1 Introduction
1.1 Rationale, Aims and Scope
This chapter is an invitation to critically reflect on the use of learner-centred education strategies and methods in the professionalisation of (prospective) adult educators, particularly when this involves part-time evening and hybrid
1.2 Background
Key global frameworks, such as the United Nation’s (UN’s) Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015) and sustainable development goal [SDG] 4 Quality Education, guide adult education (AE) and the professional development (PD) of educators. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) CONFINTEA VI Belém Framework for Action (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning [UIL], 2010) and the Recommendation on Adult Learning and Education (UNESCO, 2015), emphasize the professionalisation of adult educators.
Literature on adult students in part-time HE flags challenges related to maintaining work-life balance and progressing with studies (Ramalho, Correia, & Mesquita, 2007). Finding a balance between “living, learning, and earning … can lead to higher attrition rates due to … part-time enrolment status” (Faralli-Semerad, 2019, p. iv). Broader research with adult students in Cyprus pursuing evening studies to complete their high-school degree (‘Esperino’) flagged absenteeism and drop-out caused by the inability of adult students to cope with simultaneously being parents, employees, and students (Damianidou, 2020). However, attitudes to and experiences of learning of mature, adult students in HE are under-researched, as is the teaching counterpart of this context.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional adult educators’ PD, accelerating the shift to online learning, which posed challenges for many educators (Boeren, Roumell & Roessger, 2021, Organisation for Economic and Social Development [OECD], 2020). However, the crisis also prompted further investment in online PD and micro-credentials. In this context, the study informing this chapter asked:
Which practices foster students’ sustainable participation in the part-time evening course leading to a BA (Hons.) Degree in Adult Education, Training and Development?
To what extent and in which way(s) are these practices supporting the professionalisation of (prospective) adult educators, particularly in times of the (post-)COVID-19 crisis?
The chapter’s discussion draws on the findings of analysis of secondary data, particularly qualitative data concerning the part-time, evening, hybrid BA
1.3 Context
Adult educators in Malta, and their professionalization. During the twentieth century, AE providers tended to be affiliated to the Catholic Archdiocese, trade unions, or the main political parties, because social development informed by Catholic teachings, Christian Democratic or Labour ideologies motivated the bulk of AE initiatives (Borg, Mayo & Raykov, 2016; Mayo, 2012; Mayo, 2007; Caruana & Mayo, 2002; Caruana, 2004). This could well be at the root of the deficit in the recognition of the profession of the adult educator in Malta; and responsible (at least in part) for the Cinderella-legacy of the practice documented in the local literature (e.g., Brown, 2020; Mayo, Pace & Zammit, 2010). Indeed, internationally, the roots of AE in social movements and community activism have been identified as a main barrier to the professionalisation of adult educators (Merriam, Bierema & Brockett, 2019).
Malta’s first National Lifelong Learning Strategy 2020 (Ministry of Education and Employment [MEDE], 2016) spelled out the setting up of a department of AE at the UM (Programme 12, p. 54). Today, the Department of Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education (DAOCAE) of the UM runs the BA AETD, among other AE micro-credentials, Diploma and Degree programmes. The same Strategy mandated the “improvement in the professionalism and competencies of teachers in adult education” (p. 30); whilsta further strategic measure mandated the “a framework for professional recognition” (p. 30). More recently, the National Lifelong Learning Strategy 2023–2030 (Ministry for Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation [MEYR], 2023) mandates the professionalisation of adult educators. However, it is more cautious when it comes to warranting matters, stating that the development implementation of “a system that formally recognizes adult educators” should be an “explore(d) … possibility” (Ministry for Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation [MEYR] 2023, p. 23).
