Author: Ajal

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Experiencing English and cultural learning during study tours

Author: Associate professor Shin Yu Miao, Department of Applied Foreign Languages, Ling Tung University, Taiwan

Edition: Volume 46, Number 3, November 2006

Summary: Significant aspects of my doctorate in adult education, which I studiedover the past few years, were related to the exploration of English and cultural learning through study tours. Now, with the hard task done, and thesis completed, it is motivating to reflect on these aspects and their systematic application.

Keywords: study tour

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Vocational educational services by non-government organisations to adult farmers in Oyo and Ogun States, Nigeria

Author: O.I. Oladele, Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Edition: Volume 46, Number 3, November 2006

Summary: The objective of this paper is to examine the vocational education services provided by non-government organisations (NGOs) to adult farmers in the states of Oyo and Ogun, in Nigeria. Two agro-based NGOs, the Diocesan Agricultural Development Project (DADP) and the Farmers Development Union (FADU), were purposively selected because of their relevance to the study. A total of 120 members of these NGOs were sampled for the study, 116 of whom responded. They were interviewed using a structured schedule designed to elicit vital information on the NGO extension services of which they were aware, and the frequency with which these services were administered to the respondents. The data collected from the field were analysed using frequency counts, tables, chi-square and t-test. The findings revealed that the respondents were mostly aware of the extension activities provided by the NGOs. In addition, several  extension services were received regularly, with FADU members receiving more extension activities than members of DADP. While a broad range of extension activities were provided by the agro-based NGOs to their members, those most frequently accessed by farmers were mainly advisory. Relationships between some of the demographic characteristics of the respondents and the extension activities of the NGOs were also discovered. Conclusions are drawn concerning the focus of NGO activities provided to farmers and the relationship between these and government-based programs.

Keywords: NGO, DADP, FADU, extension services

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An evaluation of resilience and employability in disadvantaged adults

Author: Linda Rainey, Centre for Research in Education, Equity and Work, University of South Australia

Edition: Volume 46, Number 3, November 2006

Summary: This article analyses the evaluation of a pilot program for long-term, unemployed people conducted at a TAFE institute, and designed to improve their employment prospects. The process undertaken for measuring inferred resilience and employability is described. Tracking of 49 program participants’ perceptions of relevant skills, attitudes and learning, together with objective observation, assessment and program outcomes, were employed to obtain a measure of enhanced resilience and employability. The study will be used to assist in the design of future programs for this target population.

Keywords: inferred resilience,

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Considering the environment in social work education: Transformations for eco-social justice

Author: Peter Jones, School of Social Work and Community Welfare, James Cook University, Townsville

Edition: Volume 46, Number 3, November 2006

Summary: Addressing the global environmental crisis will require both personal and social transformation. Adult environmental education will clearly play an important role in such transformative processes, but needs to broaden its target audience beyond those already involved in, or committed to, environmentalism to include other potential allies in this process. Social work is a profession characterised by philosophical and practical concerns with social justice and human rights. This paper argues that social workers also have an important, yet largely unexplored, role to play in environmental practice. To realise this potential, social work education needs to provide opportunities for the linking of conceptual and practical environmental issues to social work’s more traditional social justice concerns. This will involve the incorporation of forms of adult environmental education and ecological literacy into social work curricula. The author discusses how transformative learning approaches have been utilised in a subject on socio-environmentalism as part of a social work degree course.

Keywords: environmentalism, human rights, ecological literacy

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Alternative study modes in higher education: students’ expectations and preferences

Author: Robyn Benson, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University

Edition: Volume 46, Number 3, November 2006

Summary: Two features of the recent higher education environment, which have implications for university policies and practices, are the changing nature of the student population and the impact of alternative study modes, particularly as a result of developments in new learning technologies. Both of these features have implications for the characteristics of students as adult learners.This paper outlines an exploratory survey which was undertaken to investigate students’ preferred modes of study, including full and part-time, conventional and online, university-based and workplace-based, in order to inform university planning in this area. The study indicated that, although there was some willingness by students to engage with non-traditional options, particularly as experience of these options or of university life increased, the strongest preferences were for traditional study arrangements.  Many students were more interested in increasing the flexibility of their study through extended access to the campus and improved timetabling than through studying off-campus and/or online.

