Adult Education and Community Development

Abstract

Community education means a new way of connecting knowledge with what people create. It increases the applicability of knowledge and con­ nects education with the direct needs of people. There are quite few things one can do by him/her­ self. Mainly one is dependent on the things he/she can create together with others. In non-democratic societies people get used to being given solutions from above, which is why they can wait for some­ one else (especially institutions) to solve their problems while they remain passive. Socio-economic and political changes require from the people in Slovenia to redefine their attitude to the environment and life in general and to assume an active role. Community education means learning in groups of interested people in order to reach a certain goal or find a solution to a certain problem, e. g. establishing a local museum, publishing a tourist guide, constructing a bypass to decrease the traffic in town, erecting a monument, protecting green areas, introducing new forms of child care, solving problems of the disabled, unemployment and income maintenance, etc. People leam in order to be able to work. There are two goals which are always present: product and knowledge. People leam parallelly with the phases of work in order to achieve certain goal. It is typical of community education that it was developed in order to meet the needs of local people explicitly. It is therefore of great importance for adult educators facilitating problem-solving based on knowledge to get to know the real needs of people first. Generallack of knowledge is manifested in functional illiteracy. As long as people are unable to communicate orally or by writing with the others, their activities are blocked and they cannot help themselves. They can only live a dependent life, based on help expected from others, which nowadays is not possible any more. Each individual has to be responsible for his/her own survival. In the present transitional period the lack of knowledge and low personal development are the factors driving people into despair. When unqualified people are concemed, community education first attempts at solving problems regarding their functional illiteracy, the more educated people 's needs are more specific and are directed towards a certain aim. People in groups acquire knowledge on a complementary basis. Everybody leams the segment for which he/she is responsible. Since learning is divided among the members of the group, who mutually support each other, community education is much more effective.