especially emphasized as one of the factors defining the idea of constant education as it is the springboard to all the values which constitute modern systems of management of the 21st century. Reducing individuals to a productive factor only and denying them a chance of development, selfaccomplishment and partnership is inevitably bound to create an increasing feeling of dissatisfaction, frustration and intellectual passiveness which, in consequence, deprives organizations of innovative benefits that come out of creative tension of employees aroused to unconstrained process of thinking. What is to be hoped for is that in society based on knowledge subjectivity will stop being a value offered in adjudication or a good will of managers but will become a value in itself, a natural consequence of the fact that adults participate in the process of constant education2.
1 M. Morawski, Zarzqdzanie wiedzq, w perspektywie personalnej, [w:] K. Perechuda (red)., Zarzqdzanie wiedzq, w przedsi^biorstwie, Warszawa 2005, s. 191 i nast.; K. Denek, Ku dobrej..., op. cit., s. 97.
2 Tamze, s. 191 i nast.
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