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Informal learning by Canadian seniors was examined through semi-structured interviews with a purposefully selected group of 51 older Canadians (28 women and 23) who ranged in age from 58 to 95 years (average age, 73.7). All were retired or semi-retired, and all had engaged in several learning projects over the previous year in topics such as the following: self-knowledge, health, relationships, current affairs, social justice, history, spirituality, the arts, philosophy, computers, homemaking, and genealogy. Equal numbers of interviewees preferred learning alone and learning in groups. A few preferred one-on-one coaching or dialogue. When asked about their methods of learning, the interviewees mentioned learning by doing (32 times), by reading (33 times), through discussion (35 times), by watching (26 times), and by listening (27 times). The resources they used depended on topic and circumstances, with print media, people, and computers being mentioned by 44, 32, and 14 interviewees, respectively. Thirty-five adults stated that learning had always been important to them. Most participants were enthusiastic about the contributions that learning made to their lives, with 20 describing it as vital to their survival. Thirty-one interviewees stated that they spent more time on learning now than in their younger years, and 11 said they spent less time learning now than previously. (Contains 14 references.) (MN)

Researchers explored the relationships between the great working class communities and the industries they sustained and were sustained by in terms of production, storage, and transmission of skills. First, the ethnographic literature on industrial workplaces and the working class communities associated with them was reviewed. Next, lengthy interviews were conducted with eight steelworkers who had been employed at Stelco in Ontario, Canada, since at least the 1970s. The first part of the study focused on nonformal skills transmission in the community, and the second focused on nonformal mechanical/manual skills in the plant and how they are learned and transmitted among workers. Particular attention was paid to the nonformal skills that have traditionally been sustained by workers among themselves and that are now at risk of disappearing because of the combination of (1)the downsizing that dismantles great working class communities; (2) the technological and managerial restructuring of the steel industry; and (3) the increasing substitution of formalized and institutionally controlled forms of training for the nonformal modes of training among working class men. The study also revealed that the processes of experiential learning that are still occurring at the plant are not well defined and do not appear to be valued by the company. (Contains 39 references.) (MN)

The research implications of the concepts of working knowledge and work-based learning were examined. A research agenda for work-based learning arising from the analysis of "working knowledge" was presented. The agenda listed questions pertaining to the following areas: (1) the conditions bringing about work-based learning; (2) the nature of working knowledge; (3) knowledge formation and learning at work; (4) academic institutions and their knowledge codes; (5) contemporary knowledge formation; and (6) working identity. The impact of the "embeddedness" of learning in the workplace on attempts to research how knowledge is produced in workplaces was discussed, focusing on the following items: (1) what employees deem to be learning practices and how they understand these practices by their various conceptions of learning; (2) the work relationships and social learning that occur among employees and their influence on formation and modification of worksites' learning practices; and (3) the organizational culture that provides a context for learning. The following factors conditioning a learning culture were explored in an analysis of the problem of researching how an organizational "learning culture" is produced in enterprises: environments pressing the organization to change; organizational systems promoting learning; and practices securing employee commitment. (Contains 18 references.) (MN)

This paper identifies important knowledge gaps in adult education and training (AET) in Canada and starts to explore strategies to fill these gaps. Following an introduction in English and French, each of the next three sections is comprised of a review of the current state of knowledge on three topics (outcomes of adult learning, motivations and barriers to adult learning, and informal learning) and a discussion of major knowledge gaps relevant to each. Section 2, on outcomes, argues that more must be known about outcomes in terms of overall benefits and costs if the adequacy of AET in Canada is to be judged. Section 3, on motivations and barriers, reports that key knowledge gaps include understanding reasons for participation and non-participation, and assessing whether individual decisions to participate or not are somehow unwarranted because they do not fully reflect associated costs and benefits. The section also argues that increasing knowledge of barriers to AET is a complementary strategy to estimating rates of return in the process of judging the adequacy of training levels in Canada and is essential in design of specific policy actions towards the pursuit of equity goals. Distribution considerations are addressed. Section 4 discusses issues related to informal learning and questions whether informal training is the optimal way for some groups to acquire new skills. Section 5 situates the issue of AET in the context of a strategy of human capital investment and provides a sense of what research priorities should be. Appendixes contain a statistical portrait of AET in Canada; summaries of major Canadian surveys of AET; and 48-item bibliography. (YLB)

