Fredrik Sandberg
Associate Professor | Senior Lecturer
Recognition and adult education : an incongruent opportunity
Author
Summary, in English
Building on narratives of students in adult education in Sweden, where the majority of the students are young adults, this paper argues that adult education has both negative and positive aspects in helping individuals to be recognised as valuable. Students, often part of the precariat class, have not always been able to survive in the job market and have a history of failing in upper secondary school. By drawing on the recognition theory of Axel Honneth, the results show that municipal adult education has the potential to be a transitory learning platform in which the individual can regain esteem that has been lost due to unemployment, precarious employment and failure in upper secondary school. It provides temporary stability. Yet, most students are in a sense forced to study and it is not patent that adult education can help them in their struggle for self-actualisation.
Department/s
- Education
Publishing year
2016-09
Language
English
Pages
265-280
Publication/Series
Studies in Continuing Education
Volume
38
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Routledge
Topic
- Educational Sciences
Keywords
- Adult education
- Axel Honneth
- critical social theory
- recognition theory
- the precariat class
- young adults
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0158-037X