Critical educational gerontology : a third statement of first principles

Abstract

This article elaborates upon the initial statement of first principles for critical educational gerontology [CEG] established by Glendenning and Battersby some two decades ago, whilst taking stock of the body of critique levelled at such principles by the humanist strand in older adult learning. Keeping in mind the gritty realities which embed older persons in structured positions of social inequality on one hand, and the difficulty of subjects to work towards the transformation of such realities in individualist and self-directed ways, this article voices support for CEG. Acknowledging a need to renew CEG in line with contemporary socio-cultural realities, it is argued that the weakness of CEG lies in its current, rather than its potential, usage. Hence, the way forward does not lie in ditching the critical epistemological framework for late-life education, but to renew CEG in a way that rediscovers its liberatory spark in an excessively globalised and individualised world. It forwards four key proposals with respect to such a goal: a transformative rationale that challenges the cultural hegemony of neo-liberalism, the centrality of directive educators, embedding geragogy in a critical epistemology, and a praxeological engagement with historically accumulated concepts and practices.