Adult Education Research Research Articles

Leadership in uncertainty: Improvisation and positioning in municipal adult education

This study examines how six principals in Norwegian adult education centres (AECs) navigate and make sense of and navigate the multifaceted and uncertain environment in which they act. Specifically, the study aims to explore the significance of improvisation and positioning in the principals’ day-to-day decision-making and leadership as they address the challenges posed by complex migration patterns, shifting policies, and diverse student populations. The principles were interviewed in spring 2018, and selected to represent the diversity of such centres. Through initial analyses, the study identified that the environment of AECs was characterised by complexity, unpredictability, and uncertainty. Moreover, results indicate that improvisation and planning interplay. In addition, improvisation is strengthened by a collective focus on improvement, unpredictability as a rule and diversity as a strategy. Regarding leadership understood as positioning, we see how the principals assert their roles through power dynamics, acting on potential for change, and collaboration. Recognising the unique challenges faced by AEC principals, there is a need for targeted support and professional development that addresses the importance and understanding of improvisation and positioning in AEC-leadership. Moving forward, our findings should have implications for research, policy, and practice in municipal adult education. Key words: Principals, adult education centres, unpredictability, positioning, improvisation.

Experience and Interest Factors of Title Formulation in Adult Education Research

Experience and Interest Factors of Title Formulation in Adult Education Research

토픽모델링을 활용한 유네스코 세계성인교육회의 동향 분석

This study presents an empirical examination of the evolution in adult education globally, analyzing the final reports from the 1st to the 7th UNESCO International Conferences on Adult Education, spanning 1949 to 2022. Employing topic modeling and TF-IDF analysis, it identifies central themes such as foundational concepts in adult education, the impact of societal changes like climate change, and a heightened focus on marginalized groups. The analysis highlights that the seventh conference placed significant emphasis on the necessity for transformative adult education to foster sustainable development. Initially, discussions centered around international cooperation, UNESCO's role in socio-economic development, policy-making, and research in adult education. However, post the fifth CONFINTEA, the emphasis shifted towards sustainable development, literacy, social equality, quality assurance, and broader social development. This trend reflects UNESCO's growing acknowledgment of the pivotal role adult education plays in addressing current societal challenges and promoting transformative change.

Intersectional research in adult education: A diffractive gaze

AbstractInterlocking systems of oppression are embedded and embodied in the world. Utilizing intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989; 1991) as a framework and perspective to interrogate oppressive systems, intersectional research (IR) has been produced across adult education (AE) journals. IR articles published in AE journals were reviewed using diffractive analysis (Barad, 2007). We illuminated how these studies, when diffracted, produce patterns of difference that illuminate new pathways for the purposeful entanglement of IR in AE to produce more just ways of knowing and action.

Chicana/Latina feminism: What is it and how does it define us?

AbstractLatinas holding doctoral degrees are few and far between in the academic world as compared to their White female counterparts (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2020). We explore a crucial topic of Chicana/Latina feminism, which resists traditional theoretical concepts and methodologies in the field of adult education. Chicana/Latina feminism is a feminist theory that has transcended academic disciplines since its conception in ethnic women's studies. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to offer an in‐depth look at Chicana/Latina feminism by defining the origins of a Chicana feminist theory, exploring the need to decolonize adult educational research to allow a more inclusive space for women of color in academia, attesting to the application of a Chicana feminist epistemology with the use of testimonios, and discussing the implications of embedding Chicana feminist perspectives in adult educational research.

The paradox of exclusion through inclusion

In our contribution we investigate firstly the general discussion on inclusion in education that had its origins in educational reform movements and in special needs education policies and practices. In line with this, we describe the growing interest in international organizations, resulting into varied attempts on national and local levels to create equal opportunities for all, with particular attention for students with special needs. We furthermore analyse how these concrete policies and practices of inclusive education often coalesced with deficit approaches, resulting into the above-mentioned paradox of exclusion through inclusion. In a next step, we explore how and why inclusive practices keep on reinforcing existing dependencies and possible ways out of the dilemma. In a final section we analyse how in adult education research literature, this paradox of exclusion through inclusion is dealt with and what answers are developed in this particular field of research.

