Perceptions Concerning Intergenerational Education from the Perspective of Participants

Abstract

This article presents an evaluation of an intergenerational education experience at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). For this evaluation, following a review of the literature regarding the state of the issue, we undertake an analysis of benefits and disadvantages from the perspective of the participants. Among the benefits we find that the majority of those questioned would repeat the program, and that classroom atmosphere improved notably. Participants listed the exceptional nature of the program and the teachers needing to make methodological adjustments to improve the experience (the pace of teaching, adaptation to the profile of the participants) among the disadvantages.

Acknowledgments

This work presents an evaluation of an intergenerational education experience at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the participants being young Social Education undergraduate students and students from the University Program for Older Adults. We agree with Sáez (2002) that, in older adult classes in Spanish universities, intergenerational projects and programs must have taken place about which we have little information, and that investigating these projects and programs is imperative for pedagogical research. In this context, we outline a program being carried out at the University of Castilla-La Mancha with the intention of analyzing both the positive aspects of the intergenerational approach being followed and improvements that could be made to it.