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Within this pillar I describe and show competencies I used in adult and older adult education, specifically through education sessions in seniors college classes. I describe my understanding of the educational considerations and instructional competencies one needs to be a successful adult/older adult educator. I highlight the importance of designing courses that have sufficient space for older adults to reflect and share experiences. Also considered were the impact of the possible changes and decreases in visual and auditory acuity and the learning needs of the participants.
Professional competencies include the ability to communicate your research and its implications to others, through presentations at conferences, submission of applications to SSHRC or communication through the media. All of which are essential component of preparing to become a PhD candidate. To communicate my academic journey, demonstrate my professional competencies and active professional engagement at a scholarly level I chose artefacts that have contributed to my development as a graduate student, and validate my professional engagements connected to education for older adults. Each artefact challenged my analytical skills, my critical thinking and my communication abilities plus provided new opportunities for academic growth.
This pillar demonstrates my increasing competence with the research knowledge. I use a qualitative methodology and the photovoice method as my strategies of inquiry to complement my theoretical perspective of critical social theory and explore the living experiences of independent community dwelling women age 85 and older living on Prince Edward Island. As a critical researcher, my focus will be on their perspectives of the situation they experience because it is their meaning, their reality and their thoughts for change that I am trying to understand. I describe my process and methods of inquiry, what is to be accomplished and how the data is understood.
The overall aim of this pillar is to explore a theoretical framework for an educational approach that supports older women’s understanding of societal situations that may be oppressive, and to explore possible options for emancipation. The focus is on the educational theory of Paulo Freire because of his understanding of the marginalized and powerless; critical educational gerontology which highlights ageing issues; critical feminist lens that focuses on the women and how they are portrayed, silenced and made passive through their invisibility; and critical geragogy which highlights older adult education and the complacency that older people feel about social conditions where they feel they are too insignificant and powerless to effect any serious change. The overall aim is to use this framework to explore with community dwelling women age 85 and older their lived experiences and the challenges or questions they may have for their own emancipation.