Participation In Adult Education Research Articles

Cross-national patterns of participation in adult education and policy trends in Korea, Norway, and Vietnam

Using comparative data, this article examines the level and distribution of participation in adult education (AE) opportunities among countries that participated in PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies). It considers observed cross-country patterns in relation to some mechanisms that drive unequal chances to participate and to some policy issues that surround the provision, governance, and financing of different types of adult learning. It also explores recent policy developments relevant to AE in three selected countries (Korea, Norway, and Vietnam).

Literacy Development and Language Expression for Adult Learners in Transition

This chapter provides examples of transitions that learners face connected to their participation in adult education and English literacy instruction. It describes their efforts to attain relevant language expression skills.

The Influence of Social Background on Participation in Adult Education

In this article, we address the issue of participation in adult education building on the cultural capital framework. This theoretical framework suggests that (educational) practices are affected by one’s social background and, more precisely, by the cultural resources handed down in the family context. To examine the validity of this theoretical framework, we build on data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies from 23 countries ( n = 120,789). The Programme data allow using the variables parents’ educational level (a proxy for social background), educational attainment, and readiness to learn as precursors of participation in adult education (both a proxy for cultural capital). Our findings suggest that the cultural capital framework is not fully suited to explain participation in adult education: Although social background has an (indirect) influence on participation, its effect does not concur with theoretical predictions, that is, mediated by the readiness to learn.

Vocationalism Varies (a Lot)

To encourage adult participation in education and training, contemporary policy makers typically encourage education and training provision to have a strongly vocational (employment-related) character, while also stressing individuals’ responsibility for developing their own learning. Adults’ motivation to learn is not, however, purely vocational—it varies substantially, not only between individuals but between populations. This article uses regression analysis to explain motivation among 12,000 learners in formal education and training in 12 European countries. Although vocational motivation is influenced by individual-level characteristics (such as age, gender, education, occupation), it turns out that the country in which the participation takes place is a far stronger explanatory variable. For example, although men’s vocational motivation to participate is higher than women’s in all countries, Eastern European women have significantly higher levels of vocational motivation than men in Western Europe. This supports other research which suggests that, despite globalization, national institutional structures (social, economic) have continuing policy significance.

Scientific Research in Physical Education through Public Educational Policies

Socio-Economic Effects of Women’s Participation on Adult and Non-Formal Education in Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria Stephen Talabi Aroge, PhD Abstract This paper examined the socioeconomic effects of women’s participation in adult and non-formal education in Nigeria with special attention on Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State. From the pre-colonial era up to the time of independence, little attention was given to the education of girl child and women in Nigeria – be it formal and non-formal. The reason is not unconnected with the belief by many that the best place for women to function is home and kitchen. However, the clamour for girl-child education and women empowerment in the global scene brought about the paradigm shift in the area of education in Nigeria as much emphasis is now being placed on women education as catalyst for socio-economic change in addition, development. This paper identified the socio-economic benefits derivable from women’s participation in non-formal education. The descriptive survey method was used, interviews conducted were codified and analysed using SPSS T-test stastical instrument. Suggestions and recommendations were made based on the outcome of the analysis, to suggest better ways for improving the education and empowerment of women in Nigeria. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jehd.v5n3a13

Where Are the Returns to Lifelong Learning?

We investigate the labour market determinants and outcomes of adult participation in formal education (lifelong learning) in Australia, a country with high levels of adult education. Employing longitudinal data and fixed effects methods allows identification of effects on outcomes free of ability bias. Different trends in outcomes across groups are also allowed for. The impacts of adult education differ by gender and level of study, with small or zero labour market returns in many cases. Wage rates only increase for males undertaking university studies. For men, vocational education and training (VET) lead to higher job satisfaction and fewer weekly hours. For women, VET is linked to higher levels of satisfaction with employment opportunities and higher employment probabilities.

Understanding unskilled work as a condition for participation in adult education and training

This article discusses how to comprehend why people working in unskilled jobs are less likely than other groups to position themselves as educable subjects and engage in adult education and training. The article outlines how different research traditions examining recruitment to and participation in adult education and training reveal and explain distinctive participation patterns. These traditions are critically reviewed to identify how they provide specific understandings as well as certain blind spots. The review reveals a striking absence of research into unskilled work and thus a tendency to overlook how engagement in particular kinds of work condition people's perception of adult education and training. It is finally argued that future research must pay closer attention to people's specific work-life and examine how engagement in specific historical, social and material (changing) work practices condition their perception of adult education and training.