Keywords: study mode, technology

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Social capital outcomes: The new focus for adult literacy and numeracy courses

Authors: Stephen Black, Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE; Jo Balatti, James Cook University; & Ian Falk, Charles Darwin University

Edition: Volume 46, Number 3, November 2006

Summary: Since the early 1990s in Australia, adult literacy and numeracy courses in vocational education and training (VET) have been focused on human capital outcomes, that is, on developing the literacy and numeracy skills believed to improve the economic performance of individuals, enterprises and the nation generally. However, some researchers have expressed the concern that these outcomes are insufficient in explaining the socio-economic impacts of these courses. This paper reports on a recent study of the social capital outcomes of adult literacy and numeracy courses (Balatti, Black & Falk, 2006). The findings indicate that it is a complex mix of findings of both human and social capital outcomes from these courses that results in socio-economic impacts. The authors contend that social capital outcomes should be recognised and accounted for, along with human capital skills, in a reframing of adult literacy and numeracy policy and practice.

Keywords: human capital, social capital, VET,

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An assessment of the status of teachers and the teaching profession in Nigeria

Authors: A U Osunde and F E O Omoruyi, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria

Edition: Volume 45, Number 3, November 2005

Summary: The study attempted to obtain empirical evidence on the status of teachers and the teaching profession in Nigeria. To undertake this study, 400 post-primary school teachers were randomly drawn from 40 post-primary schools in Midwestern Nigeria. The teacher’s status questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. Results of the study indicated, among others, that teachers are not well financially remunerated and that they are looked down upon because of delay in payment of salaries and allowances, thereby having a loss of sense of belonging. This situation has resulted in the low esteem and status of the teachers and the teaching profession in the society. Findings also revealed that poor conditions of service, wider negative influences and teachers’ negative personal and professional behaviour are critical factors responsible for teachers’ low status. Some recommendations to enhance the image and status of the Nigerian teachers and the teaching profession were made.

Keywords: post-primary, questionnaire, belonging, conditions of service

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Basic concepts of the educational science sub-discipline of adult education

Author: Kaethe Schneider, Frederch-Schiller University, Jena, Thuringia, Germany

Edition: Volume 45, Number 3, November 2005

Summary: In this study, a conceptual system is outlined for the educational science sub-discipline of adult education. Adults’ attending instruction or not attending instruction is conceptually specified. Focusing as it does on a cardinal event of adult education, this represents a first step toward a system for the educational science sub-discipline of adult education. Attending instruction is mainly understood as action, and non-attending instruction as behavior. Instruction is a system of educational actions in which the teacher orients a subject to the educand in order to change his or her psychic dispositions.

Keywords: adult education, action, behavior

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And now it’s time to say goodbye – a decade of learning and development in rural and remote health

Author: Ross Hartley, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Health, University of New England; Hunter New England Health

Edition: Volume 45, Number 3, November 2005

Summary: The halcyon days of learning and development in New England Area Health Service ended with the 2005 NSW Health restructure. The previous decade had been one of creativity, innovation, risk-taking and major reform. The new order’s focus is workforce capability and learning, touting strategic development rather than learning and development per se. What changes are effected remains to be seen. This paper takes a collage approach to the context and issues that drove innovation and reform in learning in the bush. Apart from providing a single repository for these, the attempt is made to reflect on the worth and value of the journey undertaken. Given the major difference in our approach to learning, compared with that from the other (then) seventeen area health services, the question is asked of our efficacy in transforming the learning culture.

Keywords: NEAHS, L&D, workforce capability, strategic development

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A tale of two towns: learning community initiatives in Bega and Thuringowa

Author: Peter Kearns, Visiting Research Fellow, Adult Learning Australia

Edition: Volume 45, Number 3, November 2005

Summary: Current learning community initiatives in Bega Valley and Thuringowa illustrate trends that are likely to become more significant in communities across Australia. In both cases, local government councils have supported the projects with the council library taking a leading entrepreneurial role in the initiative. This role reflects the growing interest of libraries in lifelong learning, and in their role as community learning centres. These initiatives are discussed against the background of wider issues in the development of learning communities in Australia.

Keywords: local government, library, lifelong learning,

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