The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in adult education is widely recognized as a critical driver of inclusive learning, instructional effectiveness, and lifelong skills development. Despite supportive national policies in Tanzania, evidence suggests that the translation of these policy intentions into practice within adult education centers remains uneven. This study examined the availability of ICT tools and the nature of instructor support services in adult education centers in the Coastal Region of Tanzania, with the aim of understanding how policy commitments are reflected at the implementation level. A mixed-methods approach within a cross-sectional research design was employed. Quantitative data were collected through structured questionnaires administered to 40 adult learners and 16 instructors, while qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with 4 adult education center coordinators and direct observations using checklists. Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS, while qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The findings indicate that while basic infrastructure such as electricity and limited internet connectivity is generally available, critical ICT tools including computers, projectors, and printing equipment are insufficient and unevenly distributed across centers. Both instructors and learners demonstrated positive perceptions of the usefulness of ICT in teaching and learning; however, actual integration of ICT into instructional practices was irregular. Instructor support services, particularly training, mentoring, and technical assistance, were found to be inconsistent and largely inadequate. These gaps contribute to a disconnect between ICT policy aspirations and classroom realities. The study underscores the need for targeted investment in ICT infrastructure, sustained professional development for instructors, and strengthened institutional support mechanisms to enhance effective ICT integration in adult education settings

Covid-19 forced non-formal adult education centres in Finland to seek ways to offer their students language courses during the pandemic restrictions. Synchronous online courses were a convenient natural solution during the lockdown and became a normal method to implement courses in the post-pandemic era. This article provides insights into how adult learners perceived social presence, instructor presence, and spoken language skill development in online English courses. The participants in this study were 35 adults between 20 and 80 years old who were learning English in an adult education centre in Finland and their language skill level was A2-B1 according to common European framework of reference for languages (CEFR). The data were collected via an online questionnaire, including Likert-scale multiple-choice statements and open-ended questions, which were analysed using the content analysis method. The quantitative data was used to support the qualitative data. Based on learners’ perceptions, the findings confirmed that social presence is a key element in collaborative learning, and it is closely linked to instructor presence. These two presences are inseparable and must be considered in teaching spaces, especially in learning focusing on spoken language acquisition.

ABSTRACT This paper reports findings from a research study carried out with older adults and their educators participating in a non-formal education programme. Drawing on educational, sociological and psychological perspectives, it aims to explore the motivations, goals, perceived benefits, and barriers to participation among older learners in the Adult Education Centers (AECs), the most significant non-formal adult education programme, in the Republic of Cyprus. It adopts a qualitative bottom-up approach, as it gives voice to older adults and their educators and makes meaning out of later life learning experiences. The analysis reveals that older adults’ motivations and goals for engaging in non-formal education is shaped by a critical awareness of their life stage, influenced by societal structures and power relations surrounding aging. In parallel, participants gain cognitive, social, and psychological benefits, which are interconnected but often constrained by ageist attitudes and structural barriers within the AECs context.

This work presents a preliminary inquiry to management teams of high-level adult education centers in the province of Buenos Aires, to provide feedback on the writing of the new curricular proposal for this level of the modality. Since 2021, data was collected from a consultation device that included 400 management teams. These inputs were obtained from exploratory dialogues in territorial technical assistance with supervisors, principals, and teachers and, later, after administering a survey, those results were reviewed in regional meetings. The work allows us to observe the perceptions of the management teams about the curricular change, the working conditions of the teaching staff, their pedagogical concerns, the new attendance conditions, and the experiences to be recovered from years prior to its implementation, among other aspects. The conclusion highlights the importance of participatory processes in curricular implementation.

This scoping review maps empirical research on motivation in adult education and learning, analysing 95 studies published between 1971 and 2024. Drawing on data from Web of Science and Scopus databases, it delineates key thematic areas, geographical patterns, and methodological orientations. The findings highlight a marked increase in publications since 2016, with a pronounced focus on specific learner populations – including non-traditional students, low-skilled adults, and second-chance learners in adult basic education. Research activity is heavily concentrated in European and Anglophone contexts, pointing to the need for broader cultural representation. While quantitative methods dominate, many studies employ instruments lacking validation. Notable gaps emerge in the use of mixed-methods and longitudinal designs. Overall, the review calls for more inclusive and methodologically robust inquiry to deepen our understanding of adult learner motivation across diverse educational landscapes.

