| Studying adult education in Serbia – A Procrustean bed or an opportunity? | | Print | |
| Katarina Popovic | 19.02.2008 | Science - Articles | ||||
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As in many other Eastern European countries, all adult education issues in Serbia have been studied under the scientific conception of andragogy for almost 30 years. It covers the entire range of formal and non-formal activities, liberal as well as vocational education.
This scientific conception has shaped the university preparation received by adult education professionals. In 1979, the Study Group for Andragogy was established at the Belgrade University with the four-year degree in andragogy at the Faculty of Philosophy. Students were engaged in studying single andragogic disciplines, research, practice, study visits etc. Andragogic and pedagogic disciplines dominated the curriculum, but there were a certain number of philosophy and sociology disciplines. The professional profile that students had after the diploma examination covered various fields of adult education activities where they might apply for a job – in schools and training institutions, at public and open universities, in institutions of culture, hobbies and leisure, re-education, social care, welfare, in research centres, companies, in mass-media etc. A profound theoretical knowledge and broad spectrum of competencies enabled these students to enter into certain specialisations and to develop additional competencies when they entered into professional life. The orientation towards a general, wider profile was the result of contemporary trends in sciences and in economic developments and social life. A number of changes were made to the basic studies and some new subjects were introduced into the curriculum in 1993 and 1997, and later in 2004 following the recommendations of the Bologna Declaration. A problem occurred with the further implementation of the Bologna Declaration and with requests from the national accreditation body since they set the standards related to the labor market, e.g. employment, to new developments and tendencies in the world of work. New programmes are meant to be more competence-based than before, with more flexibility and practical orientation. For the large university centers this should not be a problem as they usually combine institutions for higher education with research institutions, having several units and enough staff to cover and develop teaching and scientific work. For the Faculty of Philosophy, where the Chair for Andragogy is based, scientific research is closely connected with the teaching while the curriculum represents the structure of the scientific disciplines. The progress and developments in research enriched the study of adult education but a clash began to arise between the reality of adult education practice and scientific ambitions. The process of economic transition especially inspired a number of new professions, for instance human resource management, with no clear distinction from the already existing professions (which was anyway typical for adult education). New private universities, with popular, easy-to-digest knowledge and pocket-courses flourished and put additional pressure on traditional universities, forcing them to adapt to the new market of knowledge and educational institutions. Universities preparing students for traditional professions were to some extent able to rely on state support but adult education was always a field fighting for its identity - not just in the practice world but also in the area of higher education. The attempt to keep the traditional scientific structure as the base for the broad profile of future experts combined with the competence-based approach required for the most attractive and demanded jobs on the labor market does not appear to be possible. Firstly, the profile would be lost (a permanent danger for adult education) and secondly the recommended duration of study and recommended number of students does not allow this to be combined in an extensive programme. The choice does not seem to be easy: Keeping traditional, scientific structure does not fit with the Bologna standards and does not make the study programme attractive enough. On the other hand, meeting the demands of the new professions entails the risk of losing the scientific background, which is very risky for the field of adult education whose development is characterized by the fight for professionalisation and scientific recognition. This might also lead to the commercialization of the programme and potential decrease in quality standards. For the Belgrade Chair of Andragogy the issue is additionally complicated: Choosing one certain scientific field which is nowadays most relevant to the practice world, such as professional education, training, human resource management or similar, would mean losing the other areas of adult education from the scientific focus and neglecting general education, literacy, personal development etc, even though it was exactly this all-encompassing and inclusive approach that was the differentia specifica of the "Belgrade School of Andragogy". The accreditation process which is currently running in Serbia has introduced one more demand: each university programme has to demonstrate that it is compatible with programmes from at least two other relevant European universities. Bearing in mind the rich variety and diversity of adult education study throughout Europe, the task is more than difficult. The desirable idea of a common European base in the professionalisation of adult education (visible in projects such as the European Master in Adult Education and European Master in Lifelong Learning) has turned out to be a Procrustean bed for some universities. At the Belgrade Chair for Andragogy time is running out and the decision has to be made very soon. |
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