Elderly people education: social effectiveness and personal significance
T. V. Sokhranyaeva
Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1 Leninskie Gory, Moscow, Russia, 119991
Keywords: ageing, elderly people education, intergenerational solidarity, social effectiveness, personal potential
Abstract
The article analyzes elderly people education as a fastest-growing field of educational practice, which is of great importance for the modern society. The problem of elderly people education has become especially topical in the context of the global trend of population ageing. Elderly people education is examined as one of the ways of solving new social, economic and cultural challenges to the society related to population ageing. The role of elderly people education in increasing the quality of life of individuals and providing sustainable development of the society as a whole is investigated. The elder adult education is regarded from point of view of its social effectiveness and personal significance. It is shown that education prevents reducing of cognitive skills and abilities of seniors people, helps to maintain or increase their productive potential, forms active societal attitude of elder persons, promotes the acquisition of significant social competences, provides opportunities for independent living, decreases risks of social exclusion. The article then moves on to analyze the significance of education for forming adequate understanding by elderly people of the meaning and value of old age as a human existence’s phenomenon. The article reviews the conception of old age as a natural stage of the life circle, which is of great importance for understanding the life in its entirety. Old age is a social construct. Therefore, one of the main tasks of elderly people education is to help elder persons in recognizing the positive sense of old age and finding out the new ways of self-realization to be a contributing member of the society. The education in that existential aspect is considered to be a way to overcome gerontophobia and to reveal for the person new opportunities and goals of life. In the final portion of the article, the significance of elder adult education for the development of intergenerational cultural dialog is emphasized. The article concludes by suggesting that social effectiveness and personal significance of elderly people education are determined by its role in solving the social tasks related to the demographic shift and in meeting the demands of elder adults to maintain and develop their creative potential.
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