Search

The predicted growth of the aged care sector in Australia, driven by the ageing population, is expected to create an increasing need for workplaces to support the development for all kinds and classifications of workers to undertake their work within multicultural settings. This paper describes and elaborates the necessary and increasing requirement for workplaces to support adult learning in multicultural circumstances. A mixed methods approach was used to collect data from workers undertaking the role of carer in residential aged care facilities across the east coast of Australia. Arising from the collection and analysis of these data are contributions to knowledge including a conceptual model for understanding learning in multicultural settings. This research emphasizes a notion that cultural diversity has a fundamental influence on workplace learning in aged care and identifies practices to support cross-cultural communication, coworking and learning. Further, inter-worker learning is reinforced as a key enabler of performance in aged care work. Such contributions help to understand what influences workplace learning in multicultural settings and how it may be better supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the contribution of craftivism to climate justice learning through the practices of Australia's Knitting Nannas Against Gas and Greed (aka KNAG or the Nannas). Framing activist adult learning as social movement learning locates environmental and climate justice struggles within lifelong learning practices. Established in 2012, the Nannas are an older women's anti-coal seam gas and fossil fuel movement that has grown to encompass intergenerational ecological sustainability activism. Data presented in this paper were collected with active KNAG members in Australia as part of a PhD study using surveys, interviews, document analysis of social media (Facebook posts, digital videos, e-news bulletins) and researcher auto-ethnography. The research identified the milieu of craftivism motivated older women to collaboratively build their activist identity, ecological and environmental literacy, and non-violent direct action activist skills. The learning ecology involved a complex web of social interactions and encounters that stimulated opportunities for active listening and critical reflection, which promoted transformative and emancipatory learning dispositions. Craftivism was analysed to be the catalyst and transformative force that activated situated experiential learning and identity formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-tertiary enabling programs have become an increasingly popular pathway to university in Australia in recent years, however little is published about how well enabling students fare once they start university. This paper examines and compares first-year retention and academic outcomes of students that entered Murdoch University between 2014 and 2016 via successful completion of its enabling program, OnTrack. A greater proportion of students transitioning via OnTrack were from equity and disadvantaged backgrounds than any other entry pathway; thereby demonstrating an important function of this enabling program in boosting the representation of these students at the university. Further, OnTrack-pathway students were retained at a rate that was similar or better than students entering via all other admission pathways, despite poorer academic performance. This persistence suggests enhanced resilience amongst this cohort, potentially built during their enabling education experience. Multivariate regression modelling was also undertaken, revealing that admission pathway, demographic and enrolment factors collectively explained very little of the observed variation in student outcomes for all first year students, and were particularly poor predictors of academic underperformance. Thus, once students are enrolled in undergraduate study, student outcomes may be better explained by student variables not captured in university databases, such as personal circumstances or psychological factors. In summary, these findings provide empirical data to support the notion that enabling programs have been successful in 'enabling' access and participation of students who are capable but otherwise lack opportunity, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, enabling pathway students may experience ongoing challenges that impact their academic performance, and thus future equity and access policy should address appropriate mechanisms for supporting the broader transition experience of these students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper focuses on delineating and scoping international Women's Sheds, a movement that has emerged within the past decade, mainly in Australia, Ireland and the UK. It addresses two main research questions. Firstly, what is the origin, distribution, nature and intent of Women's Sheds internationally to March 2021? Secondly, how might Women's Sheds be located within a typology inclusive of Men's Sheds and a range of community development models? We employed a systematic search via the internet in 2020-21, followed up by attempted email or phone contact to publicly reported Women's Sheds and like organisations internationally. In the process, we created a publicly shareable blog including a database of 122 existing, previously active, developing or planned Women's Sheds and like organisations to 13 March 2021. We identify four nations where self-identified Women's Sheds have operated or commenced within the past decade: Australia (61), the UK (30), Ireland (28) and New Zealand (3), particularly during the five years between 2014 and 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic seriously curtailed this previous momentum and development after March 2020. We identify some similarities but also important differences between Women's and Men's Sheds. We propose a typology that accounts not only for the different ways in which Women's Sheds operate and women participate within their communities but also the different ways in which they locally collaborate (or not) with Men's Sheds in different countries. We conclude that Women's Sheds have largely been created by women in order to claim the shed as a positive female gendered space, in order to create an alternative community of women's hands-on practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper uses a qualitative, case study approach to critically examine the role of community involvement in learning to adapt and develop resilience in the face of disaster. Within a decade, the already disadvantaged, small, Australian rural community of 'Bellbird' faced three catastrophic, human induced disasters: the Millennial Drought (1996 to 2010), a March 2013 bushfire and the COVID-19 epidemic of 2020. Our interviews were conducted during late 2019 and early 2020 with men and women shedders as well as their significant others in the usually vibrant and unusually gender inclusive 'Bellbird Men's Shed'. For at least six months following the interviews, the Bellbird Men's Shed was shut as a consequence of the COVID-19 lockdowns. We opportunistically reflect on the data from our interviews and emerging literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to critically interrogate the role local community learning plays in responding to and developing resilience in the face of locally experienced global disasters. We conclude that Bellbird is a good example of a small, rural community where formal, top down decision making approaches