George Zarifis

• PhD in Continuing Education
• Professor (Associate) at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

The development of literacy policies and targeted initiatives for adults with low skills has largely passed unnoticed in south-eastern Europe for the last decade. Despite the existing policies and strategies, most countries in the area do not place literacy for low-skilled adults as a priority. However, the latest PIAAC results, the high influx of...

This open access book sheds light on a range of complex interdependencies between adult education, young adults in vulnerable situations and active citizenship. Adult education has been increasingly recognized as a means to engage and re-engage young adults and facilitate their life chances and social inclusion thus contributing to an active citize...

This chapter provides insight into the rationale, background and key concepts of the book and will discuss relevant theoretical considerations, contexts and discourses. The complexity surrounding the conceptual understanding of active citizenship, adult education and vulnerability will be considered, and approaches towards achieving a shared unders...

The development of policies and targeted initiatives that promote or support active participatory citizenship for vulnerable young adults with low skills has largely passed unnoticed in Southern Europe in the last decade. Despite the existing lifelong learning (LLL) strategies, most countries in the area do not place active citizenship for low-skil...

The chapter draws the lines of discussion of the book together and scrutinises the findings from the perspectives motivating the EduMAP study. A multiplicity of adult education policies, programmes and actions presented in the book sought answers to the question: What policies and practices are needed in the field of adult education to include youn...

Information communication technologies have undoubtedly affected the discipline of career counselling. Nevertheless, online career counselling remains a rather limited practice in Greece; therefore, the chapter attempts to contribute to the wider dialogue that has been addressed so far, by focusing on the design, implementation, and assessment of a...

The development of policies and targeted initiatives that promote or supportactive participatory citizenship for vulnerable young adults with low skills has largely passed unnoticed in Southern Europe in the last decade. Despite the existing lifelonglearning (LLL) strategies, most countries in the area do not place active citizenship forlow-skilled...

Adult educators have often acquired expertise within a subject area in the the course of their initial studies, but often lack formal preparation for teaching adults prior to entering the profession and at its outset. Hence, it is worth questioning how prospective adult educators prepare themselves to perform according to high-quality standards in...

In the chapter, we sum up the conclusions by critically reflecting on the professionalisation of adult educators in higher education and highlight the different providers, activities, frameworks, and research results for supporting the professionalisation and development of academic programs for adult educators in universities around Europe.

The context of adult education becomes more socially and culturally complex and poses many different options for the professionalisation of adult educators and adult education professionals. In this final chapter, we reflect on the meanings of the professionalisation of adult educators in the context of higher education and summarise the contributi...

This collection of essays focuses on the important, but under-discussed, role of higher education institutions in both delivering academic programmes that provide relevant cognitive and professional skills and competences to future adult educators, and in being more actively involved in the current dialogue with regard to the professionalization pa...

The first chapter of the book sets the background for the exploration of the role of higher education in the professionalisation of adult educators. In particular, it presents the rationale and justifies why it is important and with what ways higher education institutions contribute towards the process of professionalisation of the educators of adu...

Information communication technologies have undoubtedly affected the discipline of career counselling. Nevertheless, online career counselling remains a rather limited practice in Greece; therefore, the chapter attempts to contribute to the wider dialogue that has been addressed so far, by focusing on the design, implementation, and assessment of a...

Based on the preliminary results of the European research project EduMAP the chapter discusses the widely recognised yet weakened position of active participatory citizenship and its role in the current debate on the responsibility of adult education as a medium for empowerment and emancipation from prioritised neo-liberal values. The initial focus...

Introduction There is only one meaningful mission for adult education – for all education that matters perhaps – and that is to empower learners towards making meaning of the world and their condition and to emancipate them from all that oppresses them. This is not a new concept, but the role of adult education as a medium for empowerment and emanc...

Neoliberalism has been widely criticised because of its role in prioritising ‘free markets’ as the optimum way of solving problems and organising society. In the field of education, this leads to an emphasis on the knowledge economy that can reduce both persons and education to economic actors and be detrimental to wider social and ethical goals. D...

Vocational Education and training (VET) is an educational route which ought to be designed so as to become an attractive choice. Improving the attractiveness of VET has been a major item on the European agenda for economic and social development. The European Parliament’s Resolution urges the member states to promote the attractiveness of VET. The...

Based on a small number of European studies and relevant policy documents and literature this chapter critically explores the idea of reimagining school as a space for building learning partnerships. The EU has already proposed that schools and training centres should be developed into multi-purpose local learning centres accessible to all, using t...

This chapter examines the various aspects of older adults learning in Greece and Cyprus in a time of social and economic crisis. It reflects on the role of social-care formations and policy initiatives that have influenced the lives and attitudes of older adults, and considers some important and intertwining factors that characterize older adults’...

This book critically reflects on the context in which lifelong learning policies and practices are organized in Europe with contributions of researchers and policy makers in the field. Through a critical lens the book reinterprets the core content of the messages that are conveyed by the European Commission in the “Memorandum for Lifelong Learning”...

This is a review of the main issues and challenges as these appear in the book, but also a presentation of a revised framework for a European Area of Lifelong Learning from the people and for the people.

This article reflects on the findings of the Research voor Beleid (RvB) study for the second phase of the assessment of the ‘Impact of ongoing reforms in education and training on adult learning sector’ (2010), with particular focus on adult participation in education in three EU Member States in south-eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece)....

This paper presents the results of the process of building self-efficacy for self-direction scales for disadvantage seniors in health, activity, education, citizenship and finances in six European countries. This process corresponds to the development of a work package of the PALADIN European project (Promoting Active Learning and Ageing of Disadva...

The paper reports the findings of a research project that seeks to explore and understand adult educators’ and learners’ experiences and perceptions of distance learning courses in the Open University of Cyprus and the Hellenic Open University. The ultimate aim of the paper is to unveil and illuminate some of the adult distance teaching and learnin...

This book is entirely devoted to issues of quality on the education and training of the adult educator in Europe. The meeting was a forum for exchanging theoretical considerations and empirical evidence, between researchers studying the different roles and tasks of the adult educator and trainer and the ways that these are assessed. The meeting als...

Since 2000, the European Union has given greater attention to lifelong learning, as expressed in the Lisbon presidency conclusions and the general objectives of the Education and Training 2010 work programme. In September 2007, these policy proposals were further strengthened with the announcement of the ‘Action Plan on Adult Learning’ that sets ou...

This paper presents a comparative examination of four local learning centres that provide learning opportunities throughout life in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. The paper aims to assess some of the strengths and weaknesses of different types of local learning centres and partnerships in South-Eastern Europe—in line with the value and impact...

November 1997 witnessed the formation of the Balkan Society for Pedagogy and Education (BA.SO.P.ED) in Thessaloniki, with the support of individual academics and pedagogues from many Balkan Universities and research institutes, but also with the participation of representatives of Educational Societies from Albania, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslav Republ...

In 1992, the National System of Vocational Education Training (ESEEK) was established by law 2009/92 to enhance the training of the middle-echelon workforce in the context of competitiveness for economic growth within the single European market. The Organisation for Vocational Education Training (OEEK), a legal entity created by the same law, was c...

In this article the author looks at the extent to which European Union (EU) suggestions for Vocational Education and Training (VET) policy development for young people, are translated in the context of convergence, as the result of an international trend for adaptation of common policies towards integration. The article traces issues that describe...