Abstract
Learning Never Ends… Spaces of Adult Education: Central and Eastern European Perspectives, edited by Zofia Szarota and Zuzanna Wojciechowska of the University of Warsaw, is an important text at a critical time to support our learning of international worldviews in the field of adult education. The edited volume emerged from conversations among scholars during the Spaces of Adult Learning Conference at the University of Warsaw, Poland in October 2020. Focusing on current adult education research, practices, and theoretical approaches, the monograph is a collection of texts from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Russia. The open access book is divided into five, organized parts with unnumbered chapters: regional approaches and trends in the development of adult education theory and practice; competences of contemporary educators; adult learning processes; learning through life experiences; and learning regions and citizenship education.
Typical within edited volumes, the authors’ writings encompass adult education initiatives in diverse sectors. For example, the text explores multigenerational learning, adult basic education, security, reflective teaching, policy, and other realms of adult education. Readers may note significant perspectives on shared, global challenges, such as finding adult education’s role within higher education in the 21st century, which relates to a focus of a study examining andragogical competences from Slovakia and the Czech Republic (Krystoň & Rovňanová, pp. 79–92). In addition, Mazurek’s exploration of educational support for caregivers of chronically ill spouses transcends national boundaries (pp. 245–253). The foci on co-teaching (Kursch & Veteška, pp. 93–107) and citizenship education (Sládkayová, pp. 299–305) are additional examples of texts with practical implications.
Other works expand our appreciation of ontological and epistemological foundations of adult education, such as Węc’s hermeneutical analysis of time and self-development (pp. 234–244) and Schubert and Neupauer’s examination of docility within theoretical frameworks (pp. 181–187). Additional chapters explicitly examine regional perspectives, such as Szarota’s literature review of how Polish research journals address adult learning spaces (pp. 19–29). Readers without a language base to read cited articles in the original can gain access to unique analyses of literature within the chapters. Therefore, Learning Never Ends gives access to a synthesis of Central and Eastern European works often overlooked because they are not written in English. Given that adult education is deeply embedded within a culture, the reader who does not have background of a specific country may have some “why” questions throughout reading the book, particularly because several chapters have shortened or abrupt methodology and discussion sections. However, these questions about context can be a positive inspiration to research a culture further.
Within comparative international adult education traditions, Popova’s analysis prompts questioning of how professional education for pre-retirement is situated in Russia’s labor market (pp. 66–78). Kachmar and Khimhuk’s work on the role of lifelong learning in Ukraine’s socioeconomic development in the 21st century (pp. 50–57) and Lutsan’s focus on trends in adult education in Ukraine (pp. 58–65) further our understanding of the development of adult education to the pivotal juncture at which the articles were written.
Adult education in the West has engaged in a healthy, critical analysis of the limitations of Eurocentrism in our works. Learning Never Ends pushes the field to critically reflect on who may have been ignored. After reading the text, one can appreciate that not all of Europe has been the center of our attention or embedded in our course readings. In concluding, the editors state, “Perhaps adult education will contribute to what is most precious: world peace and individual well-being. It is our wish that this book will become a cornerstone in building that future and that better world, friendly to all” (p. 308). Written prior to the most recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, war, and millions of forcibly displaced Ukrainian civilians throughout Central and Eastern European and beyond, one is able to get a window into lifelong learning at a point in time, and consider ways to move forward in adult education. The authors’ email addresses are included (pp. 310–315) if readers would like to connect to create a dialogue to further conversation and collaboration.
I recommend Learning Never Ends to broaden the worldviews of international adult education for the interested reader as well as to supplement classroom texts with Central and Eastern European perspectives for the adult education professor.