Community adult education for a social vaccine in pandemic and post pandemic times

Abstract

This article argues for a 'social vaccine' in pandemic times that underpins the four
basic requirements for global health and equity to flourish by providing a life with
security, opportunities that are fair, a planet that is habitable and supports
biodiversity and governance to ensure resources are fairly distributed (Baum and
Friel, 2020). By a ‘social vaccine’ I do not mean a biological vaccine that is
produced in laboratories and injected in arms to produce immunity to the COVID19
virus. A ‘social vaccine’ is an antidote to counteract the consequences and long-term
effects of epidemic upheaval, designed from below in participatory and dialogical
relationships with those worst affected by its consequences. This article argues that
community adult education, which has incessantly prioritised employability skills
training, should play a pivotal role in providing a ‘social vaccine’ in pandemic and
post-pandemic times. The significance of community adult education is that it seeks
to build the curriculum from the inequalities and injustices that people experience in
their everyday lives by providing opportunities for individual and collective change.