THE EFFECT OF GLOBALIZATION ON MAINTENANCE AND SUSTENANCE OF ADULT EDUCATION

Introduction

1.1 Background Of The Study

Globalization is a complex phenomenon that has had far-reaching effects in Adult Education. Not surprisingly, therefore, the term “globalization” has acquired many emotive connotations. At one extreme, globalization is seen as an irresistible and benign force for delivering economic prosperity to people throughout the world. At the other, it is blamed as a source of all contemporary ills.

To different scholars, the definition of globalization may be different. According to Cheng (2000), it may refer to the transfer, adaptation, and development of values, knowledge, technology, and behavioural norms across countries and societies in different parts of the world. The typical phenomena and characteristics associated with globalization include growth of global networking (e.g. internet, world wide e-communication, and transportation), global transfer and interflow in technological, economic, social, political, cultural, and learning areas, international alliances and competitions, international collaboration and exchange, global village, multicultural integration, and use of international standards and benchmarks.

UNDP in Human Development Report (1999) describes globalization as the increasing interdependence of the world’s inhabitants, on an economic, technological, cultural, as well as political level. It is seen as a general tendency towards the liberalization of economic trade, a wider circulation of capital, goods and products, and a quasi-abolition of national borders. The speed of communication and the relatively low cost of processing information have caused distances to be eliminated. The categories of time and space have been completely overturned. Models of consumption, values, and standardized cultural products thus tending to make behaviours and attitudes more similar and Wipe out differences across the globe.

People can only contribute and benefit from globalization if they endowed with knowledge, skills and with the capabilities and rights needed to pursue their basic livelihoods. They need employment and incomes, and a healthy environment. These are the essential condition which empower them to participate fully as citizens in their local, national and global communities. These goals, can only be reached if national governments allocate adequate resources to education, basic infrastructure and the environment, and create the institutional framework which ensures broad access and opportunity.

1. Global sharing of knowledge, skills, and intellectual assets that are necessary to multiple developments at different levels;
2. Mutual support supplement and benefit to· produce synergy for various developments of countries, communities, and individuals;
3. Creating values and enhancing efficiency through the above global sharing and mutual support to serving local needs and growth;
4. Promoting international understanding, collaboration, harmony, and acceptance to cultural diversity across countries and regions.
5. Facilitating communications, interactions, and encouraging multicultural contributions at different levels among countries.

At the same time, globalization, potentially creating serious negative impacts for developing and underdeveloped countries. This is also the major reason why there have been so many ongoing social movements in different parts of the world against the trends of globalization’ particularly in economic and political areas. The potential negative impacts of globalization are various types of political, economic, and cultural colonization and overwhelming influences of advanced countries to developing countries and rapidly increasing gaps between rich areas and poor areas in’ different parts of the world. In particular, the potential negative impacts include the following:

1. Increasing the technological gaps and digital divides between advanced countries and less developed countries;
2. Creating more legitimate opportunities for a few advanced countries for a new form of colonization of developing countries;
3. Increasing inequalities and conflicts between areas and cultures; and.
4. Promoting the dominant cultures and values of some advanced areas.

Many people believe that, education is one of key local factors that can be used to moderate some impacts of globalization from negative to positive and converts threats into opportunities for the depot for the development of individuals and local community in the inevitable process of globalization. How to maximize the positive effects and minimize the negative impacts of globalisation is a major concern in current educational reform for national and given the phenomenon of “globalization”, economic growth of the last decades has been accompanied by a worsening of inequalities in the world and in particular, inequalities of access to knowledge.

Integration into world economy todays implies not only mastery of traditional knowledge but also the capacity to acquire the’ new skills required by a knowledge society. It is therefore evident that an unequal sharing of the new communication and information technologies only serves to reinforce existing inequalities.

While education deficits are obviously greater in developing countries, this is a major issue in developed countries as well. In many industrialized countries there is a persistent problem of illiteracy and low skills, which is an important source of social exclusion. Unequal access to education also fuels growing wage inequality and worsens the income distribution. The uneducated and unskilled in industrialized countries face severe disadvantage in an increasingly competitive global market.

However; the provision of both primary and secondary schooling increased during the 90s across the globe, but progress is inadequate and hides the differences between countries and regions. The OECD countries, for example spend 100 times more per pupil in primary and secondary education than low-income countries. There are many evidences indicating that the more rapid progress is possible if the political will and the resources exist, in high- and low- income countries alike.

All countries which have benefited from globalization have invested significantly in their education and training systems. Today women and men need broad based skills which can be adapted to rapidly changing economic requirements as well as appropriate basic skills which enable them to benefit from information technology, increasing their ability to overcome barriers of distance and budgetary limitations. While Internet technology is not particularly capital-intensive, it is very human capital-intensive. Sound education policy also provides an important instrument to offset the negative impacts of globalization, such as increasing income inequalities, with effects which may ultimately be stronger than labour market policies.

