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Low-skilled people are very ambivalent towards offers of more education. A special effort regarding motivation and in teaching methods is needed. Especially the Danish “Day Folk High Schools” are able in this field says professor Knud Illeris in this interview.
By Michael Voss
(InfoNet - Denmark) Society is crying for more labour power. Politicians and employers moan because the unemployed are not competent for the available jobs. But how do we educate the people without the necessary skills and competences?
That is the theme of this interview with Knud Illeris*, professor in life long learning at Learning Lab Denmark. Knud Illeris has done research in the field of adult education of low skilled people** for almost 20 years.
Failing
“On the one hand low-skilled people want more education. They know that it is the ticket to a job, better economic situation and more stability. And they want to be able to help their children,” says Knud Illeris.
“But on the other hand they do not feel like learning.
Most of them have in common the subjective experience of failing in school. Some will say that they were not capable in primary school, others that they did not want to learn. Actually it can be two sides of the same coin.
What is important is the fact that they are marked by 9 years’ experience of not being good enough,” says Knud Illeris.
On equal terms
The ambivalence in these people is the reason that the right outreach and motivating effort are so important.
“Many low-skilled people grab any pretext for rejecting offers of education or for dropping out: the venue is not good, too much time for transportation, bad time of the day. Or they feel that the teacher is patronizing them.
It is extremely important that both councillors and teachers are aware of this. They must understand that these people often are very sensitive to being patronized, and that it is based on their experiences from their childhood school,” says Knud Illeris.
He also stresses that the outreach is most effective when done by people, who they see as being on equal terms.
“The manager or the foreman will often be rejected. Usually a proposal from a colleague or perhaps a shop steward about a course will be more successful.”
Offer or placement
In Knud Illeris’ opinion the local authorities for the unemployed in Denmark are not handling this very well:
“The unemployed with little education feel that their own opinion is not taken into consideration. Mostly the problem is lack of time. So they see proposals of education more as a forced “placement” rather than an offer.
For this reason many people will reject the concrete proposal, event though they admit – when interviewed - that after all they would have chosen the very same course, if they have had the chance to decide by themselves.”
Dropping the reins
The ambivalence is still there, when low-skilled people actually join a course:
“On the one hand they expect – and some times demand – that the teacher takes charge and deliver a very structured teaching. On the other hand that is exactly what they cannot stand. It is just like in school.”
The solution – Knud Illeris thinks – is for the teacher to be much in control at the beginning of the course and the little by little dropping the reins.
“And it is important that they tell their students what they are doing – and that they are not patronizing.”
Safe social environment
Among the institutions, offering basic education for low-skilled people, Knud Illeris points to the “Day Folk High Schools”***.
“They are very well geared to the group of people, who have most difficulty in learning.
They understand them and they adjust both counselling and teaching to their needs. For example they are very much aware of talking to the students on equal terms and to let them take responsibility step by step.
The Day Folk High Schools have also managed to create a social environment, where these people feel safe – and that is essential if they shall be able to learn.”
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December 2006
This is an abridged version of the original article in Danish.
The English version is written for ( ) Info Net Adult Education
* More about Knud Illeriis
** A low skilled person is here defined as a person with no formal education beyond 9 years of primary and secondary school.
*** What are Day Folk High Schools
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