From functional literacy to lifelong education

Majid Rahnema

F r o m f u n c t i o n a l l i t e r a c y t o l i fe long e d u c a t i o n 1

First lessons from the experimental functional literacy projects

C O N D I T I O N S FOR A PO L IC Y

OF I N S T I T U T I O N A L REFORM

As insurmontable as the world education crisis appears, the fact remains that a thorough reform of education can have neither meaning nor future unless it focuses on both the structures and the problems which, within the specific sphere of education itself, have brought about the crisis. Even though these two aspects of the problem constitute an indivisible whole, we shall give particular attention to the second, in order better to outline a definite educational policy whose basic objective would be the full development of every human being's individual and social potential.

Such a policy--of which institutionalizing the processes of educational reform constitutes a major aspect--requires, in my opinion, first of all as clear a definition as possible of the concepts, taking into consideration the state of advancement and the needs of each society at its

Ma]id Rahnema (Iran) was formerly Minister of Higher Education and Sciences. Previously he was in the foreign service for twenty-two years. He was pro- fessor at the University of Teheran and a ]ournalist~ prior to entering the diplomatic service.

particular stage of development; second, a systematic policy of research and experimentation which would make it possible to study, evaluate and prepare the desired transformations under the most favourable conditions, and increasingly insure them the scientific and operational bases indispensable to their success; finally, the use of results obtained from research projects and experience for an over-all re-structuring of the educational system, the setting up of new structures and the realization of the socio- economic, cultural and technical conditions of reception needed to this end.

M EANI NG OF CURRENT F U N C T I O N A L

LITERACY CAMPAIGNS

These three aspects of the policy which should direct any restructuring of educational systems, explain the growing interest throughout the world in the first results of the experimental functional literacy projects, more particularly, those which were launched after the Congress of Teheran, in preparation for the world literacy campaign, and in co-operation with Unesco. For although the nature and specific objectives of these projects, as they had been defined at the outset, required that they be carried out on a

I. This article was written for a series of studies prepared for the International Commission on the Development of Education, at Unesco. Requests for permission to reproduce this article should be addressed to the Editor.

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Prospects, Vol. II, No. 3, Autumn z972

Majid Rahnema

FIG. I. Work-oriented Adult Literacy Pilot Project, Isfahan. (Photo: Unesco/R. Greenough.)

necessarily limited scale, they have already provided a field of experience and observation of considerable interest for the preparation of new educational strategies.

In actual fact, they represent the possibilities of applying new, integrated methods of education and training, lifelong education and the renewal of traditional educational systems, both for adults and the young. I shall try to show why by referring above all to the two experimental projects of Isfahan and Dezful which Iran launched in I966 in co-operation with Unesco. These projects aim at rendering the workers of the two regions literate under a technical and cultural advancement scheme and to integrate vocational training, scientific acculturation,

basic mathematics, critical and socio-economic training, and learning to read and write into a synchronized process. At the same time, they aim at stimulating workers' productivity and facilitating their integration into a rapidly mod- ernizing society, and at accelerating development.

BASIC CONCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES

The 'ecological' and adaptive approach

The first basic difference between this kind of education and standardized, traditional schooling is that it pursues objectives determined with regard to time and space, and that, directed at a

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particular segment of the population, selected according to appropriate criteria, it is adapted to a given environment, to definite conditions and concrete objectives. I t starts from a so- called 'ecological' approach which attempts to impart integrated, 'made-to-order' instruction adapted to the conditions and the groups in view and prepares them: (a) to become deliber- ate and more effective agents of change; (b) to adapt to this change; and (c) to use a written means of communication in order that they may, within the limits of the necessary and the possible, develop in life and work.

