In Slovakia, as in other countries (and even in developing countries such as India, China, Korea), the number of seniors is also growing in the member states of the European Union. This is clearly shown by the demographic development of the population. According to Eurostat data (2014), in the European Union over the past fifty years the average life expectancy increased by ten years on average, and in 2012 reached the level of 80.3 years, and according to the forecast it will continue to rise. By 2080, the number of people older than 80 should double, making seniors the fastest-growing age group of all.

This is mainly due to the fact that quality of life is rapidly increasing as a result of medical and technological progress. For this reason, aging of the population should be seen as a natural phenomenon.

Education itself has long been perceived as a human need and is by no means considered exclusively a professional matter, and the idea that education belongs only to childhood and youth has long since been surpassed. Lifelong education and learning of seniors is an inseparable part of this understanding.

Education of seniors provides broad space for the application of pedagogical and social knowledge. A nationwide problem has become demographic anxiety due to population aging. One alternative to prevent, or at least to mitigate this phenomenon, is intensive preparation of future seniors for aging and for their own old age. What about the education of seniors in social service facilities? Do clients in facilities for seniors have sufficient motivation to learn new things and gain information? Do they have the opportunity to adapt to the changing conditions of contemporary society?

Education of Seniors in the Concept of Lifelong Learning

Lifelong education has become a major social topic of advanced European society. The need to expand one’s educational platforms also affects the senior population. Precisely due to population aging and the constantly accelerating pace of life, increased attention must be paid to seniors’ interests and education.

Education of seniors is viewed as lifelong education and is an essential part of the life of the modern person of our time. Education for older clients should meet educational needs according to their personal interests. Even in this case, education is a purposeful process with its mission, direction, and educational aim. Through the educational process it is possible to influence behavior patterns, value orientation, and attitudes of older-age clients. In any case, education represents an important means of enriching the life of the postproductive generation.

Since the middle of the 20th century, a separate discipline called gerontagogics has been applied. Originally it was a theory of upbringing and education for older people and people in old age. Today this discipline is regarded as seniors’ education, pre-senior education, and post-retirement education. Mühlpachra (2004, p. 122) emphasizes that “education in older age becomes a necessary condition for understanding life in an ever-changing world. Through new information, seniors are given the possibility to choose how to organize their own life, how to be psychologically more balanced and satisfied.”

According to research observations, it has been shown that older people also have sufficient capital for learning and education. Physical performance gradually declines with age, while psychological performance—if properly stimulated—is still at its peak. The brain still behaves like a muscle and, if regularly trained, performs better (Krystoň, Šerák, Tomczyk, 2014).

Education of seniors should be viewed as a form of socio-educational intervention. Education as a means of solving social problems is not a new insight. For example, Socrates already equated ignorance with evil, and Comenius stated that education should be available to everyone. Nor should the educational needs of the aging generation be neglected, since “a person learns as long as they live.” Advanced European countries began to devote themselves to educating this group only in the 1980s. Gradually, the offer of educational programs expanded and emphasis is increasingly placed on quality of life in seniority. The period of older age is seen as a period of challenges and new opportunities. In the 1990s, post-retirement education develops (Benešová, 2014).

Education of seniors represents “a specific and relatively separate sphere of adult education” (Šerák, 2009, in Špatenková, Smélaková, 2015, p. 71).

Practice itself provides many approaches to senior education (Špatenková, Smékalová, 2015):

  • rejection of seniors – older clients are seen as a less interesting category of participants in educational activities for institutions or organizations;
  • concept of activation in the context of social services – educational activities are understood as one alternative for activating seniors. Education therefore represents a type of senior activation and is an inseparable part of effective use of free time in institutions for seniors;
  • participation principle – education is perceived as useful not only for seniors themselves but also for the community and society as a whole, because it offers older people the opportunity to continue meaningful social roles and to participate in social life;
  • self-realization – the potential for self-realization in later stages of ontogenesis should not be underestimated in any way; on the contrary, it may be facilitated by education, which supports personality development, integrates lifelong experiences, fulfills self-actualization, and so on.

The primary premise of any educational activities aimed at older clients is the fact that an individual is capable of learning at all life stages, including old age. This statement is taken as a starting point for all educational activities for this target group. It should not be forgotten that education at this age of life has certain specific attributes. A key and foundational role in the education of seniors is played by motivation and sufficient engagement. It is in this respect that the social worker comes into play.

Even today, aging is still accompanied by many unknowns. We fear our own physiological aging. The social worker or social pedagogue should seek to provide information about active aging and also about educational possibilities. They should also focus on breaking down negative stereotypes about aging and supporting a realistic image of old age. Equally important is helping to achieve further social participation and meaningful use of free time (Marhánková in Šucha, Charvát, Řehan eds., 2011).