Education is a core element of society, and the foundation of democratic choice. The large differences in opportunities in education “between countries are one of the basic causes of global inequality. Furthermore, international migration allows rich countries to benefit from the investments in human capital made in poor countries − giving them a responsibility to support the education systems where those investments are made.

The development of a national qualifications framework is also an important foundation for participation in the global economy, since it facilitates lifelong learning, helps match skill demand and supply, and guides individuals in their choice of career. Access to training and skills development for women is often hindered by family commitments, indicating a need for childcare facilities and possibilities for distance learning. Other priorities include recognition and upgrading of skills for workers in the informal economy and the adaptation of training to accommodate workers with no formal education.

In today’s global economy and information society, knowledge and information are the keys to social inclusion and productivity, and connectivity is the key to global competitiveness. Yet in our unequal world the networked economy is able to incorporate all that it regards as valuable, but also to switch off people and parts of the world that do not fit the dominant model.

Technological capability is essential. Countries need the communications infrastructure and the production system which can process and use information for development; and people, must have access to the knowledge and the ability to use it, in order to participate, take advantage of and be creative in the new technological environment. That puts education and skills at the centre of a fair and inclusive globalization.

Online distance learning could become a powerful tool for developing countries − reducing the need for expensive physical infrastructure for tertiary and vocational educational facilities and enabling investments to be made instead in communications equipment, with curricula and teaching provided through regional initiatives. The Global Distance Learning Network (GDLN) is one such initiative. It is a worldwide network of institutions which are developing and applying distance learning technologies and methods with a focus on development and poverty reduction.

According to Ilo (2004) that promoting international understanding, collaboration, harmony, and acceptance to cultural diversity across countries and regions by promoting the dominant cultures and values of some advanced areas4 and facilitating multi-way communications and interactions, and encouraging multi-cultural contributions at different levels among countries. Clearly, the management and control of the impacts of globalization are related to some complicated macro and international issues that may be far beyond the scope of this paper.

The increase in poverty in the world is the most tragic phenomenon in this era of abundance, It is the cause of marginalization and the exclusion of increasingly bigger groups of the world population and in particular, affects children, the young, and women, As a consequence, we see the development’ of cultures of poverty and marginalization that lock the same people into the cycle of poverty and reinforce their exclusion,

But it is ‘Still the inequality with regard to knowledge that constitutes one of the biggest challenges of our societies, The traditional raw materials and non renewable natural resources under threat of extinction no longer occupy the most important place in the process of production and development. It is knowledge in itself that has become one of the key resources of economic growth, We thus see a new category of workers appearing on the scene, “knowledge workers”, Without knowledge, you are subject to marginalization and progressive exclusion, but the corollary is also true, “The higher the level of education and training of a country’s population, the more chances a nation has of seizing opportunities and minimizing the social cost of technological change and the transition towards a more open economy”.

Education has been proclaimed an integral part of human rights: “It must be free and compulsory with regards to basic, elementary teaching, Vocational and technological teaching must be widely available and access to higher education available to all equally, on the basis of merit.”6 Education is also the driving force behind economic growth and human and cultural development. The application of policies of compulsory basic education’ for all and investment in quality teaching have meant governments and experts have been able to measure the impact on populations and the society as a whole, That impact can be seen in improvement in health, lowering of the rate of demographic growth, reduction of child mortality and increase in life expectancy, Education also means that populations become aware of their rights and obligations as citizens and are thus able to participate actively in the construction and management of life in their communities.

According to studies undertaken by UNESCO (1999) as well as by UNDP (1999) the world economic crisis, which dominated the eighties, spread in virtue of the constraints imposed by economic globalization, It was also pointed out that “the process of restructuring and social adjustment that have taken place in most countries and are still taking place in some, seem to have had a lasting effect on national politics at the expense of education”. The education sector has not yet acquired the right to benefit from special treatment or to be exonerated from the application of policies limiting public expenditure in general.

According to UNESCO in Oladapo (2002) adult education is the entire body of organized educational process whatever the content, level and method, whether formal or· otherwise, whether prolonged or replaced initial education in schools, colleges and universities as well as apprenticeship where by persons regarded as adults by the society to which they belong develop their abilities, enrich their knowledge improve their technical or professional qualifications or turn them in a new direction and bring about changes on their attitude or behaviour in the two fold perspective of full personal development and participation in balanced and independent social economic and cultural development.

