ABSTRACT

Older men are highly under-represented in late-life learning programmes. In reaction, the University of the Third Age in Malta (U3A) planned and implemented an ‘Older Men Learning in the Community’ project that (i) employed advertising strategies targeting specifically older men; (ii) organized preliminary meetings with older men to elicit ‘generative themes’ for possible subject content; and (iii), prompted facilitators to employ novel teaching styles such as peer and situated learning approaches. Data demonstrated that older men were highly inclined to participate in learning activities that intrigued their interest, were deemed practical to their lives, and resonated with their occupational careers and generational habitus. Moreover, the U3A presented older men with a possibility to address perceived challenges to their masculinity following their retirement from work and physical aging. However, the study also emphasized that U3As must not let such an interest on older men serve to reinforce patriarchal and masculine hegemony. Rather than a late-life learning programme be designed to address older men’s inclinations to learn about subjects that are not of interest to older women, it is certainly also valuable for future learning projects to organize learning programmes that enable older men to overcome misogynistic notions.

摘要

老年男性在晚年学习计划中的代表性严重不足。作为回应，马耳他第三年龄大学 (U3A) 计划并实施了“老年男性社区学习”项目，该项目 (i) 采用专门针对老年男性的广告策略；(ii) 组织与年长男性的初步会议，为可能的主题内容引出“生成主题”；(iii)，促使辅导员采用新颖的教学方式，例如同伴和情境学习方法。数据表明，年长的男性更倾向于参加引起他们兴趣、被认为对他们的生活实用并且与他们的职业生涯和世代习性产生共鸣的学习活动。而且，U3A 为年长的男性提供了一种可能性，可以解决他们在退休和身体老化后感知到的男性气概挑战。然而，该研究还强调，U3A 不得让对年长男性的这种兴趣强化父权制和男性霸权。与其设计晚年学习计划来解决老年男性学习老年女性不感兴趣的科目的倾向，组织学习计划使老年男性能够克服厌恶女性的观念对于未来的学习项目当然也很有价值。