Education of seniors is a separate sphere of adult education that has common attributes with interest education, such as voluntariness, orientation to free time, and satisfaction of individual needs, and at the same time has several characteristic properties in motives, aims, and is distinguished particularly by focus on people in postproductive age. Šerák (2009) warns that educational activities aimed at seniors should have an interest-based and non-utilitarian character because changing demographic situations mean that further professional education of older people, for example retraining and qualification education, is becoming increasingly important.

The aim and significance of educating older clients

Education has high individual human and social value. It brings benefits to the individual at any age, and in each stage of life education has a different dimension and aim. In older age, education does not equip the individual with information to conquer the world, but becomes a process that meaningfully cultivates the time of individuals in senior age. In educating older clients, the focus should primarily be on everyday life; they should gain knowledge about what is close to them and what they can still use. The aim of education is connected to understanding seniors’ needs—identifying areas of interest helps create tailored educational programs. Through educational activities, we can, for example, contribute to adaptation and help orientation in new situations; through education, seniors receive information about what is happening around them, they can decide independently, and are less dependent on their environment. From the perspective of society, education of seniors contributes to building a positive view of the old-age period and removes barriers, eliminating intergenerational differences.

Education of clients in social services helps in the search for new certainties, new meaning in life, and new attitudes toward life; therefore this fact must be reflected in the design and implementation of educational policy (Palán, Langer, 2008).

A specific contribution of education for clients in the final life stage is the mobilization of intellectual and cognitive functions, strengthening physical and mental health, and strengthening self-confidence and thereby life satisfaction. According to Petřková, Čornaničová (2004), senior education fulfills these primary aims:

  • cultivation and enrichment of seniors’ lives,
  • understanding developmental tasks in this life stage and facilitating adaptation to a changed way of life,
  • maintaining physical and mental activity in later stages of ontogenesis,
  • helping to orient oneself in today’s rapidly changing world.

The field of education for seniors is unusually broad and does not form one single, interconnected system. It can take the form of non-professional general senior education. Most often it includes, for example, computer literacy instruction and memory training. Education can also take the shape of specialized knowledge and expertise, where the educational aim is development and maintenance of qualification with the intention of (re)activating seniors (Klevetová, Dlabalová, 2008).

Significance of educating clients of social services

Marhánková (in Šucha, Charvát, Řehan eds., 2011, p. 39) states that educational activities offered in senior centers play a decisive role. They also add that the subjective significance of these activities exceeds the narrowly defined concept of lifelong education. Educational activities represented an important mechanism for structuring time, building social ties, and, not least, an important source of self-fulfillment and self-confidence.

Czesana, Matoušková (2006) in their research found that seniors who continuously attended, during one year, a cycle of educational opportunities intended for them assessed interest education positively and saw meaning in it. They also reported that quality education makes for well-spent free time; each educational activity brought them new information, and education was also perceived as a social event. Research respondents stated that they also participated in education to understand their children and grandchildren and at the same time to show that age does not determine one’s role in life and that at any age a person can learn and actively participate according to their abilities.

Specific forms of educational activities in facilities for seniors

The spectrum of educational alternatives from the perspective of gerontagogics is very wide. In social care facilities, provided to people with reduced self-sufficiency, education becomes, in addition to other supportive activities, one of the tools promoting participation in ordinary life. As gerontagogics contains a broad base for further differentiation by the specifics of educated groups of seniors, only selected forms are pointed out below:

  • senior academy – an organized form of lectures, discussions, and talks, thematic blocks with film screenings, workshops, seminars;
  • courses – short-term or medium-term educational activities; a specific example can be a course in communication and information technologies, effective text reading;
  • workshops – usually interest-based or therapeutic activity takes place here, for example handicrafts with traditional techniques;
  • movement educational activities – these can be educational outings, excursions, but can also be activities from experiential pedagogy;
  • activities of a game nature – these activities have a stimulating effect for continued playful activity.

The role of the social worker in defining goals and motivating senior education

It should be kept in mind that every educational process should have a set goal. The learner, that is, in our case the client of social services, should know why they are learning and for what reason. Without setting a goal, the path to success in education is uncertain. Yet for a social worker to set educational goals, they must know the client’s needs.

Education of social service clients is particularly important for the development of community life. “A person remains a social being, and their life is automatically linked to the process of learning” (Kopecký, 2004, p. 87).

Seniors should have the opportunity to choose educational activities. Individuals who are less active by nature need an offer. Without an offer and the possibility of choice, an individual could sink into boredom and eventually into depression. A diverse offer of educational activities should be provided by the institution directly for clients of social services in the residential facility, but this opportunity should also be offered to seniors in home settings, even though this is more difficult because either health status, distance to the facility, or poor economic circumstances due to lower living standards does not make it possible. In the future, this situation must be better prepared for, since demographic data clearly indicate population prognosis.

