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Quality assessment of andragogical training and professional development program for adult educators in the Republic of Croatia

Although measures are being taken at the level of education policy to promote adult education, the fact is that the Republic of Croatia has not had study programs in the field of andragogy for decades. Therefore, the Agency for Vocational and Adult Education organized the implementation of andragogical training that lasted 18 days. The training was organized on the principles of the Curriculum GlobALE program in a way that the contents and topics were adjusted to the needs of adult education in the Republic of Croatia, and that was realized on the principles of problem solving, collaborative, and project learning. The participants in the training were educators engaged in adult education, while the facilitators of the training were eminent experts in the field of adult education. The trainings were organized in the five thematic modules in the coures of which, the participants were taught about modern features of adult education, curriculum planning and programming in adult education and ways of modern co-constructivist realization of the learning and teaching process. The aim of this research was to examine the satisfaction of participants with the quality of education and program facilitators. A total of 660 participants filled in a questionnaire anonymously at the end of each module. The questionnaire consisted of a series of statements by which participants assessed the preparedness of the facilitator and satisfaction with the way of implementing andragogical training with regard to comprehensibility of content, usefulness of working materials, moderation of activities, method of communication, material working conditions, personal satisfaction with the program and their usefulness. The participants assessed the work of the facilitators with open-ended questions. The results of this research are relatively rare research results that indicate desirable forms of the teaching process and improvement of andragogical competencies. They show that the content of training in all five modules, met the interests and needs of participants (average score 4.59 on a scale of 1 to 5), almost all participants found that the workshops were pleasant and / or motivating, and 96.9% of participants stated that they were active in the workshops. Participants also evaluated the comprehensibility of teaching contents (4.79), the usefulness of working materials (4.68), the moderation of activities in the learning and teaching process (4.72), and the style of communication (4.78). Qualitative analysis of open-ended questions found that participants found the motivation of workshop facilitators important, but also the ability of facilitators to motivate participants to learn. The quality of the teaching atmosphere and expertise of facilitators as well as active, dynamic and student-centered approach was very important. The obtained results empirically confirmed the guidelines for adult education found in literature and suggest that successfull training should focus on a constructivist approach to the organization of adult education and the importance of both professional and generic competencies of teachers.

adult education, andragogical education, quality assessment, motivation

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