OLDER PEOPLE LEARNING AN INTERNATIONAL VIEW

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OLDER PEOPLE LEARNING AN INTERNATIONAL VIEW
4 SECTIONS
DEMOGRAPHY
ACTIVE AGEING
UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD AGE
ISSUES and QUESTIONS
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Why the interest in older people?
Because their numbers are growing


Not just a British but a world wide phenomenon

2048
1998
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ATTITUDES and CONCLUSIONS
Growth in the number of older people burden or
opportunity?
The Barenboim approach
Distinction between increasing longevity and an
ageing population being old later
3rd and 4th Ages
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• In the 3rd Age, demands reduce and opportunities
  for personal fulfilment increase

Not withdrawal from active life but successful
ageing where activity appropriate to an earlier
stage of life is sustained as long as possible
this is active ageing
W.H.O. definition of active ageing
the process of optimising opportunities for
health, participation and security in order to
enhance the quality of life as people age. It
applies to both individuals and population
groups.It allows people to realise their
potential for physical, social and mental well
being throughout the life course and to
participate in society according to their needs,
desires and outcomes.
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OPPORTUNITIES and AGENCIES
for active ageing through
Travel, cultural, physical and intellectual
pursuits, development of technical skills and
work on behalf of others in the community.
Some examples
SAGA (UK) THIRD AGE (USA) - commercial
organisations focused on the 3rd age market
ELDERHOSTEL Learning in Retirement Institutes
- USA and Canada www.elderhostel.org
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Strathclyde University, Glasgow Senior Studies
Institute
Euro Songfestival masterclasses and workshops
for the over 50s
University of Ulm, Germany - ZAWIW
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Maestros artesanos
RUTIS the Portuguese Federation of U3As
OSHER Lifelong Learning Institutes
Wuhan University for the Aged, China
McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Child care and support for childrens learning
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Why bother about older people? a second response

• The need for changing attitudes to what being
  old means

In the past a profile of inertia, costliness
and uselessness (quote from the LENA handbook)
Now we cannot afford, in economic or social
terms, to encourage the notion that after a
certain period we have the right to take a back
seat and wait to be looked after. (ibid)
This is about the empowerment of older people
though learning, interpreted in its broadest
possible sense
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THE UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD AGEa source of
active ageing and a means of empowering older
people
Origins and development variations on a theme
5 models
Learning in a social context with no barriers to
entry, no awards on completion, often low cost
and self-directed
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AIUTA The International Association

• A federation encouraging U3A development and
  providing an international framework for lifelong
  learning

Voluntary body, funded by subscription, with
currently 58 members, mostly U3As or national
federations of U3As
Managed by a Governing Board of up to 27 members
who currently come from 13 different countries
and who use either French or English at their
meetings
An executive committee, comprising the President,
2 Vice-Presidents, Secretary Treasurer, (UK,
Germany, Chile, Germany and Belgium) who meet
from time to time in cyberspace
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Some examples of U3As in action
UDA Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium with 5000 members
lectures, courses, workshops, etc
A newcomer the Indian federation of U3A,
already planning an international conference for
2010
U3A at the Comenius University, Bratislava,
Slovakia
Aughton Ormskirk U3A, UK Sustainable
Development the Queens Award for Voluntary and
Community Service
Australia UK link through on-line courses and
the development of a virtual U3A
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VOX POP

• I enjoy the strong camaraderie and I have a
  great many friends through the U3A, sense of
  belonging to a group, the variety of interests
  for which it caters, purposeful learning,
  Non-competitiveness and social interaction
  increases understanding

In answer to the questionHas the U3A changed
you? I think it has. Its not just my own
recognition. My husbandI think he knew from the
way in which my interests were being
stimulatedand the fact that there were lots of
things I could grasp and be capable of taking on
board that I wouldnt even have thought about a
long time agoAnd I wanted more of it and still
do
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Vox Pop continued
from another member of the same U3A who had
agreed to convene a group Its knowing how to
talk. I was so afraid theyd be boredI thought
nobody would come and then they came.but I had
an awful few days worrying. I learned a lot. Its
changed meGiven me confidence
It is in the best spirit of the U3A movement
that one both gives and receives, ultimately it
is also the most fulfilling.
The U3A, its a journey of self-discovery in the
company of others discovery of ones talents and
how to improve them and discovery of those of
others who share the same interests.
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ISSUES and QUESTIONS

• Education ? Training? Learning?

2. Adult Education / 3rd Age Learning
3. Formal or informal learning?
4. Volunteers / professionals
5. Universities or clubs?
6. Reaching beyond the middle class - funding
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Two final quotations
Fryer (2008), in discussing the role of lifelong
learning, quotes Delors (1998) as saying that
such learning should constitute a broad,
encompassing view which enables each individual
to discover, unearth and enrich his or her
creative potential, to reveal the treasure within
each of us. This means going beyond the
instrumental view of education, as a process one
submits to in order to achieve specific aims (in
terms of skills, capacities or economic
potential), to one that emphasises the
development of the complete person, in short,
learning to be.
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The last word to a 3rd Age learner
The experiences of learning together, sitting in
a full classroom, arriving early to get a good
seat, sensing the group excitement of being
challenged to learn and accept ideas and
theories, re-examining facts.all of this comes
close to healthy addiction..One of the great
rewards of participating in this addiction to
lifelong learning is the sweetness of finding
life in retirement a great joy.