School Adult Education Research Articles

The Survivors: Syrian Young Adult Refugee Experiences Navigating the Quebec Education System

Canada resettled over 74,000 Syrian refugees since 2015. However, education programs lack awareness needed to successfully promote refugee academic integration. Little research focuses on young adult refugees (YARs) aged out of traditional schools due to asylum displacement and disrupted education, left with adult education schools as their only alternative to complete high school. Drawing upon 29 semi-structured interviews with Syrian YARs in Montreal, findings suggest that this subgroup is unintentionally excluded by educational policy-makers. Although YARs are survivors, their drive was found to be insufficient when confronted with systemic barriers that prevent at-risk students from proceeding smoothly through school to reach their highest potential.

School staff's views on causes of early school leaving in regular secondary and adult education: Identifying the role of individual, job‐related and school climate characteristics

AbstractUnderstanding early school leaving (ESL) remains a key issue on political and academic agendas. Most research focuses on the experiences of young people who intend to leave or have left school early without a qualification from secondary education. In addition, most studies focus on regular secondary schools. We aim to add to this literature by studying how school staff in regular secondary and adult education schools explain ESL, and to understand how both groups' views differ. We also study whether school climate has an effect on the explanations of ESL given by staff. We analysed survey data collected in Flanders (northern part of Belgium) among 780 staff members using exploratory factor analysis and multilevel modelling. Findings indicate that staff in adult education have moderate views on the causes of ESL compared to staff in regular education. Staff in adult education have a strong focus on student‐focused explanations for ESL, rather than on contextual or systemic explanations. Future research could delve deeper into the impact of school characteristics, conduct more cross‐comparative research and/or include more views on diversity. Policymakers could prioritise the follow‐up of ESL, including feedback mechanisms to inform school staff on reasons why individual students decided to leave school early.

Being a Vocational Teacher in Sweden: Navigating the Regime of Competence for Vocational Teachers

Context: Vocational teachers are called to constantly meet the upcoming needs in social and working life. In Sweden, the high demand for vocational teachers has led to their recruitment in the early stages of vocational teacher studies or even before teacher training. Entering this new community of practice, vocational teachers cross boundaries between their previous occupation and their teaching job, mediating the introduction of competence between them. In this context, the study explores vocational teachers' competence through their own perceptions, addressing important competence areas, as well as how competence is understood. Approach: The study employs a socio-cultural perspective on learning. Communities of practice establish their regime of competence, a set of principles and expectations that recognise membership. To be competent is translated as understanding the shared enterprise of the community, being capable and allowed to engage in it and, thus, interact with the other members and with the available resources. Hence, what is expected by members to know and to be is defined by the regime of competence and, hence, by the community. Comprised of 14 semi-structured interviews with vocational teachers in different vocational disciplines, employed both in upper secondary and adult education schools, the study adopts a qualitative research strategy. The research material was analysed thematically. Findings: According to findings, important competence comprise of up-to-date vocational competence supporting the performance of vocational teaching, but also interpersonal competence, including good communication and the construction of a close relationship with the students. The student-teacher relationship serves as the basis to match students with their work placement, facilitating higher work-based training quality. Moreover, maintaining a continuous development attitude and openness to critique are crucial for teachers. Finally, teachers approach competence focusing on its relationship to action and performance, while also referring to its situated nature. Therefore, to be competent is understood differently in different practices (teaching and occupational), highlighting the importance of understanding the uniqueness and duality within the regime of competence of vocational teaching. Conclusion: Teachers have described the importance of competence which was not developed during teacher training. Instead, important competences were often developed in the previous profession or informal teaching activities. Vocational teachers seem to value and utilise their previous occupational worker identities to a high extent. This should be considered when teacher training or in-service training is designed to support individuals in developing their (new) teacher identity.

