The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the lifelong-learning program experiences of teachers, especially those in a lifelong-learning city, and their awareness of lifelong education on their own teaching and whether to implicitly in...
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the lifelong-learning program experiences of teachers, especially those in a lifelong-learning city, and their awareness of lifelong education on their own teaching and whether to implicitly inspire students to grow into lifelong learners, as teachers should perform two different roles as lifelong learners and lifelong educators at the same time. The subjects in this study were 235 elementary school teachers who worked in the city of Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, which was one of lifelong-learning cities.
The following research questions were posed:
1. What are the experiences of elementary school teachers in the lifelong-learning urban community in lifelong-education programs?(their awareness of lifelong education terms, the awareness of their schools about lifelong-learning cities, experiences of participating in programs provided by lifelong-learning institutions, experiences of participating in lifelong-education programs offered by the other institutions, opinions on the usefulness of lifelong education for student learning, motivation of taking part in lifelong-education activities and hindrances to that)
2. Do the general background of the teachers make any differences to their concept of lifelong education, relevant psychology and outlook on the necessity of CoP and lifelong education?
3. Do their awareness of lifelong education has any potential impact on the lifelong education of students?
The findings of the study were as follows:
As for Research Question 1, the lifelong-education experiences of the elementary school teachers in the lifelong-learning city were checked, and 96.2 percent were cognizant of the terms 'lifelong education' and 'lifelong-learning city,' which showed that the teachers were familiar with the term 'lifelong education.' And just 62.1 percent were aware that the region where they worked was a lifelong-learning city, which implied that there wasn't smooth link between the lifelong learning city and local educational authorities in terms of a supply of lifelong learning programs. But the teachers who had ever been responsible for lifelong education knew well about the fact. As to their view on the usefulness of lifelong education programs for student learning, the vast majority that accounted for 92.8 percent considered the programs to be conducive to that. Concerning motivation of participating in lifelong education activities, they did that primarily to enhance their teaching ability, and the largest number of the teachers pointed out time constraints as a primary obstacle to participating in lifelong education activities. They weren't able to take part in lifelong education programs mostly due to time constraints since they were tied up.
In regard to Research Question 2, the teachers who completed graduate school courses or graduated from graduate school were well aware of the concept of lifelong education and felt the need for CoP and lifelong education. Specifically, those who had ever been in charge of lifelong education were better cognizant of the concept and necessity of lifelong education than the others who hadn't. It denoted that an experience of being responsible for lifelong education is one of major factors to improve the awareness of the concept of lifelong education.
Concerning Research Question 3, a better awareness of lifelong education exercised a more positive influence on teaching and the potential awareness of students about that. So the way teachers look at lifelong education is important as what could affect the values of students throughout their lives.