The article describes differences in the implementation of adult education practice in the American and European traditions (the USA and the UK mainly) and the competences of those who provide the adult education process. The study draws upon the existing theories on adult education which include continuing (the USA) or further (the UK) education, community education, recurrent education, non-formal education, popular education, lifelong education etc. This diversity makes it difficult to describe the profession of adult educators and their roles, because their activity defines itself in terms of their clientele. Comparative analysis reveals that in American and European countries adult educator’s roles have overlapping meanings, which depends mostly on the activity the educators perform. It is argued that in both analyzed countries researchers indicate a lack of training for adult educators, and a huge number of volunteers and part-time educators, who often do not view themselves as adult educators. Among the roles that are recognized in the UK, except the traditional teaching role, adult educators are often involved as tutors, organizers, administrators, managers, entrepreneurs, animators, advisors, campaigners, leaders of the group, moral leaders, and “change agents”. In the USA the roles of adult educators are distinguished within the context they appear in. Their spectrum is wider and the responsibilities are better defined. They include teaching, program development, training and human resources development, community actions, but those roles also mean active participation in the educational process, where educators of adults perform as critical analysts, provocateurs, co-learners, consultants, activators and “change agents”, whose responsibility is to empower. The description and comparison of those overlapping adult educators’ roles are vital and very important for promoting the concept of adult education “professionalization” in Ukraine. Those roles should be reflected also in training that adult educators receive. Keywords: adult education, adult educator, adults, adult educators’ roles and competencies.
Comparing the American and European perspectives on the roles of adult educators for the development of adult education theory and practice in Ukraine