Now and Forever: Creating Knowledge to Honor People

After the restoration of democracy in Spain, the victims of the dictatorship were never recognized and the murderers were never judged. Silence was the norm in reference to the Civil War, the dictatorship, and the people who fought for democracy. Only a few civil society organizations and other similar groups tried to reclaim the memory of the victims by looking for their remains in mass graves and ditches and telling a different history than the official one presented in the textbooks. One of these groups is adult learners in the adult education school M. R. in Seville, Spain. They try, from the stories of common people, to create new knowledge and to restore the memory of and honor the victims. They are doing this by recovering oral testimonies and biographies and publishing them as a collective history. In the article, I will present the research conducted by these adult learners. It can be considered participatory research because it enables individuals to restore their memories, to create new knowledge confronting the official narrative, and, through publications and public speeches, to disseminate this knowledge and organize community practices honoring the victims.

Thinking about Face-to-Face Teaching and Online Teaching of Business Majors in Open Education under the New Trend

With the increase in the penetration rate of undergraduates and junior colleges in general higher education, the enrollment of adult education schools has shown a sharp decline. The open education enrollment of TV universities is also facing a severe trend. Expanding cooperation with local enterprises has become a new direction to solve open education enrollment. The article analyzes the new difficulties that local TV universities face in teaching management under the new enrollment trend of open education, and proposes corresponding solutions.

المشکلات التي تواجه معلمات مدارس تعليم الکبار في محافظة الخرج

هدفت الدراسة إلى التعرف على المشکلات التي تواجه معلمات تعليم الکبار في محافظة الخرج. ولتحقيق أهدافها تم اتباع المنهج الوصفي المسحي، واستخدمت الاستبانة کأداة لجمع البيانات، فيما تکونت عينة الدراسة من (٦٦) معلمة من معلمات تعليم الکبار لکل من المرحلتين المتوسطة والثانوية من إدارة التعليم بالخرج. ويمکن إيجاز أهم النتائج التي أسفرت عنها الدراسة، فمن أبرز المشکلات الإدارية أن إدارة المدرسة تتأخر في توزع الجداول بين المعلمات قبل بدء الدراسة، کما أن إدارة المدرسة لا تتابع غياب الطالبات باستمرار. أما أبرز المشکلات المتعلقة بتطوير الکفاءة المهنية تواجه المعلمات العديد من المشکلات المتعلقة بصعوبة تنفيذ المهام التي تکلف بها؛ نظرا لوجود بعض جوانب القصور في الإعداد المهني للمعلمات، کما تجد المعلمات بعض الصعوبة في مساعدة الطالبات على فهم المادة الدراسية. وتوصلت الدراسة إلى أن أبرز المشکلات المتعلقة بالمناهج التعليمية وطرق التدريس، فإن المعلمات قد يواجهن مشکلات في ربط محتوى الدروس بواقع الطالبات، کما يؤثر غياب الطالبات على سير المنهج التعليمي حسب ما هو مخطط له من قبل المعلمات. وکانت أبرز المشکلات المتعلقة بالبيئة الصفية التي تواجه المعلمات في مدارس تعليم الکبار في محافظة الخرج أن عدد الطالبات غير مناسب لحجم الصف، کما أنه لا توجد إضاءة مناسبة لحجم الصف. The study aims to identify the problems facing adult education teachers in Al-Kharj governorate. To achieve its objectives, the descriptive survey method was followed, a questionnaire was used as a data collection tool, and the study sample consisted of (66) adult education teachers for both the middle and secondary levels of the Department of Education in Output. The most important results of the study can be summarized as follows: One of the most prominent administrative problems is that the school administration delays the distribution of schedules to the teachers before the start of the term, and the school administration does not follow the attendance of students on a regular basis. The most prominent problems related to the development of professional competence are the teachers face many problems related to the difficulty of carrying out the tasks assigned to them, as there are some shortcomings in the professional preparation of the teachers, and the teachers find it some difficult to help the students understand the subject. The study found that the most prominent problems related to the curriculum and teaching methods is that teachers may face problems in linking the content of lessons to the reality of female students, and the absence of female students affects the progress of the curriculum as planned by the teachers. The most prominent problems related to the classroom environment faced by teachers in adult education schools in Al-Kharj governorate were that the number of female students was not suitable for class size, and there was no appropriate lighting for class size.

