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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.

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 ...

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.

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 unve...

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to report findings from an investigation of Greek principals’ attitudes and perceptions concerning parental involvement in schools – research prompted by the belief that the information will be useful in attempts to make Greek schools more effective.Design/methodology/approach– The participants of the study were secondary school principals and vice principals from one Prefecture in Central Greece. The questionnaire used elicited information about the participants’ demographics, the main features of the schools they were serving in, and their views concerning existing and preferred school-family partnerships.Findings– The principals in the investigation seemed to be not only in favor of parental participation, but also saw a need to increase it. In general, then, the findings support others’ reports that parents’ participation in schools – in this instance secondary schools – tends to be less than satisfactory.Originality/value– In Greece, the issue of parental involvement in schools has not received adequate attention until recently. The latest school reforms emphasize the notion of parental involvement as a significant factor for the effectiveness of the Greek schools.

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.

Approximately 10% of all cancers, but a higher proportion of sarcomas, use the recombination-based alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) to maintain telomeres. Two RecQ helicase genes, BLM and WRN, play important roles in homologous recombination repair and they have been implicated in telomeric recombination activity, but their precise roles in ALT are unclear. Using analysis of sequence variation present in human telomeres, we found that a WRN- ALT+ cell line lacks the class of complex telomere mutations attributed to inter-telomeric recombination in other ALT+ cell lines. This suggests that WRN facilitates inter-telomeric recombination when there are sequence differences between the donor and recipient molecules or that sister-telomere interactions are suppressed in the presence of WRN and this promotes inter-telomeric recombination. Depleting BLM in the WRN- ALT+ cell line increased the mutation frequency at telomeres and at the MS32 minisatellite, which is a marker of ALT. The absence of complex telomere mutations persisted in BLM-depleted clones, and there was a clear increase in sequence homogenization across the telomere and MS32 repeat arrays. These data indicate that BLM suppresses unequal sister chromatid interactions that result in excessive homogenization at MS32 and at telomeres in ALT+ cells.

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.

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.

The research reported in this paper compares the experiences of twenty‐two secondary teachers and twelve university tutors as they embark on a course of a ‘new’ in‐service professional development programme in Greece, in relation to adult learning. It harnesses a qualitative methodology and draws upon a set of ideas that cohere under the rubric programme development to build up a heuristic guiding research technique and analysis procedure. The analysis focuses on two key parameters of programme development for adults i.e. climate and planning, and on their associated elements. The findings identify the ‘them’ and ‘us’ image that continues to perpetuate the ‘new’ courses and indicate some tentative points that might have implications for the design of the in‐service training of teachers.

This article explores critically the case of university-provided inservice training for secondary teachers in Greece, using the experience of both tutors and teachers as they embark upon it. It draws upon an exploratory study carried out with 22 secondary teachers (philologists) and 12 university teachers in the context of two university departments. The analysis focuses on two aspects of Kirkpatrick's (1975) conceptualisation of the evaluation process: reaction evaluation and learning evaluation. The findings highlighted the limitations of the event-delivery model of professional development, in particular, the vexatious relationship between theory and practice. The article concludes with a number of recommendations related to the need for the greater involvement of teachers in the organisation, formulation and delivery of in-service professional development.

The volume offers a current stock-take of central areas of adult education in Cyprus. Maria Gravani and Alexandra Ioannidou have compiled large amounts of data and information on institutions, financing, offers, participation, personnel, quality assurance and certification. The authors furthermore take into account the political, geopolitical and cultural context which influences developments in adult education, as well as the economic situation of the island state Cyprus. This book offers a great starting point and good orientation for getting to know the Cypriotic system for adult and vocational further education. Der Band liefert eine aktuelle Bestandsaufnahme zu zentralen Bereichen der Weiterbildung in Zypern. Maria Gravani und Alexandra Ioannidou haben vielfältige Daten und Informationen zu Institutionen, Finanzierung, Angeboten, Teilnahme, Personal, Qualitätssicherung und der Zertifizierung zusammengestellt. Darüber hinaus berücksichtigen die Autorinnen auch den politischen, geopolitischen und kulturellen Kontext, der die Entwicklungen im Bereich der Erwachsenenbildung mitprägt, sowie die wirtschaftliche Situation der Insel Zypern. Dieses Buch vermittelt einen schnellen Einstieg sowie eine gute Orientierung über das System der Erwachsenen- bzw. Weiterbildung in Zypern

This chapter reports on debates on adult education actions in the 1950s and 1960s in France. The collective or individual dimensions of the actions constituted the core of disagreements. Drawing on sources from archives, this chapter identifies first political, then pedagogical arguments for a collective dimension of adult education. In conclusion, it questions the decline in intensity of these debates within the framework of European lifelong learning, as well as their evolution or transposition into other social spheres.