This paper examines emerging discourses and practices of quality assurance in English Further Education (FE), a sector currently undergoing significant change. Using a broadly ethnographic approach and Foucauldian theories of power, we discuss how 'documentisation' contributes to governance techniques in a specific institutional context.…

In Obstetrics and Gynecologic operating room emergencies, the surgeon cannot both operate and lead a suddenly expanded and redirected team response. However, one of the most often used approaches to interprofessional continuing education designed to improve teams' ability to respond to unanticipated critical events still emphasizes surgeon…

This paper performs a critical examination of the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF), which was accompanied by an Inspection Handbook for Further Education and Skills, and argues that this policy document reinforces the neoliberal project in education. Drawing on concepts from Michel Foucault's analysis of the nature and effects of…

Certain environments are 'outside of all places, even though it may be possible to indicate their location in reality' (Foucault, Diacritics 16, 22-27, 1986, p. 24). Foucault calls such places 'heterotopias' and offers six principles to help define them. Here, we propose that Chinese adult higher education is a heterotopic space. Chinese adult…

Civil society organisations were well organised in the sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) held in Belém in 2009, and influential in framing a powerful agenda for transforming adult education. Despite some successes, however, there were also frustrations in the drafting of the Belém Framework for Action (BFA). Drawing…

At a time of the British government's heightened interest in Further Education (FE) college governance, this paper explores Academic Staff Governor (ASG)'s professional and power status at three colleges in England. The study draws upon relevant literature to identify concepts related to ASGs' power and professional status in governance. An…

I have often felt ashamed of the disabled aspect of my masculine identity. Reflexive, autoethnographical practices help me to ask why? These practices facilitate a reorientation of my frames of reference, from shame to acceptance, by examining attitudes which coalesce around what has been described as the dilemma of disabled masculinity. This…

It could be argued that the current adult education paradigm aligns with a liberal knowledge economy. A more critical perspective is Paulo Freire's banking education concept that removes criticality from a learner's repertoire and facilitates alignment with the prevalent liberal education and its hegemonic objectives. Drawing from Paulo Freire's…

Human resource development (HRD) is no longer about simply acquiring the skills needed to perform a task and is now a tool which can shape society and the ways in which we interact with one another. At the forefront of this transition are new ways of imagining HRD, including critical human resource development (CHRD) and critical management…

Refugee Background Mature Students, with many having come from the global South to seek asylum, form a minority group in higher education. This qualitative study uses a Critical Race Theory framework to examine the lived experience of four Refugee Background Mature Students from Angola and Nigeria with a focus on microaggresions, the everyday…

This article concerns the problematic connection between Marxism and Andragogy. The former is generally regarded as an unpopular, discredited and, in some political circles, a dangerously revolutionary political doctrine, mainly of historical interest. The latter is a conventional, contemporary, and pragmatic approach to adult education that…

Professionalism in the English Further Education (FE) system has been traditionally discussed in terms of superior teaching practices, attitudes and behaviours. The concept of 'good work' is therefore central to this paper's analysis. Following a Bourdieusian tradition, professionalism is treated as a 'site of struggle' between FE teachers and…

This autoethnographic study uses personal memoirs to explore the author's allyship and advocacy efforts throughout the past 24 years in the language teaching profession. Through the process of self-reflexivity and introspection, "turning points" are investigated to understand more about what influences the actions and behaviors of…

Shorthand is, by definition, coded symbolism used for purposes of speed. It's a system of abbreviation, intended to skim the top of more complex systems of meaning, taking shortcuts but keeping track of the important facts. Shorthand is used all the time in adult basic education (ABE). The very name of the field, adult "basic" education,…

This study examined the motives and drives of adult students during online degree completion, including the commonalities among and differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic adult students. Participants included 364 adult students at a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) who completed a series of reflective writing assignments, generating over…