A Challenging Reality: Transitioning from the classroom to e-learning among English language learners

In the wake of COVID-19, both K-12 and post-secondary institutions have had to transition from traditional learning in the classroom to teaching and learning through various online and or e-learning platforms. With such an abrupt transition, it's important for educators to explore the effectiveness of e-learning among their student populations. Moreover, this narrative discussion is facilitated by a program director who oversees an adult education English as a second language program located in Atlanta, Georgia. The director maintains the opinion that various modes of online learning are not the best learning method for all student populations and specifically adult English language learners. In addition, the discussion gives a brief overview of English language learners and their challenges with e-learning instructional methods in this school's adult education ESL program.

Motivating Adult Learners to Learn at Adult-Education Schools in Saudi Arabia

This study’s main purpose was to identify adult learners’ motivation to pursue learning at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu adult-education schools. The study also investigates if there is a difference by gender, by age, and among learners in terms of their internal and external motivation to learn. The study’s theoretical framework came from Knowles’ theory of andragogy. A survey consisting of a self-administered questionnaire was used. The study population included all adult learners ( n = 463) at the Yanbu adult-education schools in Saudi Arabia. The results revealed the importance of the five motivators (social contact, family togetherness, social stimulation, cognitive interest, and religious stimulation) for adult learners at Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu adult-education schools. However, this study indicated that adult learners are more motivated internally than externally. Therefore, teachers should pay attention to the internal factors more than the external factor to keep up with their students’ level of motivation.

THE FUTURE OF KENYAN HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS: ADULT LEARNERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON GOING BACK TO SCHOOL

High school dropouts in Kenya have limited chances of returning to school and to continue with education, despite few adult education schools having been established in the recent years to exceptionally bridge this gap. This paper is based on a case study that sought to investigate the perceptions of the learners on going back to school after dropping out of high school. The study is therefore aimed at examining the future of this category of learners. The author as a result, explores how an adult learning center (Baraka Adult Learning Center (BALC)) in Kenya educates high school dropouts and helps them to gain access to vocational training or higher education. The study addresses the pedagogy, learning experiences, and curriculum of BALC focusing on how BALC met students’ aspirations, needs and goals based on the perceptions of adult learners and how this impact on the future of the learners. Data was collected from classroom observations, curriculum review, and interviews with 9 current students, 3 former students, 5 teachers, and the principal and thereafter analyzed inductively by sorting and coding to generate emergent themes. The results of the study indicated that the adult learners perceived returning to school as getting a second chance and were therefore willing to take up the chance. Article visualizations:

School as Learning Communities: An Effective Alternative for Adult Education and Literacy in Brazil

Women and men, young and adult, who have reached youth or adult life without elementary schooling are part of an important and vulnerable group in Latin America, as for instance Brazil. Integrating the studies that seek to contribute to a qualitative change in Brazilian Adult Education, as a means for overcoming inequalities and in support of most vulnerable groups within the population, this article regards the case of the first Adult Education School in Brazil to transform the learning community. The research was developed between 2014 and 2016 and refers to a qualitative case study using the communicative approach, guaranteed by the use of the Communicative Methodology. Data was collected using four techniques pertaining to the Communicative Methodology: communicative in-depth interview with the school’s Adult Learning and Education coordination; communicative daily-life story with students and volunteers; communicative focus groups with students, volunteers and teachers; and communicative observation in Successful Educational Actions. The results indicate transformative and excluding elements that emerged in the following categories: the school’s characteristics studied, work and life conditions and access to schooling and continuity in school, and interaction within the learning community. Comparing the results that indicate positive aspects of the Adult Learning and Education school transformed into learning communities to results in other studies about other successful Adult Learning and Education schools in Brazil, it can be established that they coincide in some aspects and go beyond others. Although coincidence between studies was observed, they were more intensely noticed in the learning community regarding the following aspects: a) school management oriented towards learning, with contact mechanisms with students that began missing classes, b) appreciation, from the school staff, of teaching and learning processes, specially reading and writing, c) a welcoming environment, bonding between professionals and students, and high expectations towards students. As for the elements identified in the learning community which were not found in the other Brazilian studies, they were: a) enrollment increase over time and decrease in student dropout rates throughout the year, and b) overcoming dramatic situations experienced in the neighborhood and in the school that could initially lead to school dropout.

