Many adults return to formal learning situations to pursue lifelong learning goals because their lives are in transition from dealing with real-life problems such as divorce and re-marriage. The purpose of this study was to describe what couples learned that contributed to the success of their subsequent marriages and how they learned it. The…

Higher education is now expected to respond to community demands that include fueling economic development and addressing the needs of a wider range of students. Colleges and universities have responded to these demands using a variety of delivery models. A study was conducted by the Ardmore Higher Education Center to identify the advantages and…

Education practices focused on adult learners, such as prior learning assessment (PLA), are becoming more established in the United States. Initially, PLA was developed to provide greater access to higher education for World War II veterans and later for adult learners more generally as a way to balance the concentrated efforts most colleges and…

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how participants learn in small business advisory programmes and to explore the impact of these learning programmes on the development of reflective learning dispositions in participants. The research involves two case studies of small business advisory programmes in Queensland, a state of Australia. One…

This paper explores the connection between participation in community-based adult learning (CBAL) and the development of social capital. It is based on a life-history study of participation in community-based adult learning opportunities undertaken in two local authority areas in Scotland. A life-history approach was chosen in order to ensure that…

This paper addresses the unconscious dimension as articulated in Carl Jung's depth psychology and in Gilles Deleuze's philosophy. Jung's theory of the archetypes and Deleuze's pedagogy of the concept are two complementary resources that posit individuation as the goal of human development and self-education in practice. The paper asserts that…

Like drawing, reading, and math, visual literacy is a developmental process in children. It appears that the same progression occurs in adults who have no prior experience with print-based material. This paper traces the gaps around linking visual two- and three-dimensional representations to the people, objects, and concepts they represent…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the effect of ear playing instruction on adult amateur wind instrumentalists' musical self-efficacy. Ten volunteer members of a community band in a small town in Ohio completed the "Ear Playing Profile" both prior to and following an eight-week period of instruction in playing by ear…

The number of English language students in American schools has dramatically increased in recent years, creating a greater awareness of cross-cultural issues and considerations in education. Globalization as well as an increase in international exchange student programs has proven that pre-service teachers can benefit from traveling abroad and…

Self-directed learning is one of the preeminent theories in the field of adult education. This study explored how English as a Second Language learners directed their own learning outside of the formal classroom through the use of practices that potentially advance their English language proficiency. Results from a survey of over 400 ESL students…

Is learning about culture important when learning a foreign language? One would think that after its long history in the field of foreign language teaching this question had been answered with a resounding "yes". However, I saw little evidence of this in the classroom when I returned to the university to learn a foreign language or when…

This paper discusses the critical situations I have been asked to "improve" by providing professional development for teams of adult numeracy and functional mathematics teachers in the post-16 sector in London. These situations have not been identified through any research process, but arise from internal management reviews of course…

This chapter looks into the changing contexts and definitions of clienteles of lifelong learners over the last quarter of a century. The author has been involved in three closely related studies on who lifelong learners are, how they access and participate in higher education (HE), and how and what are they learning in HE and summarises some of…

This qualitative study sought to identify current principal professional development practices in four school systems in Georgia and to examine them by applying the principles of adult learning theory. The cross-case analysis of principal professional development initiatives in four school districts revealed nine common practices: connecting…

For almost two decades, the Prairie School for Union Women (PSUW) has operated in Saskatchewan, Canada. Its use of feminist popular education, adult learning principles in facilitation, and mentoring and support for activist practices make it unique from other labour schools in many respects. This paper focuses on a community-based participatory…