A survey of literature on adult learning and learners conducted for Palau Community College (PCC), Koror, Palau, found a lack of literature specific to the United States-affiliated Pacific region. Background information was compiled on development of formal education in Palau. A survey was administered in fall 2001 to adult learners working toward formal degrees or certificates at PCC. To compare adult learners generally with PCC counterparts, the literature review and PCC study covered statistics on adult learners, reasons adults return to school, field of study, barriers, and recommendations for coping with barriers. The literature synthesis indicated increasing numbers of adult learners. Reasons for return to school were demographic, societal, economic, and technological changes; changing market needs; and changed interests. Fields of study were computer training, quality control, human services, and social work. Barriers were lack of time, money, motivation, support, and counseling. Recommendations were to make changes to accommodate adult learners' needs, to revise policies to increase flexibility, and to increase employer support. Study data indicated mass retirement of public school teachers led to a sudden influx of nontraditional learners. PCC learners returned to school for voluntary professional development, personal development, and employer-mandated upgrade. Barriers included lack of child care, money, employer support and inconvenient location. Recommendations were for creation of a child care center, payment plan, and car- and boat-pooling. (Appendixes include background information and survey.) (YLB)

The extent of employer-supported education and training in Australia was examined by analyzing data from the Training Expenditure Surveys (TES), which gathered information from firms, and the Surveys of Education and Training Experience (SETE), which gathered information from workers. The TES showed an approximately 10% decline in the hours of external training provided by employers from 1993 to 1996, whereas the SETE showed a more than 80% increase in the hours of employer-supported external training received by workers over a similar period. The different results yielded by the two surveys were attributed to the different definitions of external training in the two surveys and the different behavior of the components of external education and training. The SETE showed a substantial expansion of external training but a decline in the level of employer support for education. However, because the apparent expansion in external training has occurred through an increase in employer support for fees and materials rather than through provision of paid study leave, participation in employer-supported external training may well have increased while the hours of training for which employees are paid by employers has declined. Thus, the findings of TES and SETE do not negate one another. (MN)

Canadians' employment and working patterns were examined by analyzing the 1998 survey called New Approaches to Lifelong Learning and other recent surveys by Statistics Canada. "Work" was defined as comprising household labor, community volunteer activities, and paid employment, and "learning" was defined as comprising informal learning activities, initial formal schooling, and adult education courses and programs. The data indicated that Canadian adults generally spent as much time in unpaid household and community work as in paid employment. Canadians were extensively involved in learning throughout their lives. According to their self-reports, Canadian adults devoted an average of 15 hours each week to informal learning activities related to their paid employment, household duties, volunteer community work, and other general interests. Those in the labor force averaged 6 hours each week in job-related informal learning pursuits. A generally positive association between the amount of time people spend in paid employment, household labor, and community work and the time spent in work-related informal learning was found. Employment-related informal learning was more extensive than course-based training across nearly all employment statuses and occupational groups. At least 20% of the employed labor force saw itself as having skill levels exceeding those required by their jobs. (Contains 27 tables and 152 references.) (MN)

A research project studied in depth four organizations using organizational learning approaches to embed continuous learning within actual work processes. The most sustainable benefits, in terms of both individual and organizational needs, tended to result from "action" or "situated" learning that is informal and accrues directly from work-related activities. This learning took place in the interstices of organizational life and was characterized by relationship and interpersonal interaction through basic social processes such as individual informal learning, team learning, learning through dealing with conflict; making and reflecting on mistakes; and shared leadership in support of informal learning. These three sets of activities were identified as key factors in ensuring an organizational climate conducive to learning: creating a values-based shared vision of both the task-related goals and the internal functioning of the organization; examining and revising systems, procedures, and processes, so that they clearly reflect the vision and values in action; and continuously evaluating progress towards achieving the vision, so the gap between the vision and the current reality is progressively decreased. (Contains 39 references.) (YLB)

