The Politics Of Nonformal Education In Latin America

Using the literacy and adult education programs in several Latin American countries as prime examples of adult educational reform, Torres examines such issues as why given educational policies are created, how they are constructed, planned, and implemented, what are the implications of such policies.

In the past two decades, there has been a number of nonformal education programs in Latin America and the Caribbean, among them literacy programs, community development, technical/vocational training, cooperatives, agricultural assistance, and popular education. Nonformal Education and the Poor in Latin America and the Caribbean is a comprehensive overview of these programs--their goals, methods, and actual accomplishments. The book also assesses the impact these programs have had on community and individual development and behavior especially in light of political events in these regions.

Monograph on social change and nonformal education in Latin America - studies social policy, underdevelopment, social theories, adult education, literacy, integrated approaches to educational development, etc. Diagrams and references.

Third World women and men discuss efforts to improve the position of women through education

Using the literacy and adult education programs in several Latin American countries as prime examples of adult educational reform, Torres examines such issues as why given educational policies are created, how they are constructed, planned, and implemented, what are the implications of such policies.

This book offers a relevant sample of the current research on Latin American education in comparative perspective. In their introduction, Torres and Puiggros, two of the most recognized researchers of Latin American education, draw from political sociology of education, theories of the state, history of education, and deconstructionist theories to focus on changes in state formation in the region and its implications for the constitution of the pedagogical subject in public schools. Throughout the different chapters, the contributors present and analyze the most relevant topics, research agendas, and some of the key theoretical and political problems of Latin American education.

Education and Social Change in Latin America is a valuable addition to the area studies literature in Comparative Education. Torres knits contributions from recognized North and South American experts to produce a comprehensive tapestry of analyses of both formal and non-formal education in Latin America. The book constitutes an excellent example of the application of a broad social science perspective to the study of education, viewed as a constituent sub-system. The foci of non-formal education (Part I), political socialisation (Part II), and the impact of social change upon education in Brazil (Part III) facilitates a broad range of comparisons. A balance between the often-contradictory perspectives-economic, anthropological, sociological and political-provides the reader with a comprehensive “snapshot” of trends and developments in Latin American education during the crucial 1980s. This inter-disciplinary examination of aspects of Latin American education has a broad range of applications, ranging from introductory courses to senior seminars to a valuable research tool. What would otherwise be an exceptional book is rendered even more valuable by Torres’ conversation with Paulo Freire. While Torres is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on Freire, this chapter explores Freire as a human being, an educator, and introduces some of the contradictions faced by a world renowned adult educator who assumed the mantle of an administrator in the formal education system in his native Brazil between 1989 and 1991.

This is a broad introduction to Latin America, ranging from religion and history to literature and education, with a focus on cultures and cultural change. With lively prose and a variety of informative inserts, Williamson draws the reader in to the diverse realities of a continent in flux, holding it together by a strong theoretical framework.