Conceptually, functional literacy represents an over-all and adaptive training effort which corresponds not only to an enlarged organic and physical relation with the world which he should reconstruct in his own image. Rather than consider learning to read, write and cipher as ends in themselves, it makes them a means, a function in the service of the many-sided development of man and his socio-economic environment. Letters and numbers no longer represent the abstract counters of a world imposed or superimposed from without on his own. They are transformed into an individual project of discovery and exploration, motivated and fed from within by the desire to learn, build and participate. They represent the tools which will allow man to undertake, with growing awareness, the gradual conquest of himself and his universe. Literacy thus recovers the role it appeared to have abandoned in the setting of the traditional classroom in order to place itself ha the service of a vital process of human transformation and development. It again becomes the instrument which enables him to shape, according to his own measure, the technical and vocational skills necessary to his success in life, at the same time that it provides him with the general elements indispensable to the realization of his humanity and adaptation to the conditions and values which accelerated change involves.

Functional pedagogy

The conception of 'made-to-order' education has necessarily led the functional literacy projects to adopt a specific and diversified pedagogy. It is probably still too early to evaluate the results obtained in this pedagogical research. Nevertheless, the fact remains that, in the Isfahan and Dezful projects alone, more than nineteen distinct literacy programmes were set up. The innovations particularly aimed at pro- ducing appropriate teaching material and experi- menting with pedagogical equipment adapted to the conditions of each environment, to the instructors, as well as to the national or local capacity to furnish pedagogical materials. As a matter of fact, concern with adapting the means to the specific ends in the various socio-economic situations expressed itself in the diverse ways of selecting and recruiting instructors. 'Appoint- ments are no longer confined to traditional school-teachers whose socio-vocational experience, being limited to the world of children, is not really suited to the requirements of adult functional education. Producer undertakings are increasingly supplying their own instructors (technicians, literate workers and farmers) who received suitable training in teaching and whose work is facilitated through the use of self- training materials. '1

Re-establish the links between education and praetice

Another basic aspect of the experimental functional literacy projects is that, thanks to the idea of integration, they consolidate the organic and creative link between education and practical life, between school and the living environment. Far from pursuing a single and abstract goal, education becomes a real presence in the every- day reality of the worker, from which it derives

r. Functional Literacy: A Method of Training for Develop- ment, p. 6, Unesco, r97o (ED/CONF.a6/3).

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its contents and richness in order to give it in turn new dimensions and perspectives. Thus education opens itself up widely to experience in order to set off an" inner process of ~con- scientization' and explanation. It becomes the intellectual adventure by which the object-man of underdevelopment will become aware of his genuineness and transform himself into a subject-man desiring the process of Cemer- gence' which will enable him to leave his passive state and enter into a real and tangible world in which he can use the knowledge he has acquired. The alphabet which had always been the symbol of his alienation, his humiliation, of class or an alien and often oppressive world, henceforth appears to him in the opposite light, as the major instrument of his liberation, his human reconversion and the restoration of his dignity.

Constantly urge forward experimentation and research

Such were the highlights, among others, of the experimental functional literacy projects. By themselves they seem to me adequate proof of the exceptionaUy interesting nature of these projects as regards the revolution which ought to be carried out practically everywhere in the field of education if it is desired that the latter should at once apply to the whole human being, and recover its twofold function of serving and furthering the process of development.

The nations which have embarked on the restructuring of their educational systems consequently have an interest in giving all their attention to this type of project, increasing research and experiments in this area, developing systems of continuous evaluation so as to check on the effectiveness or improve the latter, studying them closely both from the point of view of the specific objectives of each project as well as from that of anticipating the possible application of new approaches to the whole educational system, and finally, in concentrating their research on the often quite complex prob-

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lems which arise and develop in the course of applying proven methods on an even larger scale.

These observations lead us to the main problem of this survey, namely, the problem posed by the institutionalization of educational reform processes?

Research, experimentation and evaluation, basic factors in recasting systems

I M P O R T A N C E OF RESEARCH AND

E X P E R I M E N T A T I O N E F F O R T S

If the experience acquired during the last decades has been sufficiently rich to make possible a global conception of education which corresponds fairly well to the dynamics of the great changes of our times, the fact remains that the best ways of passing from concepts to their application in regard to large aggregations are stillto be found. The truth is that this crucial aspect of educational planning presents enor- mous ideological and operational problems which it would be dangerous and impossible to try to solve without a systematic policy of research, elaborate experimentation, scientific evaluation and projection of the results experi- mentally obtained, within the framework of a long-term planning of the processes of restructuring educational systems.

