Adult education by television

Abstract

Malta has a long tradition of adult education that dates back to at least 1850. Yet, compared to other EU member states, the percentage of adults aged between 25 and 64 participating in education and training is relatively low. In a globalised environment, where the world seems to be shrinking, and businesses half-way around the world can exert as great an impact on a business as the one right down the road, our small nation-state cannot allow such a large human capital to remain passive in a growing and competitive knowledge society. There are a vast array of reasons why so many adults opt to be so passive to learning. While many argue over these reasons, a phenomenon has been taking place and it has been affecting the Maltese society over the past two decades. This is pluralism in television. As a consequence of this occurrence more Maltese adults are participating in television programmes, with the result that more adults watch locally originated television programmes. The latest statistics show diagrammatic opposite trends. On the one hand, learning activity declines as the adult becomes older. Concurrently, adults watch more television as they become older, probably because they have more leisure time. Within this scenario, it is logical to ask: how can television be an effective stakeholder in adult education in Malta? The question becomes more relevant, when one of the channels available in Malta, the educational channel E22 is facing an uncertain future. This research will explore why E22 has landed itself in this uncertainty and the rationale behind it becoming an effective transformative agent for adult education.