Bridging the generation gap

Bridging the Dr Trudy Corrigan on a ‘win win’ teaching and learning experience for older and younger people together generation gap

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

the many people who lived there all those years ago. The new emerging intercultural landscape was now a part of its new story and these women had communicated a rich history of the past but also a social study of the present through our regular conversations together.

It soon became clear to me as a young teacher that the kind of learning taking place here was reciprocal, informative and inviting. I brought my new found ways of teaching from my newly qualified teaching degree, what they brought was their enthusiasm for learning and their zest for life in general. They told me that their knowledge was learned from the ‘university of life’. As time went by, we were avidly documenting the stories of the past. We would later publish this work revealing the social and political history of the local area and the people who had lived there. What was unfolding for me was a local history which captured snippets of a national history. I had read much of this in the history books as a university student but this now came to life for me in this local history class.

Our cherished moments became the sharing of this knowledge together. It was the revelation of documents, the post cards, the letters sent from loved ones sent from the trenches of World War 1 all those years ago. It was the field trips where sometimes we met with local historians who would provide us with a tour of the local ancient graveyard, or the churches or even a local old library. Most of the time the rich learning was found in the funny stories shared between us. Once there was a flooding of the local river and some of the women fondly recalled the resilience of neighbours, family and friends who rallied together. This experience later became humorous stories of muddy river waters seeping through the downstairs of their homes. What was remembered was the kindness of relatives and neighbours to see them through these difficult times. Maureen and Maura two women in their early seventies fondly recalled how on a visit to the National Library to conduct research, they were invited to check out the files on the microfiche. The very helpful librarian politely pointed out that their earnest checking this information could only be helped if the microfiche files were placed the right way around. They laughed about this for a long time but they also talked about their excitement at their experience of visiting the national library and their wonder at the smell of the books there. They delighted in that that this one visit gave them something very interesting and exciting to discuss for weeks to come.

It soon became clear to me that this form of learning was very beneficial for both students and teacher. Meeting together each week helped us to form friendships together. It helped us to develop our understanding of the history of the area but also the history in a wider world context. It provided us with an understanding of how the new arrival of people from other cultures and countries has much to contribute to the story of this community today. I began to realise that this form of learning is defined as intergenerational learning but it does not appear in the main pedagogical text books in educational practice. Intergenerational Learning has been defined by the European Map of Intergenerational Learning (EMIL) as ‘the way that people of all ages can learn together and from each other.’ It is now emerging as an important part of Lifelong Learning where generations work together to understand about skills, values and knowledge beneficial to the old and the young. This learning is about embracing knowledge of the past to understand our present world. It is also to create intergenerational spaces where older and younger people can share knowledge and understanding that will help shape our future together.

Some years later, I became a lecturer in Dublin City University. My experience as a teacher to this active retired group had been so enriching and valuable that I wanted to share this with fellow lecturers and with university students. This enriched form of learning which I experienced with the local history group stayed with me. These older women had seen many of the universities grow in Ireland. Their taxes had paid for the new builds or improved faculties but they were never part of this formal learning. This was because opportunities to be part of university learning only developed many years after they had left school. The opportunity to be involved in acquiring degrees for professional accreditation remained outside their experience to access these opportunities. Now they were interested in learning for the love of learning.

people onto a university campus for informal learning at a cost-effective fee. This would be to create a space for intergenerational learning where older and younger students could meet and learn together. It had the potential to introduce older adults from the wider community to a world of learning in higher education. In return, they had much to offer to university life. Their love of learning, interest in the arts, in the sciences, in technology had now emerged to share their knowledge with younger third level students and with lecturers. I believed it was important to create an intergenerational space which was interdisciplinary in that it embraced education, the arts, the sciences, health and communications. This was to value the knowledge and experience of older people in a variety of teaching and learning contexts.

The DCU Intergenerational Learning Programme (DCUILP) began as a pilot programme taking place on a Saturday morning. This was a day when university students were usually free from their lectures. I began this as a proof of concept for my own doctoral studies. One day, I noticed an older man Peter walking through the campus. I inquired of him as to why he used the campus. ‘To buy a newspaper’ he replied. When I asked him if he would like to be part of learning opportunities there he was excited at the prospect.

I approached Age and Opportunity to invite their members to this pilot programme. I also enquired what kind of modules their members would like to be offered? Their Education and Training representative reflected that as we had a Communications Department in our university, many older people would be interested to understand how the news is created today. In addition, he thought it was important to evaluate how older people were represented in the media. He added that many people over sixty years of age were usually defined as one homogenous group called ‘the elderly.’ I wanted to introduce modules on technology. My understanding was that many older people would like to be more proficient with technology and that universities were well placed to facilitate older people to become more competent with their technological skills.

Fifty older people from all walks of life attended. The pilot programme attracted both men and women to attend on campus on the Saturday morning. Sixty university students volunteered to attend. They com-

prised of undergraduate and post graduate students who were studying in a variety of disciplines across the university.

The Communications Module took place in the form of a lecture input. Questions and answers were invited between the lecturers and students. Each week a different lecturer from The School of Communications presented and the lecture usually evolved into a form of conversation together. The technology module was designed as a practical hands- on module which took place in a computer lab. An older student was invited to sit side by side with the university student who could then work through problems and challenges presented by the technology.

There was a mentor on hand who was available to guide both cohorts of students. The overall ethos was one of conversation, patience and time spent together. Some weeks later, Eileen one of the older students spoke of her delight as she was now able to send an email to her grand -daughter in Australia while John was able to find hints and tips as to how to develop the newsletter for his Active Retirement group. The dedicated tea or coffee break was organised so that the younger and older students could come to know each other and have time to talk to each other. Many of the older and younger students commented that their favourite time together was during the tea and coffee break.

When I interviewed the university students as to the benefits for them, Ali who was a Master’s student talked about how been part of this programme helped with her stress levels. ‘As a student you are in a stress bubble but talking to these older people makes you realise that there is a wider world perspective beyond your studies.’.

While an older student James talked about the joy of being on a university campus instead of experiencing it only from the outside. What many of the older and younger students commented on was how much they had in common such as their enjoyment of music or daily exercise. They believed that this time shared together was meaningful for both the university students and the older people from the wider community. The main lesson which I have learned from my time spent as a teacher and a lecturer is that we need to develop more of these intergenerational learning spaces in our communities, in education and in our workplaces. Intergenerational Learning is a win win teaching and learning experience for older and younger people together

Dr Trudy Corrigan is a Lecturer/ Researcher at the School of Policy and Practice, Institute of Education, Dublin City University, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.