IntroductionThis article discuss the use of drama and storytelling in café dialogue at an adult education centre (AEC). I will present three drama workshops that were implemented as part of café dialogue and that explore the same topics as in traditional café dialogue at an AEC. Participants from different countries came together for exploration in the drama workshop, whereas the group participants in café dialogue came mostly from the same country in order to facilitate the organisation of a language host. I will also analyse and discuss the data material from the interviews as this relates to the research questions. The overall goal of this article is to explore the potential and the limitations of using drama and theatre as part of café dialogue.MethodsOur research methods are observations, logs, and interviews. Data were collected through participant and non-participant observation of three drama workshops in which several drama conventions were used. Two teachers at an AEC with a drama background led the first workshop while I observed, and I led the second workshop while one of the teachers with a drama background actively participated and wrote a log afterwards. The third workshop was led by both a teacher with a drama background and myself. After the workshops, a colleague from HVL and I conducted individual interviews with the two teachers with drama experience, a language host, and a participant in the drama workshops. In this article I analyse the interviews to gain more insight into the teachers’ and students’ experience of drama as part of café dialogue.ResultsThe students actively participated in collective creative processes and gave different topics an aesthetic form. They generated much joy and laughter in the classroom. Drama opened the way for both nonverbal and verbal communication across age and culture. Several students were reluctant at first but became more active over time thanks to the creation of a safe atmosphere and the voluntary nature of participation. The article includes many examples of drama conventions fit for use in this work, which the teacher introduces and which allow participants to take the initiative in the processes. In the drama workshops, the teachers and participants created a safe space together in which they could explore artistic expressions collectively. According to the teachers with drama experience, they too needed to be more active in these workshops. By bringing drama into café dialogue, the participants had an embodied experience and emotive fictional engagement. It seems easier to explore and play out others’ stories than one’s own. The participants experienced a sense of mastery because drama offers several possibilities they could play with and an expanded form of communication. One of the teachers found that whereas the café dialogue was structured and organised, the drama workshops were more open and made the participants more active in many ways.DiscussionIn this article, I discuss the potential and the limitations of using drama and theatre as part of café dialogue. I will interpret the drama workshop and interview material in light of theory.

This study investigates how adult second language learners in basic adult education engage with argumentative writing, a skill often underexplored in research on writing pedagogy. Using an action research design, data were collected from classroom discussions where learners analyzed model texts with varying structural and interpersonal features, as well as from their own argumentative texts. Drawing on systemic-functional genre theory, the analysis examines how learners interpret genre-specific resources and incorporate them into their writing. Findings indicate that students view structural elements, such as clear thesis statements and logical sequencing, as essential for achieving argumentative purposes. While many texts adhere to prototypical genre structures, others display creative deviations, reflecting both individual preferences and emerging genre awareness. These results highlight the potential of genre-based pedagogy to enhance metalinguistic awareness and expand learners’ linguistic repertoires. By making explicit the range of linguistic resources available for constructing arguments, instruction can foster greater flexibility and effectiveness in adult second language writing.

ABSTRACT This study deals with the language learning and cultural wealth of migrant students in adult basic education. Migrants studying in adult basic education (ABE) are often viewed from a deficit perspective, because their skills and knowledges are not recognised in formal education contexts. This study chooses to focus on the assets of these students by viewing their educational opportunities through the lenses of language learning investment and community cultural wealth (CCW). Ethnographic data from a school in rural Finland were analysed thematically to reveal patterns that support or hinder the students’ language learning investment. Results indicated that linguistic capital was strongly present in the classroom, but students were not always able to mobilise it outside of school. Students had varying aspirations for the future, and were able to mobilise their resistant capital to battle unequal conditions in Finnish society. Novel findings included technology capital and capital of care.

This article explores patterns of participation and non-participation in adult basic education across six Southern European countries: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus. Drawing on OECD PIAAC microdata, the article examines five interlinked areas: motivations for participation, barriers to engagement, enabling conditions, national policy differences, and broader comparative insights. The findings suggest that adult learning systems in this region remain shaped by systemic exclusions, with participation skewed towards already-advantaged groups. While some policy efforts—such as Portugal’s Qualifica programme—show signs of greater coherence and inclusion, structural inequities persist. The analysis challenges dominant narratives that frame low participation as a matter of individual motivation, instead highlighting how learning opportunities are formed by institutional design, historical legacies, and relational trust. The article concludes with recommendations for building more inclusive, sustainable, and human-centred adult learning systems.