But however time may press, this preparatory phase of the institutionalization of reforms is

In order to avoid dealing with points which are agreed in educational circles it might be useful here to evoke briefly a few basic principles: (a) education is a comprehensive process aimed at the whole human being; and as such surpasses simple instruction which often includes only the technical side; (b) education mus t be adapted to the acceleration o f progress; (c) educational poUcy should be broader than its financial aspects; (d) there mus t be structural and functional planning o f education; (e) education is a basic human industry; (f) participation plays a crucial role in the educational process.


indispensable and vital in so far as possible errors of judgement might otherwise transform the best intentions into national disasters. The impact of education, both on society as a whole and on its individual members is such that all conceivable care should be exercised in avoiding such errors. This is all the more important as pedagogical or institutional innovations which have proven themselves in a given environment may completely fail in another, owing to the lack of the necessary socio-economic and cultural foundations, or sufficient possibilities of adaptation, of management, qualified personnel and means. In this respect, a sensible and level- headed prudence might often be~ in my opinion, more revolutionary than a contingent revolutionarism determined solely by an im- patient desire to eliminate an anachronic system or a simple need to overthrow. Thus, not only should the undertaking of reforms be avoided which would resemble premature experiments at the national level~ but it should also be made certain that even the experimental projects on a smaller~ or localized scale, indispensable for great structural transformations~ take place within the Cdeontological' and other limits appropriate to this type of experiment.

To ensure that research and experimentation preparatory to the institutionalization of reform processes are carried out under the most favourable conditions, it is essential that they follow a coherent ideology whose concepts and guide- lines have been defined as clearly as possible. They should constitute a coherent and integrated whole which would make of global and functional education a major objective of bal- anced development. The better this educational ideology has been defined and the greater the conscious and enthusiastic adhesion to it of the populations most directly concerned, the more useful and fruitful will be the work of research and experimentation. Without these prerequisites, they would be in danger of becoming futile and sterile exercises and new sources of waste.

SOME TYPES OF MAJOR RESEARCH AND

EXPERIMENTATION PROJECTS

The conceptual framework and the long-term objectives of the educational revolution being thus defined, research and experimentation could then deal with a fairly considerable number of points, of which I shall try to cover the most important.

Study and research projects concerning activities in which it would be possible to combine the mutual and cumulative effects of education on development and vice versa and to evaluate the qualitative or quantitative contributions of the one to the other. For this reason, the experimental functional literacy projects and those concerned with training the many-sided basic personnel necessary to village staffing, leadership and extension services are of capital importance for embarking on the road to the great reforms combining these two complementary forms of activity.

Projects aiming at extending the C ecological, and integrated approach of functional literacy experiments to traditional schooling, i.e. the schooling that is traditionally provided for children at the levels commonly termed primary and secondary. The new pedagogical methods which have been developed in the course of these projects are centred on pupils' motivation and strive to arouse and maintain their scientific curiosity, their spontaneous desire to learn~ and at the same time enable them to solve the practical problems of their lives and act more effectively on the environment. They will eventually be able to lead us towards what may be a radical re-structuration of conventional schooling. Such projects could above all study the results which application of new methods might produce both in regard to reduction of time spent in school and educational and development expenditure.

Projects aimed at comtn'ning work and school. Should the occasion arise, this type of project might be combined with those mentioned

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above. Reducing the period of school attend- ance and a more rapid assimilation of theoretical and practical knowledge might create an inesti- mable amount of free time which people could then devote to a whole new range of intellectual and creative activities.

From such a point of view, work and school could be combined in either a concomitant or consecutive manner. In the first instance, the non-productive time of village inhabitants could be used to provide them with the necessary education, thus compensating the phenom- ena of seasonal unemployment or under- employment through additional education. In the second, it would be possible to examine the setting up, wherever it appeared feasible or necessary, of a new type of school in which instruction and productive work were combined in successive stages. By way of hypothesis, and example, the first period might consist of functional primary education whose content and length would be determined according to socio- economic and cultural development objectives. This first phase could be followed by some years of practical and productive work at the end of which the most gifted might enrol in a new cycle of studies. The programme and length of this cycle would be planned in the same way, both in view of the abilities and inclinations of the individual and his socio-economic environment. And so it would continue with alternating cycles of work and study, after the idea of a system of lifelong education, in which the human being would remain as long as his intellectual and practical abilities continued to develop.