This study is part of a regional study in industrial South Wales on the determinants of participation and non-participation in post-compulsory education and training, with special reference to processes of change in the patterns of these determinants over time and to variations between geographical areas. The study combines contextual analysis of secondary data about education and training providers with a regional study of several generations of families in South Wales (a door-to-door survey of 1,104 representative householders), semi-structured interviews, and taped oral histories conducted in 1996-97. This study uses brief accounts from the interviews to examine the social determinants of adult participation and training as identified in earlier papers (Working Papers 7 and 9). The individuals' participation in adult learning is defined in this study within an empirically derived typology of learning trajectories. Treating these types as a dependent variable, the analysis identifies age, cohort, period, and location effects as well as considering their relationships to other variables such as respondent characteristics, personal and societal opportunities, and economic conditions. The study found that the most important determinants of participation in further education are time and place. The study concluded that ameliorating inequalities in society could make alternative learning trajectories available to more people, and it is worth doing, even if economic benefits do not accrue. (Contains 42 references.) (KC)

In February 2000, the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) cosponsored a national literacy summit of more than 100 representatives from the field of adult literacy and basic education in Washington, DC. During the summit, 29 adult literacy teachers from 5 states (Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maine, and Delaware) participated in 5 focus groups. Each focus group worked to develop its own version of what the vision and goal of the summit agenda should be. The focus groups also ranked eight action strategies for achieving their chosen vision and goal. The following were mentioned by at least one focus group as being among its three most-desired strategies: include learners' perspectives; commitment to access; instructional and program quality improvements; professional development opportunities; and create partnerships. (Appendixes constituting approximately two-thirds of the document contain the following items: focus group notes on selected action steps; the NCSALL focus group guide that was developed to obtain teacher feedback for a national literacy summit draft action agenda; the form used to collect information about the focus groups; a flyer for advertising focus groups; and information about the NCSALL practitioner dissemination and research network.) (MN)

In September 1998, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) established a 1-year task force to review the NCES's role concerning lifelong learning. The eight-member task force established a working definition of lifelong learning ("a process or system through which individuals are able and willing to learn at all stages of life, from preschool through old age") and conducted the following activities: (1) summarized and prioritized policy issues concerning lifelong learning; (2) synthesized exiting data to address monitoring and policy needs; (3) identified and prioritized gaps in existing data; and (4) developed recommendations on data collection strategies. The recommendations focused on the following lifelong learning issue areas: the adult population; learning attitudes and skills of adults; labor market demand for adult learning; participation levels and patterns; goals, incentives, and disincentives; investments in adult learning; adult learning providers; instructional delivery and new technologies; informal learning; services and accommodations for adults; outcomes and effectiveness; and the government's role in adult learning. The task force concluded that adult learning is an important area of education that should have a coherent data collection and reporting system within NCES and that NCES should take the following steps to develop such a system: (1) develop a compendium report summarizing existing information on lifelong learning; and (2) modify existing survey instruments that collect relevant information. (MN)

Adult continuing education (ACE) can be a major force in human capital development and an integral part of lifelong learning. Although recognition of the importance of ACE in developed countries is increasing, the impact of ACE is not well understood in some middle-income countries (MICs), there is a lack of leadership, and the sector is somewhat underdeveloped. ACE must be viewed as a number of interrelated policies and delivery systems reflecting the needs of different clients and components of ACE. Successful governance of ACE depends on involving key stakeholders. Major issues that need to be addressed include equity, access, and support for career progression for adults. Although individuals and/or employers often bear the financial costs of ACE, there is recognition of the need for investment of some public funds to support ACE programs in literacy and foundation education and for some categories of clients to ensure access and promote equity objectives. MICs that are developing ACE as an integral part of lifelong learning must adopt policy and delivery models addressing learning objectives through a combination of short- and long-term programs to a broad range of clients in what are often nonconventional settings. (Contains 20 tables/figures/boxes and 26 references.) (MN)

