Program
Climate
Individual providers need to assess their sites and curricula for relevance to
their locality.
It is especially important to examine the ways adult education settings
are “school-like” and to recognize that such practices may dissuade some
clients from participating.
Media
& Distance Learning
A few of our respondents volunteered information about their television
viewing habits. While KET (“the
Barney Channel”) was acknowledged as educational they also mentioned other
informational entertainment channels (i.e. the Discovery Channel) as sources
of self-improvement. Local
adult education programs might be able to find ways to capitalize on interest
in television programming above and beyond that provided through KET.
The same might be true for radio programming.
Further research into media consumption patterns is necessary.
Curriculum
& Workplace Credentials
Many
of our respondents acknowledged that increasing their educational credentials
would benefit them at work, but asserted that work had to take precedence over
education in order for them to survive financially. Further research into cooperative education programs for
adult learners similar to those found in post-secondary and vocational
education programs may offer solutions to this tension.
Math and computer literacy are also areas requiring further research.
Alternative
Certification
Further research that explores alternatives to the GED as a required
credential is also indicated. Many of the individuals who participated
in this study clearly believed the GED to be an inappropriate workplace
requirement given the kinds of labor in which they typically engaged.
These individuals challenged the traditional view of the GED as a
commodity. There is a need for additional research that explores
alternatives pathways to workplace credentialing that may include a continuum
of post-secondary educational experiences.
