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The growth in services has focused attention on issues of service quality both for commercial enterprises and across a range of public services and government institutions. The education sector, in particular, has and still is undergoing radical change to meet the needs of its varied constituents. This paper examines key issues in service quality as they apply in one particular education sector, further education (FE) colleges. The results suggest that service quality issues are highly relevant to the FE sector, but service quality is not clearly understood, is not well managed and some radical managerial action is required for the service to meet the requirements of its different customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social science research often uses educational qualification as a signifier for characteristics such as abilities, earnings potential, and civic participation in adulthood. This study focused on two types of adult literacy students who were native speakers of English and identified words at the 3rd to 5th grade levels but differed in one key demographic identifier. One group had dropped out prior to attending high school while the other group had graduated from high school. Differences between the two groups were examined in terms of their underlying reading skills, employment, voter registration status, reading pleasure, self-perception of reading ability, print reading practices, and technology based reading practices. Results showed very few statistically significant differences between the two groups. These findings suggest that for individuals who have difficulty reading, higher educational qualification levels do not necessarily imply differences in other characteristics. Implications for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to identify the determinants of participation in adult education in Turkey. The analysis is conducted using the Adult Education Survey (AES), conducted by TurkStat. The results indicate that economic growth in the sector of employment significantly and positively affects the odds for adult education participation. The data also show that the characteristics of men and women who take courses in the most popular fields of education vary. For example, younger, more educated, and employed individuals are more likely to take part in adult education activities in Turkey. A person with no education or only a primary school education is not as active in adult education, independent of gender. The results of this study indicate that policy makers in countries like Turkey need a strategy for encouraging adult education participation among individuals with limited formal education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community colleges play a critical role in offering adult education programs, and have historically been instrumental in offering GED and other high school equivalency programs. The current study was designed to explore the changing nature of community college adult education from the perspective of state leaders. Using the population of state community college directors, a survey revealed that GED programs are not a major political agenda item and that they had only moderate optimism regarding adults returning to community colleges and training. Further, they perceive little alignment between high school equivalency programs, their own offerings, and job readiness programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult education administrators serve diverse constituents in many different spheres. They serve as leaders of basic literacy programs situated in public school districts, leisure education programs in non-profit organizations, and job training programs in community colleges. This study examined the perceptions of administrators of adult education programs to identify the roles, skills, and management tasks they deemed important to their work. Key findings indicate that there is a substantial number of new administrators in the field, and that they identify a high number of skills necessary to meet the demands of the innovative settings in which they work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of social media poses a multitude of considerations on this technology adoption. The emphasis in literature is put mainly on student or teacher perspective and less emphasis is dedicated upon administrators who also represent an important group of stakeholders. The aim of the study is to examine the phenomenon of potential educational use of social media at the public institutions of adult education based on administrators' lived experience, taking into account how administrative factor influences social media adoption in education. The findings reveal that admitting the advantages of social media use, administrators also identify certain problematic areas and have cautious attitudes towards social media in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on ethnographic vignettes in an Indian rights-based approach to adult education programmes in order to examine the contestations and negotiations of facilitators in interface situations involving programme capacity building, monitoring and evaluation practice. The paper proposes that making visible the hegemonic nature of relationships between different adult education actors is critical to engendering democratic participation in adult education. It explores conditions of possibility for democratic participation in adult education in terms of (1) conceptualising empowerment as self-representation and autonomy; and (2) interrogating one’s identity through self-deconstruction as an ethical responsibility and commitment to equity and social justice. This analysis has implications for informing and enhancing democratic participation in adult education capacity building, monitoring and evaluation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Lifelong Learning / Celoživotní Vzdělávání is the property of Institute of Lifelong Learning 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.)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine honor-related dilemmas that principals encounter in daily practice. Such dilemmas illustrate how special demands from parents can collide with the school's democratic mission. Design/methodology/approach –In total, 53 principals who participated in an in-service program, which aimed to enhance consciousness and knowledge concerning honor-related issues, were asked to describe their experiences of honor-related dilemmas. The paper uses the understanding of the honor culture as an analytic probe in studying and understanding the dilemmas and how these collide with the school's inner work in accordance with democratic values. Findings – The major findings illustrate that the participating principals have to deal with honor-related issues in their daily practice. The dilemmas include parents' demands for restrictions affecting girls, young women, boys, and young men from preschool up to adult education. These restrictions limit their right to participate in all school subjects and activities and to live a life free of oppression. Practical implications – The paper reveals the importance of enhanced consciousness and knowledge concerning honor-related issues. Principals must have the ability to identify and recognize at-risk students and organize the necessary support for those students without stigma and exclusion. How the school's structure and culture support intercultural practice and inclusion is important to avoid a contribution to marginalization and a rejection of the school's value base. Originality/value – A number of research studies have been done regarding culture clashes in the multicultural school context. This paper identifies dilemmas that can be related to the honor culture and how these are expressed in the principal's office. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article originates in a piece of educational research into the experiences of further education (FE) student teachers in the West Midlands region of England. This cohort of students experienced significant upheaval in their college workplaces and placements during the 2010/2011 academic year. Pressures on FE funding were exacerbated by a Comprehensive Spending Review by the coalition government in late 2010 – prompted by the on-going global economic crisis. Some of the repercussions of these funding cuts for staff and students in the sector are discussed in this article, as perceived by this cohort of student teachers working in a range of FE providers across the West Midlands. Many of these repercussions can broadly be seen as an extension of existing managerialist practices, as the justification for an increasing squeeze on local resource allocation continues to be a wider appeal to global market ‘realities’. But we theorise that new public management (NPM) plays an important role in a reductive kind of knowledge production for policy-makers which fuels and legitimises on-going policy intervention, and we see this as an important shaping force in the emerging professional identity of these new teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Work contexts are frequently referred to as spaces of learning and production of individual and/or collective knowledge. In such contexts specific dynamics are developed which cause the processes of learning and of knowledge production to have particularities. This paper aims at accounting for some dynamics that are associated with those processes, based on the main results of an ethnographic study on the adult educator team of a Portuguese local development association. The research identified ways of working/action rules based on the learning and knowledge production processes in the association. Mutual help, the reformulation and collectivization of practice, reflection in and about the action, and the negotiation of meaning about the practice are some of the mechanisms identified. The study also highlights how those dynamics of knowledge and learning and ways of doing may contribute to a practice which is closer to the needs of the adults to whom this team offers its education and training services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses Portugal’s adult education policy between 1999 and 2010. Our empirical material consists of Portuguese as well as supranational policy documents. We use a theoretical framework which distinguishes three models of public policy, with different views on the roles of public policy and of education: (1) participative policy/emancipatory education, (2) centralised policy/education for social conformity and (3) minimum policy/training for competitiveness. Our results show that European lifelong learning guidelines have been reinterpreted in the Portuguese context, leading to a rapid expansion of adult education provision in an attempt to catch up with European numbers. Although Portuguese policy is a hybrid of the three policy models, latest developments show a dominance of minimum public policies for adult education and training for competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais 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 Author-supplied Abstracts.)

Nearly four years ago, the University of the Arts London launched its first flexible learning space for students, called the Learning Zone. The service model for the space was underpinned by an ethos of peer support. When London's Crossrail Development project necessitated relocation, the Learning Zone team had to build the service all over again. Learning Zone 2.0 was a chance to reflect on the use and design of the space ... and to improve on the first version. Despite personnel changes, building delays and lost furniture and equipment, the new space opened in May 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality mediation training is essential to producing skilled mediators, but what makes for good training? To answer this question, the authors examine the literature on adult education, mediation training, training design and methods, and quality assurance in mediation training. What follows is a summary and analysis of the literature on issues related to mediation training. This core body of knowledge helps to prepare mediation trainers and program administrators as they seek to ensure that the training they provide or sponsor is of the highest quality possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A grant project was designed to facilitate the transition of students from a community college adult education program into a community college credit-degree program in manufacturing. Key features of the program included a focus on identifying policy implications; bridging the separation between the adult education segment of the community college and the more traditional post-secondary education segment; implementing a contextualized curriculum; using a learning community model; and using action research. Despite difficulty reaching the target number of students, the experimental and policy development emphasis of the grant allowed other key characteristics of the project to yield interesting results and to have a lasting effect on the participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the formation, operation, and social effects of adult education classes in France during the nineteenth century. These classes were created and operated prior to the formation of France's national education system and were part of the expansion of primary schooling for the working class, or more generally for “the people”. The more formally organised classes were typically held at local Catholic and non-sectarian primary schools throughout France, but this essay argues that classes held in a variety of other settings contributed to the diversity of adult education courses offered in the 1830s and 1840s. During this early period, the diversity of adult education courses led to wide-ranging social effects, including a challenge to the existing political and social order. Ultimately, however, adult education courses were incorporated into the developing national primary education system and became part of the formation of a generalised system of social distinction that defined and reproduced hierarchies of class and gender in modern French society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educators and Trainers both focus on adult learning theory when teaching. In the workforce, as well as in higher education, current literature pertaining to adult learners tends to lump all adults into the same category. Scant research exists that reviews the adult learner through a generational lens. This paper examines the elements that engage and disengage adult learners in multiple classroom settings through a generational perspective. The authors suggest implications for adult education professional practices based on understanding as a teacher/trainer that generational characteristics influence expectations of how materials will be taught. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing demands on academic work have resulted in many academics working long hours and expressing dissatisfaction with their working life. These concerns have led to a number of faculties and universities adopting workload allocation models to improve satisfaction and better manage workloads. This paper reports on a study which examined the workload models in use across a large Australian university. Analysis revealed that the various models could be categorised into three types. The pros, cons and impacts of these three categories of model were compared from both a management and staff perspective. The study found that while models of all types can lay the foundation for equitable distribution of workload, some categories of model can have unintended consequences with negative effects on the work culture and hence staff satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Further and higher education have witnessed something of a paradigm shift in recent years. This article aims to examine the reasons behind, and the possible impact on, academic staff and students of one aspect of the so-called marketisation of education - namely, the increased importance of institutional marketing. Aspects of marketing theory are used to argue that gaps have developed in some cases between the marketing rhetoric and the experienced reality of staff and students. It is suggested that such gaps can create tensions and difficulties, that action needs to be taken to bridge any such gaps, and that there is a need to reaffirm some of the previously valued aspects of further and higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifteen years ago further education (FE) colleges in England were removed from local education authority (LEA) control and re-formed as 'FE corporations'. Now, it is proposed that, from 2010, local authorities will become re-involved in the running of FE. Given such a prospect, this article takes the opportunity to look back at colleges under LEA control and to critically consider what many FE teachers regard as a golden era: a time which was certainly one of less pressured and more stable circumstances. Whilst this article does not attempt to justify any of excesses that have characterised FE since incorporation, it is recognised that there is a temptation to view FE's past through rose-tinted glasses. It is argued that, despite the turbulent environment in which colleges now exist, the era of LEA control should not be romanticised and that, in the past, FE was highly variable and flawed in many ways. In exploring this argument this article reviews four inter-linked themes related to LEA control: local authority governance; the role of college managers; the position of FE teachers; and the service provided to students. It highlights some of the shortcomings and problems of LEA control and argues that the future role of local authorities in FE should not be viewed as an opportunity to turn the clock back to a bygone era. It should be seen as a chance for a fresh start rather than as a step back in time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports on a multi-country review of formative assessment in adult education settings with specific reference to basic literacy and numeracy. It reports many examples of emergent innovative practice in Europe and elsewhere but concludes that there is a real need to develop a stronger conceptual base for formative assessment, as well as to accumulate much more empirical evidence on its impact on teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of data from six years of the British Household Panel Survey (1998-2003) has been used to look at variances in take-up of part time learning opportunities by adults over time in the UK and, separately, by its four constituent nations. The paper provides a useful backdrop of 'facts and figures' on patterns of take-up in part time education and training over the first six years of Labour Governments. Whilst the home-international comparisons show differences in terms of general levels of participation they show similar patterns of participation along gender and class lines. Apart from evidencing a steep upturn in the take-up of home-based learning amongst women, a persistent finding was how little had changed over this six year period in terms of removing barriers that position some as disadvantaged and others as advantaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the importance of Clemente Course program developed by adult educator and author Earl Shorris in Calgary, Alberta. The programme which offered for university-level courses of humanities aims to promote a lifelong commitment to learning and a new sense of citizenship. It also the philosophical and historical ground of adult education. The Socratic method is considered as the main instructional technique in the Clemente program and in its local iteration Storefront 101. Information about Shorris is also presented.

This article is concerned with the design and management of instructional situations in adult education. Research about program planning in adult education is noted. It also examines the psychological factors affecting program design. It is asserted that learning situations should provide a sense of mastery and success for the adult. The article analyzes the dynamics of adult instruction and the types of sociopsychological interactions that affect learning. It explains how the area of processes employed in educating adults has been a matter of confusion and conflict in terminology and constituent concepts.

This article looks into the organization and administration of adult education in the U.S. One research found out that 79 million dollars is allocated on adult education in 17,000 school districts. It was concluded that every state ought to provide specific financial aid to adult education as a part of its foundation program of assistance to public schools. Another research claimed that both professional leadership and state aid are necessary for the growth of adult education. A major contribution to evaluation of public library service emphasized standards and principles of educational services to adults which are based on knowledge of and relationship to the community.

The article outlines beginning strategies that administrators who lead adult higher educational institutions might utilize as they consider issues relevant to the management of an operation geared toward the education of the adult learner. Out of necessity, the adult learning administrator must understand the nature and make up of the students who depend on the institution for education and training. The fundamental principle of distinctness must be grasped by the adult education administrator. It should frame a rubric by which to evaluate decisions that are pertinent to the educational function of the institution.