Role Of Adult Education Research Articles

Transformative Learning and Technology in Adult and Vocational Education

Adult learners often fear that they will be unable to find work if they are lacking in technological skills. The media, including newspapers, magazines, and advertisements for positions often emphasize the importance of the use of technology in the workplace. It is the case that without adequate skills in the use of appropriate technologies, adult workers may face challenges in finding employment. But what technologies can do is to provide powerful teaching and learning strategies. This article addresses technological applications in vocational and adult education advancement from different perspectives. Technology has the potential to support transformative learning. Technology, along with the vital role of adult educators, helps learners grow, change, and develop. Through the discussion of these, and related issues, a model titled Learners’ Seeking Transformation via Web 2.0 Technologies, has emerged.

CIES Bibliography 2011

CIES Bibliography 2011

Book Review: The Mentor’s Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships

Zachary, L. J. (2000). The Mentor's Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 261 pp. ISBN 978-0-470-90772 (paperback) In our field of adult education practice, in which learning is discussed in its myriad meanings, Zachary's contribution with The Mentor's Guide adds richly to the discourse as she encourages us to question and reflect on our role as mentors. The book offers seasoned mentors an opportunity to reexamine values, concepts, and terms, prevalently portrayed in this broad field of what is called adult education these days. Newcomers can benefit from the suggestions and resources by exploring the ones presented through their respective lenses and assumptions. In her preface, Zachary claims this book to be a guide and companion complete with strategies and techniques that will help the reader manage intentional mentoring relationships (p. xv). The Mentor's Guide portrays a currently popular take on mentoring. A definite affinity to andragogical values is inherent in the concepts that undergird Zachary's definition and approach to mentoring. In Part 1 of the two-part guidebook, Zachary moves the reader through a larger picture introduction that addresses the context of mentoring and the function of mentoring in today's education and training settings for adults from her vantage point. In Part 2, she has us travel through phases of mentoring, which Zachary has peppered with definitions, vignettes that illustrate issues, and subsequent exercises. The vignettes and exercises give ample fodder for building on experiences and ideas through guided reflection on concepts, brainstorming on themes, and considerations of key points, summarized by Zachary with nicely organized charts and fill-in templates. Primarily framed within contemporary humanist and constructivist principles of adult education philosophy, Zachary distinguishes her particular take on mentoring as different from the traditional model of wisdom transmitted from master to apprentice (p. 1). Zachary defines mentoring as grounded in a mutual learning relationship. This orientation raises concerns and bears consideration. Given our many roles in the many teaching-learning settings with adults, the role of mentor is distinguished from that of teacher in its purpose, strategies, and methods. Although mutual benefit and learning can emerge from a mentor-mentee relationship, the key in mentoring is the identification of goals and expectations between the mentor and mentee to work toward a mutually developing relationship to meet those goals. It is often a particularly popular notion of self-directedness that gapes wide open and becomes a catchall about which many nod in agreement. However, thoughtful reconsideration of andragogical principles and the role of adult educator and of mentor ought to prevail. …

Adult education as an factor for the realisation of the flexicurity concept

The term, more frequently occurring in the last few years in the European documents dealing with different aspects and possible development trends of employment policy primarly aimed at reducing the growing unemployment rate, is ''flexicurity''. The essence of this concept, which is becoming more and more current with the world economic crisis, is the employees, in order to maintain this status, have to express, meaning that they have to be trained for flexibility reflected in readiness for, and thus largely for the possibility for frequent job changes and changes of institutions and organisations in which they work, as well as for continuous knowledge acqusition and development of skills and competences. In addition, the flexicurity concept also emphasises the necessity of providing security, through the role of the state in the form of providing sufficient job position, enabling the emloyment of a larger number of people under good conditions and providing strong support in case of unployment. The subject of this paper is studying the role of adult education in implementing the flexicurity concept. As a manifestation of lifelong learning, adult education has a key role in acquiring knowledge, skills and competences, which is why it has long become a strong factor of economic development, increase of competitiveness, employability and employment. In line with the aforementioned subject, the aim of this paper is to, by analysis of the relevant literature and European documents devoted in different ways and in varying degrees to the flexicurity concept, explore the role of adult education in implementing this concept.

