The training of adult educators involved in recognition of prior learning

Abstract

The article focuses on the training process of adult educators who are responsible for the implementation of recognition of prior learning in Portugal. In general, research in this field shows that these educators do not have specialized training within the scope of formal education, which would prepare them for the professional performance of recognition of prior learning; however, they perform this professional activity that requires knowledge of complex and innovative methodologies. In this way, the article aims to analyze how adult educators have learned to perform their work in recognition of prior learning of adults with low level of schooling, focusing on their training processes. Problematization and reflection presented in the text are guided by the assumption that training is a broad and diffuse process, which occurs throughout life in multiple spaces and times. The analysis is the result of a qualitative research in which empirical data come from biographical interviews with adult educators responsible for the implementation of the process of recognition of prior learning. The empirical data highlight that the adult educators’ training resulted, essentially, from their professional experience in this process. Adult educators learned with peers and in the workplace through the dynamics of the adult education centers, resulting from the mission, the methodologies used and the specificity of the process of recognition of prior learning. Therefore, adult educators’ training resulted from direct contact with action, and from appropriation and reflection on the experiences had at work.