Further education and training: What's the outcome? Perspectives from the field.

Like it or not, we do live, learn and work in a capitalist society. A fundamental part of this reality is that the education system is linked to production as a means to serve the economy. Likewise, adult and community education, which is now sometimes positioned under the umbrella of Further Education and Training (FET) can also be seen as a vital part of the capitalist’s machine. In spite of this, many will argue that because community education has its origins rooted in a libratory model for progressive social change, while at the same time cultivating transformative learning and personal growth, that it should remain separate from the needs of the economy. Consequently, adult and community education means different things to different people. However, no matter the viewpoint of its purpose and in many cases adult education as distinct from community education, from which it has borrowed its unique methodologies, has been sculpted and moulded to suit the needs of the learner within the community. This approach recognises the uniqueness of adult learning through critical pedagogy. This study examines the way in which, Irish policy makers informed by the futurologists of the European Union have shifted the agenda of the sector towards supporting the needs of the economy. As a result, it positions the learner in second place to the needs of the economy, thus creating a situation whereby different perspectives and elements of approaches to adult education are now being measured and valued and other aspects are being rendered invisible. However, this has created a paradox and this research explores the realities of this shift in meaning and the affect that this is having on practitioners as they try to maintain their philosophical approach to adult education. This study outlines adult educational policy through a discourse analysis and contains a literature review, which explores perspectives on both adult and community education, with particular attention to the debate on whether the primary focus should be the economic or the social agenda. The findings suggest that because the focus has shifted to performance and outcomes the practitioners working in one particular VTOS centre, on which this case study is based, believe their holistic approach to adult education is no longer valued. As a result, it is being diluted and squeezed out as part of a restructuring process that is being implemented at their centre