Zimbabwe

Abstract

Older adult learning in Zimbabawe includes all activities in which older adults are trained for specific purposes, regardless of the particular setting of the activity. It takes place under the umbrella of the broader field of adult learning. The practice of older adult learning takes its cue from the study of adult education at universities which is closely associated with vocational training. Hence, universities play an important role in adult learning. They do so largely through community outreach initiatives that seek to equip the adult population with knowledge and skills that can be put into practice immediately. Adult learning provision is wide and varied. It takes place in governmental; para-statal; non-governmental; commercial, industrial and mining; and private institutions. The absence of a clearly defined policy on adult learning/education and legitimacy constitute the biggest challenges facing educators in their endeavours to sustain older adult education. A clearly defined policy on adult learning would offer proper guidelines on coverage and planning parameters and thus pave the way for proper articulation and accreditation of the field. This, in turn, would legitimate the many educational activities that occur under the auspices of adult education and thus remove the invidious hierarchy between the formal education sector on one hand and the informal and the non-formal sectors on the other.