Scoping Reviews: Expanding Methodological Approaches to Literature Reviews in Adult Education

Literature reviews map the research landscape in a topic area, identify gaps that new research can address, or frame a future research project. Literature reviews inform research and are integral to developing evidence-based policies. In adult education, systematic, critical, integrative, and historical reviews have been conducted. Scoping reviews, however, have yet to be widely adopted, although they can provide adult educators with a systematic process for reviewing a heterogeneous body of literature in adult education. This article explores why scoping reviews are a good fit for adult education and presents a systematic approach to conducting scoping reviews. The paper presents an expanded nine-step scoping review process that begins with the conception of an idea and ends with writing a manuscript for publication. The article discusses best practices, highlights challenges, and provides suggestions to help adult education researchers avoid common pitfalls when conducting scoping reviews.

Self-directed learning motivational drivers of working professionals: confirmatory factor models

PurposeAs learning at the workplace is predominantly self-motivated, this study is aimed to identify and categorize the motivational drivers for working professionals to pursue self-directed learning (SDL) at the workplace.Design/methodology/approachA total of 23 variables were identified as drivers for working professionals to initiate, pursue and sustain self-directed learning at the workplace through literature review, interviews and focused group discussions with senior leaders from the industry. The participants were a mix of senior professionals responsible for leading large teams in their organizations and those appointed as people development leaders in their respective organizations. A questionnaire was developed based on the identified drivers and administered online. Around 315 working professionals were surveyed. Structural equation modelling and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) methods were used to verify the scale and assess its validity and reliability.FindingsThe results suggested that SDL motivational drivers for working professionals can be categorized into two broad categories, namely extrinsic (14 drivers) and intrinsic (9 drivers). Further, extrinsic drivers were subdivided into three categories: job expectations (6 drivers), negative consequence (2 drivers) and positive reinforcement (6 drivers) based on the initial exploratory and subsequent confirmatory analysis. The results suggest that job expectations and positive reinforcement positively influence the intrinsic motivation of an individual to pursue SDL and negative consequences negatively impact the intrinsic motivation.Practical implicationsThe findings from the study will be useful for human resource practitioners, managers and e-Learning companies to draw strategies for building an SDL culture. It also supports the advancement of research in adult education and learning in the workplace.Originality/valueA new scale to measure motivation for SDL by employees at the workplace is proposed. There are no scales available to measure employee motivation for pursuing SDL at the workplace to the best of our knowledge.

Researching (multiple) coordination of action in adult education organizations—Theoretical approaches, empirical findings and future perspectives

The paper aims at analyzing how coordination of action is conceptualized and researched in the context of adult education. Selected perspectives from organization theory are explored with regard to their conceptualizations of coordination of action. Based on a narrative synopsis of studies from adult education research, the paper then shows that there are various actor constellations, coordination mechanisms and influencing factors marking coordination of action as a multi-faceted, multi-level and multi-perspective research phenomenon. Following, key parameters of a research program focusing on multiple coordination of action in adult education organizations are presented.

Honoring Outstanding Professionals Who Passionately Believe in the Power of Adult and Continuing Education and Learning

The International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame honors outstanding individuals and organizations who believe passionately in the power of learning and have devoted their professional life to adult and continuing education. Due to their professionalism, commitment, and humaneness, these exceptional people serve as role models for the next generation of adult education professionals and researchers. To be eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame, an individual must be eminently distinguished in their field, have brought honor or distinction, and have contributed to the heritage of adult and continuing education. Annually, around ten adult and continuing education leaders from all over the world are selected and inducted into the Hall. Since the first induction in 1996, the fantastic society of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame has comprised of 404 members. One of the largest inductions took place in Cork, Ireland, in 2022, when 18 exceptional adult learning professionals, including nine Europeans, were welcomed into the Hall. The inductees of the Hall reflect the great diversity of adult and continuing education practice and scholarship, as well as the increasingly global leadership community that constitutes the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame.

