12 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL STUDIES 5/2012 
Learning of Older Adults in Community
(Editorial)
Population aging and, consequently, the emergence of elderly societies in 
developed western countries constitute a reality that demographic, social, eco-
nomic, and educational policies have been addressing ever more directly at both 
national and supranational levels. The fact that the year 2012 has been declared 
the European Year of Active Aging and Solidarity between Generations testifies 
to the awareness that these are issues concerning the whole population, that is, 
all generations, and that they have a relevance that reaches beyond the borders 
of nation states. The year has been marked by many activities intended to raise 
awareness and to change attitudes towards old age, aging and the elderly – nothing 
new per se, since the field has already been developing for some decades, as a 
number of scientific publications will demonstrate (see, for instance, Hlebec 2009; 
Hlebec et al. 2012; Kump and Jelenc Krašovec 2010; Ličen and Gubalova 2010; 
Ramovš 2003). In Slovenia, the year 2012 has included an international scientific 
conference organized within the European Society for Research on the Education 
of Adults (ESREA), more specifically the ELOA (Education and Learning of Older 
Adults) network, called “Intergenerational solidarity and education of older adults 
in community”. The research findings presented at the conference concerning 
older adult education and intergenerational education, in connection with aging 
and the role of different activities in the process of older adults’ participation 
in community and society as a whole, suggest that learning and education – as 
important supporting and accompanying activities – are gaining an especially 
relevant place in the provision of activities for the elderly (Jelenc Krašovec and 
Radovan 2012). Despite the very rapid development in this area of expertise, 
older adult education remains a marginal activity politically. Its marginal posi-
tion is reinforced through insufficient funding of older adult education, as well as 
inadequate legal regulation of the field. Conclusions reached by various authors 
suggest that this is characteristic of several European countries (Findsen and 
Formosa 2011; Withnall 2010).
The development of older adult education poses a variety of challenges, in-
cluding changing terminology and developing the concepts related to the role of 
older adult education. It is for this reason that the relevance and implementation 
possibilities of the principles of critical (educational) gerontology are being brought 
into discussion (Estes 2011; Formosa 2011), in addition to the significance and 
drawbacks of the (politically colored) concept of active aging (e.g., Boudiny and 
Mortelmans 2011). Critical authors have described the concept of active aging as 
an enforced theoretical strategy to encourage older adults, after long periods of 
work and with increasingly late retirements, to participate in further social activi-
ties – while being as independent and proactive as possible. Needless to say, this 
process requires education. Studies of older adult education place special emphasis 

Editorial – Sabina Jelenc Krašovec, Valentina Hlebec 13
on older adults’ activities in local communities, pointing to the difficulties arising 
from the inadequate opportunities offered by older adult educational programs, 
which do not actually reflect the needs of older adults. Furthermore, the studies 
critically assess the focus on caring activities for the elderly (Withnall 2010) and 
the neglect of other needs that older people in a community may have (e.g., the 
need for learning and creative socialization, etc.) (Field 2009). Consequently, it 
is important to inquire whether the offer of older adult education, in accordance 
with the principles of critical educational gerontology, includes increasing social 
awareness of older adults as a collective body, one that is not merely a receiver of 
assistance, but also a subject in the process of social transformation.
This issue of the “Journal of Contemporary Educational Studies” is the out-
come of a scientific collaboration between European experts working in the field 
of older adult education. It presents certain dilemmas about the development of 
the field and, by raising the issues it does, identifies the pertinent questions sur-
rounding older adult education, and opens up the possibility of setting concrete 
goals for the future. For this to succeed, a more comprehensive and multidimen-
sional expertise, along with political support for older adult education at national 
and supranational levels, is essential.
Marvin Formosa’s article “Critical Geragogy: Situating Theory in Practice” 
demonstrates convincingly that older adult education is an area characterized by 
remarkable development. The article provides an insight into concepts such as 
educational gerontology, critical educational gerontology, geragogy, and critical 
geragogy, illustrating a possible implementation of the concepts in practice through 
an actual educational program. Educational gerontology, combining adult educa-
tion with social gerontology, emphasizes the importance of education in reducing 
the marginalization of older adults, which is the result of economic, social, po-
litical, and cultural factors operating in society. It also maintains that education 
in later life depends on the individual’s education over the course of his or her life 
(Glendenning 2000). Critical educational gerontology, originating in the radical 
attempt to overcome the oppression that forces the elderly into ignorance, poverty, 
and helplessness, asserts that older adults control their own thinking and learning, 
and also have the opportunity for further development, thinking, inquiring, and 
reflecting upon what they already know or upon new learning contents. Formosa 
has elsewhere (Formosa 2011) argued the importance of applying the principles of 
critical educational gerontology, including the implementation of adequate policies 
and the rejection of the view that any type of education empowers older people. 