(Post-)COVID-19 crisis impacts on adult educators’ PD in Malta: Research revealed a small range of AE and adult educators’ PD initiatives since 2020, e.g., short, accredited courses for persons not in education, employment or training (NEET s) (jobsplus, 2023, p. 33). The Directorate for Research, Lifelong Learning and Employability’s (DRLLE, MEYR, which is the national policy maker and state AE provider) found “the necessary impetus to venture into e-learning” (Vassallo et al., 2021, p. 290) with institutional learning gains (p. 290), e.g., peer-to-peer mentoring amongst adult educators, PD initiatives for staff and educators, the opening of a student and educator hub to access digital infrastructure (p. 291).
The BA AETD Programme of Studies and Course is a three-year part-time evening hybrid programme and, as to the time of writing, the only programme offered by a Malta-based institution that qualifies at EQF Level 6 Degree level (L-Università ta’ Malta, n.d.-b). Albeit not a requirement for recruitment as an adult educator with state or other licensed providers of AE or training, this qualification is an asset to the enacting the professionalisation mandate of the National Lifelong Learning Strategy 2023–2030 (MEYR, 2023). The BA AETD programme features a competence-driven curriculum that targets the attainment of learning outcomes in the areas of curriculum, evaluation, and quality assurance, cognitive neuroscience and psychology of adult learning, multiple literacies (basic literacy, digital literacy, health literacy, financial literacy), community- and arts-based education with adults, methodology and research methods, a placement and a dissertation (L-Università ta’ Malta, n.d.-b).
2 Conceptual and Theoretical Framework
Building on how critical pedagogies been found to motivate and engage HE students with problematising contexts and dynamics (Kadi-Hanifi, 2009), the conceptual framework of the study unpacked seminal concepts such as ‘conscientization’ and ‘problematisation’ (Freire, 2005) using Schweisfurth’s (2013) four dimensions of learner-centred education (a–d below). The study also dwelled on literature in andragogy (Knowles, 1980) and emancipatory learner-centred education (ELCE) (Gravani et al., 2023; Borg, 2021) to develop a more comprehensive theoretical framework. More specifically, by considering that, in the context of the BA AETD’s competence-based curriculum, learner-centred:
epistemology can be co-constructed with learners when their experiences, needs, expectations, preferences, aspirations (Knowles, 1980) become explicitly recognizedas having validity in the production of knowledge and skills that are pertinent to adult educators’ professionalisation. Subject to the programme and the provider, epistemological co-construction can translate into student-directed and problematised participation in the development of learning outcomes, resources, assessment briefs, etc. As the results section will show, the case study discussed in this chapter explored if/how any of these manifested.
techniques, such as pair or group work, problem-based, etc. (Schweisfurth, 2013), engage participants as “creative, critical problem-posers, co-investigators and co-discoverers of knowledge” (Borg, 2021, p. 173). However, not as stand-alone, token interactive and collaborative techniques that can be used in all types of programmes;, but as part of the broader framework explained in this section, and with an explicit ELCE agenda. relationships impact the nature and extent of voice and decision-making that learners have over their learning (Schweisfurth, 2013) when educator-learner encounters (with communicative, pedagogical, assessment or other purposes) foster democracy through consciousness-raising, counter-narratives, networking, and transformative action (Borg, 2021); and
motivation is hampered by engagement with learners as “objects of professional generosity” (Borg, 2021, p. 173). The latter is a charity-veiled imposition, and counter-productive for learners’ intrinsic motivation. In the framework guiding this study, Schweisfurth’s (2013) learner-centred motivation was further unpacked by drawing on research findings on ‘academic motivation’—defined as the state when adult students can develop goals and action plans that can mediate the relationship between work-family-school dimensions of the adult student’s life (Damianidou, 2020).
3 Methodology and Findings
A case study approach was most suitable because the study comprised an empirical inquiry of issues within a bounded system (Yin, 2009). The case study drew on content and thematic analysis of qualitative data comprising (a) feedback from the 2022–2025 BA AETD student cohort during their first year of studies (i.e., 2022–2023); and (b) annual BA AETD programme review report (APR Report) of the same academic year 2022–2023. The analysis of multiple datasets allowed discerning pertinent issues in this case and to triangulate (Yin, 2009).
The Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Education of the University of Malta reviewed and authorized the research design and execution of the study (reference number: EDUC-2024-00335).
3.1 Part-Time Studies at the UM in a (Post-)COVID-19 crisis1
Following the March 2020 pandemic outburst in Malta (i.e., during the academic year 2019–2020), the UM registered an increase of 30.9% in the number of accepted applications for part-time studies for new courses starting during the academic year 2020–2021, compared to the academic year 2019–2020 (calculated from secondary data provided by the UM SIMS Office, 2024). Both the
Notably though, none of the students reading for the part-time evening course leading to a Diploma in AETD dropped out before the start of their second year of studies, or at any other point in time during their course which ran between 2020 and 2022. However, six of the thirteen students reading for the BA AETD under study dropped before the beginning of their second year of studies, i.e., during the academic year 2022–2023. Although to date no research-based explanation is in hand, it can be argued that compared to the BA AETD, the Diploma programme is more manageable for part-time mature students that the two programmes tend to attract, particularly because a number would not have been studying for a while and thus might find the Level 5 of Diploma easier to digest; and particularly because the Diploma course’s online modality was more extensive due to COVID-19-related restrictions.
Thus, the study found limits to mitigating the risk of withdrawal from the BA AETD course, particularly in the case of health and family problems. As to the time of writing seven students pursued their studies out of the initial cohort of thirteen: two dropped out of the course during the first two weeks on realizing they could not participate as initially presumed due to personal and professional commitments: one of these was a Maltese woman working full-time (FT) in community development, whilst the second a female restaurant-owner, born in Italy, but living in Malta for numerous years, and working as a part-time adult educator with the DRLLE. The other four dropped out during or by the end of the first year of the programme: a Maltese female
The seven students who pursued their studies include a Brazilian born Italian woman living in Malta and working FT in hospitality, three Maltese woman working FT in community development, prevention of addictions, and state services support centre respectively, a Maltese man working as a freelance adult educator, a Costa Rica born woman working FT in Malta as a training analyst with a private company, and a Russia-born woman married in Malta and working as a part-time adult educator with the DRLLE.
The following subsections present the findings of the analysis of the qualitative datasets.
3.2 Sustainable Participation: Assets and Limitations
You guys have been overly accommodating and understanding with all the students’ needs … (student, evaluation of the study-unit [SU] ACA2001 Andragogy and Geragogy: Perspectives, Challenges and Practices. [ACA2001])
Inclusion of assessment tasks that have relevance to students’ life beyond this course, e.g., that they can use at work; No examinations. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
Too many small tasks to carry out in (some of) the components (APR 2022–2023).
Limit … expectations concerning independent study asynchronous work. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
Knowledge of lecturers, e.g., pedagogy … Methods such as group work and assessment. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
Increasing time for group reflection and feedback. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
Techniques associated with sustainable participation could be implemented because of the availability of infrastructural assets, technology, online teaching and learning in particular.
online makes learning easy as it allows me flexibility. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
Datasets included proposals for further infrastructural supports, some of which can be collaboratively developed and managed with students, e.g., student representatives producing a chart of assessment tasks and due dates, and make this available online. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
The lecturers hear our voices … our struggles, and help us finding the right way to address our doubts and uncertainties. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
Student-centeredness, ongoing consultation with students using various in/formal channels and methods. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
Collegiality and comradery between students, initially very much supported (as communicated by students during informal feedback sessions) by scheduling ACA2002 Arts in the Community: Drama and Music study-unit in the first semester of the first year. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
passion for the subjects (of lecturers) … (r)elevant resources that support in-depth engagement, e.g., recordings, readings, articles. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
I can adapt reading/researching and re-watching the lectures at my own pace. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
Motivation and sustainable participation could be hindered by the part-time, evening, remote characteristics of the course that limit on campus presence. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
3.3 The Professionalisation of (Prospective) Adult Educators
As an adult learner, my prior knowledge and experience is taken into account and teaching is related to real life situations. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
applying andragogy can make my learning make more sense of the direction of my own learning depending on my own needs and goals. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
Informal theories are important to consider when reflecting on one’s role as an educator and our assumptions as a learner, as these theories shape beliefs about teaching and learning which may then affect actions and behaviors. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
Aside from flagging these realizations in the feedback, as a BA AEDT lecturer the author participated in numerous discussions when students manifested the above during lectures and a debriefing discussion would pursue to consolidate learning outcomes, as will be elaborated in the next section, and in the discussion part of this chapter with reference to ELCE.