ADULT EDUCATION: THE HOPE OF THE MARGINALIZED

The paper examined the role of adult education for the marginalized groups. The groups include women, children, school dropout and the disabled to mention but a few. The study was carried out in three states of Nigeria namely Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti States in the south western part of Nigeria. The population for the study was all the seeming marginalized groups in these states out of which a sample of 251 was used. A self developed questionnaire was used to generate responses from the subjects and the data collected were analysed using chi-square statistical tool at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that the rights of the marginalized are trampled upon due to lack of proper education and so the study recommended that exposure of the marginalized groups to non-formal adult education would go a long way in raising their already low-self-esteem to a level where they would be involved in enlightened participation in socio-political and economic issues of their societies.

International learning communities for global and local citizenship

In this paper, I describe our ongoing international project in engaged educational ethnography and participatory action research with young adults and consider its relevance for a discussion on the community-building role of adult education in a globalized context. I use the example of our case study to suggest that adult educators can generate viable communities by creating learning spaces that nurture critical consciousness, a sense of agency, participation and social solidarity among internationally and culturally diverse young adult learners. Furthermore, I argue that participation in international learning communities formed through this educational process can potentially help young adults become locally and globally engaged citizens. International learning communities for global citizenship thus present a proposition for conceptualizing the vital role of adult community education in supporting democratic global and local citizenship in a world defined in terms of cross-cultural and longdistance encounters in the formation of culture.

Globalism and health

AbstractThis chapter offers a look at the impact of globalization on health, describes some important determinants of global health, and examines the migration of health care professionals and the role of adult educators in global health issues.

Building future sustainability and democratic practices: The role of adult education in post-conflict communities

This paper documents and analyses a range of literature and policy statements that identifies issues and looks at the role which adult education plays in building communities and peace in post-conflict states. This paper explores and documents these developments in countries in close proximity to Australia which have been viewed by the former Australian government as constituting an ‘arc of instability’. This is a term which will be critically discussed in the paper for the way in which it positions the nations of the Pacific and Australia’s foreign policy as well as its aid and development policy. This paper reviews existing orthodox approaches to the region and development and discusses the criticisms that have been levelled at the status quo.

Education for Freedom? “Living Room Learning” and the Liberal Arts of Government

This article provokes critical reflection about the role of adult educators in contemporary processes of social control. It does so through presenting an empirical case study of an important liberal adult education program (Living Room Learning) and through introducing the work of British sociologist, Nikolas Rose. Rose’s provocative ideas about the evolution of power and oppression, and his seemingly paradoxical conceptualization of freedom as a strategy and technique of government, have influenced diverse fields of scholarly activity. This article contributes both to the history of adult education in North America and to the understanding of the contemporary place of adult education within the liberal arts of government. It raises important questions regarding the relationship between adult education, power, and social control, and it encourages scholars of adult education to examine their field more critically.

The role of adult education in the integration of inmates into society after a jail term: practical experiences from Swaziland

Prisons play a significant role in contributing to the lifelong learning needs of their inmates who often have limited formal education and skills. The main function of correctional centres, among others, is the secure containment of inmates committed to their custody, and provision of skills and training in an effort to help them integrate more effectively into society after discharge. While the correctional centres perform training and other initiatives in an effort to make inmates better individuals, the Department of Adult Education at the University of Swaziland, as one of its mandates reaches out and conducts training programmes to correctional service staff but more specifically to inmates. This paper provides a case study of the Department's adult education programmes, which were offered to enhance the learning provision of the correctional services. Furthermore, it will highlight shortcomings and make suggestions on how to improve the provision of adult education programmes for inmates. The paper gives an outline of the Swaziland context, the Department of Correctional Services in Swaziland, the problem of recidivism for inmates, and the work done by the Department of Adult Education. Finally recommendations and conclusions are offered.

The role of adult educators towards (potential) participants and their contribution to increasing participation in adult education - insights into existing research

Increasing participation in adult education and addressing certain (disadvantaged) target groups is not only a professed aim of educational politics on both the national and the international level, but also a pedagogical goal. Target group and participant orientation are fundamental concepts in this process. This article discusses results of a recent German research project which examined the perspective of adult educators. The question is raised as to how far adult educators believe that target groups and participant oriented quality and the promotion of competences among adult educators may contribute to an increase in enrolment in further education. By examining the attitudes of adult educators with regard to target groups and participant orientation possible ways of improving target group participation and participant orientation on the institutional level are suggested. Furthermore, the article touches upon research questions, asking how research on potential participants and actual participants could be linked to research on educational programmes and the profession.

