International organisations have measured adult learning participation since the 1990s, using surveys like the Adult Education Survey (AES) and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). These surveys employ a 'triadic' classification of learning activities -- formal (FAE), non-formal (NFE) and informal learning…

This article analyses the governance of VET for adults and its development from a historical-institutionalist perspective. It takes a look at the collective skill formation system of Switzerland, in which the federal government and private companies (or the associations representing them) play integral roles. The article argues that the…

This article traces three key critiques (insufficient consideration of emotions, insufficient attention to social interaction, and insufficient theoretical foundations) of Mezirow's theory of transformative learning in the field of adult education, with emphasis on discussions that have played out in the pages of the "International Journal of…

The aim of this article is to critically explore and analyse opportunities and obstacles faced by highly skilled migrants in rural areas seeking to re-enter their profession, focusing on the lived experiences of migrants residing in northern Sweden. Analysis of their stories focusing on intersections of temporal and spatial positionings reveal…

This article examines the purposes UNESCO, OECD and EU historically have attributed to adult education and learning. The aim is to explore changes in international adult education and learning policies from the 1970s until the present day and outline how different international organisations have pushed for specific conceptualisations of what…

This paper argues that a shift in discourse about the nature and purpose of Further Education is under way in England. A recent White Paper, 'Skills for jobs: lifelong learning for opportunity and growth', issued by the UK government, is couched in terms which suggest that a prior reliance on the ideology of neoliberalism is now moving towards the…

This paper explores and analyses adult educators' professional development (PD) in Singapore at three levels: national, organisational (training providers) and individual and examines the gap between skills supply and demand of adult educators. Requirements for adult educators' competencies established by the government initiative…

Personal narratives can be seen as iterative theories-of-valued-selves: thick, deliberate outlines traced over and selectively enhancing and obscuring the finer details of life as lived. Through telling such stories we represent and orient ourselves towards certain potential actions while turning away from others. Biographical narration is in this…

The guiding principles of the education of older adults have been stated in three landmark publications. In their statements of principles, the authors of those publications affiliated themselves with one of two older-adult learning philosophies: a humanist or a critical one. Thirty years since the first statement, the field of educational…

This paper traces the evolution of discourses around the role of critical social theory in the field of lifelong education that have played out in the pages of the "International Journal of Lifelong Education" and elsewhere in the field, beginning with early critical theoretical discourses, a consideration of the impact of some key…

'Quality' in education has become a global phenomenon, and is frequently discussed in transnational and national policy. In such discussions, 'quality' seems to be both worthwhile and demanded, but at the same time, the concept has also been criticised in previous research as it seems to have attained a 'common sense' status. In this context, the…

Adult education in art galleries sits on a fault line, at once an apparatus upholding the affirmative aspects of museum culture cultivated by global elites, a propellant in the whirring of an increasingly dislocated set of events on trendy and consumable political themes, and a site for 'allyship' and other kinds of radical and socially…

This paper takes up an existing discussion around critical perspectives on adult education, in particular how empowerment and emancipation have been understood. Previously in this journal, concern has been raised with traditional understandings of critical adult education. The problem is that these tend to assume that learners require assistance…

An increasing number of mayors are adding 'learning' to traditional city responsibility for sewers, roads, parks, garbage and dog-catching. However, just like in the 1970s, there is uncertainty about what is meant by 'learning' and considerable variance embedded in the notion of 'city'. Some Learning City advocates look to UNESCO's Faure and…

By comparing Peter Jarvis' understanding of learning with two other approaches--which Jarvis himself has referred to as "the most comprehensive": Etienne Wenger's "social theory of learning" and my own psychologically oriented theory of "the three dimensions of learning"--it becomes evident that Jarvis' understanding…