Adult and Community Education Defined
Adult Education
UNESCO: "Education specifically targeting individuals who are regarded as adult by the society to which they belong to improve their technical or professional qualifications, further develop their abilities, enrich their knowledge with the purpose to complete a level of formal education, or to acquire knowledge, skills and competencies in a new field or to refresh or update their knowledge in a particular field."
Alternate names: continuing education, recurrent education, second chance education
Put simple: Adult learning for the purpose of self-improvement or advancement.
Image reflects five characteristics of adult learners by M.S. Knowles as part of his Adult Learning Theory (Cloke, 2023).
Community Education
Individuals enhance their lives and communities through opportunities of lifelong learning and collaboration. It is a way of responding to challenges of improving education the local, national, and international levels of society (FAU, n.d.).
Florida Atlantic University defines three components:
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Lifelong learning
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Community Involvement
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Effective use of Resources​
FAU provides ten principles:
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Lifelong learning
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Self-determination
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Self-help
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Leadership Development
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Institutional Responsiveness
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Integrated Delivery of Services
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Localization
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Maximum use of Resources
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Inclusiveness
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Access to Public Information
Beneficial effects of community education (Arja, et. al. 2018).