Interviews with Estonian Adult Educators: Professionalization of the Adult Educator

During my final week at placement at Haapsalu Rahvaülikool, I took time to interview 3 adult educators who all work in the Foreign Language program. The following is a video of their insights and responses to the questions I asked. The questions focused on what their challenges are as adult educators in Estonia, but also what the challenges may be for all adult educators in their country. I also asked about the support networks that are in place and what they think the future looks like for those in their field The goal of these interviews was to get a glimpse into the life of adult educators in Estonia but also to see what their major challenges were and where there could be room for professional improvement. Out of these interviews emerged a few ideas for a workshop session to be led in early December focusing on professionalization of adult educators in Estonia.

Out of these interviews, I concluded that the following topics could be of pertinent interest to adult educators in Estonia:

-- Maintaining empathy as adult educators

-- Best practices for foreign language teaching

-- Networking and support systems

-- Funding opportunities and how to pursue them

-- Marketing of your adult education program and yourself as an adult educator

-- Competencies of adult educators