Institutionalised forms of adult learning and education (ALE) such as community learning centres (CLCs) and related models are found in most parts of the world. These are spaces offering opportunities for literacy and skills training, health and citizenship, general, liberal and vocational education, in line with fuller recognition of the meaning…

The study is situated within a national youth organisation called the Australian Air League Inc (Air League). We examine the recent progress of the Air League in South Australia, starting as a loose network of volunteers engaged in a sporadic array of activities, to become a learning community that worked collaboratively and then developed further…

This chapter examines the cultural influences and applications of women's social capital networks on women's knowledge construction, community development, and autonomy within their cultures and the adult learning context.

This article explores how far research findings about successful pedagogies in formal post-school education might be used in non-formal learning contexts--settings where learning may not lead to formal qualifications. It does this by examining a learner outcomes model adapted from a synthesis of research into retention. The article first…

In May 2002, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) published the first self-evaluation framework for community learning and development (CLD) in Scotland. HM Inspectors used "How Good is Our Community Learning and Development?" (HGIOCLD?) to conduct a programme of inspections of local areas within all 32 local authorities. A…

In this paper we argue that interventions aimed at preventing social exclusion need to be informed by detailed analysis of the formation, disruption, reformation and support of trajectories of participation in the opportunities for action provided. We draw on evidence we gathered on the lives of two women who used an inner city drop-in centre to…