Adult Education Professionalized
How has the adult education field professionalized so far?
Adult education has professionalized in any number of ways. First, most of the public and adult learners (and even educators), take it much more seriously than they did in the past. In the past, people thought "correspondence schools" were places where little old ladies took art classes; they were nor really looked at as educational institutions. The professionalization of the field has helped it grow, but it has also helped it become much more like traditional classroom education, and has helped many adult education departments become respected in their own right.
The fact that professional organizations and graduate studies in the field are also helping to make it more professional and well thought of at the same time. A profession is much more than just a "job." A profession is something you're interested in, that commands your attention even when you're not "working." A profession also moves forward, changes and grows with the times, just as adult education has done and will continue to do.
Some key elements of professionalization in the field include professional literature, professional organizations, and graduate study. All of these elements have grown over the past decades, and have helped move the field forward and seem more professional to others. Professional organizations, like the NUCEA and many others have been around nearly the entire 20th century, but they have been taking a much more active role in educating the public about serious issues like diploma mills, non-accreditation, and other adult education issues that gave it a bad light. They have also had a role in developing new policies and procedures that help bring adult education units together on the same page. Much more literature and information is being offered to institutions and individuals today in the field, and that has helped develop much better understanding and awareness, and there is much more graduate study available to further education and professionalism in the field.
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