Epistemološke pretpostavke i odnosi moći u obrazovanju odraslih

Abstract

U andragoškim istraživanjima se nisu u velikoj meri postavljala pitanja koja se tiču odnosa moći, a u praksi obrazovanja odraslih nastavnici često naivno posmatraju obrazovne aktivnosti kao prostore jednakosti čiji je cilj osnaživanje, bez obzira na to da li se ono ostvaruje razvojem kritičke svesti ili usvajanjem znanja i veština. Pojava novih metoda u drugoj polovini XX veka je bila usmerena na oslobađanje odraslog učenika od pasivnog slušanja i njegovim uključivanjem se podrazumevalo i njegovo izbavljenje. Odnose moći su andragoški teoretičari i praktičari često smeštali u školske učionice, a svoju delatnost poistovećivali sa društveno-ekonomskom emancipacijom. Osnovna hipoteza istraživanja je da su odnosi moći sveprisutni u obrazovanju odraslih, a formirani su i očuvani vladajućim epistemološkim pretpostavkama. Oslanjajući se na Fukoovu analitiku moći kao osnovni konceptualni okvir, istraživanje je imalo za cilj da identifikuje mehanizme moći u obrazovanju odraslih koji su zasnovani na epistemološkim pretpostavkama. Kritiku koja je upućena Fukoovoj relativizaciji odnosa moći pokušala sam da prevaziđem oslanjanjem na ideje feminističke epistemologije. Epistemološke pretpostavke koje predstavljaju odgovore na pitanja šta je znanje, kako se proizvodi, koja je osnova legitimiteta znanja, posmatraju se kao realnost u oblasti obrazovanja odraslih. Pretpostavka ovog istraživanja je da su one ugrađene u teorije učenja koje su polazišta andragoške prakse i da sačinjavaju arhitekturu koja definiše socijalne pozicije nastavnika i učenika. Kako bih identifikovala odnose moći zasnovane na epistemološkim pretpostavkama, primenila sam kritičku analizu diskursa na odabrane teorije učenja i na tekstove proizašle iz konverzacije tokom obrazovne aktivnosti i intervjua sa nastavnikom. Zasnovala sam istraživačku metodologiju na Fukoovom razumevanju diskursa (1972, 1980) i Faircloughovom pristupu kritičkoj analizi diskursa. U cilju prevazilaženja mogućih nedostataka ovog metodološkog pristupa, primenila sam i elemente fenomenološki orijentisane metodologije (Husserl, 1970). Kako bih utvrdila odnose moći koji su utemeljeni u epistemološkim pretpostavkama, nakon analiziranja teorija učenja (koncepcija metakognicije i samoregulacije i teorija transformativnog učenja), analizirala sam mehanizme moći u obrazovnim aktivnostima koje su usmerena na lični razvoj pojedinca – trening Asertivna komunikacija. Najrelevantniji rezultati dobijeni su analizom elemenata navedene obrazovne aktivnosti – ciljeva, programa rada, metoda učenja i samog obrazovnog procesa. Istraživanje je pokazalo da su učesnici aktivni u reformulisanje selfa, a diskursi karakteristični za učenje odraslih podržavaju praksu ispovedanja stručnjaku čija je uloga da sluša i analizira iskustvo prema predstavljenim koncepcijama asertivnosti. Učesnici treninga tokom procesa učenja identifikuju ono što se smatra disfunkcionalnim aspektima ličnosti i, imenovanjem tih aspekata, oni su spremni da se tih delova sebe odreknu, nakon čega se svesno proizvodi novi, pozitivan self koji je oblikovan teorijama asertivnosti. Metode obrazovanja odraslih omogućavaju usavršavanje onoga što se podrazumeva pod funkcionalnim aspektima ponašanja. Odricanje od sebe i proizvodnja pozitivnog selfa je ono što Fuko smatra savremenom formom moći – samoregulacijom. Moć u obrazovanju odraslih nema za cilj disciplinovanje odraslih učenika – ona je fragmentirana i rezultat moći je konstituisanje pojedinaca i njihova samoregulacija.

Educational science has not sufficiently dealt with the issues of power relations, which is particularly applicable to the field of adult education. The practice of adult education is often based on the ideas of critical theory that rest on the belief that education and knowledge need to develop a critical awareness and liberate the marginalized groups from the oppressor. Adult educators have naively observed educational activities as practices of equal relationships by practicing “new” methods that had to be different from those that were dominant in formal education; consequently, power has been located outside of the classroom. The basic hypothesis of the research is that power relations are omnipresent in adult education and that they are mainly created and preserved through dominant epistemological bias. Drawing on Foucauldian perspective on power/knowledge as the main conceptual framework, the research aims to identify some mechanisms of power in adult education that are based on epistemological assumptions. I have also attempted to incorporate in my theoretical approach issues raised within the feminist epistemology (Haraway, 1988) in order to overcome critiques that were directed to Foucault’s relativism of power relations. Feminist approach is concerned with the questions on nature and construction of knowledge which has been analysed in the context of gender inequality. Epistemological biases (What is knowledge?, How it is produced?, What is the basis of legitimacy of knowledge?) have been largely understood as a reality and common sense in the field of education. Assumption of the study is that they are actually an architecture of the discourses that define social positions in the adult education classroom and that they are embedded in theories of learning that are starting point for adult education practice. I have applied critical discourse analysis on learning theories, conversations recorded during an education activity and interview with the trainer. I based research methodology on Foucauldian discourse theory (1972, 1980) and Fairclough's approach to discourse analysis (1992, 1995), as the principal theoretical and methodological tool. In order to overcome possible shortcomings of critical discourse analysis and to acknowledge authority of researcher's interpretation of the texts, I used the elements of phenomenological oriented methodology to study the lived experience participants (Husserl, 1970). In order to identify power relations that are based on epistemological bias, after analysing theories of learning (conception of metacognition and self-regulation), I approached the transcripts that are recorded conversations of educational activity – training Assertive communication. I investigated power relations in educational situations that are perceived to be the most liberated. My focus is on activities that aim at personal development. The most relevant results are achieved through the investigation of the educational activity. I have analysed aims, programme, methods and the process of the training Assertive communication. Through the engagement in adult education activity learners become active in the process of reinventing themselves and the discourses of active learning support their confession to the expert whose role is to listen and to analyse experience according to existing theories of assertiveness. Participants label dysfunctional aspects of themselves and by labelling them they renounce parts of themselves. The research has showed that learners produce the new and positive self that is shaped by conceptions of assertiveness and troughs practicing what is consider being functional behaviour. Renunciation of self and the production of a new self is what Foucault suggested to be contemporary form of power – self-regulation. Power that operates in adult education context is not stable and unique with the aim to discipline learners; rather, it is diffused and fragmented, with the aim to foster self-regulation and govern individuals.