“More universal for some than others”: Canada's health care system and the role of adult education

AbstractThe literature and pan‐Canadian consultations involving adults with low literacy skills, immigrants and refugees, adults with HIV/AIDS, and those in remote Canadian communities all point to a health learning gap and a critical role for adult educators—a role that crosses all borders.

Tree Changes or Wholesale Changes: The Role of Adult Education in Transitions in Regional Life

Regional adult education and training providers have been required in recent decades to adapt to funding structures rather than engage with their local communities. This has meant providing education programs that are funded based on national or State and Territory based policy frameworks, often linked to human capital development. Adult education and training organisations need to be given the chance to ‘see’ what their local communities need; to ‘see’ who their targets groups are. Contemporary adult learning programs and practices for regional communities need to encompass a combination of focused and flexible learning processes and resources, including classroom instruction, mentoring, social and cultural activities, community networking and workplace training. There is a need in Australian society to examine all adult education and training sectors in the light of emerging national social inclusion policy frameworks that impact on regional communities. The diverse provision of adult education and training has the capacity to foster social relationships in diverse rural, regional and urban communities. This article reflects on two research projects in relation to the educational experiences of mature age adults in Echuca and Bendigo in northern Victoria.

A Critical Analysis of Freirean Pedagogy

This article examines indigenous responses to oil and gas development in Canada's Northwest Territories. Drawing from the works of Paulo Freire, the role of adult educators as cultural workers engaged in political literacy is problematized in relation to Freire's pedagogy and understanding of the oppressed. Using the case of development in northern Canada, the author argues that Freire's dialectic of oppressor-oppressed and the central role ascribed to educators in his pedagogy is fraught with difficulties. Marxian class analyses are incorporated into the general rubric of Freirean thought to argue that resolution of the oppressor-oppressed dialectic is an attainable and realistic goal for those located on the margins of mainstream society.

The role of adult education in African development and globalization

No Abstract. SOPHIA: An African Journal of Philosphy and Public Affairs Vol. 9 (2) 2007: pp. 25-30

Adult Literacy in Africa: The Push and Pull Factors

This paper examines the question of why Africa has made such slow progress towards the goal of eradicating illiteracy, and why it remains an exceptionally disadvantaged region in this respect. The article surveys the history of the development of literacy in Africa from colonial times to the present day, focusing on the role of adult education in pursuing the goal of universal literacy. The author seeks to identify both the “push” factors (those favouring the pursuit of this goal) and the “pull” factors (the obstacles and hindrances), examining these factors at the local, national and international levels. The author concludes that, while the literacy challenge in Africa remains a formidable one, there are examples of successful initiatives that give hope for the future.

The Role of Adult Education in Reducing Unemployment and Poverty

Being viewed as one of lifelong learning subsystems, adult education is extremely important and has various functions. Among others, adult education has important function in the battle against unemployment and poverty. Therefore, the battle against unemployment and increasing poverty in our country requests the adult education as an important element. The number of unemployed persons in Bosna and Herzegovina is extremely high. The qualifying structure unemployed persons have is not satisfying. Many are not qualified at all for any job or their qualifications are not competitive at the job market. That is why the adult education is imposed as urgent in reducing unemployment. Besides, the lifetime employment concept is replaced by the concept lifetime employability with continual learning as condition sine qua non. Lifetime employment is relevant for unemployed persons so they would not be socially excluded and marginalized.

