Networking in adult education in South Africa.

Abstract

In the fast changing world of a new, democratic South Africa (S.A.), the political, economic and social arenas are rapidly moving in new directions. In order to impact on important new policy developments as they are being developed and to impact on the planned changes in their fields, many adult education organisations saw the need to band together to form networks or associations and the like, through which to present their viewpoints or ideas at policy debates. In this way their views were backed by recognisable stakeholder or constituency groupings.

One such networking organisation was established in 1989, well before the fastmoving, radical changes were so extreme in South Africa, namely, the Forum for the Advancement of Adult Education (FAAE). The aim of the FAAE was to inform, support and professionalize the field of Adult Education and Training via their networking activities. A t times it also acted as a structure to support: policy development. These aims continue today, although the work of the FAAE has broadened.

This study looks at the role of “Networking” in Adult Education in South Africa to examine its process and its impact. The study explores the views and opinions of practitioners in different parts of South Africa and examines the case study of the FAAE as part of its data gathering, as it asks the questions: how, why, when and where does or should networking occur. What are the potential gains or problems involved in such an activity?

The research design, which is a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches, attempts to provide quantitative details which accurately portray elements of the data gathered, as well as qualitative data which reflects the rich detail of the data explored.

Although networking is being explored within a specific sector or community (adult continuing education), it is hoped that this study will open up ideas and possibilities to assist networking activities in other sectors or communities. It is hoped th at this study will catalyse other studies to explore the concept of “networking” and as a consequence, that more publications addressing this issue might arise.