Investigation on youth and adult education: The theses of a Latin American contest

Abstract

Aiming to know the status of research on Youth and Adult Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, I have conducted a comparative study that reviewed 170 undergraduate and graduate thesis involved in a contest between 2005 and 2011. Institutions, gender and also studies conducted by the contestants and the themes of their theses were compared in order to establish correspondence and changes in relation to the areas and topics of investigation proposed in the regional documents prior to the V and VI International Conferences on Adult Education (Hamburg - 1997 and Belem - 2009). Research on Youth and Adult Education is scarce, absent in many countries and unequal. It is concentrated in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. It is done in public universities in undergraduate or graduate programs in education, education sciences, education and psychology, but they coexist with a variety of programs attended mostly by women. Research on Youth and adult education - which replaces literacy campaigns and basic education - is marked by thematic diversity. Undergraduate and graduate programs on Youth and Adult Education are scarce and are not a established line of research, except for Cuba and Brazil. It is unpostponable to revive an analysis that transcends the term Youth and Adult Education from the perspective of lifelong learning.