Adult education and citizenship

Abstract

It seems that the contemporary world is characterized by both changes and reflections about these changes; moreover, as Giddens (Giddens, 1992) observed, reflexivity is now being institutionalized. Therefore, conscious and responsible discussions of the processes that we witness are one of the main qualities that any adult, and especially adult educators, should be involved with. Moreover, discussions and critical reflection upon a diverse reality is a feature of the critical thinker, as it is a feature of the person who constructs one’s identity consciously (Brookfield, 1995). As a new member of the European Union, both the State of Lithuania (Population: 3.7 million inhabitants; area: 65 thousand sq. km.) and its citizens are challenged by a number of new responsibilities and the ability to exercise these responsibilities is to be acquired. One of these new responsibilities is to exercise national and global citizenship adequately and to initiate reflection on these issues in the process of educating future adult educators. The Aim of this paper is to discuss the relationship between adult education and citizenship, and to present results of a two-stage comparative survey on the prevailing perceptions on the relationship between adult education and citizenship within the context of higher education