Tag: social

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The role of the University of the Third Age in meeting needs of adult learners in Victoria, Australia

Author/s: Roger Harris

Edition: Volume 48, Number 3, November 2008

Summary: Many older adults are interested in learning long past the age dictated by social norms. Some want to learn simply for the joy of learning, others because of the social contacts made by joining a community of learners, and still others want to learn so that they have a purpose in life. The University of the Third Age (U3A) is one of several models for lifelong education after retirement which have been developed worldwide. This article reports on a survey which explored the experiences of U3A members of two selected U3As in Victoria, Australia. The findings indicated that respondents were satisfied with their U3A experiences which had contributed in various areas of their lives leading to personal, mental, social and physical enhancement. It emerged that U3A is an important means of enhancing the quality of life for older adults through the provision of lifelong education.

Keywords: older adults, social norms, learning, social, lifelong learning, quality of life

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Professional knowledge formation and organisational capacity-building in ACE: lessons from the Victorian Research Circles

Author/s: John McIntyre

Edition: Volume 48, Number 2, July 2008

Summary: The national reform agenda of the Council of Australian Governments challenges community education agencies to contribute to its goals and raises questions about their capacity to do so. It is crucial to define the conditions that are necessary to develop the capability of adult and community education (ACE) organisations to play a broader social and economic role. These include not only policy frameworks underwritten by strategic research, but the engagement of practitioners and organisations. The recent development in Victoria of Circles of Professional Research Practice, a form of participatory action research designed to promote such an engagement by ACE organisations, is analysed, drawing on material from an evaluation of the Circles intended to capture the experience, document its outcomes and recommend on its future applications. The article reviews the rationale of the Research Circles, describes aspects of their operation and analyses the factors creating conditions favourable to professional knowledge formation and organisational capacity-building. In doing so, the Research Circles are theorised as a ‘negotiable space’ constructed at the intersection of policy, research and practice, drawing out implications for capacity-building in Australian community education and training organisations.

Keywords: ACE organisations, social, economic, role, engagement, circles of professional research practice

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Travelling against the current: an examination of upstream and downstream educational interventions across the life span

Author/s: Jenny Silburn and Geraldine Box

Edition: Volume 48, Number 1, April 2008

Summary: Current social and economic circumstances are presenting universities with a more diverse general student intake whose support needs are increasingly similar to those of traditionally
defined equity groups. This paper examines a Murdoch University equity program to demonstrate that simply increasing access does not always translate into increased benefit. It presents an argument for the restructuring of existing equity enabling programs and increasing transitional support for all students to achieve more substantive equality in student outcomes.

Keywords: equity, social, economic, access, transitional support

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