Global Issues and Adult Education: Perspectives from Latin America, Southern Africa, and the United States (review)

Reviewed by Courtney H. Thornton North Carolina State University David Franklin Ayers University of North Carolina at Greensboro Global Issues and Adult Education: Perspectives from Latin America, Southern Africa, and the United States; Sharan B. Merriam, Bradley C. Courtenay, and Ronald M. Cervero (Eds.); San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2006, 560 pages, $48.00 (hardcover) Global Issues and Adult Education: Perspectives from Latin America, Southern Africa, and the United States is a collection of response papers written by 38 of the 45 Cyril O. Houle Scholars in Adult and Continuing Education identified by the W. K Kellogg Foundation between 1997 and 2006. Those 38 contributing authors sponsored and attended a Global Issues Seminar (August 7-14, 2004) that aimed to bring attention to the future needs of a global community, the role of adult education in addressing those needs, and the establishment of regional networks for adult and continuing education leaders. The conference, and this resulting volume, was organized around five global issues important for the future of adult education: globalization and the market economy, marginalized populations, environment and health, community empowerment, and lifelong learning and educational systems. These five issues emanated from a review of the Houle Scholars' research projects as well as from the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) report on the 1997 International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA). During the Global Issues Seminar, experts served as specialists in each area, and their comments are summarized at the beginning of each of the five sections. Readers of this hefty volume may best heed the advice, "begin with the end in mind." At the end of this collection of 38 chapters, widely [End Page 364] diverse in style, content, purpose and approach, editors Sharan Merriam, Bradley Courtenay and Ronald Cervero offer a masterful concluding chapter that both connects the five sections of the book and identifies themes across all 38 chapters. The editors present globalization as an overarching concept; globalization leads to marginalization of certain populations who are, in turn, more often susceptible to environmental and health issues. The remaining two themes, community empowerment and lifelong learning, are strategies for addressing the negative effects of globalization. The editors then form a five-part agenda for adult educators based on ideas common across the 38 chapters: (a) create a space to listen to voices, (b) adopt a critical stance, (c) attend to policy, (d) develop partnerships, and (e) foster collective learning and action. While the division of chapters according to the five global issues seems logical, readers will find great variation within each section. Although the authors promoted partnership and collaboration of all kinds in their chapters, they did not demonstrate its value in the approach to this volume. The volume could have been strengthened by combining the thoughts and ideas of authors both within and across sections. Hence, readers who start with the concluding chapter may be better primed to identify connections across the chapters within each section. The seven chapters that comprise Part 1, "Globalization and the Market Economy," each define globalization independently before offering related considerations and applications for adult educators. Zelda Groener discusses government policies in South Africa as related to transformative workplace adult education. Chapters from Cecilia Amaluisa Fiallos and Juan José Madrigal Goerne offer perspectives on globalization from Ecuador and Mexico, respectively. Fiallos urges adult educators to consider development, a central globalization concept, less in terms of wealth and more in terms of personal freedoms. Goerne discusses certain Latin American adult education programs and how globalization has created both challenges and opportunities in this work. In his chapter, John Holst skillfully introduces the debate on the nature of globalization, specifically using Tabb's typology to discuss the opposing views of long versus strong globalization. The remaining chapters focus on adult education in the United States. Fred Schied critiques the dominant belief that lifelong learning is the solution to economic problems. Talmadge...

Relieving Isolation, Avoiding Vices: The Social Purposes of Participation in A Salvadoran Literacy Program

This article uses ethnographic research to examine how women and men in rural El Salvador used literacy classes to accomplish their own social purposes. Employing a sociocultural, feminist framework, the author argues that men and women valued classes as an opportunity for social interaction. Moreover, the classes were a gendered social space that helped women to relieve isolation and men to spend their time purposefully and “avoid vices” like drinking. These needs were rooted in gender relations (an inequitable gender division of labor, the restriction of female mobility, the sanctioning of drinking as masculine behavior) and socioeconomic conditions (unemployment, postwar social fragmentation). Attending classes allowed learners to construct identities that challenged dominant conceptions of gender. The article proposes that serving the human longing for affiliation is a legitimate, essential role of adult education. It concludes by suggesting ways to analyze and support social interaction in adult and literacy education.

Education for Fullness: The Role of Adult Education in Nigeria in the 21st Century

Education is very necessary for man in order to articulate himself and achieve fullness. But the formal system, which is elitist, discriminatory and instalmental, cannot alone provide all education one needs for self- fulfillment. The terminologies, such as, continuing education, recurrent education, education permanente and life- long education, have been used by different bodies to stress that education should be co-terminous with life. Adult education in its complementary and supplementary roles in education affords citizens of a country opportunities for attainment of self-fulfillment and fullness. Therefore, it is necessary that Nigeria should heighten efforts towards adult education in order to enable the citizens achieve self-fulfillment and fullness during the twenty-first century.