Saberes locais sobre formação de jovens em vulnerabilidade social na região de M’Boi Mirim e proximidades

Resumo Esta pesquisa toma a educação como eixo privilegiado para o enfrentamento da vulnerabilidade social juvenil na região de M’Boi Mirim e proximidades. Por meio de entrevistas qualitativas, foram ouvidos educadores, diretores e gestores locais, de escolas (15 e um EJA) e equipamentos de formação complementar (3 centros de juventude). As escolas investigadas mostram dificuldade no enfrentamento dos desafios lá vividos: sobrecarregadas na função social assumida, vivem problemas de diversos tipos, desde restrições financeiras, inconstância do corpo docente, evasão escolar, violência dentro e fora do meio escolar, e dificuldade de tornar a escola um lugar inclusivo e plural. Há, porém, escolas, centros de juventude e educadores locais que têm desenvolvido estratégias fecundas para o enfrentamento da vulnerabilidade social juvenil, criando dispositivos de não discriminação, espaços de diálogo e de respeito compartilhado e abrindo seus portões para o convívio regular e cotidiano com o entorno, entre outras ações.

Effects of the Informed Health Choices primary school intervention on the ability of children in Uganda to assess the reliability of claims about treatment effects: a cluster-randomised controlled trial

Claims about what improves or harms our health are ubiquitous. People need to be able to assess the reliability of these claims. We aimed to evaluate an intervention designed to teach primary school children to assess claims about the effects of treatments (ie, any action intended to maintain or improve health). In this cluster-randomised controlled trial, we included primary schools in the central region of Uganda that taught year-5 children (aged 10-12 years). We excluded international schools, special needs schools for children with auditory and visual impairments, schools that had participated in user-testing and piloting of the resources, infant and nursery schools, adult education schools, and schools that were difficult for us to access in terms of travel time. We randomly allocated a representative sample of eligible schools to either an intervention or control group. Intervention schools received the Informed Health Choices primary school resources (textbooks, exercise books, and a teachers' guide). Teachers attended a 2 day introductory workshop and gave nine 80 min lessons during one school term. The lessons addressed 12 concepts essential to assessing claims about treatment effects and making informed health choices. We did not intervene in the control schools. The primary outcome, measured at the end of the school term, was the mean score on a test with two multiple-choice questions for each of the 12 concepts and the proportion of children with passing scores on the same test. This trial is registered with the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry, number PACTR201606001679337. Between April 11, 2016, and June 8, 2016, 2960 schools were assessed for eligibility; 2029 were eligible, and a random sample of 170 were invited to recruitment meetings. After recruitment meetings, 120 eligible schools consented and were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n=60, 76 teachers and 6383 children) or control group (n=60, 67 teachers and 4430 children). The mean score in the multiple-choice test for the intervention schools was 62·4% (SD 18·8) compared with 43·1% (15·2) for the control schools (adjusted mean difference 20·0%, 95% CI 17·3-22·7; p<0·00001). In the intervention schools, 3967 (69%) of 5753 children achieved a predetermined passing score (≥13 of 24 correct answers) compared with 1186 (27%) of 4430 children in the control schools (adjusted difference 50%, 95% CI 44-55). The intervention was effective for children with different levels of reading skills, but was more effective for children with better reading skills. The use of the Informed Health Choices primary school learning resources, after an introductory workshop for the teachers, led to a large improvement in the ability of children to assess claims about the effects of treatments. The results show that it is possible to teach primary school children to think critically in schools with large student to teacher ratios and few resources. Future studies should address how to scale up use of the resources, long-term effects, including effects on actual health choices, transferability to other countries, and how to build on this programme with additional primary and secondary school learning resources. Research Council of Norway.

The Reform and Practice of Adult Higher Education Schooling Running Mode

Along with the economic globalization and speeding up and continual readjustment of the industrial structure and employment structure education internationalization advancement, society's demand to the adult education increases day by day, the schooling running mode of adult education is facing the daunting challenge, is facing also the recent development opportunity. In order to adapt to the new situation of adult education development by leaps and bounds, must ponder the adult education by the idea of innovation, explores the reform of schooling running mode, strengthens the adult education talented person's quality request, making it adapt to the society to need with the historical development. This research union current adult higher education situation and my school reality have carried on the thorough exploration to the adult higher education schooling running mode, and to the reform and work together practice positive result of my school adult higher education schooling running mode recent has carried on the comprehensive summary.

