Purpose: We describe the development of a 24-hr curriculum for nonclinical direct care workers in elder care that features active-learning strategies and consumer-directed approaches. Design and Methods: Our curricular design was based on adult education theory and a survey of 70% of the community's service providers. Training was completed by 88…

This paper explores the (changing) role of older, experienced employees in the workplace in terms of their own needs and opportunities for learning and in the context of changing organizational expectations. It draws on Lave and Wenger's (1991) theory of situated learning and the notion of 'learning as participation' as starting points for…

Supervisors are often urged by the workplace learning literature to take active roles as facilitators of the learning of their staff. The role that is envisaged is similar to the facilitative role developed in the humanistic traditions of adult education, in which facilitation is supportive but also proactive, challenging and interventionist.…

Namibia is a vast and arid African country neighbouring South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola and the Atlantic Ocean, with a population of only two million. Namibia achieved its independence in 1990 after a protracted and brutal struggle, latterly against South African occupation, but rooted in the resistance to German colonisation that…

This qualitative study examined how eight adult degree program administrators negotiate power and interest while planning programs in specific higher education settings: small, private, nonprofit, higher education institutions. The conceptual framework was grounded in Cervero and Wilson's program-planning model in combination with Bourdieu's…

Disability studies is an emerging field of inquiry that investigates the disability experience as a socially constructed phenomenon similar to issues of race, gender, and class. However, the literature of adult education shows that we are not making these same connections. Nor are we conducting a thorough investigation of how the manifestations of…

This chapter explores the connection between consumerism, consumption, and adult education, arguing for a more critical form of consumer education for adults.

Programs for teenage mothers provided through school districts or community agencies often have their own curricular agenda for teaching teenage mothers about the proper care of and nutrition for infants and the typical stages of child development, but not all programs are successful in supporting the development of positive early relationships…

This paper synthesizes findings from three studies to answer a general question: What do casual, adult visitors learn about science from their science-related experiences in free-choice settings? Specifically we asked whether there are changes in how people think about science in their daily lives, the nature and use of scientific knowledge, and…

This paper presents a theoretical model showing how managerial adaptability develops from career variety over the span of the person's career. By building on the literature of career theory, adult learning and development, and career adjustment, we offer a new conceptualization of managerial adaptability by identifying its behavioral, cognitive,…

The author brings together the question posed in Kathryn Ecclestone's article in last month's "Adults Learning--"Where's the vision?"--and the letter from Wayne Bennett, General Manager of Dillington House, about the threat to residential colleges. The author brings out some of the connections between them and issues surrounding adult community…

From a learner's standpoint, Scotland's education system often looks less like a neat set of pathways than a tangled jungle. Since devolution, Scottish policymakers and the education community have set out to create a coherent and transparent set of opportunities for adult learners, of a quality to match Scotland's oft-praised unified system of…

The heart of Mike Tomlinson's vision of the future is the diploma. This is seen as the answer to the problems posed by "the proliferation of qualifications of different types and size, few of which offer a balance between generic and specialised knowledge and skills". The diplomas look to provide coherence and balance, and to bring a transparent…

Health literacy is an area of practice and study that is expanding so quickly in the United States and Canada that it is difficult to keep up with the literature--not to mention the steady stream of conference notices. While this is an exciting new development for both adult education and the health professions, the history of adult literacy is…

This paper examines the life-wide dimensions of lifelong learning. Although the benefits of a life-wide approach to learning are well recognised, there appears to be little explicit attention given to the concept of life-wide learning in Australia. It is argued that recent pronouncements by the Australian Government about the challenges of an…