The National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) Adult Reading Components Study (ARCS) was the first large-scale attempt to describe the reading of students enrolled in adult basic education (ABE) and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) using a battery of individually administered reading and language tests. From May 1998 to June 1999 nearly 1,000 adult learners were tested at over 30 learning centers in eight states. This report recounts in practical terms how Adult Reading Components Study was carried out. Organized chronologically, it covers the initial design of the test battery and questionnaire, piloting, site selection, interviewer training, preparation of materials, interaction with participating adult education centers, scheduling, interviewing, and the procedures used for scoring incoming data and entering it in the data base. Five recommendations are presented that could help to make or break future studies. The intended audience for this report includes individuals and groups who are considering carrying out similar research, such as US DOE agencies, university-based researchers, and state and local adult education officials. [The Adult Reading Components Study was funded by the US Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) and the Office for Vocational and adult Education (OVAE).]

The New Approaches to Lifelong Learning (NALL) project is a Canada-wide 5-year research initiative during which more than 70 academic and community members are working collaboratively within a framework of informal learning to address the following issues: informal computer-based learning, recognition of prior learning, informal learning in a variety of social locations, learning within marginalized or disadvantaged cultures, and learning about school-to-work transitions. The NALL project's primary objective is to identify major social barriers to integrating informal learning with formal/nonformal learning and certification and to support new program initiatives to overcome such barriers. The NALL project's focus is on the informal and nonformal learning practices of people involved with the Growing Jobs for Living Project (GJOBS) in the Quinte bioregion, located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Canada. These learning practices are related to the principles and practices of environmental adult education, feminist adult education, and transformative learning. The global and ideational contexts of some of the major socio-environmental changes and problems that have affected the Quinte bioregion and been a catalyst for GJOBS were examined. The methods used to study the informal learning practices of GJOBS participants were reviewed. The major outcomes of the study were discussed from the standpoint of their relationship to the broader field of adult education. (Contains 25 references.) (MN)

The patterns of manual and clerical workers' access to learning opportunities in the workplace in the United Kingdom were examined through case studies of three local authorities and three National Health Service trusts and a survey examining their employees' learning experiences. The workers occupying the lowest- grade jobs at the study organizations included younger workers, women returning to the labor market, and older workers who were either close to retirement or older than retirement age. A large percentage worked part-time. The case studies revealed evidence of upskilling and job enrichment, with individual workers' attitudes toward this upskilling and retraining depending on the social context in which they were occurring. Also identified were examples of work intensification and deskilling and of a number of people feeling trapped in routine and monotonous jobs. The following types of learning at work were identified: learning within the job and "doing the job better"; learning to understand the job; learning for job progression; learning around the job by extending knowledge of the section or department; learning for employability; learning for personal development; and learning for democratic participation in the 21st century. However, not all employees had such opportunities available to them, and some workers were not interested in job progression. (Contains 25 references.) (MN)

This paper demonstrates how a linguistic analysis of lifelong learning as a cultural keyword can be carried out in the context of a particular socioeconomic model with which it is associated, human capital, focusing on the dynamics of their relationship. Study data include a 900,000-word corpus of the recent British and European Union literature on lifelong learning (official publications, newspaper reports, and educational critiques), as well as a larger standard corpus used for reference. Using corpus linguistic methods to study its collocational behavior, key features of the syntax and semantics of lifelong learning are compared with the behavior of the word "learning" as it occurs in general use, and the sociocultural connotations of these features are interpreted and compared with the assumptions of human capital theory. The recurrent wordings that occur in the environment of lifelong learning demonstrate that its participants and processes are extending the meaning of "learning" as a socioeconomic activity and make it possible to show how linguistic categories become social categories). (Contains 37 references.) (SM)