Research in functional pedagogy. In this respect, survey and experimental projects are indispensable for studying the problem of contents, bearing in mind factors such as the environment and the different psycho-cultural characteristics of each socio-ecouomic whole, on the one hand, and on the other, the common imperatives of basic education in the three areas of artistic culture, technical instruction, social

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and critical training. The ways of working up contents, particularly the one called 'problematic', should be the object of thorough inves- tigations and research in which the possibilities of a wider application of the ~problematic' method or its use in combination with the Cconverging comprehensive' method were exam- ined and evaluated along with the use of every- day speech, determination of the kinds of knowledge that can be used at the place of work, etc. A functional pedagogy buik around the basic notion of 'learning how to learn', requires, along with development of its ability to adapt to the specific and diversified knowledge to be transmitted, an immense amount of research work and experimental efforts in order to improve the quality and actual efficiency of the instruction as much as possible.

Projects intended to evaluate the use of audio- visual aids, the mass media and other technological innovations. The progress of pedagogical methods having been defined ~by the increase in the volume of information transmitted and retained per time unit, at the lowest cost' (L~ Th~nh Kh6i), the mass media and audio-visual aids consequently represent fundamental elements in the development of educational and intellectual capital. They can be particularly powerful forces in countries which suffer from a shortage of qualified instructors and lack the resources, time and means for training them. Televised and programmed instruction, particularly through the use of recently developed videophonic means (EVR and others), can combine the advantages of the mass media with individualized instruction.

But in view of the fact that these means usually require rather substantial initial investments, carefully conceived experimental projects will be required in order carefully to plan their use for specific and definite ends, on the one hand, and on the other, their integration into the educational system as a whole. More particularly, the global and integrated approach requires the systematized co-ordination and


collaboration of all public and private organ- izations disposing of mass media.

Institutionalizing this type of collaboration will make it possible to avoid the alluring pitfall of costly, large-scale prestige projects, such as the premature use of stable satellites when an immense number of existing possibilities remain unused. A simple exploration of these possibilities and an effort to co-ordinate existing networks may often make it possible to reach the same results without additional problems or expenditure. Experimental projects of this type would also be useful for other purposes, namely, for stepping up productivity, and on the whole, for inculcating a scientific outlook and methods of rational thought, more particularly in regions or among segments of the population not given priority in the national literacy campaign.

Whatever one's opinion may be of McLuhan's statements to the effect that the development of the mass media seems to herald the return to an Coral' civilization, the fact remains that these media already make it possible to conceive of the transmission of knowledge without it being necessary to have recourse to the written word. As convinced as one may thus be of the indis- putable and perhaps even irreplaceable merits of this system, it is time to re-evaluate them in a new context, without passion or prejudice. In particular, we should have to see if, in view of development priorities and the limits of world- wide literacy, a non-written system supported by all the new audio-visual aids, could not, at least for a certain time and in a given context, lead us to similar, if not better results in a shorter time and under more favourable conditions. Audio-visual transmission of knowledge, in addition to its advantages in regard to information, would then constitute a highly interesting short cut which it would be un- realistic to ignore in educational planning.

Projects designed to promote or evaluate participation in the utilization of intellectual capital Study and research projects could tackle this matter in two ways. The one would study the

possibilities of making the creative participation of the masses and especially the individuals most immediately concerned, a major aspect of the educational process in a given social context. (Projects like the pilot rural school of Bac-ly and its 'green laboratory' in the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam.) The other would deal with the importance of participation in a purely pedagogical respect. (Effects of group dis- cussions, leadership and pupil participation in the preparation and application of programmes. Overcoming anxiety, the process of maturing and assuming responsibilities, etc.)