Biographical learning and non-formal education: Questing, threads and choosing how to be older

This paper presents an initial inductive analysis of eight semi-structured interviews with English adult learners conducted as part of the European Union (EU) BeLL project. It uses the theoretical lens of biographical learning (with its key concepts of agency and narrative) to explore what these interviews can tell us about the ways adults express the benefits of liberal adult education and its relationship to informal learning. Initial findings suggest that benefits are experienced as ‘bundles’ and that adults talk about their participation in adult education as a form of ‘taking control’ of their lives, including ‘choosing how to be old’ and glimpsing ‘fulfillment’. It also suggests that the ways adults talk about these benefits—and their wider biographical learning—can be used to identify a) foci for further national and pan-European analysis of the BeLL data; b) avenues for future research; and c) potentially fruitful theoretical lenses through which we can develop our understanding of the value of this and other interview data.

Development of Non-formal Adult Education in the Czech Republic

This paper deals with the development of adult education in the Czech Republic after 1989. In this regard it analyses the development of participation in adult education and its influencing factors. For this purpose the paper uses primary and secondary data from five research surveys. The paper shows that there has been a slight increase in the number of adult participants in education in the last 25 years but it also shows that there are still certain groups of people that are excluded from education. The paper also outlines the main phases of development in adult education in relation to government politics; namely the liberal politics of the 1990s and the partially-regulated politics after 2000.

Where are the Returns to Lifelong Learning?

We investigate the labour market determinants and outcomes of adult participation in formal education (lifelong learning) in Australia, a country with high levels of adult education. Employing longitudinal data and fixed effects methods allows identification of effects on outcomes free of ability bias. Different trends in outcomes across groups are also allowed for. The impacts of adult education differ by gender and level of study, with small or zero labour market returns in many cases. Wage rates only increase for males undertaking university studies. For men, vocational education and training (VET) lead to higher job satisfaction and fewer weekly hours. For women, VET is linked to higher levels of satisfaction with employment opportunities and higher employment probabilities.

Ali so društva pomembna za učenje starejših v skupnosti?

Dosedanje raziskave v Sloveniji so pokazale, da imajo starejši odrasli, ki se udeležujejo organiziranega izobraževanja, višjo stopnjo izobrazbe, so bogatejši, pogosteje živijo v mestih in so zelo verjetno ženske. Po drugi strani tudi raziskave v Avstraliji in nekaterih evropskih državah kažejo, da se starejši moški redkeje izobražujejo v organiziranih izobraževalnih dejavnostih. Naš cilj je bil raziskati vlogo prostovoljskih organizacij pri druženju in učenju starejših moških v skupnosti v Sloveniji. Pri raziskovanju priložnostnega učenja starejših moških v eni mestni in dveh podeželskih občinah smo uporabili kvantitativni in kvalitativni pristop; proučili smo stanje prostovoljskih organizacij v izbranih občinah v Sloveniji ter v izbranih prostovoljskih organizacijah, v katerih večino članov pomenijo starejši moški (študije primerov), opravili polstrukturirane intervjuje in izpeljali fokusno skupino. Rezultati so pokazali, da obstaja le majhno število prostovoljskih organizacij, v katerih starejši moški pomenijo večino članov. Priložnostno in naključno učenje se pojavlja v vseh prostovoljskih organizacijah, izobraževalne dejavnosti pa organizirajo le nekateri. Članstvo v prostovoljskih organizacijah starejšim moškim daje priložnost, da ostanejo povezani s svojimi vrstniki, se srečujejo z drugimi generacijami in člani lokalne skupnosti, in hkrati priložnost, da ostanejo dejavni ter se čutijo koristne in spoštovane. Članstvo v prostovoljskih organizacijah krepi socialna omrežja starejših moških ter vpliva na njihovo blaginjo. Z izjemo raziskav B. Goldinga s sodelavci, ki opozarjajo na specifičnost potreb starejših moških po izobraževanju in učenju, se zdi, da je ta skupina v izobraževanju odraslih nepomembna (oz. pozabljena) manjšina, zato bi bilo treba okrepiti nadaljnje raziskovanje ter razprave na tem področju.

