Adult Education

ADULT EDUCATION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN Peter Mayo University of Malta . The Mediterranean is, in many respects, a construct. There are those who define the Mediterranean in a manner that reflects a colonial and Euro-centric conception of the world. Others construct this region differently, attributing to it characteristics of what can be broadly termed the ‘South’ that connotes marginality and has historically been both a partaker of and victim of Western colonization. There is an emerging visible literature, including literature in English, on adult education in the various countries of the region. The concentration, for the most part, is on adult education in the Southern European and western-oriented countries, namely Italy, Spain, Portugal (strictly speaking the country does not form part of the Mediterranean since it is on the Atlantic coast but its culture is traditionally regarded as being Southern and Mediterranean), Israel, the countries that previously formed the old Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and, to a lesser extent, Cyprus and Malta. There is a paucity of literature in English on adult education in Arab countries. There are a number of figures, connected with the Region, who stand out in the literature on adult education. I would mention Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), one of the greatest 20th century social and political thinkers/activists who was an adult educator and whose concepts influenced the adult education literature, though little attention is devoted to his writings on the Southern question that would seem to be relevant to adult education in the Mediterranean. Ettore Gelpi (1933-2002) is another prominent writer and speaker on adult education who headed Unesco’s Lifelong Education Unit in Paris. Lorenzo Luzuriaga (1889-1959), hailed as the greatest Spanish thinker on adult education, wrote

extensively on pedagogy and ways of overcoming illiteracy. We can also mention the Freire-inspired Luiza Cortesao, a contemporary critical educator from Portugal and a symbol of resistance against fascist rule. Martin Buber (1878 -1965), a writer, philosopher and organizer of adult education in Palestine, has had and continues to have an influence on adult education especially through his writings on dialogue, notably I and Thou. It is not only individuals but also groups and movements that ought to be mentioned with regard to adult education. The Mediterranean Review/Mediterraneo Un Mare di Donne, a bilingual periodical in Italian and English, provides visibility to women’s groups and organizations, from the Region, that challenge patriarchy at different levels and in different areas. As with most social movements, such organizational work has an adult learning dimension. Key projects stand out in the international literature on adult education. These would include: the Factory Councils in Turin, with their emphasis on industrial democracy; the 150 hours experiment in working class education in the same country; the concept of the ‘popular university’ which took on various meanings in Italy and Spain, having appeared, in the latter country, originally as a form of university extension and subsequently as a municipally-funded cultural center (Flecha, 1992); workers’ education in the context of self-management in the former Yugoslavia; popular education in Spain and Portugal in the context of the quest for democracy following the fascist period (this also applies to Greek adult education); the UNESCO-award winning Tehila project in Israel targeting illiteracy especially among women. The reference to the old Yugoslavia is particularly significant. The country had a vibrant adult education sector (Soljan et al, 1985) with some of its universities, notably

those in what are now Serbia, Croatia (the Andragoski Centar in Zagreb) and Slovenia, having had strong programs in the field. Scholars such as Dusan Savicevic and Ana Krajnc are well known in the literature. In Serbia, nowadays, education is equated primarily with schooling. There is a lack of an appropriate organizational structure for adult education; this applies to many Mediterranean countries. Whereas there existed, in the old Yugoslavia, a network of workers’ universities, the emphasis nowadays, in such countries as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, is on training and retraining. This applies to many countries undergoing the transition from planned to market economies, as in the case of Albania. In the south Mediterranean, particularly in Arab states, the emphasis is primarily on literacy with around 70 million illiterates estimated in the Arab world (UNESCO, 2003). Quite prominent are Egyptian efforts in this regard, with numerous projects having being developed since the early 90s (Abel Gawad, 2004). Of special concern is illiteracy among women. The literacy program was stepped up in 2003 following President Mubarak’s decree to eliminate illiteracy by 2007 (El-Bakary, 2004). A similar effort is found in Syria with a program covering three stages and targeting, among others, girls and women, especially those living in rural areas and the semi-desert region.(Saida, 2004) The Syrian government claims considerable success in reducing illiteracy through this effort but reports also underscore the problem of literacy retention owing to lack of a literacy sustaining environment (UNESCO, 2003, pp.32-33). Literacy efforts often involved plans to reach dispersed bedouin communities through, in the case of Libya, effective use of radio and television (ibid, p.25). Efforts for the spread of literacy are often curtailed in contexts such as Palestine owing to the Israeli occupation that results in