Projects designed to prepare and train teachers and organizational staff. The educator being the soul of any educational undertaking, it is on him that, in the last analysis, the success of any educational system depends.

In the new global and functional approach to education, the scope and importance of this role are even greater. For today's educator is no longer the schoolmaster who, carefully protected in the narrow confines of his classroom, strove to transmit often disputed knowledge and values to the student. In addition to his traditional duties, today he must asstune many others which are imposed on him by the increasingly important position he occupies. On the one hand, he must adapt to all the quantitative pressures: the lack of means and buildings, often rather mod- est remuneration and waning social prestige. On the other, he must constantly attend re- fresher courses in order to be able to follow the accelerated progress of science and learn how to use the latest pedagogical methods and the new technological aids (audio-visuaI means, mass media, etc.).

The new requirements of integrated education make it more necessary than ever that he should also be a perpetual innovator, that he be not only a pedagogue (or better an'andrologue'), but often a man of action and development leader as well. Furthermore, in a world invaded by the mass media, in which often nearly 80 per cent of what pupils learn comes to them from

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outside the classroom, not only must he conceive his teaching activity in view of the gener- ally quite negative realities of mass media 'out- of-school education' but also often act in a contrary sense in order to use the media to his own educational ends.

This state of affairs transforms the modem teacher, according to the phrase of G. Fried- man, from an ~emitter' to a Cregulator' of knowledge, which implies that he should have learned in the course of his education r rational and controlled use of audio-visual techniques both as a means and an object of teaching'.

In any case, even if programmed, televised or filmed instruction is partially or completely to replace some of the tasks of the teacher, the fact remains that his task is increased in so far as he is expected to organize the work alone and assume the much more difficult tasks of synthesis, guid- ance and advice indispensable to this type of education.

Thus the questions concerning preparation and training of teachers and organizational staff should be freshly studied in depth and measures taken which are especially adapted to the specific conditions of each society.

The fairly rich experience of a certain number of developing countries, as well as that acquired by the functional literacy projects and rural leadership, represents a very valuable capital in this respect, which should be used in order to determine the appropriate lines of action. It might be useful to mention some of them by way of example: Functional literacy being comprised of sev-

eral functions, in particular, literacy as such, theoretical instruction and practical training through demonstration and leadership, ~it seems that it is simpler to train a non-teacher in the techniques of teaching reading and writing than to train a teacher in the techniques of production. It seems, moreover, that the teacher-learner communication is at its optimum when the instructor is at a level immediately above that of the individuals

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under him, both in the field of instruction and in professional success' (Unesco doc. ED/WS/r88).

The 'community school' experiments cur- rently being carried out in Asia, Africa and Latin America show that if modem teachers can also take on the many-sided roles of development leaders, particularly in regard to agriculture, stock-raising, hygiene, etc., the first result would be an economizing of resources and of professional staff needed for development. In addition, the school itself, instead of depriving the countryside of its potential senior personnel who would go to the cities, becomes a dynamic force in the service of the community, thanks to its senior personnel.

Experimental training projects for basic technical staff for development. The results which have already been obtained by some functional literacy projects justify the hypothesis that the application of similar methods might serve for the rapid training of the basic staff indispensable to development, without its being necessary for them to pass through the usual stages of elemen- tary and secondary training, i.e. through long, uniform and often costly preliminary training.

CONSIDERATIONS RELATING

TO ALL RESEARCH

AND EXPERIMENTATION PROJECTS

But, in order for the research and experimentation projects to be as useful and productive as possible and indicate the best routes to choose for the structural reform of education, it seems to me necessary constantly to bear in mind the following considerations which apply to these projects as a whole.

Limits and inadequacies of experience

Even though every experimentalproject should necessarily take place under laboratory conditions-conditions which are indispensable for studying allthe possibilities and limits of a given


project--the ideal solution of the problems dealt with can never, of course, be entirely based on ideal conditions in which the project was placed. In this respect, a completely successful functional literacy project, owing to the exceptional personnel and means it was possible to employ, may indeed become a total failure as soon as the same experiment is attempted on a larger scale. Thus, in any such project, it is always important to bear in mind these two fundamental aspects of experimentation.