Suggesting Indicators of Superficiality and Purity in Verbal Aggressiveness: An Application in Adult Education Class Networks of Prison Inmates

Aim of this research is to suggest indicators, based on social network analysis, that distinguish superficial, idiosyncratic and strategic verbal aggressiveness. Two classes of an adult education school (at secondary level) in a prison have been selected as network samples (A class = 23 and B class = 12 prisoners). Complete network analysis has been applied, using standardized questionnaires. The network variables have further processed through Pearson correlation. Indicators of superficial and pure roles, particularly incremental and proportional behavior, have been applied in two forms of verbal aggressiveness (criticism and threatening). The superficial behavior (SB: outdegree of verbal aggressiveness) seems to be a quite sensitive indicator, as it presents correlations with various other relational forms of familiarity, aggressiveness and appreciation/socialization. The incremental behavior (IB: difference of received from outgoing actions) is also a sensitive indicator, revealing, however, different results. Pure aggressiveness (in terms of difference) seems to be related with quite different causes and/or occasions than the superficial aggressiveness. Incremental behavior is likely to be at first place driven by the idiosyncrasy rather than by exogenous factors and seems to constitute a completely different notion than the SB. The proportional behavior (PB: ration of outgoing to the received actions) of aggression is a quite insensitive indicator, as it depends only on a few behavioral variables. It seems to reveal a rational strategy of adaptability. Thus, it characteristically differs from the indicators of superficiality (expressing reciprocity patterns) and of the incremental aggressiveness (expressing individualism).

Correctional Sentence Plan

According to Correctional Services Minister Sbu Ndebele, the South African prison population ranks highest in Africa and ninth in the world with approximately 160,000 inmates (Ndebele, 2013). Approximately 30% of those prisoners await trial (Cruywagen, 2013). The majority of South African prisoners are poor male adults, 18 years and older, whose poverty is often compounded by racial discrimination. Therefore, not surprisingly, they have inadequate schooling (also see Yates & Frolander-Ulf, 2001). The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) mandates all inmates without a qualification equivalent to Grade 9 to complete Adult Education Training Levels 1 to 4, including children 15 years and younger, and all individuals sentenced to imprisonment. In 2013, Mokoele reported that 10,049 members of the total prison population were engaged in some form of education or training. In June 2013, 140 correctional centers had adult education training programs with enrollment headcount of 11,600. The DCS efforts in South Africa indicate that provision for justice and protection of the public are fundamental concerns. Notwithstanding room for improvement, this country's sentencing and corrections policies have been designed with the goals of preventing offenders' continued and future criminal activity. The government's approach to sentencing and corrections leans toward incarceration or rehabilitation, albeit signs of evidence-based strategies that hold offenders accountable, are sensitive to corrections costs, and reduce crime and victimization. Correctional policy makers have identified broad principles whose intended purpose is to provide broad, balanced guidance to corrections applicable to this country. As seen above, the importance of prisoner education is acknowledged. However, missing is official recognition of this or adult-specific components outlining an upper secondary school adult education diploma entitling holders to apply for higher education. Research highlights accessible and relevant offender data, except for criminal records and demographic information, making it difficult or impossible to access data on an inmate's work experience, educational level, health status, or life skills (Lawrence, Mears, Dubin, & Travis, 2002; Mokoele, 2013). This article examines current practices as a potential model for other prison systems in the world. Correctional Sentence Plan and Sentenced Offender Intake Process Offender correctional sentence plans (CSP) in South Africa comprise six key delivery areas, namely, corrections, development, security, care, facilities, and after-care (DCS, 2004). All these areas are intended to ensure quality service to the offender, to effectively manage the correctional official and their respective centers as well as drastically improve the management relations with accredited external stakeholders and oversight authorities. However, this article will focus on only one area, viz. corrections, while other key delivery areas will be explored in the future. The CSP aims to help prisoners and officials understand why people offend and what can be done to stop re-offending. The plan also pre-empts offenders from inflicting harm on themselves or others and devises an intervention to reduce the risk of prisoners, some released prior to the official release date, from committing future crimes. However, only prisoners serving sentences longer than 24 months are eligible to have CSP. The incarceration process forms the basis for the DCS's engagement with a sentenced offender. The CSP determines prisoner rehabilitative and education interventions during their time in custody and in preparation for their release into the community. During this critical CSP phase, offender educational attainment data could assist with proper assessment. Furthermore, such data support assessing effective implementation. Recidivism Versus Benefits of Adult Correctional Education Programs Studies reporting a correlation between greater education and lower recidivism outnumber studies reporting negative conclusions. …

