|
| Participating In Continuing Education |  Adults have a lot of questions connected with education. Why do some adults participate in continuing education programs and others don't? What are the barriers to participation? What encourages people to attend? Why do some adults drop out and others complete a program? Are the reasons for participation and persistence different for different types of people? What can adult educators do to encourage participation and persistence in their educational programs? These questions have confused adult educators for many years.
A lot of them tried to answer these questions. A lot of authors have identified factors that act as barriers or encouragers to adult participation. Johnstone and Rivera used terms such as "situational barriers" (time, money, child care, transportation, weather), "institutional barriers" (factors pertaining to the educational service provider), "sociodemographic barriers" (age, sex, race, income, educational level, and geographical location) and "dispositional factors" (self-esteem, group participation) in describing adult responses.
There are several characteristics of adults who choose to participate in the learning experience: 1) they want to know; 2) they've established personal, social, or religious goals; 3) they're engaged in some activity; 4) they need to meet a formal, work-related requirement; and 5) they simply want to escape.
Most adults want improve their ability to serve the community. They want to make new friends, intellectual recreation, professional advancement (either job-related or inner-directed), an abhorrence of television, the joy of learning, an introduction or supplementation of understanding, and escape to adult participation.
Other authors have identified specific factors related to participation. It can be such as involvement with a formal organization that encourages adult participation, broad and diverse leisure activities. Besides, it can be high levels of income. Situational barriers of participation, such as child care, shift or overtime work. Lack of transportation, poor health and lack of time or money can be a big problem for low socioeconomic adults. Moreover, it is the same for elderly than the average middle-class adult. Institutional barriers, for example, inconvenient class schedules, full-time fees for part-time study, restrictive locations, often exclude or discourage certain groups of learners. Adults are living in certain geographical areas. Especially those in small towns and rural areas are less likely to participate in educational activities.
|
|