to adult and community education in 2020 in Australia are sometimes impossible or inappropriate. Bellbird in effect exercised agency to create its unique, place and needs-based form of lifelong and lifewide learning 'bottom up' at its atypical community Men's Shed. The practices and commitments the Shed adopted have provided the community with opportunities for developing personal and collective wellbeing and the necessary resilience for adapting to likely future shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the Australian Association of Adult Education (AAAE) was established in 1960, Australia was locked into a global conflict between capitalism and communism, known as the Cold War. With anticommunism at fever pitch, AAAE's founders who were fighting to retain some influence with Australian universities and with government funding authorities needed an origin story which would appeal to these prejudices. Not surprisingly, therefore, histories of 'the profession' produced in the first decades largely dismissed the role of the many radical adult educators and left-wing organisations which had been instrumental in extending adult education to the working class in the first half of the twentieth century. One of the main sources for these early histories was a memoir of David Stewart, founder of the Workers Education Association, written in 1957 by a university adult educator, Esmonde McDonald Higgins. In this paper, I tell a different story, through a close examination of Higgins' own role in this early history, to show how 1960s 'official' adult education lost touch with its own roots in radical working class politics, roots which are only now re-emerging, through the study of popular education and social movement learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While active citizenship education programs are assumed to have positive benefits for the active citizenship practice of participants (UNESCO, 2009, p. 4), there is actually little evidence that programs do (de Weerd, Gemmeke, Rigter & van Riji, 2005, p. vii). This paper discusses a research project that aimed to determine and increase the impact of an active citizenship education program that incorporates education for sustainability principles. The inquiry's findings showed that while the program developed in graduates the active citizenship characteristics desired by Australian governments, graduates encountered significant systemic blocking factors related to power relations when they attempted to put what they had learned during the program into practice. The findings also highlighted the risk of the program producing a cohort of 'expert citizens'. To address these findings and improve the interactions and working relationships between program graduates, paid community workers and other community members, a new program has been developed that is informed by complexity and adult education planning theory. This new program recognises active citizenship as a 'wicked' problem, takes a systemic innovation approach, incorporates a participatory budgeting process, and supports participants to pass on their skills and knowledge to other community members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of innovation in overcoming the challenges and negotiations within the 'lifestyle migration' or sea/tree change of working people, to places rich in nature but 'lean' in industry. It focusses on how they overcome primarily economic challenges in the process of negotiating a new life. The paper is founded upon a qualitative study in conjunction with relevant literature and theoretical analysis. Participants stemmed from diverse socio-economic positions and represented both the coastal and hinterland townships within the study site. The study stems from the need to understand the difficulties within the lifestyle migration phenomenon, where anecdotally approximately two thirds of working aged migrants within the study site 'fail' to sustain their relocation for at least five years. This paper attempts to expose how the minority of those who attempt the transition have managed to survive. The research employs a unique approach in exploring the relationship between adult education theories of reflexive identity and innovation, as well as educational perspectives of self-efficacy and emotional intelligence. The paper suggests that reflexivity with external factors positions the process of seachange among working people as a creative act where lifestyle migrants need to demonstrate creativity in order to survive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I use a story to introduce the idea of stories in adult educational practice. Telling stories seems to be as old as human culture. MacIntyre referred to humans as 'story-telling animals' (1981: 201). The secret is the ways in which this storytelling capacity can be used in a holistic humanistic pedagogy. Education, the process of assisting others to learn, can be pursued by seeking to pass on information (propositional pedagogy); by showing how to do something (skilling pedagogy) and by inviting learners to become different (transformative pedagogy). Many actual educational exchanges involve learners in more than one kind of learning where the educational event has elements of information and skills transfer, often combined at least tacitly with an invitation to become different. In this paper I suggest that the telling of stories that capture the imagination and move the heart is a powerful pedagogy in inviting learning not so much to do with gaining new information, although this can often happen, nor transferring skills, which again can also occur, but with a deeper transformative form of learning, which is really more about learners changing their identity, their way of seeing and acting upon the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consistent with the 'looking back, moving forward' conference theme, in this paper we undertake a critical, research-based appraisal of the current, arguably neglected state of adult education in Australia in 2010, and proceed to paint a picture of how a different and potentially more positive future might be realised. Firstly, we emphasise situations (including states and territories) in Australia in which adult education is seen to be lacking or missing for particular groups of adults. Secondly we emphasise research evidence confirming the demonstrable value of learning for purposes other than those that are immediately vocational. We identify links between lifelong and lifewide learning on one hand, and health and wellbeing on the other. Part of the paper involves international comparisons with other forms of adult learning that Australia might learn from, adapt or borrow. We make particular reference to research underpinning the recent Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning by NIACE in the United Kingdom. Our first main conclusion has to do with equity. Adult and community education (ACE) in Australia is currently seen to be least available or accessible to those Australians with the most limited and most negative experiences of school education, but the most need to learn in non-vocational domains. These groups include older Australians, some men and women, people not in paid work, and rural, isolated and Indigenous people. Our second main conclusion is that, to realise adult learning's future potential, we need changes to government policies, research and practice that acknowledge and actively support the broader nature and value of learning for life across all age groups. To