Formosa highlights the significance of reaching out to all distinct segments of 
older people, with the elderly themselves playing an important role; in addition, 
a self-help culture should also be embraced. Finally, when practicing critical 
educational gerontology, “progressive” movement (including counter-hegemonic 
activities) should be supported. One paradigm of critical educational gerontology 
is critical geragogy, which has been defined as the educational practice of critical 
educational gerontology, the aim of which is the emancipation, empowerment and 
influencing of older adults (Glendenning and Battersby 1990). Critical geragogy 
conceptualizes teaching and learning as a collective and negotiated enterprise 

14 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL STUDIES 5/2012 
among older adults, who are thus able to gain more power and control over all 
aspects of the educational activities, including the contents, organization, and 
planning of learning programs.
The contribution “Older Learners in the Community? Provocative Reflections 
on the Situation of Older Adults in Portugal” by António Fragoso warns of the 
effects of population aging in Portugal, especially the growing share of the oldest 
citizens, and the consequent problems they are faced with. The author pays spe-
cial attention to their loneliness and exclusion from the community. Fragoso also 
stresses the issue of increasing institutionalization of the elderly (he uses the term 
“institutional families”), which mostly affects the oldest segment of the elderly 
adult population, primarily widowed individuals with low levels of education, who 
are often illiterate, increasingly excluded from their communities, and directed 
toward something not dissimilar to “warehouses” for the poor. Analyses show that 
European nation states are reaching a situation already familiar for some time in 
countries such as Japan, where population aging has a clear correlation with the 
loneliness and exclusion of older people in communities (Sawano 2012). Moreover, 
this is strongly exacerbated by inadequate social and educational state policies, 
based on neoliberal principles. Fragoso finds that older people with low levels of 
education in Portugal do not participate in community education, and asks how 
this problem could be approached. What should the educational programs consist 
of for these, usually excluded, older adults? He considers community a space of 
conflict rather than a space of consensus where conflicts could easily be resolved, 
and where one could appeal to an overall sense of belonging. A consideration of 
community development in Portugal encourages a debate on the opportunities it 
offers for formal and non-formal education, as well as informal learning, for older 
people in a community. Through this process, the elderly are able to participate 
actively in community development and improve their own position within the 
community. Over two decades ago, Glendenning and Battersby (1990) emphasized 
that the majority of older adult educational programs were based on false assump-
tions. According to them, it was widely believed that the learning abilities of older 
people slowed down, that any type of education encouraged the emancipation and 
empowerment of the elderly, and that older people were a homogenous group with 
similar motives for education. The authors also stated that another false presump-
tion was often made, namely that most older adult education was conducted in the 
interests of older people. The majority of experts addressing these issues today 
believe that older adult education has not yet rectified the errors, and that these 
educational programs are still far from being diverse, accessible, and emancipa-
tory enough, thus failing to meet the different needs of different older people.
The offering of educational programs for the elderly and the programs’ 
suitability for their needs are the topics of the two articles written by Slovenian 
authors. In “Older Adult Education and the Well-Being of Local Communities” 
Sonja Kump and Sabina Jelenc Krašovec examine the extent to which the 
availability of older adult education in Slovenia depends on the levels of well-
being in the municipality (Rovan et al. 2009). They also look into the question 
of whether the levels of urbanity or rurality define the availability and content 

Editorial – Sabina Jelenc Krašovec, Valentina Hlebec 15
of older adult education. The authors presuppose that Slovenian municipalities 
with higher levels of well-being provide better possibilities in terms of older adult 
education. At the very beginning of their study, however, they find that adult 
education remains largely ignored as a factor in ascertaining the levels of well-
being within municipalities; it is therefore absent from the set of indicators of 
well-being. The authors inquire as to whether the offer of older adult education 
is based on the established needs of older people for education, and whether it 
encourages older people’s independence, social inclusion, understanding of and 
respect for diversity, and personal growth in later life (cf. Withnall 2010, p. 14). 
