Page 11 - IJPS-9-3

International Journal of
Population Studies Barriers to learning at a U3A in Lebanon

forming cliques and unpenetrable groups of friends. Citing 3. Theoretical framing
an OLLI administrator and informant:
One of the biggest obstacles I find is gossip. This The previous literature is undoubtedly commendable
for eliciting the social and individual barriers that older
inhibits a solid community and lowers morale. Many persons face when engaging in late-life learning. However,
of our members have been here for years and have one consistent lacuna is the neglect of how obstacles arise
formed cliques. My hope is for new members to be from the dialectic interplay between structure and agency
welcomed but this does not always happen. (Brady et and how this dialectic may influence their mitigation.
al., 2013, p. 637) For example, if caring duties and assuming responsibility
Finally, resistance to change when teachers were stuck for the welfare of loved ones in older age emanate from
in their ways and were unwilling to reconsider content and individual choices, such choices are enacted within and
instructional methods — such as not dedicating any time primarily influenced by structural impetuses and social
for discussion at the end of the lecture, even in the face of rules that constrain choice and limit personal maneuvering.
critical feedback, resulted in a consistent drop in attendance Similarly, a lack of time for learning due to occupational
rates. Still, within OLLIs, Hansen et al. (2019) analyzed commitments may also be inextricably linked to structural
the responses of 65 directors about their perception of the income security issues brought on by restrictive and agist
challenges that shackled the learning experience of older retirement policies. Even dispositional and situational
adults. Findings were in accordance with Formosa’s (2021e; barriers arising from the pretext of personality traits and
2021f) conclusion that older persons with lower-than- personal preferences intertwine with structures reinforcing
average levels of educational attainment register lower institutional and infrastructural barriers, making their
participation rates due to the education begets education separation highly reductive.
phenomenon. Older adults from ethnic minorities were This study avoids addressing structure as an external
similarly under represented, so Hansen et al. (2019) entity beyond the reach of institutional agents (learners,
iterated that “age-friendly universities will have to address administrators, and teachers). Thus, it investigates so-called
longstanding issues of intersectionality when addressing “agentic” and “structural” barriers to older adult learning
structural racism in higher education” (p. 233). through a dialectic and structurationist approach instead
The body of literature presented above has several of conceiving their relationship as a dualism. Inspiration
implications that justify this research study’s undertaking. for this move is founded on Anthony Giddens’ (1984)
On the one hand, findings highlighted how socioeconomic structuration theory concepts: duality of structure and
status, infrastructure, the regulations/requirements set by reflexivity, as well as manifest and latent action functions.
educational institutions or organizations and their operations, First, the duality of structure holds much potential
failure to communicate available learning opportunities in examining barriers to older adult learning in terms of
effectively, and course content are significant deterrents to individual action that (re)produces structure, which itself
late-life learning. On the other hand, of crucial relevance to can constrain action to learn in older age. According to
this study are cautions raised against de facto categorization of Giddens, institutions are “the more enduring features
“barriers […] as being ‘structural’ in nature and other barriers of social life” (1984, p. 24) as they witness interactions
as ‘non-structural’” (Boulton-Lewis et al., 2016, p. 195). between agents who assume different positions. Giddens
Classifying barriers as individual or structural may potentially (1976) also describes institutional interactions as occurring
and erroneously responsibilize solely individual learners at different levels and include the habitual actions of
or educational institutions (Hu, 2023). The latter fragments each institutional agent, the set of these agents, and the
the mitigation of educational barriers by seemingly treating relationship of interdependence between the actions of any
older learners as clients who, at the end of their experience, one agent and the actions of other agents. Hence, structures
are invited to review educational services provided by the (including so-called structural barriers) primarily result
institution by completing exit evaluation questionnaires (e.g., from individual actions enacted at institutions, whereas
Hachem & Vuopala, 2016; Silverstein et al., 2002). In contrast, they become the milieu where such actions occur.
the reality is much more complex and requires delicate Structuration implies that people actively make and
treading in examining barriers, not least among older learners remake social structures in everyday life, implying that
enrolled already in campuses, which have conventionally action and structure are necessarily intertwined rather
been a hotbed for younger generations. One way forward is than being opposite to each other (Giddens, 1984). If
applying a structurationist perspective to the barriers to older structuralism emphasizes a pre-eminent role of the social
adult learning, which involves institutional agents ceaselessly over its parts, that is, human subjects, humanism is rooted
and reflexively examining and mitigating such barriers. in hermeneutic traditions where agency and meanings are

Volume 9 Issue 3 (2023) 5 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.375