paraphrase research from Belgium by Sfard (2008), based around Beck's (1986) exploration of reflexive modernity, the adult education function of ACE is in dire straits, unless education is seen as being much more valuable than the sum of individual vocational competencies, and particularly unless it is also recognised, valued and supported as one of many valuable outcomes of social, lifelong and lifewide learning throughout the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we review fifty years of articles published in Australian Journal of Adult Learning in its various iterations. We examine the different roles of the journal: to illuminate the history and trends of adult education authors; to be the flagship of the adult education profession in Australia; to reflect on significant national events; and to mirror the changing knowledge base of the discipline. We analyse the authorship of the articles over fifty years, and determine patterns in contribution to the journal by gender, location, institutional affiliation and author numbers. We also examine key themes that have surfaced in the writings on adult education. The articles published in the journal are significant because they are primary sources of the day, unfettered by the perspectives, viewpoints and standards of later periods. Our paper serves as a useful looking glass through which we might be able to view more clearly the shifting research interests of the past and the challenges in the future for the adult and community learning sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overarching aim of this paper is to 'talk up' learning in the Australian neighbourhood centre sector, realising this aim is premised on a need to understand neighbourhood centres themselves. Hence, the paper tentatively offers a mapping of the sector by first asking: 'What is a neighbourhood centre?'. Next, the paper provides an introductory scoping of learning in centres in an effort to invite further consideration. Two important conclusions are made. The first is that centres' capacity for continual re-shaping, while retaining some very particular values, marks them in ways that differ from organisations for which adult education is the primary purpose. The second is that the range of learning possibilities in centres is far-reaching, and makes significant and valuable contributions to individuals and communities, and ultimately to the Australian nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author offers a response to W. G. K Duncan's 1961 paper "Agenda for a National Association," one of the first papers published in the "Australian Journal of Adult Education." The author addresses Duncan's challenges to the Australian Association for Adult Education (AAAE) such as the challenge for the AAAE to become involved in training adult educators, the challenge to use television as an educational tool, and the need to integrate the theoretical and practical aspects of adult education.

This paper focuses on what is known internationally from research about some aspects of men's learning. It explores the similar and different factors that shape men's attitudes towards learning in diverse national and cultural contexts. It also identifies some possible parallels (and differences) between the experiences, participation and outcomes in education of men and boys. The paper proceeds to make a case for recognising and addressing the factors that affect gender parity in educational contexts, including Australia, in which several tertiary outcome measures tend to be skewed towards girls and women. The paper forms part of background research for Phase 1 (in several Anglophone nations) of a major international research project into men's learning in community settings that includes several Australian study sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this final, collaborative paper in the Learning to be drier edition, we reflect on and draw together some of the key threads from the diverse narratives in our four site papers from across the southern Murray-Darling Basin. Our paper title, Wicked learning, draws on a recent body literature (Rittel & Webber 1973) about messy or 'wicked problems' as characterised by Dietz and Stern (1998). It picks up on our identification of the difficulty and enormity of the learning challenges being faced by communities, associated, at best, with a decade of record dry years (drought) and severely over-committed rivers. At worst, drought is occurring in combination with and as a precursor to recent, progressive drying of the Basin associated with climate change. Our research is suggestive of a need for much more learning across all segments of the adult community about '... the big picture, including the interrelationships among the full range of causal factors ...' (Australian Public Service Commission, APSC 2007: 1) underlying the presenting problem of drying. We conclude that solutions to the messy or wicked problem of drying in an interconnected Basin will lie in the social domain. This will include building a wider knowledge and acceptance of the problems and likely future risks across the Basin including all parts of communities. The problem of drying as well as its causes and solutions are multidimensional, and will involve comprehensive learning about all five key characteristics of other 'wicked' policy problems identified in previous research in the environmental arena. The narratives that we have heard identify the extreme difficulty in all four sites of rational and learned responses to being drier as the problem has unfolded. All narratives about being drier that we have heard involve a recognition of a combination of the five characteristics common to wicked problems: multidimensionality, scientific uncertainty, value conflict and uncertainty, mistrust as well as urgency. All narratives identify the importance of social learning: to be productive, to be efficient, to survive, to live with uncertainty, to be sustainable and to share. Combating the extent and effects of drying, causality aside, will require new forms of learning through new community, social and learning spaces, apart from and in addition to new technological and scientific learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an exploration into critical success factors for the sustainability of the partnership between the University of Southern Queensland and the Stanthorpe community during the GraniteNet Phoenix Project -- the first phase of a three-phase participatory action research project conducted during 2007-2008. The concepts of learning community, social capital, university-community engagement and partnerships, and co-generative learning through participatory action research and evaluation are brought together to provide a framework for evaluating the sustainability and efficacy of the university-community relationship in the context of the GraniteNet project. Implications of the findings for the ongoing sustainability of the partnership are discussed, as well as for the relevance and utility of identified critical success factors. The paper also discusses implications of the findings for university-community engagement partnerships that utilise participatory action research and evaluation processes to build capacity through co-generative learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the phrase 'holistic approach' is increasingly used in reference to vocational education and training (VET) in Australia, there appears to be a paucity of literature which extensively conceptualises or details