The methods used by Australian farm managers to obtain the skills and knowledge needed to manage their businesses were examined. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 85 farm owners/managers from South Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania, and New South Wales. The farmers interviewed identified a wide range of learning sources in the following categories: (1) training (formal and nonformal educational activities); (2) people who are not part of a training activity (other farmers, acquaintances, employees, consultants, and other experts); (3) print, audio, visual, and electronic media; and (4) experience and observation. Most farmers consulted multiple learning sources before altering their management practices. The sources for learning varied according to the purpose of the learning. Training was used relatively more often by those changing their methods of keeping records. All 85 businesses surveyed had used knowledge or skills gained from participation in at least one organized education or training activity in their farm management practices, including when making changes to their practices. However, people were the most frequently cited learning source for all changes, including new enterprise and record-keeping changes. Women were more likely to report learning from experience, whereas men were more likely to use organized training activities as a learning source. (Contains 22 references.) (MN)

This project is building on site-specific qualitative data to develop a profile of adult learning activity now largely unrecognized by education providers. It explores the various learning strategies used by adults in these three locations: unionized factory, community-based training program, and literacy program. At a half-way point in a two-year project, results have been obtained from 13 interviews, comments from 22 profiles, and a videotaped discussion among 5 people. All participants are women. One outstanding theme is that these women love to learn. Interviewees identify four themes that help them learn: an appreciation for their independence, a supportive community, a feeling of self-confidence, and applying or practicing the newly acquired skill in a real situation. The project is supplying researchers with a systematic approach to capturing the initiatives of working people as learners the Skills and Knowledge Profile that helps learners identify and value their skills and experience. (YLB)

Current practice in postliteracy (PL) instruction was reviewed. In all cases, PL programs were considered programs of further learning. Some PL programs were concentrating on further developing literacy skills, whereas others were concentrating on skill training, group formation, or further education based on nonformal curricula. Although adult literacy class graduates were the primary target of current PL programs, others (especially younger persons) were often admitted. The main provision for PL is in the form of development of PL materials--reading materials of an improving nature, intended to promote central visions of development. The aim of PL is to help adults of all kinds practice literacy in real situations by using found texts, instead of helping them learn further literacy skills using texts specially prepared for that learning. The staffing of PL is usually the same as for initial literacy training (ILT), and specific training for PL is virtually nonexistent. Although the traditional model of PL as the provision of further specially prepared learning programs for completers of ILT programs remains strong (most likely because of a lack of clarity about new approaches to PL), the evidence that the traditional model of PL is failing was clear. It was proposed that PL be redefined as the provision of assistance to all those who feel that they are having difficulties with the practice of literacy in real situations, and that such assistance be provided outside the classroom, as well as in it, at the time and point of need. (Contains 171 references. Appended is a list of 13 related reports.) (MN)

The hypothesis that making judgments is the basis for workplace learning was examined by studying work in a range of occupations with a view to identifying and analyzing the main judgments involved in individuals' work performance. To test the hypothesis, six practicing professionals (three men and three women) were interviewed. Two of interviewees were public servants with division-level responsibilities. The occupations of the other four were as follows: psychiatrist; private school principal; nurse turned ambulance officer; and corporate consultant. During the interviews, the professionals were asked to reflect on the judgments they make in critical work situations. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed in the context of theories regarding workplace learning and logic of action. It was concluded that growth in capacity to make judgments is evident in the following abilities and actions: (1) an ability to separate the stage of presentation of the initial need to make a judgment from the stage of the contiguous actualization of that judgment; (2) an ability to "read" the conative, emotive, and ethical considerations in the light of that separability; and (3) the decentering of the practitioner's sense of identity at one of these stages, but not in both of them. (Contains 34 references.) (MN)