Conducting a case study, they conclude that in the selected communities, the key 
factor influencing the diversity and quality of older adult educational is the ru-
rality or urbanity of the community. The extent of the need for education is only 
rarely established, with availability being fairly random and/or dependent on the 
capabilities of community organizations. The authors also write that the offerings 
from educational organizations tend to be directed towards educated women, with 
various associations typically providing gendered activities. Just as Formosa (2011) 
describes education in Malta, the two Slovenian authors conclude that, in general, 
educational programs in the selected Slovenian communities are not developed 
in accordance with the principles of critical educational gerontology, the objective 
of which is to use education to provide older adults with better control of their 
knowledge and thinking.
Gabi Ogulin Počrvina’s article “Education of Older Adults in Rural Areas 
at Adult Education Centers in Southeastern Slovenia” discusses the availability of 
older adult education in the selected area of Slovenia. The author asserts that older 
adults are not treated as a priority target group in national or European educational 
policy documents. As a result, national strategies for the development of older 
adult education remain uncoordinated, inconsistent, and unfocused. The author 
investigates whether educational opportunities in communities, and especially in 
universities of the third age and adult education centers throughout south-eastern 
Slovenia, respond to the needs of the elderly living there. She also attempts to answer 
the question of how much older people actually strive to influence the educational 
offer. She concludes that the offer is predominantly shaped by those participating 
in education, which underlines the already well-known problem: the elderly who do 
not participate in the educational activities provided have no real influence on the 
development and change of the offer. Furthermore, this is before we mention the 
fact that the inclusion of these groups would require completely different stimuli 
and motivational levers to be included in community activities. G. Ogulin Počrvina 
also finds that level of education and socio-economic position are the factors with 
the biggest influence on older people’s participation, and readiness for active parti-
cipation, in education.
The thematic section is concluded with Ann-Kristin Boström’s contribution on 
“Adult Learning in a European Context”. The author examines the degree to which 
the documents and strategies of supranational organizations such as the OECD, 
the EU, the WHO, etc., incorporate older adult education and intergenerational 
learning. She evaluates the concepts related to older adult and intergenerational 

16 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL STUDIES 5/2012 
education according to two aspects of lifelong learning – lifelong and lifewide – and 
the possibilities of establishing social networks, strengthening social cohesion, and 
improving the quality of life and well-being in a community. She perceives com-
munity well-being as accumulated social capital, established through networks in 
the community. Older adults’ formal and non-formal education, as well as informal 
learning, are all very important; which of these an individual will opt for depends 
on his/her needs and the contexts in which the individual lives. 
Although the articles published in this issue of the “Journal of Contempo-
rary Educational Studies” only address some of the currently topical questions 
related to older adult education, there is no doubt that they have great potential 
for further lively debate.
Accompanying the thematic section is a non-thematic contribution “The 
Effect of Preschool on the Reading Literacy of 15-Year-Olds: A Secondary Analysis 
of PISA 2009” by Ljubica Marjanovič Umek, Katja Grgić and Ajda Pfifer. 
Having analyzed the results of the 2009 PISA international comparative study, 
the authors show that in the majority of countries, the 15-year-olds who attend 
preschool for more than one year score higher in reading literacy than their peers 
who do not attend preschool or only attend it for one year or less. In addition to 
attending preschool, a higher level of reading literacy depends crucially on encour-
aging economic, social and cultural environments. The authors also emphasize 
that preschool participation in itself is not a sufficient indicator. Rather, other 
key structural indicators of preschool quality need to be analyzed: the length of 
preschool attendance, the ratio of the number of adults to children in a group, 
as well as certain other indicators (e.g., preschool teachers’ education levels, the 
number of children in a group, etc.). Although Slovenia maintains standards 
similar to those in the Nordic countries, the impact of preschool in Slovenia on the 
reading achievements of 15-year-olds is not as strong as it is in those countries. 
As a final point, the authors underline some of the legal solutions conceptualized 
in the new “White Paper on Education in the Republic of Slovenia”, which could 
contribute to greater fairness in preschools.
      Sabina Jelenc Krašovec, Ph.D.
      Valentina Hlebec, Ph.D.
      Editors of the thematic issue
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