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Publication

The comprehensive role repertoire of the non-formal adult educator

Journal Contribution - Journal Article

Changes in society led to a new decree on socio-cultural work with adults in Flanders. This resulted in the foundation of a new type of organisations in non-formal education: locally oriented 'folkhighschools' or rather adult education centres. They organise, structure and coordinate the non-formal educational offer in a limited area. But next to this, they cover a wide range of activities that sometimes can more be linked to community education, education as animation, social action and enhancing cultural participation. The research gathers information about how socio-cultural adult educators stay current in this fundamentally changing profession. We wanted to obtain information about how these practitioners - those who develop and manage learning opportunities in the field, thought about the principles, qualities and constraints of the educational function of socio-cultural activities for adults. By questioning this professional community, we wanted to close the gap often ignored in scientific literature - an omission which is incongruous with the fact that socio-cultural field practice typically allows its professionals great autonomy and extensive room for decision-making. Moreover, rendering non-formal educational practices visible, and naming them, might possibly contribute substantially to attempts to professionalize in a context-sensitive way and to socially legitimise this field.

Research design and data collection analyse

A face-to-face survey instrument operationalising 10 elements of professionalism was administered to the 116 educators populating the 13 community education centres across Flanders and Brussels, yielding a 96.5 percent response rate. Respondents assessed items on policy measures and global perspectives, conditions for professional development, job satisfaction, job motivation, external appreciation, sources of competences and skills, innovative methods and practices, professional roles, and normative characteristics.
We approached the professional community and its organisational forms as a kind of 'system' which is continuously attributing new meanings to its activities and its position and implementing operative adaptations, by self-managing as well as relative to and in communication with external impulses (Luhman, 1988; Devereux, 1978). In this contribution we will only elaborate on the findings concerning the professional roles adult educators fulfil, and 'should' fulfil (according to the professional community itself).


