Envelhecimento e educação de idosas: processos e desenvolvimentos singulares

Abstract

The global society is undergoing deep changes in its social, economic, political and cultural structure. In this context, the quest for the understanding of the reality of the world and, in particular, the building of sense for life and existence, has been many times undertaken by the human beings. The contemporaneity with an increasingly complex time has defying many individuals to work for the construction and perfecting of their own manhood, that occurs throughout the life cycle. The humanization of the being, in all phases of life, assumes the education experience as a singular development process, wherein each individual must be fully served in his specificities, recognized in his abilities, understood in his difficulties, so that his rights are respected and valued. An expressive number of elder people have been received, in the last years, by several higher education institutions in Brazil. In the city of São Paulo, in particular, there are a large number of institutions that develop social-educational programs intended to that public, in order to assure the possibility of learning along life and experiencing inter-generation relationships at the old age. This qualitative approach research aimed at understanding the meanings of the singular experience of aging of ten older women that attend to an educational program developed by a private higher education institution in the city of São Paulo, considering the reasons for their entrance, their expectations as to the proposals and dynamics of the program, type of participation and the perception of the interviewed participants on the living with the colleagues and the most significant lessons learned along this process. Through the analysis of the data collected in individual interviews, we could find that aging is a dynamic, singular, complex and heterogeneous process that does not involve only difficulties and painful losses, but also important acquisitions that help older women to re-code their own perception that they have built about old age and the aging process. The learning of recognizing their vulnerabilities and limitations, resulting from the decline caused by the aging process, the development of their self-esteem and the valuation of dignity, resulting from the experiences of this permanent education program and the construction of friendship bonds were, undoubtedly, the best conquests for these women. Considering that aging is a singular process, the development is continuous, permitting new learning and opportunities for change