Community-based learning, action and spaces

3. Older men learning through religious and political affiliations

Formosa, Galea in Bonello (2014) demonstrated the diversity of informal learning by, for, and with older men beyond the customary and formal educational provisions. In informal learning conditions, older men tend to move away from the mechanisms of expert-devised curricula, overt professionalism, credentialism, and imposed assessment to freer expression, sometimes pursuing learning in self-directed activities (learning projects), at other times as part of social institutions of which older adults are members or in learning connected to social movements. Drawing on the two case studies reviewed herein, this article has demonstrated how older men’s learning occurs in avenues that are not customarily thought to be educational contexts, resulting in clear benefits for older men themselves and the wider society (Formosa, Galea & Bonello, 2014).

Photo by Katja Goljat