"Druženje, vedoželjnost, širina …", učinki neformalnega izobraževanja odraslih v projektu Bell

V članku so predstavljeni rezultati kvalitativne raziskave, ki je bila opravljena v Sloveniji v okviru projekta Bell. V tem projektu smo raziskovali učinke neformalnega izobraževanja, pri čemer smo izhajali iz predpostavke, da ima neformalno izobraževanje številne pozitivne učinke. Predpostavka se je v raziskavi potrdila. Vsi intervjuvanci so omenjali številne pozitivne učinke kot posledico njihove udeležbe v neformalnem izobraževanju. Rezultati intervjujev potrjujejo rezultate statistične analize, saj so bili tako pri kvalitativni kot pri kvantitativni analizi najpogostejši učinki razširjena socialna mreža, osebna učinkovitost (zlasti okrepitev samozavesti), duševno zdravje, kompetence (zlasti kompetence IKT in splošno znanje) in sprememba izobraževalne izkušnje (zlasti večja motivacija za učenje). Prav tako rezultati intervjujev potrjujejo rezultate analize literature, intervjuvanci so omenjali skoraj vse pozitivne učinke neformalnega izobraževanja, ki so bili ugotovljeni v navedeni literaturi.

Vključenost in ovire pri izobraževanju odraslih v evropski uniji ob začetku gospodarske recesije

Gospodarska recesija je pomembno zaznamovala življenje prebivalcev Evropske unije. Od leta 2008, ko se pojavijo prvi znaki recesije, sta se povečali brezposlenost in revščina v večini članic Evropske unije. Številni evropski in nacionalni strateški dokumenti so kot enega ključnih neekonomskih instrumentov izhoda iz recesije omenjali vlaganje v izobraževanje. Prepričanje politikov o pomembni vlogi izobraževanja pri reševanju gospodarske recesije pa odpira vprašanje o dejanskih spremembah na tem področju. V prispevku je na eni strani prikazano razumevanje vloge izobraževanja odraslih pri gospodarskem razvoju v evropskih strateških dokumentih in na drugi strani vključenost odraslih v izobraževanje in ovire pri tem ob začetku gospodarske recesije.

Determinants Factors of Adult Participation in Education

The existence of an offer of education is a prerequisite for attracting and adult involvement in the educational process but not sufficient. A number of factors such as objective and subjective can have a significant influence on the rate of adult participation in education. Paper we propose aims to identify and analyze the determinants of adult participation in education in the Romanian society. Adult participation in education is a subject that can be approached from different perspectives: economic, social, political. Of the many theories and that their participation in the education center will deepen select only those that best meet the objective set out in this paper. The data which we will call in this paper are from research conducted in recent years in Romania and in Europe and have included issues related to adult education.

Economic crisis and participation in Adult Education: A qualitative investigation with primary teachers in Greece

In this research, a quantitative approach (semi-structured interviews) is used to investigate the views of primary education teachers, concerning their participation in continuing education programs. The investigation of the motives and barriers to their participation is based on the Morstain & Smart and Cross typologies, while the present researchs findings are compared to those of a quantitative research in Greece. As it turns out from the findings of the research, the recent severe economic crisis largely restrains the primary education teachers options for participation in continuing education and lifelong learning.

Shades, Voice and Mobility: Afar pastoralist and Rift Valley communities (re)interpreting literacy and linguistic practices

In this paper, narrative data from remote communities in Ethiopia reveal in intimate ways how ‘linguistic citizenship’ (Stroud 2001) is claimed and exercised to resist educational decisions which are insensitive to the rhythms of pastoral or rural life. Even where communities are distant from the discourses and resources of the centre, individuals and community spokespersons express powerful views which resonate with contemporary global and local concerns of linguistic diversity, literacy and migration. While conventional representations suggest that such communities lack agency and voice, are require externally delivered aid and to be ‘spoken for’, this article reveals a matrix of articulate positions on language/s, literacy/ies and participation in both primary school and adult education. Amongst the challenges of (re)interpretation for the researcher is a discordant intersection of fluid temporal and spatial positions of researcher and respondent, simultaneously translocal and transnational. Agitated shifts in time and space recast shades and voice for both respondent and researcher. This paper raises questions for research procedures and interpretation of narrative accounts of literacy(ies), linguistics and educational practices on the margins. In particular, the discussion suggests that an understanding of and sensitivity towards the linguistic citizenship of informants as well as the multilayered positions of the researcher, including the researcher’s own linguistic citizenship, offer productive theoretical and methodological approaches to ethnographic research.

