ABSTRACT
The current focus on learning in Latin America is the result of a convergence of diverse factors: the recognition that learning is central to the knowledge-based economy – as is the need to stimulate creative thinking and innovation, the questionable quality and relevance of school contents to daily life, and the filters that social, ethnic, economic and gender variables place on access to learning and knowledge. Whilst the majority of Latin American countries are well on the way to universalizing primary educa-
tion, the struggle to guarantee enrolment and permanence in the classroom has been increasingly accompanied by concerns with quality and particularly with what, if anything, children learn during their obligatory years of schooling. International assessments like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other nationally developed programmes1 have shown that, in comparative terms, Latin American children learn little at school and come out badly, especially in mathematics, writing and science, compared with their peers in other continents. There is also concern about the social relevance of what is learnt within the school system. Thus, learning has become a central issue in the formal school system. But, at the same time, the formal school system has continued to fuel the number of semi-literate or functionally illiterate young people who drop out of school, are expelled or leave with minimum literacy and learning skills. These young people become potential candidates for continuing education in adult education programmes as the labour market requires increasingly higher certification as a means of entry to the ranks of the formally employed. At the same time, international and multinational agencies have long been developing and advocating
the concept of lifelong education and, more recently, lifelong learning as an all-embracing concept for the whole educational process, including that of children, young people, adults and the elderly. Within the field of youth and adult education, the question of what is learnt and its relevance has been a longstanding issue, but it has also become increasingly central as more formal compensatory schooling for adults and young people, and technical and vocational training and professional qualification, occupy greater space than programmes and projects oriented by the principles of popular education concerned with active, critical and participatory citizenship. Discussions on adult lifelong learning were recently given greater visibility in the Region by the holding
of the Sixth UNESCO International Conference on Adult Education – CONFINTEA VI – in Belém de Pará, Brazil in December 2009. This was the first time that an edition of CONFINTEA had been held in
an emerging economy in the southern hemisphere. In a certain sense, the willingness of Brazil to host the Conference represents the renewed interest of the region in this area. After a period of near-abandonment in the 1980s and 1990s, many Latin American countries have begun to invest in policies of youth and adult education, although at levels that could hardly be termed to express priority and that frequently give greater attention to initial learning in the form of literacy than to continuing education. What are the possible motives that have led to this small but steady interest in offering learning oppor-
tunities to young people and adults? The relative failure of the formal school system must be considered as one element. Young people either abandon school because they cannot understand its relevance for their lives or leave without having learnt what the school is supposed to teach. There is growing disquiet with youth, youth unemployment and violence.2 For many countries, according to Torres (2009): the increasing number of ‘unattached’ youths – youths who do not study and do not work (in Spanish, no estudia ni trabaja – NET) – is a cause for deepening concern. In Paraguay (2004), 65 per cent of urban youth and 78 per cent of those living in rural areas were in this situation, as were one out of every 20 youths in Argentina (2005) and 27.1 per cent in Brazil (2006). In Mexico (2007), 30 per cent of students completing secondary education continued studying, 25 per cent found a job, while the remaining 45 per cent had no activity (Rivas, 2007). Another motive for investing in adult learning is the realization that poverty cannot be reduced without
investing in education. Clearly, education is not identified as the unique tool for reducing poverty, but evidence suggests that, without greater investment in education, it will be almost impossible to reduce poverty. The Millennium Development Goals have served as a stimulus to several Latin American countries to set ambitious targets for the reduction of poverty. At the same time, in recent years countries like Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador have enjoyed above-average economic growth which is at times threatened by the lack of trained manpower. The recent boom in the Brazilian building industry, for example, has been threatened by the lack of qualified professionals, such as civil engineers, and of qualified workers like bricklayers, electricians and plumbers. There is growing awareness that current forms of predatory development are unsustainable and that
paradigms of development based on radically different approaches to production and consumption are essential for the future of the planet. Changing the way that people think and act is an important element of this process. The fight against disease and epidemics like AIDS and malaria involves changing attitudes and learning processes. Learning is an essential element for increasing rural productivity as well as social, cultural and economic productivity in general. Learning is essential for the autonomy of young people and adults of all ages and for their self-esteem, as well as their capacity to question and to learn more. The multiple crises of recent years – of food, of fuel, economic and financial, and environmental – all depend on our capacity to seek solutions, to learn from experience, to change behaviour. Despite growing tensions within countries and between countries based on ethnic, religious, cultural,
ideological or economic differences, there exists an enhanced acknowledgement of the need to learn to live together. Living together in peace is a process of construction, a learning process that has to be continually renewed and reaffirmed. For most Latin American countries the age structure of the population creates a further demand for learning opportunities. People live longer and better and remain productive for longer.3 They have to learn to deal with change in a critical fashion, whilst being prepared to retrain and be geographically mobile. There are thus a multiplicity of potential arguments to validate the need to invest in processes of youth and adult learning. From the lifelong learning perspective it is important to comprehend learning as a natural and con-
tinuing process in which different phases of life pose specific demands and challenges. In this chapter, whilst the focus is on youth and adult learning and strategies currently being developed in Latin America, I also argue for the need for educational policy and investment to consider the whole life cycle – from
pre-school through to the third age – rather than concentrating investments in phases that apparently offer greater economic return. For those not familiar with Latin America, I will outline some of the complexities of this highly heterogeneous continent that governments and civil society face when attempting to respond to the learning needs of specific groups in society. I intend to discuss the different approaches and understandings of the functions of adult learning and how regional policies have attempted to face these challenges. Finally, I shall present one example of the challenges of attending to the learning needs of a specific segment of the population – the adult prison population.