The motivators for senior education are cognitive needs (expanding and supplementing knowledge and interests), social needs (contact with peers, need for community), activity needs (meaningful activity, need for usefulness), compensation of deficits (intellectual and emotional), and self-realization, that is, confirmation of one’s own identity (Špatenková, Smékalová, 2015).

Among the basic needs in senior education that the social worker should acknowledge, according to Šerák (2009), are:

  • independence of performance – especially in the area of using services and learning opportunities;
  • participation – opportunity to share one’s experiences and take part in own decisions;
  • self-realization – having the opportunity to realize oneself in educational, cultural, spiritual, recreational areas;
  • dignity – includes the need for respectful treatment and regard;
  • care accessibility – includes access to health, social, and legal services.

In the educational process of seniors, certain principles of education must be observed. The social worker in the educational process should adhere to these principles (Klevetová, Dlabalová, 2008):

  • principle of humanity – this principle is oriented toward the personality of the learner, their human individuality with the right to their own decision and development. In education the moral dimension is supported, respect, mutual respect, communication, and equality in the upbringing and education of the client of social services and the social worker. Empathy, the art of listening, support for seniors, trust in cooperation, and prosocial behavior are important components of this principle. The principle of humanity accepts physical, psychological, and social changes of seniors.
  • principle of scientificity – all conveyed information must be in line with science, scientific knowledge in the given field, and must be based on truth. A necessary condition for the social worker is the continuous acquisition and development of knowledge based on current scientific understanding. It is relevant to have deep understanding of applicable theory in scientific activity, knowledge transfer, and development of abilities.
  • principle of appropriateness – this concerns the social worker’s conduct in education. Unclear points must be explained with regard to age, individual peculiarities, and abilities of the person in question. The indicators named and their reciprocal relationship must be taken into account, for example who carries out education, what content is chosen, for whom education is designed, what means the educator has available, what its purpose is, what method is chosen to achieve the goal, and when the education is carried out. To achieve the stated goal, deliberate expression in harmony with educational principles is also decisive, such as using standard language and avoiding foreign technical terms. The content, scope, and method of education must correspond to the level of participants’ physical, psychological, and emotional development. Basic knowledge of andragogy is also essential.
  • principle of activity and engagement – it is based on the educator acting so as to positively motivate the activity of all participants. The activity of participants themselves, that is, seniors, means higher efficiency in mastering knowledge, better memory, and transformation into attitudes and conduct.
  • principle of motivation – the senior must be motivated and active to seek knowledge, discovering it through independent, conscious, creative, and cognitive work.

Barriers in educating clients of social services

When implementing and organizing educational activities focused on this target group, organizers as well as social workers must cope with a whole range of barriers that are not related only to involutive processes in old age, for example visual and auditory problems of participants. Engagement in educational activities requires participants to invest mental energy as well. The amount and character of this investment are differentiated depending on educational programs. Motivation, stimulation, support, and other learning-determining attributes can be different for different seniors. The course and outcomes of learning are influenced by these barriers (Špatenková, Smékalová, 2015):

  • informational – these mainly refer to the inability or impossibility of seniors to find relevant information about educational opportunities and, likewise, information needed for study;
  • situational – arising from the current context and life situation of the individual; this can involve lack of financial resources for education-related expenses and the like;
  • psychological – these include low motivation for learning, which is closely linked to a negative attitude toward learning as a consequence of negative experiences from prior education, fear of reduced ability to learn, and so on;
  • andragogical – the interval since last systematic education, lack of previous knowledge, character of the teaching content, personality of the educator, and so on;
  • organizational – these concern the educational activity offer itself, including content, quality, and timetable, and also space.

Conclusion

Work with seniors carries many specific aspects. Social workers in senior facilities should know the changes, requirements, and certain risks that clients of higher age carry. Given the demographic trend (with an increasing tendency), the area of activation through education remains increasingly current.

Education can be considered one of the options for meaningful and high-quality use of free time in the final life period. In current society, the traditional notion of a linear model of life course—education, work, retirement (rest)—is disappearing, and instead these phases are interwoven throughout life. Education should not be seen as merely necessary preparation for future professional performance, but should become a permanent and voluntary feature across the whole life of the individual, including old age. Senior education is continuously developing and expanding. Educational functions cover a large part of the needs of contemporary seniors and for this reason education for clients of older age is a substantial contribution.

The importance of education for clients of older age lies in the fact that it offers them information, supports positive aging and active aging, and active living in old age. Active involvement in social life increases seniors’ appetite for life and their sense that they are not a burden to society. For this reason, it is desirable that we support a sense of meaningful existence for seniors and emphasize their deservingness.

Author: PhDr. Katarína Šoková, MBA

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