Encountering works by Nyerere and Freire

This conceptual paper presents an encounter of a work regarding education on self-reliance by Tanzanian educator Julius K. Nyerere (1922–1999) with a work by Brazilian educator Paolo Freire (1921–1997) on education for liberation to explore their relevance for contemporary radical popular education. To this end, the study aligns with the methodological approaches used in qualitative comparative education research. Entering into a comparative dialogue between both contributions contextualises the respective features of each contribution and allows a systematic dialogue between commonalities and differences and for conclusions to be drawn regarding radical popular education. Solidarity and sustainability serve as guiding categories in this endeavour. They point conclusively to the benefits of further theoretical encounters (with, for example, the philosophy of ubuntu), to the risks of neoliberal reinterpretations and, against this background, to the quest for nurturing contemporary approaches in radical popular education in adult education academia, research and practice under the auspices of social change and transformation.

Illustrations of ethical dilemmas during ethnographic fieldwork: when social justice meets neoliberalism in adult education

ABSTRACT This article explores the ethical dilemmas encountered by two ethnographers in adult education research in a context where neoliberalism impacts on education settings, policies, and social justice. Everyday ethical dilemmas arise in thorny situations in which the general ethical principles ethnographers are regulated by cannot help them react or respond in the heat of the moment. The three technological processes through which neoliberalism in education is operationalised (the market, management, and performance) are used to analyse two ethnographic research contexts in adult education settings in Québec, Canada. The empirical data generated from these two separate investigations are used to construct six vignettes illustrating how neoliberal technologies influence social justice in those settings. Neoliberalism, precarity and social justice are closely related both theoretically and in our results. The data show the sensitivity required by the ethnographer to navigate the precarious situations that individuals and organisations face vis-a-vis neoliberalism in adult education.

Akademska profesionalizacija i hibridni profesionalizam u obrazovanju odraslih

Discourse on professionalisation and professionalism is a longstanding focus in adult education practice and research. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Freidson (2001) and Noordegraaf (2007, 2015), this qualitative research combined an explorative method and an in-depth analysis (Nutt Williams & Hill, 2012; Williams & Morrow, 2009). It focussed on the comparison of adult education programmes at the Master's level in three countries (document analysis), and the critical reflection on logics of action three adult educators of the referred countries themselves use to describe their work (semi-structured interviews). Thematic content analysis was used to examine data concerning academic professionalisation and professionalism in adult education. Findings showed that the extent of promoting professionalisation appeared differently in each country, depending on the social and historical contexts and the interplay among several factors within which higher education institutions offering programs on adult education are settled. In addition, the practice of adult educators expressed by themselves involved several logics of action. This study highlights the presence of hybrid professionalism in adult education.

A Literature Review of Adult Education Research

This paper analyzes and summarizes the current situation of adult education research in recent years and hopes to play a certain reference role in exploring and solving the problems existing in the current domestic adult education, so as to make the domestic adult education develop towards a more healthy and sustainable direction.

Individualising processes in adult education research: a literature review

ABSTRACT Individualising processes often are prescribed as all-embracing solutions in adult education policies worldwide. Nevertheless, re-adaptation of educational frameworks to individual students’ needs may result in tensions for involved agents due to complexities of such initiatives. This literature review examines individualising processes in international adult education research and aims to identify societal needs and challenges eliciting individualising processes and how the latter materialise in policy and practice, causing transformations of adult education in different contexts. The point of departure is Swedish Municipal Adult Education, which is viewed as a collective human activity embedded in a transnational policy agenda and involving a wide array of agents. Thus, the scope of the review involves international research. The analysis of the selected literature is based on the analytical concepts of motive and object, stemming from cultural-historical activity theory. The results indicate that, in the selected literature, individualising processes are problematised within three interrelated and not mutually exclusive themes: mediating between liberation and responsibility; alleviating the risk of exclusion; and addressing student diversity. The study concludes with recommendations for further research that considers the complexity and potentiality of the topic.

The long-term effects of school education on further education: a longitudinal view on motivation and behaviour in youth and adulthood.

