Tag: adult education

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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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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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Introduction: Why food? Why pedagogy? Why adult education

Author/s:   Rick Flowers and Elaine Swan: University of Technology, Sydney

Edition: Volume 52, Number 3, Nov 2012

Summary:   We convened this special issue on Food pedagogies to start to address what we saw as lacunae in both research on adult education and food studies.  Thus, in spite of the expanding body of work on informal learning and pedagogies amongst adult educators, food has been relatively neglected (see Cook 2009; Jubas 2011 and Sumner 2011, for exceptions).  This is somewhat surprising as many good studies academics argue: the growing, buying, preparing, provisioning, cooking, tasting, eating and disposing of food have become the target of intensified pedagogical activity across a range of domains (Kimura 2011; Short 2006; Coveney 2006).  Hence, many different “pedagogues” – policy makers, churches, activists, health educators, schools, tourist agencies, celebrities, chefs – think we don’t know enough about food and what to do with it.

Keywords: food, pedagogy, adult education, adult learning

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 52_3. 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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Intersection of training and podcasting in adult education

Author/s: Ashok K. Roy and Priya A. Roy

Edition: Volume 47, Number 3, November 2007

Summary: Podcasting is becoming more and more common as a method of delivery at universities and for training purposes. The concept to set up podcasting is simple, and the costs vary. The advantages of podcasting are enormous. Podcasting is especially effective for adult education programs.

Keywords: podcasting, training, universities, adult education

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Diverse pleasures: informal learning in community

Author/s: Phoenix de Carteret

Edition: Volume 48, Number 3, November 2008

Summary: In this paper I suggest that social dances and local markets are examples of resilient practices of place-making and community that involve active participation. These two activities create mobile and pliant communities of participants that involve considerable informal and incidental learning. With dances and markets in mind, I look at the two concepts, social capital and community, that are used to link adult education and development and explore the notion of place. Place is conceived here as necessarily involving the inter-relationship of environment, social and economic landscapes. Somerville’s place pedagogy framework is introduced as a methodological approach to research informal learning in the two activities and explore the pedagogies that sustain social attributes broadly conceived under the umbrella of social capital. The paper establishes dances and markets as a nexus of people, place and purpose, a ground from which to research the informal learning that occurs in these diverse pleasures.

Keywords: resilience, active participation, dance, social capital, adult education

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‘They’re funny bloody cattle’: encouraging rural men to learn

Author/s: Soapy Vallance and Barry Golding

Edition: Volume 48, Number 2, July 2008

Summary: Our paper examines and analyses the contexts and organisations in rural and regional communities that informally and effectively encourage men to learn. It is based on a combination of local, rural adult education practice and a suite of studies in Australia and elsewhere of learning in community contexts, most recently into community-based men’s sheds. It is underpinned by both experience and research evidence that many rural men tend to have an aversion to formal learning. The intention of our paper and its specific, practical conclusions and recommendations is to focus  on and share positive and practical ways, demonstrated through practice and validated through research, of encouraging rural men to learn.

Keywords: rural, regional, communities, informal learning, adult education, practice

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The ‘accidental activist’: learning, embodiment and action

Author/s: Tracey Ollis

Edition: Volume 48, Number 2, July 2008

Summary: The 21st century has seen renewed interest in activism, community development and social change globally (Kenny 2006). This paper outlines the educational significance of the learning practices of activists as they engage within and against the state. In an era of adult education which emphasises lifelong learning and learning in the workplace, this article explores the holistic practices of activists as they learn from one another in a social context or ‘on the job’. Adult activists act with agency, their learning is purposive; it is resolute and they are there and act for a reason. This learning is not only cognitive but also embodied; it is learning often associated with the emotions of passion, anger, desire and a commitment to social change. Drawing on current research in Australia, attention is given to an important but at times forgotten epistemology of adult learning.

Keywords: activism, learning practices, adult education, lifelong learning

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Adult education, social inclusion and cultural diversity in regional communities

Author/s: Rob Townsend

Edition: Volume 48, Number 1, April 2008

Summary: This article presents the outcomes of recent research into adult education programs and experiences in the Shire of Campaspe, a region in northern Victoria. Research data of people from diverse cultural backgrounds reveal how individuals can utilise adult education as a space to explore their own social and cultural isolation in a regional context. The research reveals patterns of migration, internal population mobility, social isolation and cultural identity within the context of this one regional shire. The article discerns the roles that adult education providers play in creating specific kinds of space for people to discover new social networks while interacting with informal and formal structures and processes of adult learning. Adult education programs and practices can play an important role in providing space for the exploration of social, cultural and economic experiences. However, individual adult education organisations manage their spaces and programs in such a way that excludes some people from social and economic activity crucial to the development of individual and community social capital. Adult learning policies, programs and practices in regional communities need to address the holistic nature of adult learning for people from culturally diverse backgrounds in order to contribute to the development of sustaining social capital for individuals, families and communities in Australian society.

Keywords: adult education, policies, programs, practices, regional, social capital

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