Eficacia de la enseñanza adaptativa en el aprendizaje del inglés de personas adultas

Most students who start an Adult Education have failed in compulsory education and this educational option is probably their last chance. For this reason, the aim of our study has been improving the student's performance and attitude towards the English language using an adaptive methodology that, in contrast to the traditional one, has allowed a variety of teaching methods and techniques to adequately respond to the diversity of all students.From our study it is clear that the adaptive method is the one performing best when using attitudinal and aptitudinal metrics in written and oral expression over time. It is however worth mentioning that improvement in terms of understanding capacity can be observed from the very beginning.Already in the first iterations we have opted for the experiments to be truly operational, functional and applicable in the context of everyday English classes for adults. This has enabled the creation of a bank of resources to complete the units of Adult Education School.

Quien Sabe Mas Lucha Mejor

This article looks at popular adult educators’ care of the self practices within social movements in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It answers the following questions: How is popular adult education practiced amongst educators in social movements? What can studying popular adult educators’ care of the self practices offer the field of adult education? To answer these questions, I look to adult educators’ practices of sacrifice and self-naming; remembering historical tragedies; and educator, classroom, and community support within the Union of Popular Organizations’ political formation school and popular adult education schools.

Coming to know about teaching, its development and researcher practice through collaborative action research with adult education teachers in Sudan

This study re-presents an open-ended process of coming to know through designing, conducting and analysing an action research project with youth and adult education teachers in Khartoum, Sudan. The inquiry responds to the overarching question: What knowledge can I generate about teaching, its development and my researcher practice through collaborative action research with teachers in Sudanese youth and adult education schools? This multifaceted focus encompasses reconnaissance into teaching practices and adult education, the processes of action research and teacher development and reflexive analysis of epistemological positioning and knowledge construction through our collaborative investigation. The action research forms the substantive basis of this thesis, constituting diverse processes of coming to know by the participating teachers and myself. Our interactions as practitioners and researchers interrogated the teachers’ contextualised, practical knowledge through academic mechanisms of data collection and analysis. The teachers reflected upon their taken-for-granted understandings of education, their school contexts and their practice, and re-cast them as more complex. Participation in the study resulted in the teachers becoming ‘learners-focused’ by developing greater focus on their practice, by being mufetih (observant and analytical), by being close to learners and by increased experimentalism. These dispositions were combined with a shift in the teachers’ epistemological positions towards ‘authoritative uncertainty’, in which partial, contextualised and contingent knowledge was recognised as legitimate, facilitating re-construction of their knowledge to develop their practice. In this narrative account, the field research is framed by my evolving theoretical understandings which informed the design, analysis and re-presentation of the study. An autobiographical introduction to my experience in Sudan outlines my nascent professional stance towards education development. I then explore my increasingly critical understanding of research on teachers and pedagogy in Africa and discourse on education quality in low-income countries. I discuss the formation of my specific researcher identity through postcolonial theorisation of my ethical stance towards making a difference in the field of practice, namely Sudanese schools. In this thesis, layered re-viewing, which derives from an epistemological stance of the partiality and contingency of knowledge, facilitates re-presentation of moments in which understanding is challenged and re-formed by theorisation and experience. Re-viewing literature and theoretical analyses brings new epistemological, ontological and ethical understandings, as my focus on ‘the practical’ in field research has been supplemented in the post-fieldwork period by ‘the practical’ in the academy, a contested domain of knowledge production. To conclude this thesis, the position of ‘authoritative uncertainty’ is applied in the reflexive deconstruction of the study, as the action research process and outcomes are re-viewed through postcolonial and feminist theories to unpick the situated complexities of cross-cultural practitioner research and its representation. While coming to know is a continuous process, its representation in this thesis reaches an arbitrary conclusion by proposing how coming to know teaching practices, action research processes and reflexive researcher analysis might bring new perspectives to academic and policy initiatives for teacher development.