This study is part of a regional study in industrial South Wales on the determinants of participation and non-participation in post-compulsory education and training, with special reference to processes of change in the patterns of these determinants over time and to variations between geographical areas. The study combines contextual analysis of secondary data about education and training providers with a regional study of several generations of families in South Wales (a door-to-door survey of 1,104 representative householders), semi-structured interviews, and taped oral histories conducted in 1996-97. This study begins by questioning the narrow definition of learning used in much present writing concerning lifelong learning, which tends to focus on the purported economic and societal benefits of prolonging and widening participation in formal education and training programs. In contrast, much valuable learning already goes on, and has always gone on, outside formal programs of instruction, both at work and at leisure. The study concludes that if such informal learning continues to be ignored by proponents of a learning society, as it has been by the authors of the recent green papers, for example, then the result will be an unnecessary exclusiveness in definitions of a learning society and an unjustifiable reliance on certification. (Contains 24 references.) (KC)

The following conference papers cover a wide spectrum of issues in continuing education: "Introduction" (Katherine Leni Oglesby); "Footprints in the Sand?--The Legacy of the University Funding Council's Support for Research in Continuing Education" (Chris Duke); "Thinking Fragments: Learning, Life Histories and the Self" (Linden West); "Group Research Projects in Adult Continuing Education" (Joan Unwin); "Adult Self-Directed Learning in the Community and Its Implications" (Keith Percy); "Creativity Training for Design Engineers in Heavy Plant Industries" (Graham Thompson, Martina Lordan); "The Leeds Adult Learners at Work Project: Knowledge and Control in Employee Development Schemes" (John Payne, Keith Forester); "'Personal Troubles and Public Issues': University Researchers, Adult Educators and Adult Learners in Rural Areas" (John Payne); "Voluntary Organisations. Citizenship, Learning and Change" (Konrad Elsdon); "Inside Perspectives: Ex-Prisoners' Views on Prison Education" (Sally Malin, Ina J. Kell); "Mainstreaming, Critical Histories and Cultural Identities" (Tom Steele); "Responding to Language Shift among Young People" (Heini Gruffudd); "Accessing the Imagination: Creative Writing in Community Education" (Rebecca O'Rourke); "Learning from Working Together: Experiencing Collaborative Research as Education" (Sue Shuttleworth et al.); "The Challenge of Linking Research and Practice: Ways of Learning in Adult Basic Education" (Mary Hamilton, Wendy Moss); "Disability Voice" (Mal Leicester); "Returners, Mathematics and Targeting" (Roseanne Benn); and "Access of Adult to the University: A Comparative UK/Belgian Study" (Barbara Merrill, Jean-Luc Guyot). Many papers contain substantial bibliographies. (MN)

This paper examines the goals, architecture, and means of lifelong learning. The following are among the topics discussed: economic and social dimensions of the forces pushing Europe toward a learning society (investing in people; promoting employment in an era of structural change; making firms key partners in the learning society; overcoming the fragmentation of life into education, work, and retirement; forging new routes to equal opportunities; diversifying education and training opportunities in Europe); clarification of goals and purposes (reconciling cultural, social, and economic goals; building on past achievements; devising a new "systemic" logic); movement toward a flexible architecture of institutions and opportunities (a learner-centered, consumer-led process of change; learning outcomes as a rallying point; redistribution of life chances); strategic changes in institutional frameworks (schools as foundations for lifelong learning up to age 16; initial vocational training and new pathways from school to work; development and renewal of the adult population's human capital through continuing education; creation of a frontier-knowledge and advanced-skills base through higher education and research); and new ways and means for lifelong learning (new methodologies and networks, more flexible systems of qualifications). (MN)

