Work Opportunities for Adult Educators in Italy 85
Even though some research projects identified “a mismatch between the profes-sionalism that is demanded on the one hand and supplied on the other” (Boffo 2015, p. 160), there is a high demand for people with specific skills in the adult education field. In spite of this, in terms of professionalization, adult educators in Italy are still considered “weak professions from the viewpoint of establishing a specific category, with defined competences and a definite and recognized profile”
(Boffo 2015, p. 161). Nevertheless, social enterprises present:
the need for workers with transversal didactical-educational and communication-relational skills, but above all with competences in planning, accounting, needs analysis of the local area and of the companies involved in education and training.
(Boffo 2015, p. 161)
According to this overview of the national situation in the adult education field, we can state that the private sector expresses, in ways either implicit or explicit, a growing demand for workers with specific professionalism in adult education.
On the one hand, the challenge for these workers lies in the managerial and organizational skills that are also required in the workplace; this issue will be significant for the future of a closer relationship between higher education and the labour market.
Carlo Terzaroli 86
they do not always recognize adult education graduates as candidates that meet these requirements. In a certain way, this represents one of the biggest challenges in the field. Moreover, issues for professionalization can be found at the micro-level. Even though adult education is related to many non-formal and informal contexts (as enterprises, cultural and non-profit associations, etc.), they often do not perceive themselves as adult education professionals, but just “as belonging to a certain social or business context” (Nuissl 2009, p. 129).
From this national analysis, we can therefore conclude that the challenge for adult education in Italy is closely linked to cultural and political recognition of the whole field. The absence of a public debate, policy understanding based largely on the school-level process and the mismatch between private employers and the demand for degrees reveal the great challenges that adult education professionals in the country face.
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