Philosophies of Adult Education Movements in 20th Century Canada: Implications for Current Literacy Educators

Authors

  • Marion Terry Brandon University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56105/cjsae.v15i2.1917

Abstract

This article examines the philosophical roots of today's adult literacy movement in Canada, as reflected in the Women's Institutes, Frontier College, and the Antigonish Movement of the early 20th century. It compares these movements' expressions of three philosophical approaches to adult education: (a) the liberal focus on pre-determined skills instruction, a deficit model perspective, and learners' needing to learn how to learn; (b) the progressive focus on learners' life role experiences, personal/social development, and needs-motivated learning; and (c) the humanistic focus on self-directed learning and independence, meaningful learning, and learners' self-image/self-esteem. Each movement's adult educators were ethically committed to manifesting these philosophical elements in their programming practices. The philosophical beliefs they conveyed have implications for current adult literacy educators.

Résumé

Cet article examine les origines philosophiques du mouvement de l'alphabétisation des adultes au Canada, tel que vécu par l'Institut des Femmes de Frontier College ainsi que par le mouvement Antigonish du 20ieme siècle. Il met en comparaison les visions de ces organisations selon trois approches philosophiques de l'évaluation des adultes : (a) la vision libérale de l'enseignement d'habiletés prédéterminées, soit un modèle donnant peu de résultats et dans le cadre duquel les apprenants doivent apprendre à apprendre; (b) la vision progressiste sur les expériences de vie des apprenants, sur leur développement personnel et social ainsi que sur leur motivation instrumental; (c) la vision humaniste sur l'auto-apprentissage et l'autonomie, sur l'apprentissage essentiel ainsi que sur le reflet des apprenants et l'estime qu'ils ont d'eux-mêmes. Les enseignants de chacun de ces mouvements en éducation des adultes furent invités à exprimer ces éléments philosophiques dans la programmation de leurs pratiques d'enseignement. Les croyances philosophiques que ces organisations ont transmises engendrent des répercussions pour leurs enseignants aux adultes.

Downloads

Published

2001-11-01

How to Cite

Terry, M. (2001). Philosophies of Adult Education Movements in 20th Century Canada: Implications for Current Literacy Educators. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 15(2), 61–78. https://doi.org/10.56105/cjsae.v15i2.1917

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 2 (2001)

Section

Articles

License

Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication will be required to assign copyright to the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education/L’Association canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation des adultes (CJSAE). CJSAE requests that, as the creator(s)/author(s) of the manuscript your are submitting assign certain rights to the manuscript to the CJSAE in exchange for undertaking to publish the article in print and electronic form and, in general, to pursue its dissemination throughout the world. The rights the CJSAE requests are:

  1. The right to publish the article in print and electronic form or in any other form it may choose that is in keeping with its role as a scholarly journal with the goal of disseminating the work as widely as possible;
  2. The right to be the sole publisher of the article for a period of 12 months;
  3. The right to make the article available to the public within a period of not more than 24 months, as determined by relevant journal staff of the CJSAE;
  4. The right to grant republication rights to itself or others in print, electronic, or any other form, with any revenues accrued to be shared equally between the author(s) and the journal;
  5. The right to administer permission to use portions of the article as requested by others, seeking recompense when the CJSAE sees it as warrented;
  6. The right to seek or take advantage of opportunities to have the article included in a database aimed at increasing awareness of it;
  7. As the author(s), the CJSAE wishes you to retain the right to republish the article, with acknowledgement of the CJSAE as the original publisher, in whole or in part, in any other pbulication of your own, including any anthology that you might edit with up to three others;
  8. As the author(s), the CJSAE withes you to retain the right to place the article on your personal Web page or that of your university or institution. The CJSAE askes that you include this notice: A fully edited, peer-reviewed version of this article was first published by the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, <Year>, <Volume>, <Issue>, <Page Numbers>.

BY AGREEING TO THE FOREGOING, YOU CONFIRM THAT THE MANUSCRIPT YOU ARE SUBMITTING HAS NOT BEEN PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE IN WHOLE OR IN PART, AND THAT NO AGREEMENT TO PUBLISH IS OUTSTANDING.

SHOULD THE ARTICLE CONTAIN MATERIAL WHICH REQUIRES WRITTEN PERMISSION FOR INCLUSION, YOU AGREE THAT IT IS YOUR OBLIGATION IN LAW TO IDENTIFY SUCH MATERIAL TO THE EDITOR OF THE CJSAE AND TO OBTAIN SUCH PERMISSION. THE CJSAE WILL NOT PAY ANY PERMISSION FEES. SHOULD THE CJSAE BE OF THE OPINION THAT SUCH PERMISSION IS NECESSARY, IT WILL REQUIRE YOU TO PURSUE SHUCH PERMISSSION PRIOR TO PUBLICATION.

AS AUTHOR(S), YOU WARRANT THAT THE ARTICLE BEING SUBMITTED IS ORIGINAL TO YOU.

Provided the foregoing terms are satisfactory, and that you are in agreement with them, please indicate your acceptance by checking the appropriate box and proceed with your submission.

This copyright agreement was extracted with permission from the "Best practices guide to scholarly journal publishing" (2007), produced by the Canadian Association of Learned Journals (CALJ).