its practical application. Existing references to an 'holistic approach' appear indicative of art integrated model seen as a vehicle for the achievement of a broad range of vocational and social capital outcomes, particularly in Indigenous contexts. This paper suggests that the theoretical framework for an holistic approach to VET is humanism and constructivist theory and that tan 'holistic approach' is essentially relevant training which is contextualised and purposely tailored to the learner or community needs and goals. The paper also provides a practical schema for implementing an holistic approach in VET, which is seen as synonymous with the thematic, integrated and whole approaches to learning and curriculum development implemented in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adult and community education (ACE) sector is consistently responsive to changing community needs and government priorities. It is this particular function that has drawn ACE into the lifelong learning debate as one model for sustaining communities, The responsiveness of ACE means that the sector and its programs continue to make valuable contributions to the quality of social and economic life, particularly in local communities. Although a major focus of ACE is on non-vocational outcomes, there is potential for the sector to make a greater contribution to the human capital stream of the Council of Australian Governments' National Reform Agenda. This paper briefly describes the ACE sector and its current provisions, and proposes wags in which it could make a greater contribution to the human capital stream of the National Reform Agenda. Reforms to ACE are critical at a time when the Australian Government is planning activities for the Reform Agenda, when there is an urgent need of skilled workers, when the ageing population is seeking pathways and opportunities for economic outcomes, and when traditional vocational education and training providers are unable to meet the skill shortages experienced by industry across Australia. This paper attempts to initiate debate around an enhanced role for ACE, in terms of not only the Reform Agenda, but also a rather more defined position in meeting the learning and skilling needs of the broader community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by teasing out the nature of social capital and its particular and current relevance to adult learning policy and practice in Australia. The paper identifies a number of benefits and significant problems with social capital as an organizing construct for adult learning research and policy in Australia. Some connections are made between social capital and lifelong learning, and important distinctions are drawn between 'bonding' and 'bridging' social capital. I draw on my experiences and insights over the past seven years using network diagrams as a research tool. Network diagrams are identified as a useful tool for charting relationships between learning organisations and individuals. The paper suggests ways of fusing the network relationships in these diagrams as a proxy, for social capital in a range of formal and informal settings in which adult learning occurs in Australia. Network diagrams are seen to have particular utility in situations where communities and organisations become too small for surveys, where relationships become complex and ambiguous as well as in rural and remote communities where distance and spatial relationships affect access to learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The federal government's 1999 White Paper Knowledge and Innovation: a policy statement on research and research training, notes concerns about retention and completion rates in doctoral studies programs in Australia. This paper outlines a model of higher education support developed at the Centre for Rural Social Research at Charles Sturt University. The postgraduate student body in the Centre represent the most vulnerable to attrition - mostly female and mature-aged, a majority studying at a distance and part-time, and most with family and work responsibilities. The program developed in the Centre - the SERPS model (Support, Engagement and Retention of Postgraduate Students) - has seen a significant rise in the number of students studying through the Centre and significantly high retention and completion rates. This paper outlines the model as well as the results of an evaluation of the model conducted with students in the Centre. This paper indicates that retention (and ultimately completion) is linked to the vibrancy of the learning and social support networks established for the students and the creation of a collegial culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second chance education programs are now a well-established presence in institutions seeking to provide access and equity pathways for socio-economically disadvantaged groups. This paper focusses on the strategies used to support positive engagement in second chance equity programs, drawing upon evaluation research data from four TAFE sponsored programs. Interviews were held with service providers involved in the programs' development and delivery, and focus groups were held to gather information from program participants. The findings highlight the complex and often multiple barriers facing participants and the importance of delivering programs with sustained and tailored approaches. While tangible educational and/or employment outcomes were delivered, it was the associated social and personal development that made these programs especially successful. Hence, there is a need for equity programs to be holistic, scaffolded, and tailored to practical and vocational pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings from research on peer assessment practice that was specifically focussed on improving the student experience in a tertiary bridging course. The objective of the study was to examine the impact of this assessment approach on student social relationships and the overall assessment experience. The study also examined whether peer assessment provided a valid and reliable method of assessment at the tertiary bridging level and whether students were equipped to be able to engage with this form of assessment. Data were collected from 107 students enrolled in a tertiary bridging program at a regional university in Australia using a custom designed questionnaire. Four subscales, Task Experience, Feedback, Peer Relationships and Process Understanding, were identified and analysed. The initial results suggest this model of assessment did add value for students in the positive attitude toward the task and the feedback they received from their peers. The participants did not report a preference for peer assessment over other traditional forms. Improvements in the quality of peer relationships were also not identified. It was concluded that, while there are benefits provided by peer assessment in improving the students' understanding of the process of assessment, there were limited benefits in its use in relation to improving the overall student experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leadership programs have been extensively promoted in rural communities in Australia. However, few have been evaluated. The results of the evaluation of a rural leadership program provided in this paper highlight the need for adult learning theories to be more overtly identified and utilised as the basis of planning and implementing leadership programs. Transformative learning theory and social learning theory