Manzanilla

Adult education in the context of marginalized groups of people is known as popular education. Popular education is concerned with social relations and social change (Jackson, 2007). Popular education is a non-formal adult education approach aimed at enabling disadvantaged social actors to critically reflect on the social forces or power dynamics that affect their socioeconomic

circumstances—and to transform these circumstances (Turay, 2005; O’Connor, Flynn,

Weinstock, & Zanoni, 2014). Turay (2005, p. 481) states that “an educational process is regarded as popular if it is liberating, accessible, non-elitist, democratic, experiential, participatory, and based on the needs, aspirations and dreams of the disadvantaged people in society.” Turay maintains that if such educational processes take place, learners will be able to better understand the causes of their social realities. Brazilian adult educator Paulo Freire is widely regarded as the leading proponent of popular education in Latin America (Turay, 2005). Freire claimed that his approach contributed to advancing the education of marginalized classes but also to increasing

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learner/worker awareness of social realities that shape their working and living environments (Turay, 2005; Jackson, 2007; O’Connor et al., 2014). Freire’s approach has been recognized and taught not only in Latin America and Asia but also in places such as Australia, New Zealand, England, the United States, and Canada (Dos Santos, 2008). Freire claimed that for real learning to take place, educational opportunities must link to the personal experiences of workers so that learning becomes more meaningful to them (Rogers, 1992).

For Freire, learning is not only about transmitting knowledge and developing skills that result in behavioural changes but also about teaching and learning how to exercise personal agency to transform the sociopolitical climate at work and in daily life (Hyslop-Margison & Naseem, 2007). For popular education to take place, the collective and democratic participation of different social actors in the community is necessary. This is why organized initiatives at the community level are crucial to promoting such forms of education and development (Cole, 2002; Turay, 2005). Freire’s model, adapted in a variety of forms, has been applied successfully to the education of poor peasants and labourers in many Latin American countries, and particularly in Central America. Given that my research focuses on adult farmworkers who are historically marginalized and have low levels of education and income, Freire’s educational philosophy becomes particularly relevant.

Popular (adult) education exponents argue that typical lecture formats, where instructors

monopolize the ownership, legitimation, and transfer of knowledge, are not effective or adequate for underserved populations such as workers with precarious and temporary employment

(O’Connor et al., 2014). When it comes to putting the insights of popular adult education into practice, OHS education programs require creative trainers who can co-construct knowledge in a more democratic and less hierarchical fashion—with and for the workers (O’Connor et al., 2014). Putting popular education into practice implies encouraging workers to interact among

themselves, to learn from one another by sharing their experiences and perspectives about the problems that they may have in common (O’Connor et al., 2014). Practical training emphasizing participatory demonstrations is one of the best means to transfer knowledge and a vehicle for collaborating to elaborate workable solutions to workplace (health and safety) problems (Cole, 2002; O’Connor et al., 2014).

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Adult Learning Theory. The adult learning theories of American adult educator Malcolm

Knowles complement Freire’s pedagogical philosophy. His observations shed light on how adults learn and his approach puts trainees at the center of the instruction-learning process (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2011). Knowles elaborated his principles of adult learning in the 1970s after observing and experiencing several important social happenings: the arrival of large numbers of immigrants, military conflict, economic depression, the civil rights movement, and the growth of the humanistic movement (Knowles et al., 2011). Knowles and his co-researchers (2011, p. 63- 67) put forward six theoretical principles that are discussed below: 1) the need to know, 2) the learner’s self-concept, 3) the role of experience, 4) readiness to learn, 5) orientation to learning, and, 6) motivation to learn.

1. The Need to Know: This principle suggests that trainees/learners should be informed of the reasons why it is important for them to learn something before the training commences. This step raises awareness and allows workers to distinguish the status quo of their initial sociopolitical circumstances from the conditions that they hope to achieve through educational initiatives.

2. The Learners’ Self-Concept: Adults perceive themselves as capable of directing their lives and, because of that, they tend to want to be in charge of their own learning processes. Those

responsible for offering educational interventions need to create a learning environment where adults have opportunities to co-construct what and how they learn.

3. The Role of Learner Experiences: Adults accumulate more experiences than younger people. Adult education providers need to acknowledge that adult learners are themselves vast

repositories of experience and, as a result, rich sources of knowledge and skills. Further, such experiences have been lived under different socioeconomic circumstances that affect the overall quality of an adult’s life and their identity. Such circumstances help to determine their learning styles, their learning needs and preferences, and their objectives and motivations. However, incorporating trainees’ experiences also poses the challenge of dealing with habits, cultural assumptions, and personal ideas that may not always be positive.

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4. Readiness to Learn: Adults are willing to start learning things that will help them to deal with the real challenges they face in everyday life. Adults are aware that effective learning does not occur instantaneously. They are willing to learn the theory and fundamentals of a given topic before moving onto more advanced applications.

5. Orientation to Learning: Adults are more inclined to identify problems within their work environment and to propose solutions collectively. That said, adults see learning as a problem- solving activity that allows them to put into practice what they learn. If they see no immediate utility to what they learn, their motivation to learn is diminished. This is why, within the field of adult education, it is said that adult education is “life-centered” (p. 66).