This publication, which is based on the experiences gained in a workplace literacy program for learning-disabled workers at a paper factory in Massachusetts, is designed as a beginners' guide to identifying and addressing issues of learning disabilities in the adult education classroom. Section 1 defines the term "learning disability," lists common identifying characteristics of learning-disabled students, and briefly discusses assessment options (oral interviews and testing). The history of the development of the learning disabilities component of the workplace literacy program at Hampden Papers, Inc., is outlined in Section 2. Discussed in the section on methods and materials are accommodation, phonics instruction, lesson formats and materials, activities extending beyond phonics instruction, and classroom applications. Section 4 profiles four participants in the Hampden Papers workplace literacy program who have learning disabilities. Each profile contains the following: information on the student's school, family/personal, and work background; testing and diagnosis results; and intervention strategies used. Included in Section 5 are a student intake assessment instrument and a list of 26 phonics-based materials, training and background materials, testing instruments and learning styles inventories, testing sites, and resource organizations. (MN)

This study is part of a regional study in industrial South Wales on the determinants of participation and non-participation in post-compulsory education and training, with special reference to processes of change in the patterns of these determinants over time and to variations between geographical areas. The study combines contextual analysis of secondary data about education and training providers with a regional study of several generations of families in South Wales (a door-to-door survey of 1,104 representative householders), semi-structured interviews, and taped oral histories conducted in 1996-97. This study examines the relationship between patterns of participation in education and training within families and considers the respondents' own explanations for the patterns observed. The analysis uses these three indicators of participation in lifelong learning: the highest lifetime qualification so far; the age of leaving full-time continuous education; and the individual's learning trajectory. The study found that the role of parental background in children's educational attainment and lifelong learning is much stronger than has been posited in other studies. The study found considerable reproduction of learning trajectories within families--strongest among lifelong learners and non-participants, and weakest among delayed and transitional learners. Although the role of family background decreases with age of children, the study suggests that families continue to play a key role in the transition from initial to postcompulsory education and beyond. (Contains 27 references.) (KC)

This study is part of a regional study in industrial South Wales on the determinants of participation and non-participation in post-compulsory education and training, with special reference to processes of change in the patterns of these determinants over time and to variations between geographical areas. The study combines contextual analysis of secondary data about education and training providers with a regional study of several generations of families in South Wales (a door-to-door survey of 1,104 representative householders), semi-structured interviews, and taped oral histories conducted in 1996-97. This study examined learning trajectories, defined in an earlier study, by area of residence, for non-participants by area and age, for delayed learners by area and age, for transitional learners by area and age, for lifetime learners by area and age-cohort, by place of birth, and by number of area moves. Ethnicity was also examined. The study found that traditional Christians of working-class families are more likely to be lifetime learners, as are middle-class families speaking Welsh and those who are more mobile, while fundamentalist Christians are less likely to engage in learning activities. Over time, the trend has been for all types of families to engage in more learning, including ethnic groups from other countries. (Contains 23 references.) (KC)

In an effort to examine the usefulness of adult learning research for improving college teaching, this study investigated tenets of adult learning research which may be manifest in effective college teaching and sought the perceptions of administrators, faculty and students. The study incorporated a multi-site, integrated research design combining qualitative and quantitative measures of guided interviews, naturalistic classroom observation, and two assessment instruments. Sites included a community college, a traditional university, and a nontraditional university. Three administrators from each institution participated and provided names of four to six "effective teachers." These faculty participated and 279 of their students were surveyed with 95 percent participating. Results indicated that effective college teachers are interested in adult learning research and desire to become more learner-centered; that disparities exist between administrators' perceptions of teaching practices, faculty perceptions of teaching practices, and the students' perceptions of the learning experience; and that the quality of the learning experience may not be changing at the same pace as researchers expect. Overall, the students perceived the teaching to be effective and enjoyable though many did not value or fully understand the learner-centered approach. (Contains 41 references.) (JB)

