Personal
Reflections on the Practice of
Adult Education
by Cheryl Senecal
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Many
women adult
educators
experience
isolation,
frustration,
and
exhaustion as
a
result of
working in an
environment
of backlash. |
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As an education and extension coordinator responsible for the
development and delivery of a sexual harassment prevention education program, I
have experienced challenges to my understanding of adult education theory and
practice. Many women adult educators experience isolation, frustration, and
exhaustion as a result of working in an environment of backlash, and it is
imperative that we enter our "truths into the public record and onto an agenda
for action" (Payeur, Taylor, and Warren iii). By naming our personal
experiences of backlash, we become more able to break the cycle of resistance
and denial that allows violence to continue and trivializes initiatives set up
to address it.
There are deficiencies in the field of adult education that
prevent the recognition and meaningful support of the adult educator's role,
and hinder the legitimation of the personal and emotional dimensions of
practice. As such, they undermine the learning process for both learners and
educators and contribute to a sense of confusion, loneliness, and vulnerability
in adult educators. The experiences I draw on come out of my work with the
Saskatchewan Women's Secretariat's Sexual Harassment Prevention Program. The
points I want to discuss are grouped into three areas representing the
limitations, contradictions, and denials I have experienced as a practitioner.
Limitations
- Adult education is not a panacea; the adult educator is not
a magician. Addressing a threatening and controversial issue such as sexual
harassment through education is only a part of the solution. Generations of
socialization practices that reinforce sexist attitudes and violence against
women cannot be corrected in a workshop series or a one day seminar. Though the
ongoing work to change peoples' attitudes about issues of gender equity and
sexuality has to start much earlier than when they enter the workplace,
workplace education is most effective when it is done strategically, with
management (and unions in unionized workplaces) developing and implementing
effective policy, dealing appropriately with harassers, and providing
complainants with support. Too often this does not happen. Too often education
is viewed as the solution to the problem when in fact it plays a limited,
though important, role.
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Les formatrices d'adultes qui travaillent dans le
domaine social (ex : animer des ateliers sur le harcèlement sexuel) se
heurtent souvent àa des milieux hostiles. Elles trouvent rarement dans
leur profession un appui solide et la dimension personnelle et affective de
leur travail n'est pas reconnue.
Il est difficile de rester optimiste et
énergique si l'isolement, la frustration et l'épuisement ne sont
jamais admis ou compris; les éducatrices (j'en suis un exemple)
réfrènent souvent leurs réactions épidermiques de
peur d'être taxées de radicalisme, de sensibilité
démesurée ou d'irrationalité ou de voir la question
rejetée. Notre travail comporte souvent de grands risques et peut
être débilitant. Or, une réaction émotive peut
être mal interprétée : elle n'est pas en mesure de
répondre aux exigences de la profession.
Voici quelques suggestions pour changer la pratique de
l'éducation des adultes. Il faut reconnaître que
l'éducation ne constitue qu'un volet de la solution pour résoudre
une question d'ordre social, donner la possibilité aux formatrices et
formateurs de se ressourcer physiquement, psychologiquement et spirituellement,
établir des liens avec des organismes communautaires et des
réseaux de soutien, tracer des liens plus étroits entre la
théorie et la pratique en ce qui concerne l'éducation des adultes
et continuer les recherches pour remettre en question l'optique masculine
traditionnelle sur l'éducation des adultes. |
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