Educational attainment is associated with good health and well-being in a variety of domains. Some students seeking to further their education are adult learners who present to adult basic education (ABE) centers. One factor that may be important for ABE students’ success is emotion regulation—the ability to regulate or modify one’s emotional arousal in a goal-consistent manner. Unfortunately, the most widely used measure of emotion regulation (the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004) was normed upon a homogenous sample of college students who were primarily White. Research has been slow to thoroughly examine emotion regulation abilities in diverse populations such as ABE students, who represent diversity in a number of ways (race, ethnicity, age, roles, responsibilities, stressors, employment). This study examined how emotion regulation presented in a diverse sample of ABE students ( N = 237). As anticipated, emotion regulation manifested differently in this sample than the sample the DERS was originally normed upon. These findings underscore the need for interventions maximizing emotion regulation skills that are sensitive to culture, context, environment, and individual to effectively promote quality education practices.

The benefits of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in societal growth are well-documented; however, its application in developing countries such as Nigeria has been limited due to a lack of knowledge. This study investigates media literacy’s impact on learners’ online political participation in adult and vocational education in Nigeria. It adopted a non-equivalent control type of quasi-experimental research design involving experimental and control groups. The sample consisted of 196 learners selected from public adult and vocational education centers across Nigeria. The “Online Political Participation Test” (OPPT) was the data collection instrument. The findings indicate that the mean online political participation scores of learners trained in media literacy did not differ significantly from those trained in basic literacy. Additionally, the mean online political participation scores of learners using cooperative learning styles were not significantly different from those using solitary learning styles. Regarding the interaction effects, there were no significant differences in the mean online political participation scores based on the learning styles adopted by the learners. The study concluded that basic literacy had a more positive impact than media literacy in informal learning environments in developing countries.

Abstract This paper analyzes developments in the foreign language course offerings of the Adult Education Center of Greater Berlin (VHGB) from its founding in 1920 to its dissolution at the end of WWII. Having created a digital database of the yearly course programs and newsletters, this quantitative and qualitative analysis explores the programmatic and didactic embeddedness of foreign language courses over time, paying particular attention to the influence of leadership changes on program planning. In addition to documenting the geopolitically motivated expansion of foreign language course offerings that peaked during WWII, these results also uncover important omissions in previous representations of the VHGB and challenge views that all important stakeholders during the Weimar era were democratically aligned. Because of the VHGB’s status as a flagship organization, these findings also provide general insights into the historical development of foreign language courses within German adult education through the Weimar and Nazi eras.

Adult education is an internationally recognised framework for national development, especially for unemployed youth and adult learners. The study focuses on Botswana’s Adult Basic Education Programme (ABEP). Though the programme is monitored continuously, beneficiaries’ views of the triumphs, challenges, and prospects they face are still unknown, which led to the current study evaluating the programme at four villages in Botswana’s Kgalagadi district through face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions with education officers, adult educators, and learners. The findings revealed that Botswana has a strong policy for adult education and training, which can ensure providing qualified educators for the programme; ABEP can be workable, achievable, and sustainable if adequately monitored and improved; bad road infrastructure, inadequately qualified educators and limited educational resources, etc. stall the prospects of ABEP. The article sheds insights into how far adult and continuing education can capacitate its beneficiaries.

Extended reality technologies in adult basic life support education: A scoping review.

This article analyses how directors and programme planners at the German Volkshochschule (adult education centre) support racism-critical organisational development. The data is interpreted with qualitative content analysis and based on five interviews conducted with directors and program planners within one Volkshochschule. In order to research the potential avenues of support, the article employs a theoretical framework based on racism-critical leadership approaches. The article argues that through an interplay of leadership characteristics and leadership actions two forms of support empirically emerge: (1) an organisational guiding principle of education for all, by all and with all and (2) a community-driven programme planning challenging the programme planning table and making communities to curators of their own learning pathways. The findings indicate the central role of directors and programme planners in racism-critical organisational development processes and underscore the necessity of continuous organisational self-critique to address racism.