Although it is true that education is an investment, there are risks associated with relying too strongly on the metaphor of education as investment. The main problems with the investment metaphor are as follows: (1) it pushes aside the notion of education as a consumption good that people want for its own sake; (2) the human capital approach can cast a shadow over forms of learning unable to prove adequately that they are a profitable investment; and (3) the measures used for input and output in analyses of the relationship between education and economic performance are problematic. Education should be viewed not as an investment in human capital but rather as an investment in social capital. It may be argued that, rather than fostering a system of lifelong learning, the expansion of higher education (especially initial higher education) has merely concentrated resources on the initial phase of education at the expense of later opportunities, which is neither an effective nor a socially equitable way of allocating resources. To get closer to a learning society, the current preoccupation with the supply of education must be replaced with closer attention to the factors influencing the demand for education. (Contains 11 references.) (MN)

Over the past 30 years, many changes have taken place in education in Scotland. Adult learning has increasingly figured in the broad canvas of education, teachers are increasingly being viewed as mangers of learning resources or facilitators of learning, and the emphasis has shifted from imbibing knowledge through books to active learning and reflection on experience. The notion of the learning society has given succinct expression to many of these changes. A learning society is one in which people are encouraged to engage in knowing themselves, each other, and the world. The notion that learning is somehow integrated with responsible participation in society is an implication of the notion of a leaning society. It may be suggested that learning about identity, difference, and relatedness touches the heart of the most difficult challenge facing human beings: the need to know oneself and one's own culture while also becoming more open and capable of knowing, communicating and collaborating with, and valuing other people from other cultures. Current developments in the relationships between Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant communities and between Scotland and England are contemporary examples of attempts to meet or evade that challenge. (Contains 15 references.) (MN)

This publication contains nine articles about the process of doing research by literacy practitioners and volunteers in several areas of the Ontario (Canada) literacy field. "Implementing a Workplace Program: A Look Back" (Maria Ioannou-Makrakis) describes the process followed and the learning outcomes from planning, implementing, and developing a workplace literacy program in a rural community. "The Open Learning Network" (Frances Lever) focuses on researching and developing a cross-sectoral accreditation system with planned involvement of experts, students, providers, and information users. "Course Charting" (Deborah LeForestier) is a description of the participatory assessment process as practiced in an adult skills upgrading project. "How Are New Learners Socialized into an Existing Literacy Program?" (Michael G. Wodlinger, Regina Muetze) examines the process that would best facilitate a literacy learner's entry into a new program. "Group Process in Literacy: Program-Based Research" (Heather Lennie Segsworth) looks at the development of groups in literacy classes. "The ESL [English as a Second Language] and Literacy Bridging Project" (Judy Bernstein, Lori Rothschild) describes a curriculum development project that was allowed to evolve towards an initially undefined outcome. "Trial, Error, and Back to the Drawing Board" (Suzy Harris) tells how testing methods and instruments before starting on a full-scale evaluation saved time and made the information more interesting and useful. "Evaluation and Change in a Literacy Program" (Patrick Cummins) is a case study that explores some factors leading to evaluation use. "Dialogue: Questions of a Novice Researcher" (Suzy Harris, Michael Wodlinger) is an edited dialogue dealing with some issues around program evaluation. Also included is a review of a research report, "Literacy in South Muskoka." (YLB)

The purpose of skills-training needs-assessment is to identify what type of skills and knowledge are needed to support economic strategies and, as a result, improve organizational decisionmaking related to training investments and general work force development. This paper presents findings of 11 skills-retraining, needs-assessment, action-research studies, which were conducted from 1987 to 1989. The studies sought to gather information about skills-needs-assessment processes, their supporting theoretical bases, and work force training and deployment-decision paradigms. The studies involved six organizations, two industries, and two regional planning efforts. The paper describes a set of interactive issues that relate to locus and type of control, purposes, and type of needs-assessment intervention. It also identifies decision-making paradigms to support work force training and redeployment. Four hypotheses were supported, which conclude that a skills-assessment process should: (1) be client-centered, pragmatic, and focused on utility outcomes; (2) have generalizable, practical outcomes; (3) be grounded in economic, research, and systems theories; and (4) show a relationship between the data and decisions to support work force training. Five figures are included. Appendices contain case-study profiles of the 11 organizations and commonly used decision-making paradigms. (LMI)