In the same context, whereas the search for a better way is often the very condition of a revolutionary approach, it is even truer that 'striving to better oft we mar what's well' when the basic realities of underdevelopment are left out of account. By way of example, a too thorough search for teaching materials and diversified methods narrowly adapted to the many specific objectives of a functional education may actually lead to completely contrary and sometimes disastrous results if the new methods are applied before the practical difficulties and often impossibilities of implementation have been overcome, particularly owing to the lack of senior personnel and means, bad administration and management structures and the absence of other prerequisites. Thus a revolutionary approach whose success would be contingent on the previous setting up of particular socio-economic, political or cultural structures might often be without sense or value as long as the latter had not been done.

For this reason, it is extremely important that the limits or possibilities relating to the organizational structures of educational reform always be considered as the basic conditions of every educational experiment. It goes without saying that the experiment itself must always be subject to what are called 'deontological' limits.

Importance of evaluation

Of all the factors common to both research and experimentation activities, the most important

one remains, in my opinion, that of evaluation. As a matter of fact, the global approach to

education requires that evaluation be concerned with the specific aspects of each projet's stated objectives and above all with the project's impact on the socio-economic, cultural or political environment into which it must necessarily fit or be integrated.

The experimental literacy projects have also made it possible in this respect to set up an evaluation methodology which might provide a highly interesting point of departure for the future. This methodology could be advan- tageously placed in the multi-dimensional framework of development and be continuously completed and revised as experimentation pro- gressed.

Final phases of the process of reform institutionalization

PREREQUISITES

The specific process of institutionalizing reforms and system recasting can begin only after the concepts have been clearly defined and determined, and verification of the new hypotheses is sufficiently advanced, to give the responsible authorities good grounds for believing that they can implement them on a large scale.

Educational policy

Among the most important prerequisites could be mentioned the defining and preparing of an educational policy to which the governments and peoples concerned sincerely adhered and for which the latter would be willing to make the necessary sacrifices. This policy, whose broad outlines were defined above and which I believe ought to be, if not enveloped by, at least integrated into a scientific policy in the widest sense, should also be given the utmost priority possible and planned for the long term within the

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framework of national development plans. In addition, although in my opinion the increase of funds never constituted a necessary or adequate condition for the educational revolution, the fact remains that the proof of the sincerity of an educational policy may often be found in the part of the national revenue which the govern- ment concerned would actually be ready to allocate for the implementation of this policy. It goes without saying, that however much can be economized by r the educational industry according to new rational criteria, the inevitably higher salaries for qualified staff, and funds for buildings, audio-visual and other equipmentmindispensable for a qualitative improvement and the quantitative development of educationmrepresent an onerous burden which governments should be ready to assume.

Reception structures

But although the first prerequisite is a necessary condition of educational development, however it may be conceived, the global and functional approach which we have been discussing can only be realized i f the required reception structures for an educational revolution can be set up.

Among these structures, I may mention the following for the developing countries: A democratic organization at the village and

other basic collective unit levels which would offer the whole population access to the educational system, an organization inconceivable without an agrarian reform or revolution of genuine significance.

Adequate transformations of the general admin- istrative structures of the country allowing, among other things, an institutionalized co- ordination, not to say an organic integration, of development services especially at the operational level.

The integrated and global approach to education cannot become effective as long as existing distinctions or rivalries between the

various services make of development a mosaic of isolated and often contradictory efforts. The most serious difficulties, not to mention the bIind alIeys which the experimental literacy projects have faced in recent years mainly arose from the---sometimes almost total--lack of co-ordination or co-operation between the services or ministries concerned. It is certain that the institutionalization of reforms will present even more serious problems on a more general level if structural reforms do not make this type of co-operation possible.

Decentralization of development activities. Structures for participation allowing the volun-

tary mobilization of the masses for the integrated tasks of intellectual capital development. An education aimed at the whole human being and which sets itself the goal of providing the man of tomorrow with a new version of his place in the world and of the world which should be created according to his needs, cannot be conceived without a revolutionary system of participation in the collective undertaking of the transformation of men. Among other things, it requires that not only education as such but also the mass media be devoted to this end, undertaking in particular a re-education of behaviour and mental attitudes in order to make the whole body of citizens the most active agents of their own cultural renewal.

