an article by Francesco Marcaletti (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain), Tatiana Iñiguez Berrozpe (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain) and Kleio Koutra (TEI of Crete, Heraklion, Greece) published in International Journal of Lifelong Education Volume 37 Issue 4 (2018)
Abstract
Education is the main vehicle for empowering adults, and can contribute to community wellbeing. However, regarding mature adults (MAs) (over 45 years old), age has been identified in various studies as a significant barrier to accessing educational activities.
This paper focuses on MAs’ motivations to learn through an exploratory survey undertaken in six European countries.
A K-means cluster analysis based on 16 variables has been run on n = 846 valid cases. Four clusters describing distinctive behaviours and attitudes of MAs towards learning activities were identified. The study confirms that MAs’ motivations to learn are very diverse, overcoming some of the so-called myths of global aging, such as the homogeneity of MAs or the correlation between age and a decline in motivation to learn.
Furthermore, analysing the main motivations of MA learners can be useful for adapting education to cater to their specific needs, boosting a more inclusive education, and promoting MAs’ empowerment.
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