Category: ACE

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Using grass roots community programs as an anti-extremism strategy

Author: Robyn Broadbent, Victoria University

Edition: Volume 53, Number 2, July 2013

Summary: In recent times the Australian Government has become increasingly concerned with the challenge to the dominant culture by humanitarian immigrants entering the country.  As a part of a complex strategy, emerging from the events of 9/11 and the perceived changing face of multiculturalism in Australia, the Attorney-General Robert McClelland announced in 2011 more than $1.1 million in funding for projects to mentor and support young people to stay disengaged from intolerant and radical ideologies.The grants have been awarded under the Building Community resilience – Youth Mentoring Grants Program (2010) and are  designed to promote a tolerant, safe and inclusive society.

As a result of that funding a northern suburbs Council Youth Services in Victoria established a project to work with young people 12-17 years who have been identified by Victoria Police, the education sector, and welfare agencies as individuals who have or are exhibiting signs of fostering hatred and intolerance either through the spoken word, written messages, graffiti, the media, or the internet, that live within this local government area. This paper discusses the results of the evaluation of a multicultural leadership program that was delivered using an adult learning framework in which 16 young people attended and how such programs can continue to build the capacity of communities to build scaffolds of support that ensure the inclusion of young people and not their marginalization.

Keywords: Young people, extremism, racism, community program

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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The twenty-first century university and the concept of lifelong learning

Author: Sasa Milic: University of Montenegro

Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013

Summary:

In recent years, major universities and governmental and nongovernmental organizations around the world have been engaged in discussions about implementing the principles of lifelong learning as fundamental principles of individual education. Until about a decade ago, adult education in Montenegro (whose development resembled that of adult education in the other republics of the former Yugoslavia) was characterized by the founding of workers’ or people’s universities; establishment of training centers at major companies and factories; and continued professional training, which included part-time enrollment in traditional universities. In other words, adult education was treated as an integral part of the formal education system but was not included in the state budget for education. Over the course of the last ten years, Montenegro has lost its old system of adult education, but it is still quite far from establishing a new one. Tellingly, no strategic document pertaining to adult education in the country recognizes the University of Montenegro as having a major role  in lifelong learning. This essay problematizes the place and role of the university within the system of adult education and offers a comparative analysis of the development of the concept of lifelong learning at the university level in Europe.

Keywords: lifelong learning, adult education, expanding accessibility, different learning styles, social partnership, social justice.

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Learning and guidance for older workers in Europe

Authors: Pamela M.Clayton: University of Glasgow, Scotland; Silvana Greco: University of Milan, Italy; Maria Jose Lopez Sanchez: University Miguel Hernandez of Elche, Alicante, Spain.

Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013

Summary: Despite still widespread unemployment in Europe, there is a growing shortage of labour, due to the ageing of the population and discrimination against old people both in and out of employment. Following the long history of human rights legislation, such discrimination is now outlawed but many third-agers have become discouraged or do not know how to make their careers more secure. Vocational guidance, therefore, is needed in order to reintegrate them into the labour force and manage their careers effectively.

Keywords: ageing, population, human rights, career, guidance

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Meeting diverse expectations: Department of Tutorial Classes, Sydney University, 1919 to 1963

Authors: Darryl Dymock and Ann Kelly; Griffith University

Edition: Volume 53, Number 1, April 2013

Summary: The University of Sydney has offered some form of organised adult education since the late 19th century. In 1914, that provision was formalised through the establishment of a Department of Tutorial Classes, the appointment of a Director, and a partnership with the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA). Right from that time, however, there was ambivalence and sometimes direct opposition to the role and sometimes to the existence of the department. As a result, successive directors of the department had to tread a fine line in balancing the expectations of the university with their passion for extending the academy into the adult community, while also satisfying the demands of the WEA. This paper reviews the period of three directorships of the Department of Tutorial Classes, between 1919 and 1963, and argues that the liberal adult education approach adopted by the university from its earliest days was sustained over those 45 years mainly because ongoing disagreement within the university about the purpose of the department and the status of the director, as well as continuing external pressure from Meeting diverse expectations 27 the WEA, ensured that the status quo prevailed, even when there were innovative adult education developments elsewhere, and opportunities for change presented themselves.

