„DomSpain“ Adult Education Centre

 As a participant of Pakruojis Adult and Youth education centre Erasmus+ project „Increasing the Diversity and Effectiveness of Teaching/Learning Activities for Seniors by Enhancing the Competencies of Educators“ I had a mobility for adult education staff in ,,DomSpain“ adult education centre, which is in Reus, one of the largest cities in Catalonia, Spain. „DomSpain“ is a Training and Consulting Company active on a national and international level. It offers a variety of services to the public and private sector of Spain and actively participates in international schemes through a well-established network of partners abroad. The courses and trainings are implemented in their own premises as well as at 6 Civic Centres and 5 primary and secondary schools of the Tarragona province. They employ 40 educators and count with around 1400 students each academic year. ,,DomSpain“ centre suggests six directions for adult courses: languages, IT, sports, art, personal growth, dances.

The Role of Adult Educator

 One of the aims of our short 3 days visit to „DomSpain“ adult education centre in Reus, Spain was to get acquainted with an overall framework on international legislation and polices concerning adult education provision and improved knowledge of the competences of adult educators in different countries. Together with ,,DomSpain‘‘ adult educators we discussed  about adult education, characteristics of adult learners, the role of the adult educator. With personal examples from our real-life experiences, we agreed that: the educator in adult education according to the theory of Andragogy, social change and transformative learning is to work towards achieving positive change by coordinating the learning procedure in a way that enables the learner to overcome certain false believes he has, due to social conditioning, his working environment and the way in which he has learned. The adult educator should not only transfer knowledge, also he should urge the learner to search for knowledge himself; to encourage the learner and facilitate the learning process; to guide, coordinate, suggest, offer stimulus and cooperate creatively with the students. This is especially relevant in the case of low-educated and low-skilled adults because they are more likely to have had bad schooling experiences, they feel ashamed as they are not educated or failed in this aspect of life, they think that it is too late for them to learn, they need extra encouragement to enrol in education. Education can change their life’s, not only in the professional way, but also in the personal life. They gain in self-esteem and confidence. They want to understand why certain lessons are being taught; they particularly appreciate task-oriented learning and are more self-directing; they are learning (e.g., the languages) due to need and have more of a life- or task-focus. The ideal adult educator should be: understanding, flexible, patient, practical, should have sense of humour, should be creative and always prepared.

Language Courses

 During our visit we followed how theoretical part about adult education reflected in practical learning. While job shadowing in language courses, we noticed that teachers were very friendly and had good relationships with their adult-senior students: before the lesson they talked about their private life, they were joking and encouraging them to ask us questions. When I asked adult learners why do they want to learn English, their answers were:,, For travelling, I want to go on holiday abroad“, ,,My grandson speaks only English, so I want to communicate with him“, ,,I want to improve my memory“. When we had a tour in old town of Reus, which is famous for Catalan modernist buildings, with teacher of English, we met several her adult students and she had a small talk with them, even introduced us. We also noticed some very creative teaching ideas, for example adult students prepare guiding tours in their town in a foreign language they learn and make tours for their colleagues. Those who learned French language had cooking lessons, went to French restaurant and ordered food in language they were trying to learn. During national festival Saint George‘s day Spanish people like reading poems aloud, so teachers prepare poems in foreign languages and students read them aloud too. I was very surprised, when I met a lot of people speaking Russian in the education centre, in the town, in the shop, so Russian language courses are very popular in Reus. Catalan language course is also very popular, because this language for a long time was forbidden in this region, so there are a lot of elderly people who can speak Catalan but can‘t read or write.

„There is no better way to learn than to open your mind to new cultures“

 Though my visit to Reus, Spain was very short, I consider that travel is a great educational tool, at the same time as learning, ideas and knowledge can be exchanged with people from other countries, thus allowing us to open our minds to new worlds of which we can learn. The exchange of experiences and knowledge, and intercultural relations are valuable tools to transform society, make it richer, more respectful to the difference and more open to knowledge, even in very small steps.

Project „Increasing the Diversity and Effectiveness of Teaching/Learning Activities for Seniors by Enhancing the Competencies of Educators“ („Erasmus+“, No. 2020-1-LT01-KA104-077734)

                                  Greta Jasiūnienė, methodologist, Pakruojis Adult and Youth Education centre