Tag: adult learners

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Insights into attrition from university-based enabling programs

Author: Cheryl Bookallil and Bobby Harreveld
CQUniversity, Australia

Edition: Volume 57, Number 1, April 2017

Summary: High attrition rates from university-based enabling programs continue to be the subject of much research and administrative effort. Understanding the factors behind decisions to withdraw from such programs is difficult since those who do not successfully complete an enabling program may not readily agree to participate in research into their motivations for enrolling, and reasons for withdrawal, leaving them silent in the literature. Students who are relatively successful with enabling study have ‘insider’ perceptions to share concerning the motivations of their fellow students, and the barriers some face. They can provide unique insights into factors behind the intractable problem of high attrition from enabling programs and the low rates of articulation into university study.

Keywords: University-based enabling programs, attrition, articulation, barriers

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 57_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Second chance education: barriers, supports and engagement strategies

Author: Harry Savelsberg, Sylvia Pignata, Pauline Weckert
University of South Australia

Edition: Volume 57, Number 1, April 2017

Summary: Second chance education programs are now a well-established presence in institutions seeking to provide access and equity pathways for socio-economically disadvantaged groups. This paper focusses on the strategies used to support positive engagement in second chance equity programs, drawing upon evaluation research data from four TAFE sponsored programs. Interviews were held with service providers involved in the programs’ development and delivery, and focus groups were held to gather information from program participants. The findings highlight the complex and often multiple barriers facing participants and the importance of delivering programs with sustained and tailored approaches. While tangible educational and/or employment outcomes were delivered, it was the associated social and personal development that made these programs especially successful. Hence, there is a need for equity programs to be holistic, scaffolded, and tailored to practical and vocational pathways.

Keywords: Vocational pathways, second chance education, access and equity

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 57_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Tertiary study: Barriers and benefits for health and human services professionals

Author: Amy Gibbons, University of Tasmania

Edition: Volume 53, Number 3, November 2013

Summary:   Results from two 2012 surveys exploring the barriers and benefits of tertiary study for staff within the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services suggest that encouraging staff engagement with further study benefits both the individual and the organisation. Respondents reported improved job performance, increased self-esteem and motivation to learn. Barriers associated with limited time and competing demands impacted on staff ability to access information about study options. In this context, workplace and management support for study was identified as a crucial enabler. The investigative process of this study has been made explicit in order to encourage replication by other researchers. This mixed-methods research was informed by the ‘three capitals’ approach in order to examine the personal, social and economic benefits of learning. The relative weakness of benefits associated with social capital in the results reflects the experience of these part-time mature-age students employed in a professionally demanding sector.

Keywords: adult learners, three capitals, tertiary study, health and human services,Tasmania

 

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 53_3. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.

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Adult learning and recognition of prior learning: The “white elephant” in Australian universities

Author: Tricia A Fox, Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology

Edition: Volume 45, Number 3, November 2005

Summary:  Adult learners are being attracted to university programs based on the granting of either academic credit or the recognition of prior learning (RPL). Typically, this attraction is being aligned to fast-tracking degree attainment or student cost effectiveness. It appears from the literature that there are varied interpretations and application of RPL within Australian universities. This can be problematic for adult learners with diverse experiences and expectations. Given the uniqueness of university learning, the future political changes to occur in Australian universities, and the problems with RPL that adult learners experience in university learning, it is timely for Australian universities to establish RPL practices that are transparent and consistent.

Keywords: RPL, university, adult learners

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‘I’m not stupid after all’ – changing perceptions of self as a tool for transformation

Author/s: Ms Julie Willans and Ms Karen Seary

Edition: Volume 47, Number 3, November 2007

Summary: When adult learners return to formal education after a period of absence, coping with change is a constant and often omnipresent challenge. As they come to break down previous barriers to success in an educational arena, many adult learners are able to change the perceptions they have of themselves as learners. Previously held assumptions are often challenged and perceptions of how individuals come to hold these views undergo scrutiny. Using Cranton’s (2002) phases of perspective transformation as a framework, this paper explores the notion that some learners can and do change their perspectives regarding their abilities as learners. This occurs when they are provided with opportunities to reflect critically upon themselves as learners, and deconstruct the origins of past assumptions. Based on data collected during the thirteen week academic writing course within the Skills for Tertiary Education Preparatory Studies (STEPS) program at Central Queensland University, evidence suggests that upon critical reflection of previously held assumptions about their learning abilities, many students revise those assumptions and become more empowered individuals.

Keywords: formal education, adult learners, transformation, opportunities, reflection

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An appreciative inquiry into the transformative learning experiences of students in a family literacy project

Author/s: David Giles and Sharon Alderson

Edition: Volume 48, Number 3, November 2008

Summary: Educational discourse has often struggled to genuinely move beyond deficit-based language. Even action research, a predominant model for teacher development, starts with the identification of a problem (Cardno 2003). It would appear that the vocabulary for a hope-filled discourse which captures the imagination and influences our future educational activity seems to have escaped us. Moreover, we seem bereft of educational contexts where the experience for students is holistic and transformative. Appreciative inquiry is a research approach that seeks to facilitate change based on participants’ actual experiences of best practice (Cady & Caster 2000, Cooperrider & Srivastva 1987, English, Fenwick & Parsons 2003, Hammond 1998, Hammond & Royal 1998). Based on assumptions that ‘in every organisation something works’ and ‘if we are to carry anything of our past forward in our lives, it should be the good things’, appreciative inquiry energises participants to reach for higher ideals (Hammond 1998, Hammond & Royal 1998). Rather than giving priority to the problems in our current practice, appreciative inquiry gives attention to evidence of successful practice. In this way, proponents describe it as ‘dream forming’ and ‘destiny creating’. This paper will outline an appreciative inquiry with adult students in the context of a tertiary bridging program. The inquiry was able to capture the students’ stories of transformative learning experiences.

Keywords: change, experience, appreciative inquiry, adult learners, bridging, transformative learning

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“Do the thing you think you cannot do”: The imperative to be an adult learner in order to be a more effective adult educator

Author/s: Janet MacLennan

Edition: Volume 48, Number 2, July 2008

Summary: Despite the fact that we are learning more and more about the particular challenges and possibilities of teaching adult learners, we may still be overlooking – or forgetting – some of the most fundamental aspects of what makes an effective educator of adults. This paper addresses this oversight by reminding adult educators of the imperative of being adult learners to gain continuous new insights into their craft. The reader is taken on the author’s own journey of realising and enacting this imperative.

Keywords: teaching, adult learners, effective, educators

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Secondary level re-entry of young Canadian adult learners

Author/s: Cassandra MacGregor, Thomas G. Ryan

Edition: Volume 51, Number 1, April 2011

Summary: This paper illuminates and details some of the traits, pressures and semi-autonomy of the young adult between the ages of 18 and 24 who must confront the barriers and challenges upon returning to secondary school within the high school and the adult education centre context. Focusing on these young adults is fundamentally important to begin to understand and appreciate the many variables such as gender, early school-leaving, re-entry and needs that impact students who are re-entering secondary school. We present the negative experiences that many of our young adult students have had in a manner that is summative yet touches on the underlying socio-economic challenges that have forced their hand and placed them not only at risk but caused them to leave the secondary school program before program completion. A number of personal insights and qualitative collective observations present an accurate picture of the situation in one central Ontario (Canada) site.

Keywords: secondary, adult learners, young adults, insights

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 51_1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.