 

Keywords: tutorial WEA adult education Sydney

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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An evaluation of a formal professional examination in adult continuing education

Author/s: James A. Athanasou

Edition: Volume 46, Number 2, April 2006

Summary: This study provides a framework for the evaluation of assessments that may be used in adult continuing education. It provides an example of the analysis of an examination for 33 solicitors seeking specialist accreditation. Resampling was used to generate a group of 1000 results, and responses were analysed using a Rasch model. Results indicated a select and capable group of candidates for whom many items in the assessment were redundant. A fi ve-step general model for evaluating formal assessments in adult education is outlined.

Keywords: adult education, continuing, specialist accreditation, formal assessment

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Adult, community and public education as primary sites for the development of social capital

Author/s: Rob Townsend

Edition: Volume 46, Number 2, April 2006

Summary: This article reviews current literature and discussion about the policies and sites of Australian adult education and training and their potential impact on the development of social capital in a regional context. The review stems from a current research project examining the impact of participation in adult education by people from diverse cultural backgrounds in a regional town in northern Victoria. There is evidence that adult education can transform individuals via access to new knowledge and skills, but can it impact on the social cohesiveness of groups, communities and regions in Australian society? Access and equity policies and strategies form the centre of adult, community and public education in Australia and it is time for these to be significantly reviewed in the context of a culturally diverse twenty first century society.

Keywords: adult education, social capital, diverse cultural backgrounds, northern Victoria, social cohesiveness

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Empowerment of women through literacy education: some issues for Nigeria’s consideration

Author/s: A. Okediran and M.G. Olujide

Edition: Volume 46, Number 1, April 2006

Summary: This paper examines the status of women in the pre- and post-independent era in Nigeria and in contemporary society. It explores the introduction of western general forms of dichotomies, discriminations and apathy that general education has caused in their life, and brought about patriarchal knowledge and man’s domination and control of all spheres of knowledge, work, religion, laws, processes and which have engendered societal disempowerment of women. The paper thus advances adult and non-formal education and counselling programs as tools for empowering women. It also reviews the problems faced by women in society and proffers adult and non-formal education and counselling education strategies as solutions capable of propelling them to contribute their quota to the socio-economic and political development of the nation.

Keywords: women, Nigeria, literacy, general education, non-formal education

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Low female literacy: factors and strategies

Author/s: B.S. Vasudeva Rao and P. Viswanadha Gupta

Edition: Volume 46, Number 1, April 2006

Summary: Literacy is a process which dispels and promotes rational thinking and moulds human beings into becoming responsible citizens. The absence of literacy directly and indirectly retards the development of individuals, society, community and the country. For the success of any program, people should be motivated by providing necessary congenial environments, socio-economic conditions and committed efforts on the part of implementing bodies. In spite of the number of efforts made by central and state governments in India, still illiterates remain. This paper identifies factors responsible for people remaining illiterate and suggests strategies to adopt for achieving better results in the district which has the lowest literacy rate in the state and country.

Keywords: Iiteracy, factors responsible, better outcomes, India

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Transformative pedagogy for social capital

Author/s: Peter Willis

Edition: Volume 47, Number 3, November 2007

Summary: This paper explores ways in which pedagogy for an elaborated form of transformative learning can be a useful catalyst for the development of social capital in community and workplace groups and networks. I begin with an example and then explore ideas of learning challenges embedded in building and maintaining social capital. I consider the usefulness of a four-dimensional approach to transformative learning as a suitable pedagogy for its development and maintenance. The paper concludes with brief profiles of four educators whose work, in different ways, could be said to have promoted forms of social capital, directly or indirectly: Desmond Tutu, Anne Sullivan, Jesus and Socrates. Each of these educators, without excluding other approaches, tended to emphasise one of the four transformative pedagogies.

Keywords: transformative pedagogy, transformative learning, social capital

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Tackling the issues and challenges of using video data in adult literacy research

Author/s: Ali R. Abasi and Maurice C. Taylor

Edition: Volume 47, Number 2, July 2007

Summary: Although video has long been used as a teaching aid in adult literacy and basic education, literacy researchers seem to have ignored the potential benefits of using video as a tool that could add rigour to research. Reporting on their field experiences of an adult literacy learning study in Canada, the authors provide a narrative account of their use of video as a data collection tool. The article describes the methodological challenges associated with the use of video data and the procedures that were used to analyse video records in their adult literacy research.

Keywords: video, teaching aid, literacy, benefits

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