Drama in Education and Self-Directed Learning for Adults

Drama in Education (DIE), as an artistic and educational experience, is sufficiently evidenced in the literature as a dialogical, liberating practice of education. This article discusses a practitioner research project in a second chance adult education school in Greece, where the use of a DIE teaching and learning approach was explored in an environmental adult education module. Self-directed learning in this study referred to learner-control and was used to uncover how power relations are constructed through the micro-politics of the classroom. The primary aim of the study was to establish whether the use of a DIE approach could enhance learners' motivation to participate in classroom choices and decisions, and thus take greater control and responsibility for their own learning process. The results indicate that resistance occurred when the teacher delegated greater responsibility than the learners were equipped to handle. The article concludes by advocating an educational encounter of shared authority and vulnerability between teacher and learners when working in and through the arts.

Adults' Numeracy in Finland: What Do We Know About It?

Adult Education in Finland Adult education has become a significant aspect of Finnish educational and developmental policy as well as of Finnish labor and social policies. Such factors as the need for occupational proficiency, employment, and economic growth have strongly influenced adult education in Finland. Besides the development of personality and support for the life of communities, principles such as the development and support of a democratic society, an increase in social cohesion, and the creation of opportunities for citizens' welfare have been expressed as current principles of Finnish adult education (Ministry of Education, 1999). The Finnish adult education represents what is referred to as the Nordic model of education, which is characterized by a high participation rate, a high share of public funding and a high degree of personal interest (Antikainen, 2008). As in other Nordic countries, adult education in Finland is divided into adult instruction and liberal adult education. Accordingly, adults' instruction or training is considered formal education aimed at certification, whereas liberal adult education is informal studies without specific educational objectives. However, the previous distinction between formal or occupational adult education and liberal adult education is much less clear today, as the same institutions may offer both occupational studies and courses of liberal adult education (Pellinen, 2001). For example, immigrants are often in need of both occupational and comprehensive educations. The education settings that offer adults opportunities to improve their basic skills in mathematics are tightly connected to the overall Finnish education system and education tradition. The liberal adult education ideology of personal fulfilment, with its' institutions such as municipal adult education centers; study centers of different kinds of ideological, nongovernmental organizations; folk high schools; summer universities; and physical education has been influential until now. However, and liberal adult education is still the strongest area of Finnish adult education. It has been considered a leisure-time activity or an activity that is intended to overcome the flaws in the official schooling system. However, education for adults in formal schools, both general and vocational, has increased during the last few years. Today, all forms of education and training offered for young people, ranging from comprehensive school to vocational school and higher education, are also provided for adults. Thus, adults have the opportunity to take their basic studies in different contexts: in adult classes of the ordinary basic or vocational schools, in Adults' High Schools, or in the context of the traditional liberal adult education involving folk high schools. Also, these schools usually provide opportunities to continue with upper secondary school (high school) studies. The most practical way to study basic mathematics systematically is to take comprehensive school Adult Education in Finland Adult education has become a significant aspect of Finnish educational and developmental policy as well as of Finnish labor and social policies. Such factors as the need for occupational proficiency, employment, and economic growth have strongly influenced adult education in Finland. Besides the development of personality and support for the life of communities, principles such as the development and support of a democratic society, an increase in social cohesion, and the creation of opportunities for citizens' welfare have been expressed as current principles of Finnish adult education (Ministry of Education, 1999). The Finnish adult education represents what is referred to as the Nordic model of education, which is characterized by a high participation rate, a high share of public funding and a high degree of personal interest (Antikainen, 2008). As in other Nordic countries, adult education in Finland is divided into adult instruction and liberal adult education. …