curfews, school and road closures and fear of danger (ibid, p.25). It would be interesting to explore the clandestine educational strategies that besieged people often employ in such contexts. Many of the conflicts that characterize this region can have a religious/ethnic basis. This region has given rise to the three great monotheistic religions. Adult Education often has strong links with the various belief systems in the region. Excerpts from the Qur’an are used in such literacy programs as the ‘ Read in the name of your God’ syllabus in Egypt (Abel Gawad, 2004). In the Ottoman period, mosques and medreses (Muslim theological schools) carried out various adult educational activities in Turkey (Okcabol, 1992, pp. 260-261). In Cyprus, the Christian Orthodox Church has a long tradition in adult education (Symeonides, 1992, p. 210) whereas, in Malta and Italy, agencies such as Caritas (also prominent in Egyptian literacy efforts), that form part of the Catholic Church’s larger network, are important adult education players. One of the key issues confronting adult education in the Mediterranean is that of migration. This applies to Arab countries such as Egypt, where English language classes help in the repatriation of Sudanese refugees (El Bakary, 2004), Israel, which since its inception has always been a multiethnic state, and Southern European countries which, having previously been net exporters of labor power, have now become net recipients of immigrant labor from the Region’s south. With respect to Southern Europe, cultures that have traditionally and problematically been constructed as antagonistic are now expected to co-exist in the same geographical space. This can easily create tensions caused by the fear of alterity often resulting from the centuries-old western demonisation and exoticization, based on a sense of ‘positional superiority’, of ‘the orient.’ This has

implications for efforts in the area of adult education concerning migrants, the challenge being to provide programs that conceive of the immigrant as ‘subject.’ Foreign agencies are playing a key role in adult education in the Mediterranean. Together with support from Arab and Islamic agencies (ALESCO and ISESCO respectively), the Egyptian literacy initiatives, for instance, draw funds from USAID, CIDA and the EU’s Social Fund among others. The German Adult Education Association was also instrumental in the funding and organization of the 2002 Cyprus ,2003 Malta and 2004 Cyprus (it was originally meant to take place in Tunisia) conferences on adult education in the Mediterranean; the Malta conference was the second such conference in the country (Wain, 1985). The 2003 Malta conference was concluded with a declaration that, among other things, called for the setting up of a Mediterranean Adult Education Association.

Abel Gawad, O (2004), ‘Literacy and Adult Education in Egypt’ In Caruana, D and Mayo, P. (Eds.), Perspectives on Lifelong Learning in the Mediterranean, Bonn: IIZDVV. El-Bakary, W. (2004), ‘Adult Education in Egypt’, unpublished article, American University in Cairo. Flecha, R. (1992), ‘Spain.’ In Jarvis, P. (ed.), Perspectives on Adult Education and Training in Europe, Leicester: NIACE. Mayo, P. (2002), ‘General Rapporteur’s Report.’ In Mayo, P., Symeonides, K and Samlowski, M.(eds.) (2002), Perspectives on Adult Education in the Mediterranean and Beyond, Bonn: IIZ-DVV. Okcabol, R. (1992), ‘Turkey.’ In Jarvis, P. (ed.), Perspectives on Adult Education and Training in Europe, Leicester: NIACE.

Saida, M. (2004), ‘Adult Education in Syria’ in Mayo, P and Caruana, D. (Eds.), Perspectives on Lifelong Learning in the Mediterranean, Bonn: IIZ-DVV.. Soljan, N., Golubovic, M and Krajnc, A. (1985), Adult Education and Yugoslav Society, Zagreb: Andragoski Centar. Symeonides, K. (1992), ‘Cyprus.’ In Jarvis, P. (ed.), Perspectives on Adult Education and Training in Europe, Leicester: NIACE. UNESCO (2003), ‘Literacy and Adult Education in the Arab World’, Regional report for CONFINTEA V, Mid-term Review Conference, Bangkok, UNESCO Beirut Regional Office for Education in the Arab States September. Wain, K. (ed.) (1985), Lifelong Education and Participation. Papers presented at the Conference on Lifelong Education Initiatives in Mediterranean Countries, November 5-7, 1994, Malta: University of Malta Press.