Adult Education and Citizenship Relations in Space and Time

Transcription

1 ESREA Research Networks on: History of Adult Education and Training in Europe and Active Democratic Citizenship and Adult Learning networks together with Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Education and Psychology Budapest, Hungary Announces a Conference to be held in Budapest, Hungary June 2011 Adult Education and Citizenship Relations in Space and Time Conference theme and aims The aim of this conference, joining two international research networks (History of Adult Education and Training in Europe and Active Democratic Citizenship and Adult Learning) is to be a meeting place for researchers and practitioners interested in adult education, its history and its relations to issues of citizenship, democracy and civil society. Hence, the aim is to join forces and discuss both historical and contemporary connections between adult education and citizenship, broadly defined.

2 Different goals of adult education, evident in discourses from 19 th century literature as well as today, are to: - provide knowledge and competences for economic development, both for the individual and for society as such; - include individuals in society and/or various social groups, also connecting to issues of empowerment, which has been at the core of education for adults; - support effective changes in people s lives and in society in general by means of education and training. The conference will primarily, but not exclusively, focus on the second of the themes mentioned above. To be a citizen is to be included in a community of citizens, which brings certain rights and duties and possibly requires a certain civic competence. Providing such competence has often been a task of adult education and organizations involved in such activities. Citizenship has been intimately connected to the nation-state. However, globalization has challenged this link and opened up the debate of what citizenship is, should be and what entity/entities individuals today are citizens in. In this period of changes, it is of great importance to examine how adult education was/is invoked to assist, or impede, the inclusion into a community of citizens (in which people have roles such as family members, workers, neighbours, members of civil society organisations, etc.). The theme of the conference is broad and can include several points of entry such as: 1. What roles have adult education played in the emergence and development of citizenship up until today? Questions to be posed under this subtheme concern the role of adult education in strivings for civil, political as well as social rights (past and present). It can also concern connections between adult education and cultural citizenship as well as the role of adult education in undemocratic societies. Finally, it can also pertain to the strivings of certain groups to be included in the notion of citizenship, for instance immigrant groups, women s rights movement, etc. Thus, focus can be on the role of adult education in strivings for universal suffrage as well as for instance connections between adult education and social movements.

3 2. What kind of citizenship, integration and participation has adult education promoted, contributed to or challenged? A citizen, a person can be attributed many different roles, which also opens up for different parts played by adult education in the development and enhancement of these. This can include citizens as political actors (participating in the governing of a state through voting and/or more direct participatory actions or to be a deliberate dissident, opposing a non-democratic regime); citizens as actors in civil society (developing organizational and other skills in a collective arena outside of the state); and, citizens as market actors, workers, consumers and customers (in which the right to a job, developing skills, etc. leading to a place in the labour market and so on are essential) 3. Should we assume a connection between adult and civic education? Here questions can be asked regarding whether educating citizens is necessarily equivalent to providing the individual with political or social education or if educational activities are not often simply aimed at making the individuals happy with poor conditions or providing them with meaningful leisure time. The issue of who is initiating the activities becomes central here as well. Who are they? What are their goals? What ideologies, what ideas of nation, community and society do they represent? What is the / their general understanding of a citizen? What ideas of citizenship are actually manifested by adult education organizers and practices? There is also an activity-oriented interest under the general heading of this conference where questions such as the following can be asked: What is the meaning of civic education? How have educational actors engaged in civic activities and civic education and what part do such issues play in educational activities today? What is the relationship between civic education and social justice? Has this changed over time? Here, questions regarding for instance commercialization of adult education can also be asked. Through processes of professionalization and commercialization of adult and popular education, less focus may be placed on articulating the interests of members and more on providing services on a general market. This may thus distance this field of activities from notions of citizenship or civic education but these are issues that need further empirical exploration. The themes mentioned are currently of great interest and also have a definite historic component. History-awareness is necessary if we wish to study questions of change in society and in peoples living conditions. Longer historical perspectives enable to trace processes of

4 change, continuities and trends; these debates support a wider and more informed understanding of the present. Thus, the conference aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines with a focus on different time-periods, as well as practitioners from the field, to enhance our knowledge of adult education and citizenship. Hence, we welcome theoretical and empirical research-based analyses as well as practice-oriented contributions to the themes elaborated on above. Call for papers The conference language is English. Synopses for papers should be words and should be submitted no later than 30 January 2011 to [email protected]. The synopses should state which of the conference s subthemes the paper is primarily aimed at and how the paper relates to that theme. Your paper proposal should be accompanied by a separate sheet with your professional data (including author(s) name(s), institutional affiliation, phone and ). All synopses must be in English. All proposals will be subject to blind review by the Scientific Committee. Notification of acceptance will be given by 20 February The deadline for submission of complete papers (of no more than 5000 words) is 20 May The presentations will be organized as follows: 20 minutes paper presentation, 10 minutes discussant's comments, 15 minutes comments. Each paper will have a discussant, and each of the presenters will act as discussant of another paper. There will be no registration fees. Guidelines concerning ESREA bursaries This conference will provide 4 bursaries to help PhD students participate in the conference. Please apply for a bursary no later than 1 May 2011 to the following [email protected] Scientific committee Kirsi Ahonen Françoise F. Laot

5 Michal Bron Jr Pelle Åberg Paula Guimarães Orsolya Kereszty Katalin Fehér Organizing Committee Chair: Katalin Fehér Orsolya Kereszty Mária Arapovics Nóra Hegyi-Halmos János Ollé Associate Advisors to the Organizing Committees Anna Molnár Mária Szokoly Sándor Striker László Pethő Vilmos Vass Organising institutions ESREA promotes and disseminates theoretical and empirical research on adult education and learning in Europe as well as debates on education and training practices within the field of adult education and learning. Network meetings such as this conference are places for exchange of research and discussion. Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) serves the interests of high quality education and research, building upon the best European traditions. The mission of ELTE is to preserve and enrich national and universal culture, to cultivate science and to pass on academic knowledge, as well as to shape and satisfy the real, long-term needs of Hungarian society and of mankind. Faculty of Education and Psychology (ELTE PPK) embraces disciplines of long tradition: Pedagogy, the old discipline of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), and Psychology, which was first established here in our country, and undertakes the amalgamation of these two in the area of teacher training. The historically significant reorganistion of the Hungarian higher education - Bologna Process - brings the education of Community Culture (as a special field of Andragogy) close to our profile, which is organised by our Faculty as well, and the Physical Education also belongs to our organisational units.

6 Full details about synopses, papers, registration fees, venue and accommodation will appear in Esrea website ( under conferences and in the conference website esrea2011.elte.hu. For further information, please contact Orsolya Kereszty at