were used to explain the impact the program had for participants and to provide insight into how similar programs could be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an exploratory study of the impact of short-term overseas study programs on participants' personal growth in business school environments. We interviewed students participating in such a program organised by an Australian university. Guided by the literature, we used three factors - pre-academic work, a three-week sojourn, and the participants themselves - in order to understand the association between the program and the participants' personal growth. We noted several idiosyncrasies amongst the participants that affected their level of personal growth, including language ability, age, gender, extent of previous travel and ethnic background. Overall, all students experienced different levels of growth as a result of the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the power of local and experiential knowledge, civic engagement and social transformation on rural third age women's learning. My passion for learning reflects the methodological stance of heuristic inquiry, which requires the researcher to have a passionate interest in the phenomena under investigation and in this case, includes my tacit knowledge as a third age learner, a former farming partner and a long term resident of the region. Our two informal conversations about their midlife learning gave the six purposively selected women aged 58-70 the opportunity to reflect on their learning autobiographies as co-researchers. In their midlife, the women had the freedom and determination to change directions and the generative passions to remain useful, to give something back to their communities and to make them a better place for their retirement years and future generations. They emerged from the relative obscurity of the backrooms, kitchens and traditional supportive roles as farmer's wives and mothers to become community activists, leaders and change agents who transformed their small service communities into thriving, vibrant, 'can do' societies better able to cope with the political, social, economic and environmental changes prevailing in regional Australia since the 1990s. They built new networks within the community and with the wider world and used their local knowledge and personal experiences to develop appropriate strategies for community renewal, which exposed them to diverse experiences, new knowledge and different ways of doing things. Unexpectedly they flourished and experienced personal development, growth and a transformation of the self as a blooming and fruition with the maturation of their potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In responding to a global audience, universities are increasingly bound up in priorities of maintaining viability within landscapes of globalised market imperatives, and with changing paradigms of purpose; universities need to be accessible to all. In Australia, pathways to university provided by Credit Transfer have increased student mobility; the dichotomy however, is that alongside discourses of inclusivity is the need for students to adjust to the often rigorous academic demands of higher education. This paper examines the Bachelor of Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong (UOW), and the Diploma of Communication & Media Studies at the Illawarra Institute of Technical and Further Education (TAFE). Some of the common challenges transitioning students face in their first year at UOW are discussed, including; adapting to different workloads and the demands of self-directed, independent learning. A potential solution is a pre- university entry induction program for TAFE students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides insight into the experience of Clemente humanities education for six regional and rural Australian women living around Ballarat. Each took part in an audio-taped semistructured interview which explored the impact that university study had on their lives. Their responses suggest that Clemente Ballarat was life-giving. The student insights identified the critical importance of: providing a supportive learning environment for people lacking life opportunities and routine; students feeling better and happier with themselves resultant from personal learning achievements; doing something that was about 'me'; support from others including Learning Partners and the program's counsellor; students appreciating their academic and inner strengths; rekindling dreams and hope; seeking ways out of poverty for their family; finding friendship and connection; appreciating the academic disciplines; improvements in well-being and mental health; and pride in achievements. Students also were apprehensive about what the future may hold after completion and graduation. These insights highlight the treasures that students found when engaged in humanities education based upon community embedded socially supported structures that enable learning. Further, these insights provide contextual outcomes for the Clemente program, which could be implemented across regional and rural Australia for people experiencing multiple disadvantages or social exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses facilitating student collegiality within diverse student groups. It argues that diverse student groups of international, domestic, mature age and Gen Y students often have similar difficulties and strengths although they may occur for quite different reasons and understanding this is useful when deciding on teaching and learning strategies. It describes several teaching and learning strategies and explains the outcomes of using these with diverse student cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times the Australian Government has become increasingly concerned with the challenge to the dominant culture by humanitarian immigrants entering the country. As a part of a complex strategy, emerging from the events of 9/11 and the perceived changing face of multiculturalism in Australia, the Attorney-General Robert McClelland announced in 2011 more than $1.1 million in funding for projects to mentor and support young people to stay disengaged from intolerant and radical ideologies. The grants have been awarded under the Building Community Resilience - Youth Mentoring Grants Program (2010) and are designed to promote a tolerant, safe and inclusive society. As a result of that funding a northern suburbs Council Youth Services in Victoria established a project to work with young people 12 - 17 years who have been identified by Victoria Police, the education sector, and welfare agencies as individuals who have or are exhibiting signs of fostering hatred and intolerance either through the spoken word, written messages, graffiti, the media or the internet that live within this local government area. This paper discusses the results of the evaluation of a multicultural leadership program that was delivered using an adult learning framework in which 16 young people attended and how such programs can continue to build the capacity of communities to build scaffolds of support that ensure the inclusion of young people and not their marginalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Australian Journal of Adult Learning is the property of Copyright Agency Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Definitions, differences and relationships between formal, nonformal and informal learning have long been contentious. There has been a significant change in