Further Education
Bridging the generation gap
Dr Trudy Corrigan on a ‘win win’ teaching and learning experience for older and younger people together
I was teaching in the Adult Education sector over twenty years ago when I received a phone call from the Adult Education Organiser. It was a phone call to change my life as a teacher forever. A group of active retired people wanted to research the local history of their district. Could I be their teacher to help them to discuss and research the historical records and the stories of the origin of their area? This local history class was part of an informal outreach programme where older people came together to meet and learn a topic of interest to them. The class originated to develop field trips to the historical places and buildings of interest. My role was to assist the students in documenting the stories of the past through these two-hour weekly classes, one day a week. The programme was organised at that time through the local Vocational Educational Training Boards Outreach Programmes. That phone call transformed my thinking as a teacher and later as a lecturer in Dublin City University (DCU). I had never taught a group of active retired people before. The thoughts of it both excited and worried me. What would they expect to learn? As soon as I met with them on the first day, I knew that all my fears were dissolved. They were a group of fifteen women, inviting, friendly and warm. The group consisted chiefly of women aged between 65 to 85 years of age. Two of them had been to university in their earlier days and three of them had finished secondary schooling but most
of these women had left school at the mandatory age of fourteen to pursue jobs in a variety of workplaces. This was in Ireland of the 1940’s, the 1950’s and the 1960’s. Men were welcome to this class, but sometimes when one dared to venture there, we did not see them again the following week. I later understood that many men, when they retire, are more likely to join groups where there are other men present. The class took place in the local community centre and the presence of the Burko boiler assured me that the tea or coffee break
would be a welcome opportunity for us to get to know each other. This became one of the most important moments of our learning together. It was when we shared our stories of our learning but also of our wider life experiences. Soon, this class became a group of friends, an invited family who looked forward to meeting each other each week. We delighted in finding out more about the origin of the local park, the construction of the historical buildings in the area with a history that dated to the 12th century at least. This was mixed with the stories recalled of the artists, writers, shopkeepers, artisans and
Senior Times l January - February 2022 l www.seniortimes.ie 5
