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This article discusses the findings of qualitative case-study research that looks at pedagogical contexts of adult education programs for migrants in Cyprus, Scotland, Malta, and Estonia. The goal of this research is to understand how Learner-Centered Education (LCE) is promoted within a human-rights framework and implemented as an approach to emancipatory social change. The findings show significant discrepancies in the implementation of LCE. Differences emerged between educational interventions that influence the language-learning and assimilation-integration processes of adults with migrant backgrounds. Informed by these findings, this article builds a case for Emancipatory Learner-Centered Education (ELCE)--a pedagogical approach that goes beyond course adaptations, to engage migrants in consciousness-raising and confidence-building, while fostering communal action between migrants and adult educators.

Migration as a political process and migrants as political subjects or as active participants in the educational process are largely absent from the adult education system in the Cypriot context. This article attempts to inquire on this absence by offering a critical analysis of key policy texts and proposals as well as prominent programmes and initiatives that have shaped the recent transformations of adult education in Cyprus. On the one hand, it is important to reflect on the gaps, mishaps and silences of Cypriot educational policies in relation to the challenges posed by migration in the era of globalised mobility. On the other, it is also critical to highlight the connections between adult education policies and the formulation of the state's policy towards adults' migration and its concrete initiatives towards fostering a politics of integration. The article offers a critique of the presence situation in Cyprus, arguing that it confines adult migrants to a position where they cannot play a significant role in co-shaping how adult learning is organised, structured and implemented in Cyprus.

This paper presents a critical account of the extent and the ways in which learner-centred education approaches are used as a tool for enhancing adult learning in distance learning universities as well as the conditions and restrictions they face. The exploration is illustrated by qualitative data from interviews with eight adult educators and 16 adult learners/students and adopts a case study approach within a phenomenological mode. In this study, learner-centred education approaches are seen as being at one end of the educational practice continuum and comprise of a number of elements, namely: motivation, epistemology, techniques and relationships that are used as a conceptual framework to guide data analysis and interpretation. Findings reveal the partial and unintentional use of learner-centred education approaches in the distance learning programmes explored and make recommendations for the implementation of learner-centred education in the teaching of adults in distance education universities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and through what mechanisms vulnerable adults are empowered through a second-chance education programme. At the same time, the paper aims at unveiling the obstacles hindering learners' empowerment process and making suggestions for the improvement of the educational programme fostering further empowerment of the learners. To achieve the objectives set by the research, a hybrid methodological design was applied combining hermeneutic phenomenology and critical discourse analysis. Data collection was performed using three tools: semi-structured interviews, reflective journals and document analysis. The results led to the emergence of a multilevel empowerment scheme of vulnerable adults in the programme. The empowerment mechanisms that emerged were as follows: (a) empowerment through participation as a self-value, (b) empowerment through the reconstruction of past experiences, (c) empowerment through the strengthening of their social capital and (d) empowerment through literacy skills. At the same time, the study shed light on a number of factors that inhibit the process of learners' empowerment, which unveil structural and operational weaknesses of the programme as well as of the policies pursued by the State.

The study aspires, by giving voice to the experiences and perceptions of adult learners and their educators, as they embark on distance learning courses delivered by the Open University of Cyprus and the Hellenic Open University to unveil the adult learning and "fine-grained" processes at work during the organization and delivery of the courses, with the ultimate aim to underline the factors influencing these processes. The project complements previous research and attempts to extract from the findings ideas and practices that could contribute to the re-organization of distance courses that facilitate adult learning. It has as its main units of analysis 16 adult learners and 8 educators, and rests on a research framework that views certain programme elements as being vital in unveiling the processes of adult learning. It harnesses a phenomenological approach and qualitative research techniques. The study contributes to a better theoretical understanding of the processes of adult learning and the mediating role of the distance learning context, in comparison to other previously explored contexts.

The study presented in this article explores the application of the principles of adult learning in the face to face (f2f) meetings organised within the context of blended learning courses. The study adopts a case study approach, employing qualitative data collection through semi-structured interviews with participants in four thematic units in two distance learning programmes: Greek Civilisation (undergraduate) and Education Studies (graduate) organised by the Open University of Cyprus and the Hellenic Open University. The research draws on andragogy and illustrates the experiences and perceptions of 16 adult learners and eight tutors with regard to: the design of the f2f meetings, the educational techniques and means used, the participation, and the perceived usefulness of such sessions. The article concludes by highlighting the limited use of the adult learning principles in designing and implementing f2f meetings during the distance learning programmes explored. Recommendations for the design of f2f sessions in consideration of adult learning are made.