language and reference from adult education to what amounts to forms of learning categorised by their modes of facilitation. Nonetheless, there is currently a renewed interest in the recognition of non-formal and informal learning internationally and in Australia. This has been evidenced through the New OECD Activity on Recognition of Non-Formal and Informal Learning and recent policy developments in Australia. These developments have implications for the recognition of skills derived from informal and non-formal learning, especially for those disadvantaged in the labour market. This paper reports on data from a learning grid in a Learning Survey of labour market program participants (n = 172) from northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. We find that life (informal learning) and work experience (non-formal learning) are relatively more important for gaining self-reported skills than formal training/study. We conclude by arguing for a holistic focus on the dynamic interrelatedness of these forms of learning rather than being constrained by a deterministic dichotomy between formality and informality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the performance of the eight major occupational categories across the four skill areas of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey. The results indicated that some 38-64% of employed Australians were below minimal competence (at Level 1 or Level 2) in one of the four skill areas of prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy or problem-solving skills. A pattern of greatest need was identified amongst two occupational groups, namely, machinery operators/drivers and labourers. There was also a clear occupational hierarchy in the area of problem-solving skills that was considered to reflect a social bias since it was inconsistent with the three other skill areas. The findings also highlight pockets of social disadvantage and inequality with many labourers outperforming managers and professionals. It was concluded that the pattern of performance across occupations and skill levels was statistically and significantly different than chance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of adult language, literacy and numeracy in Australia is a site of struggle as policy changes, new learner groups and new economic imperatives challenge teachers' expertise and beliefs about good teaching practice. This article examines the ways in which experienced adult language, literacy and numeracy teachers shape and reshape their practices within this tricky and treacherous terrain. Using Bourdieu's analytical tools of field and habitus as a theoretical framework, and Kumaravadivelu's notion of postmethod pedagogy as a lens for observation and interpretation, the paper analyses the ways in which four experienced teachers shape and reshape their classroom practice to create transformative learning for their learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mission and values of Victoria University provide the underlying criteria for the development and implementation of the Community Gateways initiative, which aims to transform the lives of those living in the west of Melbourne through the power of further education. Community Gateways takes the university into the community by providing career education and counselling, skills recognition, recognition of prior learning, workshops and short training opportunities to engage the community 'on their own turf', and to support their access and success through career-aligned course choice. To be truly effective in the community, Community Gateways has utilised a cooperative approach to engage with over forty community organisations, including community centres, neighbourhood houses, local councils, youth centres, libraries, and ACE and ACFE providers. A resurgence of interest in values associated with community, social cohesion and cultural diversity has provided the platform for these relationships to develop. Community Gateways strengthens access to learning and employment in the region for many people who currently are unsure of how to access education and training opportunities. Through the provision of complimentary, professional careers counselling, community members are encouraged to consider their career options as the basis for making appropriate training or further study decisions. In this paper I will explore the development of the program and share the learning and achievements to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arnold Hely (1907-1967) was a most significant figure in the history of adult education in New Zealand, in Australia and internationally. Arnold Hely, a New Zealander, Director of Tutorial Classes (later Adult Education) at the University of Adelaide from 1957 to 1965, was the prime mover in the establishment in 1964 of the Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE) and was, until his most untimely death in 1967, its General Secretary. He previously had played, as an impartial newcomer/outsider, a leading role in the formation in 1960 of ALA (then called AAAE). In this paper I will focus on Hely's efforts to bring Australian adult education into the mainstream of world adult education. In telling Hely's story I will explore the context of Australian adult education in the 1950s and 1960s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

North Dakota State University (USA) have been using video conferencing as a delivery mode for farmer education for about twenty years and report that their farmers find this delivery method both practical and worthwhile. With the number of New Zealand farmers attending learning events decreasing, due mainly to time and cost, maybe it is time to use different approaches to engage farmers in learning. A study called 'FeedSmart', which looked into the ways farmers preferred to learn, identified that e-learning is worth further investigation as a learning delivery approach. In this paper we report on three small-scale trials that investigated the viability and effectiveness of generating and delivering information to farmers via a video-conferencing-based learning approach. This study showed that e-learning of this type has potential as a learning approach for farmers and is worthy of further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a third age PhD candidate with a passion for learning, I wanted to explore the learning of other rural third age women who live on the Lower Eyre Peninsula (LEP) of South Australia. This reflects the methodological stance of heuristic inquiry, which requires the researcher to have a passionate interest in the phenomena under investigation, and in this case includes my tacit knowledge as a third age learner and long-term resident of the region. I deliberately chose six very influential women over 50 years of age who have transformed their rural communities into vibrant 'can do' societies better able to cope with the economic, environmental and social changes of the last two decades. I wanted to know how they adjusted to the lifestyle changes in their middle years, after their children left home, their third age, how they adapted to the social and economic changes in rural life, and what they learned as community change agents and leaders of community organisations, boards and community development committees. My research methodology gave them the opportunity to reflect on their autobiographies as co-researchers during our two informal conversations about their learning. I discovered that, at different stages in their