Structural transformations in the administration and management of services relating to education. It is not certain that the simple, un- modified, imitation of Western ministerial structures, and the civil service codes which have often been imported from abroad, have on the whole produced positive results in the context and under the particular conditions of the developing countries. The doubt which hangs over this type of administration is even greater in the case of the ministries of education copied from Western models. Almost everywhere, the latter were quickly transformed into huge bureaucratic apparatus

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faced with either salary problems and the advancement of the great proletarianized mass of teachers or problems relating to buildings and equipment necessary to the increasing of the capacity of the schools. It is very rare to find ministries of education in Afro-Asiatic countries in which any priority is given to the true objectives and duties of these ministries, particularly in regard to the tasks of innovation, research, experimentation or long-term planning for the qualitative improvement of administration and teaching methods, or for making the best use of the resources which may be available to educational services. The integrated approach requires more than ever that the services responsible for the administration and management of education should be restructured, not only to ensure the best results with the utmost economy of means, but also in order to be able to orientate themselves with the necessary flexibility and vigour towards the objectives of universal, lifelong and diversified education.

ROLE OF THE MASS MEDIA

Because the mass media will continue to invade man's qnner space' to the point of considerably reducing the role of the school as such, it will hardly be possible to conceive of institutional instruction in the future outside the national or even international communications network. This new and particularly important aspect of education in the widest sense, should thus be given serious consideration in the process of institutionalizing education reforms. As a matter of fact, it should be integrated into it as much as possible so that educational planning does not remain an isolated intellectual exercise, but is rather able constantly to answer the needs of a school open to lifelong and universal education.

Along the same line of thought, it will be particularly important to expand existing experiments with 'universities of the air waves' or

radio and television courses, in order to be able constantly to evaluate their influence on the increase of intellectual capital in all its forms. I t would also be very important to associate educators more and more closely with mass media planning, both to combat the detrimental effects of the media on the cultural development of the population, and to make them a valuable ally in the national work of human advancement. In other words, an educational policy will be dangerously one-sided if it is not closely connected to an information policy.

M EANI NG AND L I M I T S

OF F U N C T I O N A L EDUCATION

I f it is true that adapting education of the traditional type to development objectives almost inevitably leads us to the idea, first of functional education then of lifelong education, this tend- ency should in no way mean the end or destruc- tion of what is best in the traditional school. In actual fact, for reasons of a practical or pedagogical nature, the traditional school will remain, perhaps even for generations to come, the backbone of education in so far as it must be concerned with training man in the course of a formative period of his intellectual development and at an age in which it is still more useful for his future to concentrate on the unfolding of his personality. Thus, although this type of school may undergo an internal revolution which will readapt it to the basic needs of the human personality and the objectives of the new education, it may also perhaps continue for a very long time to be the central trunk out of which the other forms of education, called functional, will grow.

In this respect, it might also be useful to make clear what should be understood by functional education in order to avoid any possible ambiguity. For me, it is important that the various functions attributed to this type of education cover all the needs connected with the unfolding of the new man, both so that he may

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realize his own humanity and in order to allow him to participate with complete freedom in the collective creation of a better humanity. In particular, it is extremely dangerous, in the name of alleged socio-economic necessities or any political or ideological objectives, to make education a simple function of intentions which are often foreign to its primary goal, which I feel is the full development of human beings in their free, human individuality. Functional education, in the sense I give it, is thus the exact contrary of a r politicized education limited to socio-economic or other objectives. Meant for the whole man, it must only add new dimensions to education in the traditional sense, rather than take any away from it. By integrating education into development, it only removes that somewhat abstract character and remote- ness from life which could limit its scope and effectiveness or make access to it difficult or limited to a privileged minority.

Thus defined, functional education and the expression of its adaptation to the requirements of change and the needs of new societies would aim at an education with a higher and varied content adapted to individual abilities and conso- lidating the alliance of intellectual development with practical life. Finally, it would be the gate- way to lifelong education, the highest stage of education and its most complete adaptation to the societies of the future.