The research reported in this paper is an investigation of the application of adult learning principles in designing learning activities for teachers' life-long development. The exploration is illustrated by qualitative data from a case study of adult educators' and adult learners' insights and experiences of a teacher development course organised by a Greek university. Analysis focuses on the andragogical notion of design, i.e. selecting the combination of "learning units" and "learning formats" that most effectively accomplish the objectives of a programme. Findings of the study are somehow optimistic in that they do indicate, however imperfectly, that adult learning principles might be further applied in designing learning activities for teacher development, and make some tentative recommendations for Greece and elsewhere.

The research reported in this paper aspires to shed light into adult digital literacy using learners' and educators' experiences and perceptions at Second Chance Schools, a project in Greece aiming at combating social exclusion through education. In exploring the above, this investigation uses a case-study approach within a qualitative paradigm and draws upon a heuristic that brings together a set of ideas on adult program development to guide research techniques and analysis procedures. The latter focuses on five key elements of program development for adults: needs identification, planning, design, climate, and evaluation. The findings identify the importance placed by the participants on digital literacy and indicate some tentative points and practices that, when suitably adapted, could pave the way for effective preparation and delivery of digital literacy courses for adults. (Contains 1 figure.)

This exploratory study is an attempt to shed light on the internal dynamics of secondary teachers' and academics' professional learning, its context and its occasions, in a course of a university-provided in-service professional development programme in Greece, using the experiences and perceptions of its participants. In investigating the above, the study harnesses a qualitative methodology and a research framework that draws upon a set of ideas that cohere under the rubric "programme development," in order to generate a heuristic that guides research techniques and analysis procedures. The investigation reveals professional learning to be characterised by a number of dimensions: professionality, mutuality, emotionality and formality. Professional learning is therefore seen as a complex process rather than linear, a step-by-step event. The article concludes by emphasising a shift from the delivery of the in-service courses to an understanding of the complexity of the processes by which professional learning is developed.

Studies have suggested that professional learning is influenced by two key parameters, i.e., climate and planning, and their associated variables (mutual respect, collaboration, mutual trust, supportiveness, openness). In this paper, we applied analysis of the relationships between the proposed quantitative, fuzzy logic-based model and a series of representative data of such variables (drawn from an in-service training programme in Greece) that were confronted to it. Through this research strategy we found that the proposed modelling managed to reveal statistically significant different trends in professional learning in concordance with an earlier qualitative approach, yet, quantitatively. Moreover, it highlights the advantages of the fuzzy logic approach towards capturing the information that is inherent in real, complicated data and gives rise to further heuristic ideas and research directions concerning professional learning.

This article discusses the findings of qualitative case-study research that looks at pedagogical contexts of adult education programs for migrants in Cyprus, Scotland, Malta, and Estonia. The goal of this research is to understand how Learner-Centered Education (LCE) is promoted within a human-rights framework and implemented as an approach to emancipatory social change. The findings show significant discrepancies in the implementation of LCE. Differences emerged between educational interventions that influence the language-learning and assimilation-integration processes of adults with migrant backgrounds. Informed by these findings, this article builds a case for Emancipatory Learner-Centered Education (ELCE)—a pedagogical approach that goes beyond course adaptations, to engage migrants in consciousness-raising and confidence-building, while fostering communal action between migrants and adult educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The study presented in this article explores the application of the principles of adult learning in the face to face (f2f) meetings organised within the context of blended learning courses. The study adopts a case study approach, employing qualitative data collection through semi-structured interviews with participants in four thematic units in two distance learning programmes: Greek Civilisation (undergraduate) and Education Studies (graduate) organised by the Open University of Cyprus and the Hellenic Open University. The research draws on andragogy and illustrates the experiences and perceptions of 16 adult learners and eight tutors with regard to: the design of the f2f meetings, the educational techniques and means used, the participation, and the perceived usefulness of such sessions. The article concludes by highlighting the limited use of the adult learning principles in designing and implementing f2f meetings during the distance learning programmes explored. Recommendations for the design of f2f sessions in consideration of adult learning are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses distance learning material used in the 'Continuing Education & Lifelong Learning' (CELL) and the 'Applied Educational Research' (AER) module of the Masters in Education at the Open University of Cyprus with the aim to unveil the sort of pedagogical practices promoted within the two modules. To this end, the Bernsteinian concept of framing, involving instructional rules was used. Results of the analysis reveal that the CELL module is largely oriented towards definite arrangement of instructional rules, by introducing strong framing in the educational process, while the AER module establishes a generally weak framing. Moreover, the findings disclose tensions between the principles of distance and adult education, with the former implying explicit and rather 'close' direction of study, and the latter advocating flexibility in adult learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]