Main reason for investing in Adult Education

Adult Education Programs

Spain offers a variety of adult education programs, including literacy, basic and secondary adult education, vocational training, immigrant education, language courses and continuing education programs. These programs are made available by public educational institutions, NGOs and other entities.

General Education Law in 1970

The first legal reference to adult education is the General Regulation of Public Instruction of 1821 which, in its article 120, indicates that adult women must be taught in children's schools "the work and skills appropriate to their sex" (Moreno & Viñao, 1997).

In Spain, it is considered that the school for adults was born with the Someruelos Law, of July 21, 1838, in response to the need to overcome the lack of primary education (del Valle, 2000).

When mentioning the history of adult education in Spain, it is necessary to start with the Franco regime. At that time, Adult Education sought to eradicate everything that made reference to the Second Republic, implementing values in line with national Catholicism (Groves, 2016).

With the General Education Law in 1970, the term Lifelong Learning began to be used in relation to Adult Education and considered it closely linked to the economic and social evolution of the country, but, at the same time, in those years the models Traditional Adult Education limited it to primary school content (Groves, 2016).

In this context, alternative initiatives emerged, outside of legality, known as pedagogical renewal movements, which sought to free the school from the restrictions of the dictatorship, taking into account the demands of teachers, many of whom, influenced by pedagogues such as Paulo Freire, sought to promote social action, making students aware of the forces that influenced their lives, in order to become critical agents capable of transforming their reality (Groves, 2016).

Spain was nourished by new currents of educational thought with its entry into the concert of democratic nations, in which institutions such as Unesco, the Council of Europe, the OECD or the Club of Rome focused on the concept of Lifelong Learning. Life, so that Adult Education became the subject of works such as the Faure Report or the Report to the Club of Rome (Lancho, 2013).

The relevance of Adult Education in Spain was recognized with the publication of the White Paper in 1989 by the Ministry of Education, as well as with the approval of the General Law of the Educational System (LOGSE) in 1990, which in its Chapter 3, articles 51 and 52 guarantees adults' access to information that allows them to acquire, update, expand or extend their knowledge and skills for their personal and professional development (Yin-shi, 2010).

In Spanish territory, the 2006 Organic Law on Education (LOE) emphasizes the need for the existence of ordinary or specific educational centers duly authorized by educational authorities to obtain official qualifications related to adult education (Yin-shi, 2010).

The main events that have conditioned adult education are the following: the knowledge society as a substitute for the industrial society, the globalization of the economy, the challenges of sustainable development, changes in living standards, the impact of new movements, the emergence of multiculturalism in different societies and the extension of life expectancy (Yin-shi, 2010).

The European Commission has set a challenge for 2020: to achieve a 15% participation rate of adults (aged between 25 and 64) in education and training in all member countries. In 2015, Spain was 4 percentage points away from this value. (Felgueroso, 2015).

Current perspectives

Objectives of Adult Education

The European Commission defines improving the quality of adult education and training as a permanent objective, pursued by both educational administrations and local administrations.

This same body indicates the specific objectives of this education aimed at adults to facilitate their access to the different teachings of the educational system, the acquisition of basic training, and to expand and renew their knowledge, skills and abilities; improve or provide them with professional qualifications; develop different capabilities, including personal capabilities, in the expressive, communicative, interpersonal relationship and knowledge construction domains, as well as the ability to participate in social, cultural, political and economic life, manifesting itself as democratic citizenship; promote inclusion, especially of the most disadvantaged sectors; promote equal access to opportunities and rights between men and women, critically assessing existing inequalities; predict and peacefully resolve personal, family and social conflicts; ensure that older people have the opportunity to increase and update their skills; acquire, expand and renew knowledge, skills and abilities related to the business world. Finally, develop attitudes and acquire knowledge about sustainable development, the effects of climate change, environmental crises and healthy habits.

Although adult education is trying to adapt to the current reality, in the case of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the literature on adult literacy in relation to this phenomenon is still at an incipient stage (León et al; 2024). It is expected to bring significant changes both in relation to the methodology and quality of teaching (Marques, 2023). Among its multiple uses are the use of facilitators or virtual teachers, the identification of new study content or intelligent content, obtaining personalized materials, access to refresher courses and collaboration between teachers and the AI itself, forecasting the risk of school dropout or more efficient assessment and the automation of other administrative tasks (Marques, 2023).

Formal and Non-Formal Learning

Formal Learning:

Companies and training courses

Among adult training companies, Fexma, CEAC and Forbe in Spain stand out. At European level, the Instituto Europeo de Formación and the IMF Business School are also well known.

Fexma Courses is a platform that offers free and private courses, some of which may be subsidized, aimed at training for employment and financed by both the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy and the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sport of the Spanish Government.

As for CEAC, its training offer and services are aimed at all people over 16 years of age interested in continuous distance learning and, in particular, those who are obtaining an Official Professional Training Qualification.

Forbe is based in Galicia and offers learning opportunities focused on the current job market. It stands out for its combination of theory and practice, personalized tutoring and innovative technological resources.

After pointing out the examples of the most sought after, it can be considered that there is a variety of companies. However, when considering whether there are enough of them, users of the courses they offer must be consulted to find out whether the quality of the services and the professional is high, as well as the accessibility conditions.

Fexma  

In the case of Fexma courses, the most popular free courses are:

Internet Tools: Electronic Commerce, which consists of 80 hours, online and is available throughout Spain. However, there are prerequisites to access this course. It is necessary to have a computer and a smooth connection (as in other distance learning courses), as well as not being an employee of the public administration.

Basic communication operations are developed over 120 hours, online, with face-to-face exams in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Oviedo or Bilbao. It is open to employees, self-employed workers and ERTE workers.

The C1 English course lasts 240 hours, is completed online and has a final exam in Salamanca. Only employees, self-employed workers and ERTE workers from Castilla y León who have an academic level of compulsory secondary education or equivalent and who have an intermediate level of knowledge B2 can register.

Environmental Management is a course of 420 theoretical hours and 80 practical hours taught in Madrid. It is only available to employees, self-employed workers and ERTE workers with a minimum of bachelor's degree or equivalent studies.

The most popular private training courses include the following: Sales Techniques, Accounting, Occupational Risk Prevention and ISO 9001:2015 Quality. All of them are characterized by the fact that they last 50 hours, are online and are certified by the University of Nebrija with 2 ECTS credits. Furthermore, the first is approved and recognized by the Spanish Confederation of Commerce.

Forbe

The most popular courses at Forbe are automotive mechanics and dietetics and nutrition.

For the automotive mechanic technician course, you must have Spanish nationality or proof of residence in Spain, be 20 years old at the time of application and have professional experience and/or have completed 300 hours of training in the last 10 years before applying. apply.

The dietetics and nutrition technician course has no access requirements.

All courses aim to respond to the needs of society, both personal and professional, aspiring to allow people to improve their skills and abilities, in order to respond to the current needs of their professional sector.

It appears that there has been an evolution, as the 2015 Eurydice report concluded that Spain did not have programs aimed at promoting basic educational skills in adults beyond return to school for a level of education in the formal education system. With the exception of some Autonomous Communities, there were no programs aimed at completing studies beyond ESO, nor programs aimed at combating digital illiteracy or teaching immigrants literacy in their mother tongue

(Felgueroso, 2015).

Education Indicators

• Adult literacy rate (98.59%)
  
• Completion rate of basic (78.30%) and secondary education by adults (44.30%)
• Participation in adult education programs (48.00%)
• Educational index of the adult population (10.90 years)
• Public investment in adult education (0.42%)
• Access to lifelong learning opportunities (48.00%)