Purpose: The purpose of this report is to demonstrate open and distance education (ODE) can support poverty alleviation. Taking the practices of the Open University of China (the OUC) as an example, this paper aims to reveal how open universities make contributions to local residents in rural and remote areas. Design/methodology/approach: Focusing…

This paper describes the methodological design of a qualitative research strategy that followed the bricolage approach. The research, a qualitative case study, followed the empowerment journey of 12 adult learners in a second chance educational programme, aiming at recording the mechanisms through which the learners were empowered or disempowered.…

In Costa Rica, before 2016 the subject of statistics was not included in the national high school tests in Mathematics. As of 2016, the test, consisting of 60 items, includes 9 statistical items. On the other hand, teachers in their lessons usually use traditional expository methods, mediated by the use of a blackboard and printed materials. In…

This study aimed to examine the impact of workplace literacy programs on the structure of social networks accessible to low-income Somali refugee workers. We conceptualized structure as network size and tie strength. Data were drawn using interviews with eighteen participants enrolled in a workplace literacy program. The classes offered included…

The tradition of leaving high school and finding full-time employment after grade 8 has put Low German-speaking (LGS) Mennonites in rural Southwestern Ontario in a vulnerable economic position. Consequently, alternative education programs have been developed by Ontario public school boards in areas containing high numbers of LGS Mennonites. The…

This article reports on a mixed methods study that investigated aspects of formal, non-formal and informal learning for workers and adult high school learners seeking literacy and essential skills. Three key themes emerged from the qualitative data: motivations for participation in various forms of learning; seeking out informal learning…

In France today most initial vocational training is delivered within the school system, in the lycees professionnels (vocational lycees) and the technological streams of general lycees. Historically this characteristic feature of the French system came about at the end of the 19th century as a result of the educational policy of the Third Republic…