A look at Adult Education and Extension Programs in Ireland

From Adult Education

Created By DJ Woehl Fall 2008

Adult Education and Extension Programs in Ireland

Introduction

Ireland is a relatively small island country that is located in Western Europe. Relative to the United States, its' land mass can be compared to that of West Virginia. It is known for vast, luscious green, rolling hills of the country side, low mountains and sea cliffs on the island's west coast. Ireland is a small, modern, trade-dependent country with growth of the economy averaging 6% between 1995-2007. It was estimated in 2005 that approximately 7% of the population in Ireland resided below the poverty line. Ireland continues to work to decrease that percentage even lower. One method they are using is that of adult education, specifically looking at adult literacy. The section below will give you a brief introduction to early adult education in European countries leading to the development and implementation of adult education and extension in Ireland.

The development in Adult Education and Extension has only in the past two centuries acquired a solid organizational status. The recent development stems from a variety of social trends such as: a higher intensity of economic competition that places higher premiums on skills, the overall continuing spread of the public education system, the major complexities in today's national and international politics that keep demanding more education and constant studying, the dramatic increases in urbanization around the world, and the interest generated by many older men and women for increased educational activities. What we refer to today as modern Adult Education most likely originated within the European political system. Following the Industrial Revolution, which occurred during the 17th and 18th centuries, Adult Education was also formed in the way of vocational classes for the working class. Adult Education in Germany and Switzerland was offered in the form of Continuation schools for workers and England fostered the educational learning its' poor through Adult Schools of the Society of Friends in England (1845). While there is a great deal of work that is contributing to the progressiveness of adult learners here in the United States, it is equally important that we look beyond our boarders and examine what is being done to continue educating the aging populations in other countries around the world. The country in particular that will be the primary focus in the following sections will be Ireland.

History and Development of Adult Education in Ireland

The concept of Adult Education in Ireland is relatively new. Approaching its' 40th Anniversary, the National Association of Adult Education, AONTAS, was established in 1969 following the fist National Adult Education Conference that same year. The acronym for the group is derived from the Irish language meaning "national adult education through voluntary unification". It is also a word itself in the Irish language meaning "unity" or "union".

After the unveiling of AONTAS, the Minister for Education at the time also established a committee to explore adult education in Ireland and to start making recommendations as to the overall future structure they would like to see in adult education. It was in 1973 that they published their first report in the history of the state. The report was known as The Murphy Report. The conclusions that were drawn from the report were that AONTAS was a very worthwhile program and would greatly benefit the citizens of Ireland and the country as a whole.

Aside from the committee that was originally drafted by the Minister for Education, a completely voluntary committee was put together to draft a constitution for the national organization in 1970. A mere eight years later it was re-drafted and since that time, the organization itself has amended the constitution and continues to look toward the future and the ever changing ways of adult education.

The organizations first director was placed in 1974 after a generous amount of money was donated to AONTAS. With the funding that they received, the organization was able undertake a major research project and to also sponsor an International Conference for Adult Education in Ireland. With these major developments within the structure of the organization, they were able to firmly plant their roots.

It was not until 1970 that the organization would receive its' first Government grant-aid. Up to this point the organization never really considered itself to be directly involved with the development of courses. The main objectives were to provide conferences, publish journals of adult education, conduct research, write and circulate newsletters to members, and organize exchange visits to other countries within Europe. However, it was their partners in the Vocational Education Committees that would provide the actual courses at the adult level. One major disadvantage they faced, however were that of resources.

In the 1970's when much of the world was facing issues with adult literacy, Ireland was no exception. When the Murphy Report was published, it identified literacy as one of the major issues. AONTAS took the next step in setting up a group that could explore possibilities of potential solutions to the problem. In 1976, the organization drafted the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA). This was a completely independent and autonomous or individual branch. However, AONTAS did award funding to the agency to help it support local programs within communities.

Meeting New Challenges

During the 1980's, major cutbacks affected all venues of education. The only adult education based organization, AONTAS, in Ireland somehow managed to survive. Once in the clear, the organization saw its' membership explode.

With any organization, there come many challenges. A major challenge that AONTAS had to meet with open arms was that of its' biggest expansion of newly developing women's community-based groups. The women, being the take charge kind of people that we are, took it upon themselves to organize their own courses at times and places that were convenient and comfortable for them. These groups led to the ultimate development of community-based education. AONTAS helped in supporting the groups through European and national funding throughout the 90's. What this eventually led to was the National Collective of Community-Based Women's Networks (NCCWN) in 2003.

Almost 30 years after its establishment, the group formed their first strategic plan calling it A Vision for the Future. Within the plan they defined their specific policy focus and took the opportunity to lobby their government to implement an Adult Education Service. The group has had to continually lobby for additional resources for adult and extension education within its communities. The years preceding 1997 led to only 1% of the overall allocated education budget to the spending on adult education. Of course, lack of government funding constantly thrashed initiatives to try and develop it. However, the Irish Government was shocked to learn from a report that 25% of their adults did not possess adequate literacy skills. After the shock, the government finally decided that it was time to heavily invest in literacy education. Miraculously, since that time funding for adult education has dramatically increased but continues to fall below the average line.

Moving Forward

Since the shocking literacy findings over ten years ago, the government has made some proposals for further developing adult education in Ireland. Programs that have thus far been implemented are the National Adult Literacy Programme, Back to Education Initiative, Adult Educational Guidance Initiative, and the recruitment of Community Education Facilitators. The government allocated resources to the sector of adult education have for the fist time since 2000 encouraged and promoted the growth and development of adult education and extension in Ireland. The overall funding in the government education budget has increased to a whapping 3%. The movement in the upward direction is a major improvement, even at small rates; however, there is still much work to be done in making sure that percentage continues to increase.

Along with the percentage of the overall budget contributed to adult education, many of the recommendations have fallen short. Once again when the yearly budget was run for the 2006 fiscal year, again there was not much attention paid to that of adult education. In order to accomplish goals, AONTAS would like to see 10% of the overall budget allocated to the sector of adult education. They firmly believe that are not adequately providing resources to the members with such limited funding.

The group will continue to work on achieving both social and economic objectives. They will also continue to push the issue with their government that the investment in adult education is well worth the time and funds and will in turn prove to be extremely advantageous to the countries well-being as a whole. However, for now the National Association for Adult Education in Ireland will continue to direct its focus on existing programs and services and keeping the foundation of adult education and extension strong in our ever changing environment.

Helpful and Interesting Websites

• The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)- Country of Ireland Facts [[1]]

• AONTAS: The Irish National Adult Learning Organization

[[2]]

• Interactive Picture Map: Island Of Ireland

[[3]]

• National Adult Literacy Agency

[[4]]

External Links

• YouTube Video [[5]]

Bibliography

• The Free Dictionary by Farlax. Adult education. Retrieved on October 6, 2008 from http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/adult+education

• AONTAS the National Adult Learning Organization (2008). The History and Development of AONTAS. AONTAS: The Irish National Adult Learning Organization. Retrieved September 16, 2008, from http://www.aontas.com
• C.I.A. (n.d.). World Fact book. CIA- The World Fact book. Retrieved September 16, 2008, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ei.html.