Adult education as ethical practice : values for transformative learning

Koulaouzides, George A. (author)

This article explores the values that shape the identity and practice of adult educators in contemporary learn­ing environments. Drawing on a reflective analysis of an unpublished keynote address delivered at the 2025 Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE) Ambassadors Event in Athens, and engaging with traditions of critical, humanistic, and transformative adult education, the article develops a conceptual framework around nine interrelated values: adeptness, benevolence, connection, connectivity, camaraderie, com­monality, congruence, compassion, and community. It argues that effective adult education cannot be reduced to techniques, competencies, or vocational outcomes alone, but is fundamentally relational, ethical, and potentially emancipatory. Through engagement with the work of major adult education theorists and relevant research, the article contributes a value-oriented framework for understanding the identity and practice of adult educators in times marked by inequality, uncertainty, and social fragmentation. The discussion emphasizes that adult educa­tors contribute not only to knowledge acquisition but also to the cultivation of dignity, agency, participation, and social transformation. The article thus highlights the importance of values in shaping educational relationships, professional practice, and the wider transformative potential of adult education.

• Language: English
• Keywords: adult educators, adult educator identity, values in adult education, critical adult education, adult education, transformative learning, relational education
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 157-168
• Numbering: Letn. 32, št. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-190625
• UDC: 374.7
• ISSN on article: 1318-5160
• DOI: 10.4312/as/28314
• COBISS.SI-ID: 302914307

Copyright

Podatek o licenci CC BY-SA 4.0 je naveden na pristajalni strani članka (glej zgoraj izvorni URL). (Datum opombe: 3. 11. 2026)

• Publication date in RUL: 03.11.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Andragoška spoznanja
• Shortened title: AS. Andrag. spozn.
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 1318-5160
• COBISS.SI-ID: 45586176

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Izobraževanje odraslih kot etična praksa : vrednote za transformativno učenje

Abstract

Avtor v članku raziskuje vrednote, ki oblikujejo identiteto in prakso izobraževalcev odraslih v sodobnih učnih okoljih. Na podlagi refleksivne analize neobjavljenega osrednjega govora na srečanju ambasadorjev Spletne platforme za učenje odraslih v Evropi (EPALE) v Atenah leta 2025 in tradicij kritičnega, humanističnega in transformativnega izobraževanja odraslih razvija konceptualni okvir, v katerega umešča devet medsebojno povezanih vrednot: veščost, dobrohotnost, povezanost, povezljivost, tovarištvo, sorodnost, skladnost, sočutje in skupnost. Trdi, da učinkovitega izobraževanja odraslih ni mogoče zreducirati zgolj na tehnike, kompetence ali poklicne rezultate, temveč je v osnovi relacijsko, etično in potencialno emancipatorno. V članku na podlagi del pomembnih teoretikov izobraževanja odraslih in predhodnih raziskav prispeva k razumevanju identitete in prakse izobraževalcev odraslih, ki je, v časih, ki jih zaznamujejo neenakost, negotovost in družbena razdrobljenost, usmerjeno v vrednote. V razpravi poudarja, da izobraževalci odraslih ne prispevajo le k pridobivanju znanja, temveč tudi h krepitvi dostojanstva, sposobnosti delovanja, udeleževanja in družbene preobrazbe. Avtor poudarja pomen, ki ga imajo vrednote pri oblikovanju odnosov, strokovne prakse in širšega transformativnega potenciala izobraževanja odraslih.

• Keywords: kritično izobraževanje odraslih, izobraževalci odraslih, identiteta izobraževalcev odraslih, vrednote v izobraževanju odraslih, transformativno učenje, relacijsko izobraževanje