Learning from my classmates and lectures experience has enriched my knowledge. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
We are given the space to comment and discuss … previous experiences, which many times are illustrating the topics covered. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
I feel very lucky to be asked for my opinion and what works best for me, when setting assessment dates and methods. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
Include audience / group feedback opportunities in presentation assessment components. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
Quality assuring lecturers’ knowledge and skills of student-centred, less content-dependent and/or asynchronous higher education, teaching, and learning. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
participating in a book launch because I got to listen to many experts in the field and the work being done. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
Regular informal updates during lectures and to students’ reps from the coordinator; Board of Studies meeting agenda; Announcements on newspoint, Faculty newsletter—links shared with students; Requesting feedback from student reps on BoS on this APR report prior to submitting. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
Students as partners collaborators, concurrent within the applicable limitations, and prospective once graduates. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
Championing students as ambassadors of this programme and of studies, (and of) research and developments in AE and training locally …. Relations and networks with stakeholders (supported by the Department’s outreach programme) to source for placements supervisors guest lecturers / dissertation research, etc. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
Pegging diploma / degree conferment to a warrant for adult educators and trainers: (action points include discussions with MEYR; UM Seed fund application to support consultative research leading to a white paper proposal to introduce warranting. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
All topics covered have been relevant to my learning goals. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
I want to improve myself and be able to provide … essential and meaningful outcomes. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
Adult Educators are essential for the well-being of the society. (Student, evaluation of SU ACA2001)
The above is further corroborated by the interest expressed by the students in enhancing the promotion of the BA AETD programme and its students with pertinent stakeholders. (APR 2022–2023 Report)
4 Discussion and Conclusions
The study’s findings unpack ELCE-driven epistemology and techniques demonstrating the use of personal study and development plans in AE “written in cooperation with the student” (Ramalho Correia, & Mesquita, 2007, p. 11), and using “an intuitive approach grounded in learners’ backgrounds” (Brown, 2020). ELCE epistemology translated into ‘eureka’/‘epiphanic’ moments when students independently discovered connections between their practice and the BA AETD. As regards, ELCE-driven motivation and relationships, findings show that the maiden iteration of the BA AETD course is fostering a community (comprising students, academics, and broader stakeholders such as DRLLE and (prospective) employers) eager to shape the culture of AE and the adult educator’s identity and (to date, unwarranted) professional status in (post-)-COVID-19 Malta.
Case study methodology limited the scope. A discussion of the relevance of the study’s conceptual and theoretical to HE programmes that a curriculum that is not competence-based (e.g., progress-driven curriculum, content-based curriculum, etc.) was out of scope—yet presents an interesting future research possibility. Disaggregating secondary datasets by gender, age, locality of residence, employment status, experience, etc. was out of the scope of this study—yet, surely merits attention in further research. The author is also aware of her extensive involvement in the BA AETD programme, its students, and in the compilation of data sources analysed. Thus, onboarding the results, conclusions, and recommendations cannot ignore limitations to generalisability, intersectional analysis, and bias.
That said, the findings of the case study position BA AETD students as agents (together with a scholars, researchers, policy makers and executives) carving out an emancipatory space to develop and implement long overdue changes in the culture of adult and lifelong education in Malta—namely, reconceptualization and reform of the identity, status and PD of adult educators and
Note
Data presented in this section includes data concerning part-time studies at the UM and at the Faculty of Education (FoE) because the latter houses the DAOCAE, and hence the initial training and PD courses in adult education, training and development.
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