lives, these midlife women intuitively realised that they needed to do something for themselves in the wider world, independent of the farm and their family, which required them to learn and change. They are passionate lifelong and lifewide learners, continually searching for something that challenges, excites and extends them. This paper discusses their lifewide learning and personal development in community activities and formal educational institutions, which has been personally rewarding and enormously beneficial for community viability and wellbeing. Although the numbers are low and the women come from a small remote region of South Australia, there are similar women of action in almost every community, both rural and urban, who continue to make a difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Commonwealth government provides fee exemption for any Australian who undertakes a PhD. This policy is presumably based on the 'clever country' assumption that an educated population will develop and contribute to social and economic capital. Enrolment numbers therefore continue to increase, and a PhD is no longer an elite qualification. In addition, the characteristics and demographics of PhD students are changing. In the School of Education, University of South Australia, a significant number of PhD students are not early career researchers or recent honours graduates, but mid-to-late-career education practitioners and retirees, and the majority are women. These mature-age and third-age candidates are undertaking doctoral research not to launch their career, but in most cases to reflect on it, with many experiencing transformative learning in the process. In this paper I will explore why people undertake a PhD later in life, what the learning process is like for them, what the outcomes are, and the benefits to society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is situated within a national youth organisation called the Australian Air League Inc (Air League). We examine the recent progress of the Air League in South Australia, starting as a loose network of volunteers engaged in a sporadic array of activities, to become a learning community that worked collaboratively and then developed further as a potential community of practice. This process involved sharing across boundaries in a way that was previously construed as undesirable as local achievement was seen as more important than the development of the larger community. In part, this paper takes the form of a personal narrative and draws insights from observations and interpretations during 2009-2010. Highlighting issues arising from the complexity of developing collaborative models of practice across organisational boundaries and competitive entities, we delve into challenges around maintaining devotion to one's immediate unit while sharing experience and building capacity in the wider community. This includes gaining agreement to action, facing the fear of sharing diverse knowledge with new people, being found wanting, and working across organisational hierarchies in a setting characterised by uniform and a disciplined rank structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formal recognition of prior learning (RPL) has long been lauded and even, one might suggest, doggedly pursued as a tool of social justice and equity within education sectors across the world (Harris, 1999; Wheelahan, Miller & Newton, 2002; Castle & Attwood, 2001; Cleary et al., 2002). It can accredit skills and knowledges that have evolved from diverse, informal learning experiences and cultural locations and is thought to be 'a powerful tool for bringing people into the learning system' who have otherwise become disengaged (Hargreaves, 2006: 2). Many strategies have been identified to increase access to RPL in Australia, including targeted promotion, reduction of bureaucratic procedures, and creative evidence-gathering and assessment techniques. But the fruits of these efforts are not sufficiently realised in increased social inclusion. The data indicate that, while RPL is on the increase in some quarters, there is still limited uptake by traditionally marginalised learners, such that more RPL overall does not necessarily lead to better outcomes for equity groups (Misko, Beddie & Smith, 2007). After more than a decade of focused attention, I believe this situation demands broader, less instrumental thinking, in favour of a more relational analysis of the meaning of recognition assessment and a different conceptualisation of RPL overall. In this paper I draw on qualitative research in progress to explore the meaning of RPL to candidates and the significance of the candidate-assessor relationship as a site of negotiated meaning and identity construction (Hamer, 2010). Looking through the lens of a philosophy of recognition (Honneth, 1995) and postmodern understandings of the discursive production of the self (Chappell et al., 2003; Benhabib, 1992), I ask questions about the nature and effects of the assessment relationship. I invite considerations of this relationship as an intersubjective exchange within a wider, more fundamental 'struggle for recognition' as part of human self-actualisation (Honneth, 1995). I will use emerging data to illustrate the meaning and effects of RPL within this theoretical framework and propose a reconceptualisation of recognition assessment that aims to enhance our efforts towards access and equity goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much has been written about the transformative potential of adult education from the student perspective, little research has been done into the experiences of those who teach in such contexts. This paper draws on the reflections of three academics who work in an enabling program in regional Australia. We embarked on a process of critical self-refection, not unlike the kind of activity we ask of our students, as we considered the challenges as well as the rewards inherent in our experiences. Brookfield's (1998) concept of critical refection was used as a vehicle for examining underlying assumptions about what we do and how we are positioned within the broader University community. Though we are cautious about describing our learning as 'transformative', we contend that the process of critical refection has led to a heightened awareness, and has enabled us to articulate perceptions of professional and personal growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International VET students have divergent, shifting and in some cases multiple purposes for undertaking their VET courses. Students' motives may be instrumental and/or intrinsic and can include obtaining permanent residency, accumulating skills that can secure good employment, gaining a foothold that leads to higher education, and/or personal transformation. Moreover, students' study purposes and imagining of acquired values are neither fixed nor unitary. They can be shaped and reshaped by their families and personal aspirations and by the social world and the learning environment with which they interact. We argue that, whatever a student's study purpose, s/he needs to engage in a learning practice and should be provided with a high quality education. Indeed, we insist this remains the case even if students enroll only in order to gain the qualifications needed to migrate. The paper details the association between migration and learning, and argues that the four variations emerging from the empirical data of this study that centre on migration and skills' accumulation better explain this