Carmen Cavaco

Policies of adult education in Portugal and France: the European Agenda of validation of non-formal and informal learning

This article analyses the influence of the European Union’s educational policies on the implementation of devices for the recognition and the validation of informal and non-formal learning within public policies on education and training for adults in European Union Member States. Portugal and France are taken as examples. The European Union’s statements have influenced the development of devices for recognizing adult competences, regardless of the social, cultural and economic specificities of each country. However, sociocultural and sociopolitical characteristics influence the conditions under which recognition devices and the methods of their experimentation and generalization emerge, and are the vector of conflicts of interests between macro- and micro-sociological levels. There is at the same time a ‘culture of convergence’ impelled by the European Commission, and a process of adaptation in matters of cultural and territorialised practices, which aim to avoid marginalization. Data are drawn from official documents and interviews with people in charge of training institutions.

Formação Experiencial de Adultos Não Escolarizados: saberes e contextos de aprendizagem

This article is the product of a qualitative research based on biographical interviews, aiming to analyze the process of experiential learning of unschooled adults. Our study analyzed the learning process used by these adults throughout their lives, what they learned, which contexts and people were significant in this process. We followed the theoretical framework based on experiential learning and life stories. We believe that this training process is very broad and entails life experiences. This research revealed that unschooled adults have a diverse and multidimensional knowledge as a result of the experiential learning process consistently used throughout their lives.

Formação de educadores numa perspectiva de construção do saber - contributos da abordagem biográfica

This article aims to analyze the practice of teacher training. During this analysis we used a biographical approach, seeking to understand the specificity of this formative approach and how it contributes to the professional development of the actors involved. For this qualitative research, two types of empirical data were used - the specification of a practical training and the biographical narratives, elaborated by the educators. Teacher education is herein understood as a broad process, which occurs in all spaces and phases of the educators life, operating at a critical distance from the schooling model. This investigation reveals the importance of understanding teacher education as an individual and collective process of appropriation of what has been experienced, confirming the relevance of a teacher training model based on the analysis of their experiences, overcoming the schooling model, and understanding that the subjects are actors in the production of knowledge.