Barrie Brennan's thesis entitled "Continuing Professional Education in Australia. A Tale of Missed Opportunities" offers a history of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the Australian context. This paper arose from Brennan's research for his thesis and is focused on issues that arose from the introduction of Australia's…

In 2010, fifty years after the establishment of the association now called Adult Learning Australia (ALA), the association still faces the dilemma about how to sell its message that adult learning matters. The dilemma is one of philosophy: in the nineteenth century, it was liberalism versus utilitarianism; in the mid-twentieth, the instrumental…

Japan's Basic Law on Food Education (Shokuiku kihonho) was enacted in June 2005 as a response to various concerns related to food and nutrition, such as food scandals, an increase in obesity and lifestyle-related diseases and an assumed loss of traditional food culture. The Law defines food education (shokuiku) rather vaguely as the acquisition of…

This article presents contributions that present recollections on the Australian Association of Adult Education (AAAE) over five decades. In these contributions, the authors talk about the association in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

This article presents the author's response to "An Experiment in Method" by J.L.J. Wilson. In 1960-61 Wilson was invited to give lectures on "modern techniques in adult education" as part of a training school for those involved in the work of developing "Co-operatives for Aborigines" which were sponsored by the…

It may be salutary to remember that the new Australian Association had a predecessor (in the Federal Council of the W.E.A.) to acknowledge its achievements and to probe for the causes of its eventual failure. Within the first five years of its existence, the W.E.A. Series had brought out no less than seven creditable works. Most of them were…

It is the author's experience that some of the most perplexing and time-consuming problems that face the chief executive of a National Association in Adult Education, arise out of international contacts. He thinks it is very wise that the Australian Association should give attention to the matter early in its existence. By so doing, the author…

This paper is based on findings from the first phase of a longitudinal project examining how a group of students from diverse backgrounds succeed in higher education. The concept of perspective transformation is used to explore students' stories about factors that influenced them on their journey to university, including socio-economic background,…

In this paper I suggest that social dances and local markets are examples of resilient practices of place-making and community that involve active participation. These two activities create mobile and pliant communities of participants that involve considerable informal and incidental learning. With dances and markets in mind, I look at the two…

Government-provided services are caught in the jaws of a "cost-tax vice". On the cost side, the long-term trend of rising relative prices of services, including education, seems set to continue. The other jaw of the vice is the high efficiency cost of raising additional taxes. Recent research making the case for public provision of…

The paper challenges an argument made by Alf Wesson in 1972. His argument was that the failure of the University of Melbourne Extension Board to work effectively with the Worker's Educational Association of Victoria was almost exclusively as a result of the poor management skills and personality of the Director of University Extension, Professor…

The globalized economy appears to promote economic insecurity and underemployment. Lifelong learning is increasingly focused on competitive advantage. Adult educators should encourage discussion and debate about the nature of these changes and advocate lifelong learning that benefits the whole person and broader community. (Contains 30…

Among the barriers to learning for Aborigines are rigid institutional structures, focus on learning for gaining knowledge rather than application, and the individualistic framework of formal education. The population would be better served by two-way learning through relationships (knowledge sharing) and self-determination and control. (Contains…