Prof. Marvin Formosa

Department of Gerontology and Dementia Studies

Faculty for Social Wellbeing

University of Malta

FIVE DECADES OF

OLDER ADULT LEARNING

SUCCESSES, CHALLENGES, PROMISES

FIVE DECADES OF

OLDER ADULT LEARNING

SUCCESSES, CHALLENGES, PROMISES

The emergence of older adult learning

Achievements & accomplishments

Lacunae, pitfalls and limitations

Forthcoming trials

Paulo Freire

Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement

Sherperd’s Centers

Fromm Institute for lifelong Learning

Bernard Osher Foundation

Universities of the Third Age

University Programmes for Older People

An organisation accessible to all men, whose primary activity is the

provision of an environment where men work on projects at their

own pace and time in the company of other men.

Cognitive skills / Life skills

Movement / Sensory

Music / Art

Socialaisation

The e-learning revolution

ACHIEVEMENTS

◆ SOCIAL WELLBEING

◆ PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING

◆ POSITIVE CULTURE in LTC SETTINGS

◆ DIGITAL DIVIDE/COMPETENCY

CHALLENGES

◆ MIDDLE-CLASSNESS

◆ GENDER BIASES

◆ ETHNIC BIASES

◆ THIRD AGEISM

◆ GERAGOGY

PROMISES

◆ VAST RANGE OF OLDER ADULT LIFESTYLES

◆ PRODUCTIVE AGEING – THIRD AGE??

◆ POSITIVE (HEDONISTIC?) AGEING

◆ TRANSCENDENTAL AGEING

A wide-participation agenda.

Health-irrelevant agenda.

Age-relevant agenda

Digitally-relevant agenda.

An alternative ageing experience:

An account and assessment of the

university of the third age in the UK

Origins and development: The

Francophone model of U3As

From welfare to educational gerontology:

U3As in China, Russia, Taiwan,

Malaysia and South Korea

U3As in Italy, Spain and Sweden:

A dynamic, flexible, and accessible

learning model

Late-life learning for social inclusion:

U3As in Poland, Iceland, United

Kingdom, and Malta

The U3A movement in Australia: From

statewide networking to community

engagement.