As school learning should enable people to self-determine their own lives, its long-lasting relevance for participation in further education is an essential outcome. Contemporary adult education research shows that beliefs and memories from one's school years have an impact on the motivation to pursue further education in working life. However, almost no longitudinal research exists that investigates the long-term forces behind adults' motivation to educate themselves. Hence, the present study examined whether students' learning-related behaviour, cognitions and emotions that developed in their school years are related to the subjective value they place on further education, their expectations of success in solving further learning tasks, and thus the likelihood of participating in further education. Corresponding structural equation analyses on data from the German panel study LifE (n = 1,110) revealed that the learning behaviour, ability self-concept and test anxiety at the age of 12, along with their individual change between the ages of 12 and 16, are associated in different ways with the attainment value and subjective costs placed on further education and expectations of success at the age of 35. In contrast, no influence of youth characteristics on the likelihood of participating in further education could be found. The findings indicate that especially the development of learning-related cognitions and emotions in secondary school is sustainably related to the individual's success expectancy and achievement value of further education. Long-term dependencies should be further investigated with regard to academic domains and socio-economic pathways.

Investigation on the Distribution Characteristics of Chinese Continuing Education Based on the Community Detection Algorithm in Complex Networks.

In order to closely fit the characteristics of continuing education, the development of continuing education teaching activities under the network background should not only be combined with the characteristics of professional adult education but also make reasonable use of modern teaching models in the actual teaching process. Based on the community detection algorithm in complex networks, this article makes thorough research and analysis on the complexity of Chinese continuing education by using complex network technology. By establishing the characteristics of vertex degree distribution, average path length, and clustering coefficient of complex networks, it is confirmed that Chinese continuing education has scale-free network characteristics and small-world network characteristics. The three aspects of relationship strength comprehensively analyze the information dissemination speed, scope, interpretation, and application; through the combination of the ant colony algorithm and complex network technology, multiple information dissemination paths are abstracted in Chinese continuing education. The research shows that the application of complex network algorithms can effectively improve the speed and quality of continuing education in China. It is found that the government should increase the number of adult education projects and improve the level of project categories, form key adult education research basis to promote the diversification of research subjects, expand the space for adult education projects to balance regional and provincial differences and attach importance to basic research on adult education, and integrate applied research.

The power of narrative storytelling: How podcasts as an arts-based practice enhance solidarity and social activism in adult education

This article emerges from a podcast hosted by a Centre for Migration at a Canadian University in 2021. In this discussion, we explore how podcasts offer a unique and often under-researched arts-based medium that can be used as a form of creative expression to tell stories, build dialogue, and create solidarity. We argue that podcasts offer benefits and learning not only to the listeners but also to participants who are part of the creation process. Drawing upon direct quotes from the podcast and qualitative reflections from the podcast interviewees, this collaboratively written article examines how the podcast stimulates activism and access to deeper understandings and collectively made meanings around the lived experiences of migration. It sheds light upon the less-researched emotional and participatory dimensions of arts-based podcast-making, teaching, and research in adult education. We conclude that the podcast created spaces of disruption, public pedagogy, and praxis.

Research Design in Adult Education: Issues and Perspectives

In the universities, students and researchers who engage in research writing have continued to find it difficult to understand the concept of research design, its importance and how to apply it in their project works at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. This may not be unconnected to the reasons most of them outsource the process of writing research projects to third parties with attendant consequences on the quality, validity and credibility of their research output. Research in Adult Education is aimed at proffering solutions to educational problems and creating new ideas in the field of education. This paper explored the concepts of research design and its significance in adult education research. The paper used documentary approach in qualitative research methodology to obtain secondary data from scholarly publications to examine the different approaches in design research and highlight the critical issues that students and researchers should acquaint themselves with in their pursuit to produce quality research projects.

On the dark side of open access and new expectations of scientific productivity in adult education research

The aim of this paper is to explore international adult education research in the context of predatory publishing or predatory journals. The paper presents empirical characteristics of predatory journals, determines the quantitative occurrence of predatory journals in the field of adult education by means of a catalogue of criteria, takes a closer look at the authors of adult education contributions identified, and examines the content and quality of the contributions. The article deals with the phenomenon of predatory publishing, an unintended side effect of the Open Access movement, and thus operates in the context of Open Science.