SPECIFIC DIFFICULTIES

ATTENDING THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION

OF LIFELONG EDUCATION

I f lifelong education answers the basic problems of education in the future, it is because it in- tends to aim at the whole, evolving human being, in all his aspects and throughout his life- time, because it not only transcends the artificial barriers between academic and non-academic education and the traditional distinction between conventional public education and adult education--basing itself essentially on the unity

of the educational and vital processes which shape the human personality--beeause it ad- dresses itself at once to basic education, individual training, the right to leisure in the active, cultural and artistic sense, and to providing permanent access to educational means whereby the intellectually and physically creative potential of man can be developed.

Now, it is precisely owing to its extraordi- narily broad and varied field of action that the institutionalization of lifelong education presents particularly complex problems in regard to adults, children and adolescents. Even more than formal education, it presupposes a 'transformation of society's structures in a way which would be favourable to personality development'. In this way it becomes 'an eminently political operation, in so far as the totality of the community's structures are concerned with its realization'. (P. Lengrand.)

It seems to me, however, contrary to the scepticism which prevails in certain conserva- tive circles with regard to the practical possibilities of this concept, that these are, on the whole, greater than they appear at first sight. As I have mentioned, the experience which has already been gained through the functional literacy projects and other out-of-school training programmes, as well as the continually expanding communications methodsmtelevision and other mass mediamtoday offer exceptional opportunities for the gradual expansion of the concept of education.

In the developing countries, these oppor- vanities are rather paradoxically increased by the fact that general public education is in a state of underdevelopment and therefore lacks the structures which are usually resistant to innovations of this kind. The shortage of means and professional staff, and the often high costs of basic training of the traditional type, sometimes make it much easier to directly adopt new forms of education. In these countries, experiments of this type (shorter basic primary education, r schools', which make

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possible an alliance between theory and practice, the setting up of half-work half-study institutions, 'individualization' of training according to an 'ecological' approach can moreover sometimes produce such rapid and readily apparent results that, in addition to their economic advantages as regards required investments, they also succeed in rather easily gaining the adherence of the masses directly concerned. In a short time, the community schools or the functional literacy centres have often become centres of renewal, and technical and cultural leadership for the environment, and therefore have been able to set offthe necessary awareness and motivation processes--the necessary mech- anisms for changing behaviour and outlook-- and at the same time keep the desire to 'learn how to learn' vigourously alive: these are the very foundations of an institutionalized lifelong education.

The world education crisis indeed reflects the failure of the traditional education systems to the extent that, during a very long period of history characterized by the relative stability of institutions, the latter acted much more as trans- mitters of knowledge than as systems concerned with the full development of every human being's individual and social potential. The fact remains that reducing it to its purely pedagogical aspects would be the wrong way to deal with the crisis. In point of fact, the educational crisis, like education itself~ has its deepest roots in socio-economic, political and cultural factors, in the very contradictions which have provoked the world-wide crisis of civilization on our planet.

The solution to the new problems facing education cannot be reduced to a simple question of teaching methods or spot reforms of the universal structures which preside over the des- tinies of men. It requires more than a revolution in the structures and contents of education as such, more than a transformation of methods and techniques, more than radical reforms in educational administration. In actual fact, it implies profound modifications in the political, socio-economic and cultural structures on which the whole process of development depends. It presupposes the organization of economic and social relations, and cultural and human values into a new coherent and dynamic whole, in which all individual and social activities may participate to the full in the development of the intellectual capital and creative potential of m e n .

The recasting of educational systems or the institutionalization of the processes of educational reform cannot reach the desirable goals unless the planning of this immense operation is done within the framework of a global and integrated conception embracing both education as such and development in general. Thus, the educational revolution requires a staunch political will as well as adhesion to a new conception of education, centred on faith in man and a vision of the world which it is up to him to create in the image of his inventive genius. It cannot be carried out except through organized work in which research and experimentation are allied with the necessary structural reforms and a growing participation of the population in the objectives of education.

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From functional literacy to lifelong education