association than does the 'international VET students simply want to migrate' perspective. We conclude with a discussion of why the stereotype that holds VET international students are mere 'PR hunters' is unjust and constitutes a threat to the international VET sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments are currently mobilising their national workforces to compete effectively in a globalised economy where being export-effective and import-competitive are necessary to secure national economic and social goals. Australia is no exception here. Yet, in this country, as in others, similar mobilisations occurred in earlier times, most noticeably during wartime. This article describes and discusses two particular measures during and after the Second World War: the Commonwealth Technical Training Scheme and the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme. Beyond providing an historical account of these two national schemes for skilling Australians, the paper identifies the importance of securing a national consensus and the engagement of all parties, and showing sensitivity towards those who participate in such programs. Particularly salient is that although national-focused, the success of these programs was premised on effective localised arrangements, where diligent administrators and educators seemingly worked closely with local employers and unions to realise their effective implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current reports of literacy rates in Australia indicate an ongoing gap in literacy skills between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian adults, at a time when the literacy demands of work and life are increasing. There are many perspectives on what are the literacy needs of Indigenous adults, from the perspectives of community members themselves to the relatively under-researched perspective of literacy practitioners. This paper provides the insights, experiences and recommendations from adult literacy practitioners who work with adult Indigenous learners in communities across Australia. Focus group interviews, using an online synchronous platform, were used to elicit views about the literacy needs of Indigenous adults in communities and the successes in and barriers to meeting those needs. The practitioners also shared their views on the use of technology in literacy learning. Together, these views can inform future directions in curriculum design and teaching approaches for community-based Indigenous adult literacy education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores notions of learning in the niche market sector of educational tourism, with a focus on organised recreational tours that promote a structured learning experience as a key feature. It analyses the qualitative findings of surveys and interviews with a cross-section of educational tourism providers in Australia, their lifelong-learning client markets and Australian academic scholars participating in this sector. The paper examines the differing perceptions of providers, participants and academics to what they expect from such tours, what constitutes learning within them and how particularly adult learning occurs through them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author talks about major reports on issues related to adult learning in Australia as Adult Learning Australia and the "Australian Journal of Adult Learning" celebrate their 50th year in 2010. He cites a number of reports including the November 2008 Bradley report, "Review of Australian Higher Education" and its advocacy for a more integrated tertiary education system with its 46 recommendations. He introduces a number of reports in the issue, including Barry Golding's paper on the learning of men and boys regarding gender segmentation in education.

This paper evaluates a 20-item assessment of citizenship literacy in an adult sample comprising 179 persons of English-speaking and non-English speaking background. The results indicated that the assessment was internally consistent and that as expected it distinguished English-speaking from non-English speaking participants. The pattern of answers provided an initial, albeit partial, understanding of what might constitute citizenship information but it also highlighted some limitations. The assessment failed to tap the ability levels of those with higher knowledge. Nevertheless, the results also indicated some deficits in adult general knowledge. The potential failure rate even with a cut-off point of 60% correct was quite high. Just over one-in-five failed to pass. The results have implications for the proposed revisions to the Australian Citizenship Test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to protect indigenous/traditional knowledge, intellectual property law must be leveraged in a way that is responsive to the dynamic inter-relationships between law, society and culture. Over the last decade, increased attention to Indigenous concerns has produced a wealth of literature and prompted recognition of the diverse needs of Indigenous peoples in relation to law, legal access and knowledge protection. There is much more that needs to be done, especially in closely considering what the consequences of legal protection are for the ways in which traditional/indigenous culture is understood and experienced by Indigenous communities and others. This paper considers the latest developments within this field and discusses what possibilities for further legal action exist within both international and local contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental groups seek to educate and change people, yet there is little discussion and debate about the various theories and practices they use. One has only to think about the big, national environment groups like Australian Conservation Foundation, Wilderness Society, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and World Wildlife Foundation to note that they go about their educational and change practices in distinct ways. And then there are new groups like Climate Action, GetUp and Climate Camp who are seeking to educate and change people in more contemporary ways. We think that adult educators could play a helpful role in fostering more critical and participant-directed interrogation among environmental groups about aspects of their practices that focus on change and education. In this paper, we report on focus groups, case studies and a literature review we conducted for a coalition of three environmental non-government organisations and a state government agency to do just that. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores some of the challenges that are involved in facilitating transformative learning. It presents a framework for practice that considers transformative learning from the perspective of the facilitator. These ideas were developed through a doctoral study in which adult educators were interviewed about their experiences in facilitating transformative learning. The framework comprises four components: confirming and interrupting current frames of reference, working with triggers for transformative learning, acknowledging a time of retreat or dormancy, and developing the new perspective. Using the four components of this framework for practice, I outline a series of questions for reflection. Through detailed reflection on aspects of program design and the interactions in the learning group, we can further our knowledge about the transformative aspects of our programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]