Shades, Voice and Mobility: Afar pastoralist and Rift Valley communities (re)interpreting literacy and linguistic practices

In this paper, narrative data from remote communities in Ethiopia reveal in intimate ways how ‘linguistic citizenship’ (Stroud 2001) is claimed and exercised to resist educational decisions which are insensitive to the rhythms of pastoral or rural life. Even where communities are distant from the discourses and resources of the centre, individuals and community spokespersons express powerful views which resonate with contemporary global and local concerns of linguistic diversity, literacy and migration. While conventional representations suggest that such communities lack agency and voice, are require externally delivered aid and to be ‘spoken for’, this article reveals a matrix of articulate positions on language/s, literacy/ies and participation in both primary school and adult education. Amongst the challenges of (re)interpretation for the researcher is a discordant intersection of fluid temporal and spatial positions of researcher and respondent, simultaneously translocal and transnational. Agitated shifts in time and space recast shades and voice for both respondent and researcher. This paper raises questions for research procedures and interpretation of narrative accounts of literacy(ies), linguistics and educational practices on the margins. In particular, the discussion suggests that an understanding of and sensitivity towards the linguistic citizenship of informants as well as the multilayered positions of the researcher, including the researcher’s own linguistic citizenship, offer productive theoretical and methodological approaches to ethnographic research.

Participation Patterns in Adult Education: the role of institutions and public policy frameworks in resolving coordination problems

This article focuses on evidence regarding cross‐national patterns of participation in adult education and an interpretation of these patterns from an institutional and public policy perspective. The interpretation follows from the perspective that sustaining high and widely distributed levels of investment in the development and maintenance of skills over the lifespan of individuals is to a large extent interconnected with a high‐level of non‐market coordination via institutional arrangements and/or specific public policy measures. Such arrangements and measures are seen to alleviate coordination problems that otherwise lead to underinvestment in skills and/or inequity in the distribution of access to education and training and hence skills. Consequently, it is argued that institutional contexts and public policy measures condition participation patterns in adult education, and are thus worthwhile to understand better for the purposes of informing policy.

Seeking conditions of possibility: (re)conceptualising democratic discursive practices in a rights-based approach to adult education

This paper draws on ethnographic vignettes in an Indian rights-based approach to adult education programmes in order to examine the contestations and negotiations of facilitators in interface situations involving programme capacity building, monitoring and evaluation practice. The paper proposes that making visible the hegemonic nature of relationships between different adult education actors is critical to engendering democratic participation in adult education. It explores conditions of possibility for democratic participation in adult education in terms of (1) conceptualising empowerment as self-representation and autonomy; and (2) interrogating one’s identity through self-deconstruction as an ethical responsibility and commitment to equity and social justice. This analysis has implications for informing and enhancing democratic participation in adult education capacity building, monitoring and evaluation processes.

Vključenost odraslih v izobraževanje ter materialne spodbude za izobraževanje v Sloveniji in izbranih državah EU

Država lahko z raznimi spodbudami povečuje vključenost odraslih (vseh odraslih ali izbranih ciljnih skupin) v izobra- ževanje. Spodbujanje vključenosti odraslih v izobraževanje omenjajo tudi domači in mednarodni strateški dokumenti. Prenovljeni strateški okvir na področju izobraževanja in usposabljanja postavlja v ospredje povečanje vključenosti niz- ko izobraženih v izobraževanje. V Sloveniji je vključenost odraslih v izobraževanje na razmeroma visoki stopnji, vendar pa so v vključenosti velike razlike glede na starost in izobrazbo udeležencev. V izbranih državah EU (Finska, Švedska, Združeno kraljestvo, Nizozemska, Avstrija in Belgija) so odraslim na voljo različne oblike materialnih spodbud za izobraževanje (brezplačno izobraževanje, štipendije, denarni dodatki, posojilo za izobraževanje, davčne olajšave, indi- vidualni izobraževalni računi, vavčerji, čeki za izobraževanje). Avstrija, Finska in Belgija imajo tudi podrobno urejen izobraževalni dopust. V Sloveniji bi bilo treba krepiti materialne spodbude odraslim za izobraževanje, nekatere od njih pa preoblikovati. Sprejeti bi bilo treba tudi novo resolucijo o nacionalnem programu izobraževanja odraslih.