Findings and discussion


The comprehensive role repertoire of the non-formal adult educator

Out of the study emerges a comprehensive role repertoire as the strength of the non-formal adult educator. Professionals use and combine different roles, positions and perspectives, depending on the given situation, the characteristics of participants, the themes on the agenda... Questioning these different and differing roles allows us to see with which roles the respondents identify, and what kind of professional self image emerges from these identifications. We also asked 'how it should be', questioning which roles should get more attention in their changing professional and societal position.
Fenwick (in Knockaert, 2005) has done research on the self image of adult educators using four metaphors: adventure guides, outfitters, firestarters and caregivers. Theile (ibid.) describes in the paper "On the significance of the changing professional identities especially for future competence of adult educator" the multifunctionality of the adult educator through 3 professional roles: teacher, animator and advisor. McLagan's (ibid.) distinguishes 15 roles categorized into 4 dimensions: "managers, learning specialists, instructional designers and consultants". One can find a multiplicity of articulated roles of adult educators. But seldom are these developed on an empirical base. Because of this, we didn't opt for just one of the existing models. Instead we combined the roles found in literature and other research with these found in the semi-structured interviews, what summed up to 21 different professional roles which were questioned. Although they form, together, a collection from which workers can draw and combine, we went also looking for larger patterns of role use (Verzelen, 2005:41).
In the shift of current executed roles to roles that should be more incorporated in the future, we see that the current roles stay important, but 'to enthuse and encourage' scores highest, 'to explore and pioneer' increases considerably, and 2 new professional roles emerge in the high scores: networker and process guide.
From the shift between the current and desirable role execution we can learn that the roles process guide, networker, 'to enthuse and encourage', innovator and researcher, and 'to explore and pioneer' should be more incorporated in the practices. We could determine that the degree of agreement in the population on what roles should be executed more is much higher than the role execution of members of the population in the current situation.
In our research design we opted for a questionable maximalisation of professional roles that non formal adult educators exercise. Out of this exploration of multiple roles, we used the results to look for properties that could allow us to model the role use.
A factor structure containing 6 factors was withheld as an interpretable model, explaining 76,5% of the total variance. We used this model as an explorative instrument, validating it because of its interpretability in the context of existing theories.
Underlying 15 of the 21 questioned roles; we found 6 properties which show consistency in a varying degree. We list them and give our theoretical interpretation by appointing each consistency:
Latent variables which model aspects of professional roles:
1. In the structure teacher, process guide, methodical learning specialist and course guide, we can recognize underlying a course-oriented professional role. This denomination indicates on giving and guiding courses, including aspects of process and method. Sum scale: Cronbach's Alpha > or = 80%.
2. In the structure 'to connect and build bridges between people', communicator, 'to mediate and orientate' and networker, we can recognize underlying an intermediate professional role. All roles here involve an 'in between'-position, and are determined by agogical core processes. Sum scale: Cronbach's Alpha > or = 70%.
3. In the structure process guide, group worker, methodical learning specialist and 'to enthuse and encourage', we can recognize underlying a group-oriented approach. Together these roles include the aspects of socio-cultural group work (Larock, 2005:203-227). Sum scale: Cronbach's Alpha > or = 70%.
4. In the structure 'to explore and pioneer', 'to connect and build bridges between people', innovator and researcher, 'to enthuse and encourage' and networker, we can recognize underlying an orientation on social renewal as a professional role. These roles together show aspects of the well-known social laboratory function as a core characteristic of socio-cultural work. Sum scale: Cronbach's Alpha > or = 70%.
5. In the structure 'to connect and build bridges between people', 'to enthuse and encourage', spokesman and revolutionary, we can recognize an orientation on social action as a professional role. This social role is not particularly oriented on change or social renewal.
Sum scale: Cronbach's Alpha > or = 70% in the current situation but the structure loses property (<60%) in the desirable role execution.
6. In the structure substantive learning specialist, innovator and researcher, methodical learning expert and process guide, we can recognize finally an expert-orientation. Cronbach's Alpha > or = 70% in the current situation but here also the structure loses property (<60%) in the desirable role execution.
The first 3 patterns found represent 11 professional roles. The 6 underlying patterns together represent 15 of the 21 roles questioned.
According to the professional community, the ideal socio-cultural educator is an organizer and a group worker who could be more inspiring towards his participants. Communication and connecting people are completed with networking and process guidance. He should have substantive knowledge and methodical expertise, but more than that he should explore and pioneer, with a sense for innovation and a researchers' attitude.
Informal and non formal learning encompasses a diversity of arrangements, actors and practices. It reflects subscribed, emergent and highly contextualized needs, rather than the 'operational' needs of formal education and training policy and practice. The comprehensive role repertoire above makes out the strength of the socio-cultural educator in society and in educational settings, and can be used in variance depending on the situation. According to Verzelen (2005:41) it is needed to develop, through research, more understanding about general patterns of professional roles. The modeling of this diversity that one should acquire partly on the personal level, can also be used as a guidance for teambuilding and for looking into the professional needs of organizations. But also policy-making should allow scope for flexibility, and for instance not privilege initiatives that aim to support transitions between informal learning and formal learning or as pathways to employment.

Highest scores of currently executed professional roles (>40%)%
1. Organizer 61,6
2. Group worker 57,6
3. Communicator 51,0
4. Substantive learning specialist 49,5
5. To connect and build bridges between
people 44,6
6. To enthuse and encourage 44,6
7. To explore and pioneer 43,5


Highest scores of professional roles that should be more incorporated in the future (>66%) %
1. To enthuse and encourage 79,4
2. Organizer 76,8
3. To explore and pioneer 73,9
4. Group worker 72,8
5. To connect and build bridges between people 71,8
6. Communicator 71,7
7. Networker 71,7
8. Process guide 69,3
9. Substantive learning specialist 67,1
Journal: Info Letter (InfoNet)
ISSN: 1868-470X
Keywords:Adult Education, Professionalism
  • ORCID: /0000-0001-8572-8217/work/75014131