What kind of education and for whom? The educational biographies of adults and their social dimensions

Abstract

This text refers to a discussion on the meanings of adult education, but in a special research context. This context is defined by the analyses of non-traditional students’ biographies oriented on exploring their life experiences treated in their justifications as educational. As a consequence, on the basis of their individual justifications I have reconstructed five types of narrations. These are: “I want to reach more than my parents” (1), “Nowadays we have to adapt to the free market and the progress of the civilized world” (2),
“The adult person is clever by nature” (3), “I have to give myself a chance” (4), “I want to be aware of that world I am part of” (5). This work results in the unveiling of the qualities of narration schema, which shows the
use of learning language by interviewed adults and their learning potential at the same time. What is more, all these narrations show that the social roots of the individual explanations have created the learning potential of adults interviewed. In this way I try to refer to the doubts demonstrated by G. J. J. Biesta (2006, 2010) who says that the economic language of learning adapted in the theory of education caused the question about a good education and its social meaning is neglected. The research presented here shows that the social meanings of learning are still an important issue.