According to Okenimkpe (2003) there are 5 types of adult education

1. Literacy Adult Education
2. Remedial Adult Education
3. Vocational Adult Education
4. Leisure Adult Education
5. Foundation/fundamental Adult Education

Literacy includes both initial basic and post literacy, foundation/fundamental includes community development, health extension, family planning, civic and political education, women’s education workers education, nomadic education. Vocational education which includes on the job training, agric extension, folk school, continuing education correspondence education, extramural studies, open universities e.t.c. Leisure or Liberal adult education which includes continuing education, evening schools, extension education, aesthetic programme, folk school. Remedial adult education which includes all forms of education acquired to remedy a deficiency.

The impact adult education has on the individual can not be overlooked. It builds the adult, it up grades the adult. Through adult education literacy class, the literates are able to read, write and compute, through this they acquire first hand information on what is going on around them they are able to contribute toward their society and the nation at large.

Through continuing adult education programmes, the individuals are able to increase their knowledge and skills, this increases their productivity as they go through life. Vocational education introduces the individual to new technological training programmes and refresher courses that will update his knowledge and skills.

Foundation/fundamental adult education enables the individual to cope with social and community development because it involves the introduction of new skills, ideas, technique, new ways of thinking and new methods of organization. It does not require any previous educational background. It offers the foundation for a strong and verile community capable of assuming its place and modern world in Oladapo (2008).

Adult education keeps the individual abreast with his rights. The individual is able to live at peace with others in his community, this is because he now knows where his right starts and ends. With the awareness of political education, the individual now understands the right to vote and be voted for this in a way reduces the issues of thuggery in individual communities.

In other words, adult education is important to the economic well being of the individual, it helps him obtain wage employment, the individual who is to be employed needs a bit of literacy to relate with others.

Even in self employment the individuals needs adult education to perform more efficiently and profitably, the mechanic, trader or tailor will carryout their businesses more efficiently if they partake in continuing education.

Adult education aids the individual to gain access to information both by word of mouth and through the media these information are usually useful to the individuals, information about employment opportunities or other business opportunities with adult education the individual is more enlightened about his environment, culture, governance. The individual is able to appreciate and maintain public infrastructure and amenities through the awareness from adult education programmes in his community. Through adult education in individual is able to relate with others and participate in decision making in his community. With adult education the individual is able to accept change and appreciate his environment, he is able to tackle problems as they emerge.

Adult education has helped the individual to know his political, economic, social and civic rights and as such it advocates for removal of inequalities among the people thereby promoting egalitarianism.

1.2 Statement Of Problem

The acquisition of learning materials and development of skills of teaching and institutions for learning, its maintenance and’ sustenance of adult education if found lacking, militates against successful use and application of the learning that has taken place in the learner.

The best and perhaps the easiest way to acquire these skills is through exposure, stimulation and practice.

The more adults are exposed to some fundamental learning and teaching skills, the more they are able to put them into practice from time to time. They will easily master the skills and freely apply them in their solutions of field of work as well as other life problems both socially, economically, politically and technologically. Experience has shown that there is reduction of adults that attend the programme because it is not managed properly in so many of the centres.

As a result, the skills acquired are wasted because there is no where to exhibit them like job opportunities. The adult now feels it’s a waste of time and money and that he had better run around looking for what he will use to cater for his nuclear and extended family’s lives. In setting out a role for adult education, the priorities are as to be identified as:

• Consciousness
• Arising Citizenship
• Cohesion
• Competitiveness
• Community Building

Most Nigerians are not aware of the efficacy of the new technologic in teaching and learning process. Lack of individualized instructions in adult education has not helped the learners to develop their collaborative learning skills, critical skills, individual interests and abilities and rates of learning.

Besides, in this 21st century where globalization (the use of information communication technology in education) has made learning easy, simple for all and sundry. Nigerians lack the orientation and information of globalization on the maintenance and sustenance of her educational tradition, culture and norms (adult education).

The above problem necessitates the researcher to investigate the effects of globalization on the maintenance and sustenance of adult education. The societies do not know that only globalization that can maintain and sustain the adult education.

1.3 Significance Of The Study

The study will be an eye opener to the educational administrators, manager, educators, planners, teachers, students and parents of the positive effects of globalization in the area of maintaining and sustaining the adult education.

Teachers will easily deduce the means and methods of instructional methods, and materials meant for the teaching and learning for adult classes.

The curriculum planners will come to understand the basic machineries, money, men and materials that must be put in place in the educational settings of adult education.

The society and the adult learners will be informed and learn with ease because globalization has made learning interesting and fascinating.

1.4 Purpose Of The Study

The purpose of the study is as follows:

1. To examine the meaning and concepts of globalization.
2. To discuss how globalization relates to adult education.
3. To investigate how globalization can maintain and sustain adults education.
4. To examine the effects of globalization on adult education.

1.5 Research Questions:

The followings are the research questions:

1. What are meanings and concepts of globalization?
2. How does globalization relate to adult education?
3. How can globalization maintain and sustain adu …