Larissa Jõgi
Hall of Fame Class of 2022
Since 1986, Larissa Jõgi has been professionally active and well recognized in the field of adult education. She is currently associate professor of andragogy at the School of Educational Sciences at Tallinn University, Estonia, with which she has been affiliated since 1982. Her research focuses on the professional identity of adult educators and university teachers, learning during the course of life, and methodologies of qualitative research. As a member of the Estonian Adult Education Council, she has influenced numerous international and national discussions on adult education and adult learning.
She has extensive experience in international educational development and research activities. Initiator of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in adult education at Tallinn University, she also is one of the developers and implementors of the international Adult Education for Social Change program, which won the United Kingdom’s UALL Award. She has led research groups and has conducted research related to Estonian adult education.
She is the author or co-author of more than 100 publications and textbooks. In addition, she is an active member of many international scientific organizations and a reviewer of international peer-reviewed journals including The European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults, Adult Education Quarterly, Studies of Transition States and Societies, International Review of Education, Issues in Educational Research, and Estonian Educational Journal. She is a member of the European Science Foundation's pool of reviewers. She also helped initiate the international journal Studies for the Learning Society and has been one of the guest editors of the special issue of International Review of Education (2018) as well as guest editor of Estonian Educational Journal.
In recent years, Larissa Jõgi has participated in various international research projects financed by EU structural funds, including Adult Learning Professions in Europe—ALPINE (European Commission EAC/09/06 LOT2), Becoming Adult Educators in the European Area—BAEA, Becoming Adult Educators in the Baltic-Sea Region—BABAR (Nordplus), and the Estonian and Finnish Adult Education and the New EU Education Policy (Interreg IIIA project). On the basis of her experience in adult education in a post-soviet society, she was nominated by the Deutscher Volshochschulverband (DVV) as an expert who in 2016-2017 developed the professional competences of adult educators in Ukraine. The impact of this expertise may prove to be significant and in demand in the future, given current events.
Her contributions to the field of adult education and learning are many. She is one of the founder and convenor of the ESREA Research Network on Adult Educators, Trainer and their Professional Development (ReNAdET) since 2008. She is initiated the growth of the Estonian adult educators’ professional system through the development of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral courses at her home university. Since 2004, she served as chairperson of the Professional Committee of the Estonian Adult Educators. In cooperation with the Estonian Qualifications Authority, the Adult Education Department of the Estonian Ministry, she made possible the official recognition of the Estonian adult education professional system. She was directly involved in the creation and development of andragogy academic studies in Estonia. There are no academic curricula related to adult education in other Baltic states. Internationally, Larissa Jõgi—along with colleagues from Glasgow, Malta, and Cyprus—was a critical contributor to the international research project Learner-Centered Education (LCE) as a Means for Social Change in Adult Education Programs for Migrants in Four European Countries (2015-2019).