Abstract Blended language learning has recently experienced substantial growth, offering numerous potential benefits such as increased learning opportunities and personalization. However, digital inequalities persist, particularly affecting vulnerable groups like migrants with limited education. While the integration of technology in adult education may pose additional challenges for these groups, online learning paradoxically holds the promise of enhancing their basic skills. This study addresses this apparent contradiction, focusing on blended learning in Dutch second language (L2) education in Flanders (Belgium) for L2 learners with emerging literacy and limited formal education, representing the most vulnerable subgroup of L2 learners. This group is referred to as LESLLA learners (LESLLA is an acronym for Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults). Through a combination of a systematic literature review and a needs analysis of stakeholders, including LESLLA learners themselves, the study explores the benefits and challenges of blended learning for LESLLA learners. The study reveals that while many affordances and limitations for adult L2 learners in general also apply to LESLLA learners, the significance varies based on their characteristics, curriculum goals, and context. In order to realize the affordances, while also tackling the challenges, effective blended education for low-literate L2 learners requires (1) a thoughtful design of the blend, in which instructional design principles are integrated with didactic principles for L2 teaching; (2) effective teacher conduct; and (3) powerful policy of adult education centers. This paper outlines the characteristics of each component, offering insights to strengthen blended L2 learning experiences for LESLLA learners.

Finnish Adult Basic Education (ABE) comprises primary and lower secondary education designed to improve adult immigrants’ participation. Completing the entire syllabus and graduating with a Finnish basic education certificate is helpful for many adult immigrants without prior basic education in finding work, continuing studies at the upper secondary level, and applying for Finnish citizenship. English has potential utility for integration in the Nordic countries, yet adult immigrants’ foreign language studies, and Finnish ABE, have been little studied. Recent government reports have indicated that ABE students seem to face exceptional challenges in their language studies, particularly their compulsory advanced syllabus English studies. The present survey study (n=35) targeting principals of ABE institutions examines institution-level foreign language education practices and principals’ views on language education. The findings indicate that ABE English education is rapid-paced, relies on a local teaching language that students have only learned for a few years, and may lack suitable instructional materials and tests. Most principals are not convinced that their students graduate with English skills sufficient for language needs in working life or upper secondary education. Varied local interpretations of national guidelines lead to inequity in language learning opportunities. The findings highlight the significance of aligning materials and local and national policies with student diversity and the evolving role of English in the Nordics.

This study examines the impact of basic education attainment for career development among adult learners’ in Rukwa region, Tanzania, revealing the academic performance of adult learners in basic education in Tanzania, and exploring the influence of adult academic performance for their career development goals in Tanzania. Andragogy and Social cognitive career theory applied. The study employed mixed methods and used a correlational design for the quantitative component. The target population was 506 respondents. The study used a sample of 230 respondents. The adult learners were randomly selected while adult Learning center coordinators were purposively sampled from Rukwa region adult learning center included in the study. The data were collected through Questionnaire administration with predominantly closed-ended questions conducted to 222 adult learners. In-depth interviews were conducted with an interview guide to 8 adult learning center coordinators and a documentary analysis. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics in terms of percentages and frequencies with the aid of IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences v26. Thematic analysis was also conducted for qualitative data. The findings revealed that most of the adult learners have career goals that require a basic education. Despite such needs, adult learners have poor academic performance, which does not support their career development goals. The study concludes that adult learners enroll in basic education programs with the aspiration to enhance their academic qualifications and unlock better opportunities, the disappointing outcomes point to systemic issues within the education framework. The study suggests that the government should develop a digital monitoring system to streamline adult education programmes, emphasis should be placed on special curriculum development for adult basic education, improving teaching methodologies, providing learner-centric resources, and ensuring that the programs are both accessible and relevant to the learners’ career aspirations. Further studies be developed on an integrated curriculum for adult learners in basic education.

Tactile cartography and the use of tactile teaching resources play a fundamental role in building the geographical reasoning of blind and low-vision students. These resources provide a sensory representation of space, allowing students to explore and understand geographical elements through touch. In this context, this study addresses the complexity of blind students’ cognitive processes when they conceive of geographical space based on the principles of analogy, connection, differentiation, distribution, extension, location and order. In view of this, the aim of this article is to evaluate the challenges and strategies related to the application of tactile cartographic resources, through the use of spatial representations on a local scale with visually impaired students at the Professora Cecy Cialdini Youth and Adult Education Center (CEJA), in the municipality of Sobral, Ceará, Brazil. To this end, three tactile teaching aids depicting local spaces were made using craft techniques and applied in four stages through planned pedagogical practices. With regard to the principles, we concluded that those of location and extension were the most easily assimilated, while those of distribution and spatial order required more time and effort on the part of some students. We therefore conclude that adapting teaching resources to tactile cartography represents a significant step forward in promoting geography education for all, helping to build a more equal and inclusive society. Finally, it is hoped that this work will encourage the adoption of accessible methodologies, promoting a more inclusive, meaningful and transformative geographical education.

Application of the Critical Mathematics Pedagogical Framework: Four Lessons for the Adult Basic Education Mathematics Classroom