Literacy as a unified concept is no longer valid or useful for today's complex world, where globally we face many challenges and contradictions. Adult literacy is shifting rapidly, and the human need for visually communicating meaningfully and relationally -- beyond 'reading and writing' -- is vital for addressing wicked problems and difficult…

This study examines the underlying motivations that drive adult learners to participate in Morocco's "Literacy for Empowerment" program, implemented by the national Agency for Adult Education. While the program constitutes a government initiative, the research analyses learners' perspectives through the lens of Mezirow's Transformative…

The purposes and implementation of adults' lifelong education (LLE) has been shaped by two imperatives: i) neoliberal reforms and ii) focuses on employability and economic outcomes. This has led to LLE taking similar pathways across many countries, i.e., away from a focus on personal and cultural betterment, to one associated with promoting…

Many years of lived experience supervising PhDs and other research-based higher degrees provides the contextual background to reflections on practice and conceptual underpinnings to a specialised branch of adult continuing education for professional managers within industry contexts. Special Attention is focused on the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)…

Australia has no national approach to climate change education, neither for primary, secondary, or tertiary education nor for the informal and community adult education sectors. Inaction has its roots in Australian politics reluctant to engage with scientific evidence or community experience of extreme weather events and hamstrung by the political…

As Australia's population becomes increasingly diverse, this paper examines how adult education can foster belonging, community, and empowerment for CALD learners -- a critical issue with broad societal implications. While Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) adult education aims to empower learners, this paper uncovers the complex…

This paper proposes a new theory of Conditional Social Equality (CSE) which in some ways challenges the theory of cumulative advantage/disadvantage (CAD), which postulates that inequalities and social divisions necessarily increase over time. Using evidence from informal learning groups in Men's Sheds in three countries, we conclude that some…

Creative arts and performance courses at the community level for mature age individuals. Theatre and drama as education and as therapy. This article charts and reflects on several ACE arts-based courses and community theatre productions that have changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the professional experiences of the teacher. Change for…

This study aimed to assess the level of empowerment experienced by Saudi women through the vocational skills taught in educated neighbourhood programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the research sought to determine whether there were statistically significant differences in empowerment levels based on marital status and the number of…

Funded by the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grant, this national study examines arts-based adult education organizations involved in dance, music, drama, and visual arts with a philosophical perspective aligned with a multiliteracies theoretical framework. Multiliteracies considers how cultural and linguistic diversity…

Adult migrants need to attain proficiency in the language of their host society to fully integrate into those communities and lead meaningful lives. The concept of literacy, centred on reading and writing, has evolved to encompass multiliteracies, integrating linguistic, social, and digital aspects. This broader approach acknowledges that learners…

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an analysis of course titles and descriptions which are part of core adult education university curricula in the United States. The focus of the analysis was on understanding how well these adult education programs, and their curricula, address the need for developing critical literacy and…

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore adult immigrant learners' perspectives and motivations for participating in an ESL program through the lens of McClusky's Theory of Margin. Nine adult immigrant ESL students were interviewed about their learning experiences. Creswell's (1994) systematic process informed the…

In today's world of accelerated progress and change, the skills to solve problems, think critically, communicate effectively, and manage lives are essential for people to flourish in the 21st century. The purpose of the study is to explore the role of Learning Neighborhood Programme for achieving the necessary life skills that adult learners need…

This is a study of the process of biographical learning and how it can be observed in narration. There have not yet been empirical studies focused explicitly on the learning aspects of biographical learning, as scholars have focused more on the biographical part of the concept -- more on the question of what is learned than of how it is learned.…