6. Motivation: Adults experience external and internal motivators. External motivations include things such as higher wages and salaries, and advancement to more important roles in

organizations. Adults are internally motivated if learning leads to better working and employment conditions that increase their job satisfaction—though learning also has intrinsic rewards in that it increases one’s sense of mastery and raises one’s self-esteem.

Knowles and Freire both argue that education should foster individual, collective, and institutional development (Knowles et al., 2011). They also concur that the sociocultural

conditions of adult learners/trainees should not be ignored. They see adult education as, in part, a process of societal transformation. A key component is consciousness raising about social

circumstances that facilitate or hinder learning and engagement in educational activities as well as other normal expressions of what it means to be a human being (Knowles et al., 2011).

Education, Training, and Learning: Key Concepts. The term education is usually associated with formal systems of schooling (whether privately or publically organized). However, education can also take place in many settings outside of formal schooling systems. Rogers (1992), Youngman (1996), and Spencer and Lange (2014) suggest that education can be conceptualized as the provision of opportunities for participating in any form of organized or intended/planned

interventions useful for learning. In general, education has broader goals than training initiatives do, as the scope of education is usually more comprehensive (Tight, 2002). Education provides a

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knowledge base that supports more theoretically informed explanations and understandings about how and why things occur. Many would argue that genuine education also teaches logical and critical thinking (Rogers & Horrocks, 2010).

Rogers (1992) suggests that training is a subsidiary part of education because it takes the form of relatively short teaching/learning events with narrower goals. Training is focused on more practical, technical, or applied knowledge aimed at the development of specific skills, attitudes, or more efficient practices in the workplace (Rogers, 1992; Wallerstein & Weinger, 1992; Marsick & Volve, 1999; Tight, 2002; Ollagnier, 2005; Alli, 2008; Rogers & Horrocks, 2010). However, focusing narrowly on transferring information and developing skills may lead us to neglect the contextual realities of learners—realities that they will need to engage with in order to advance their lives, and realities that can have profound impacts on training efficacy and

outcomes (Jackson, 2007).

In order to better understand and critique contemporary approaches to training, Ollagnier (2005) focuses attention as well on the macro sociocultural, political, and economic contexts and conditions in which training occurs. He maintains that “in this globalized society, the concept of training is closely linked with skills and expected performance that individuals have to maximize in the labour market and in the workplace” (Ollagnier, 2005, p. 618-619). In other words,

Ollagnier contends that in the context of globalization, training is primarily provided in the interest of economic growth or to help enterprises to be more profitable. Rogers and Horrocks (2010) maintain that such training amounts to “indoctrination” (p. 59 & 184) in that this type of training does not provide sufficient opportunity for reflecting on and thinking critically about what one is learning. Training for the sake of acquiring and developing new skills is not

necessarily a bad thing but should be accompanied by teaching methods that help learners to be creative and to think critically (Rogers & Horrocks, 2010).

With respect to learning, Rogers (1992) and Spencer and Lange (2014) agree that learning is about making changes in the ways we think, feel, behave, and know about ourselves. For Bratton et al. (2004) and Taylor (2005), learning is a process that may last various lengths of time

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efficacy. Bratton et al. (2004) describe the learning climate as the set of physical, individual, and social contexts that either positively or negatively affect the abilities of workers to take advantage of educational opportunities provided at their workplaces or in the community. ‘Climate’ and context are obviously important when we are talking about the learning experiences of migrant farmworkers. Learning (and education) is sometimes said to take three forms that are usually associated with specific kinds of venues or settings: formal, non-formal, and informal learning (Spencer & Lange, 2014, p. 11-12). Formal learning/education implies that learners enroll in a school and are provided with curriculum by an educational institution leading to academic credentials or degrees (Spencer & Lange, 2014). Non-formal and informal learning are more pertinent to this thesis project and have been succinctly explained as follows:

Non-formal learning/education can be organized by educational or non-educational institutions or by groups or other organizations. It is usually non-credential (essentially non-credit), part-time, delivered via linked weekends, day or week- long schools, and targeted to satisfy individual, recreational or social objectives. It is what we have always understood “adult education” to be. In a workplace setting, this could include a couple of half-day sessions learning to use a new computer operating system and figuring out how it would best work at your station. (Spencer & Kelly, 2013, p. 26).

Informal learning can be described as learning that is predominantly unstructured, experiential, and non-institutional. It takes place as people go about their daily activities at work or in other spheres of life. It is driven by people’s choices, preferences, and intentions. Informal workplace learning is often defined in terms of a series of on-the-job activities—the action containers, if you will, for such learning. But this kind of definition covers only the surface of learning—what people see when they watch someone else learn (Marsick & Volpe, 1999, p. 4). Informal learning can be conscious (explicit) and/or incidental/accidental (tacit). For example, a worker may learn on the job how to operate a machine, or what is expected at team or unions meetings, s/he will learn by observation, participation and through the experience of the work (Spencer & Kelly, 2013, p. 26). It is the learning that goes on daily, individually, and in groups. For example, a local environmental action group (or individuals in the group) might learn how to organize meetings, prepare submissions, or write newsletters as an integral part of their group activities. (Spencer & Lange, 2014, p. 12).