Implementing network type structures has become a widely appreciated strategy to promote actor-relationships in the field of adult and community education and to coordinate them purposefully. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on how a "successful" coordination of actor-relationships can actually be achieved. This paper offers…

This paper argues that there are many ways of conceptualising lifelong learning and examines EU and Scottish lifelong learning policies in order to identify their underlying assumptions. Through an analysis of these policies, it is demonstrated that they draw on a number of inter-related fallacies that prioritise lifelong learning mainly in…

This article offers a critical examination of the transformative approach to education for political citizenship. The argument offered here is that the transformative approaches lacks the capacity to fully acknowledge the asymmetries of political power and as a consequence, it promotes an idealised construct of political citizenship which does not…

Drawing from extensive experience as community educators, this paper discusses accreditation and its relationship to community development as informed by a cooperative inquiry conducted by tutors. Beginning with our rationale for undertaking the inquiry, it details our approach to community development and the centrality of education within this.…

The purpose of this article is to explore the role of adult education for critical democracy, in order to address the social suffering that these authors have encountered in their work as critical adult community educators. Brid Connolly and Peter Hussey explored this through dialogue, as a process of education and research. Dialogue is the moment…

Adult learners, and women in particular, have to combat a number of specific barriers to participate in lifelong learning opportunities. Frequently, delivery modes of adult learning programmes do not take these varying demands into consideration (McCulloch & Stokes, 2008). However, when they do, positive results ensue. This case study…

It is increasingly important for adult educators to articulate more clearly their understanding of the benefits and outcomes of adult learning. This paper reviews existing evidence of the impact of participation in education, and particularly explores the relevance of recent studies of how learning has influenced adults' health and well-being.…

This article explores how the FETAC standards and processes at Levels 1 and 2 can be used to recognise literacy as a social practice. A summary review of the development of the National Framework of Qualifications is provided. Levels 1 to 4 in Ireland are compared with three key international frameworks, including OECD levels and those in Northern…

This article explores the effectiveness of using Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) in an adult learning environment. Within this discourse, special attention is given to show how SFBT can be used effectively to support the increasing number of adults who find themselves out of work who are now returning to education. Key ideas within SFBT will…

The Irish-African Partnership for Research Capacity Building (IAP) is a research consortium involving all of the nine universities on the island of Ireland together with four African universities, with the overall aim of building research capacity for poverty reduction. The project was supported by a three-year grant from Irish Aid. This article…

From 2008-2009 the author was commissioned by AONTAS in partnership with Irish Aid to carry out a piece of research which aimed to examine how there could be a strategic focus on the integration of development education, or incorporating a global dimension to learning, into adult and community education in Ireland. It also examined whether or not…

This paper examines the concept of institutional racism in Irish adult education. The study of institutional racism in education has been an area relatively untouched by Irish academics to date, and so represents a green field for interested academics and adult educators. For the purpose of providing some context for this concept, a brief outline…

Spirituality, religion, and culture are complicated subjects. Indeed, they are fundamental socialising forces that affect how adult learners make meaning in the world. While there has been considerable discussion of the spiritual and religious dimensions of adult learning in North America and to some extent in England, there has been little direct…

The emotional dimension of teaching and learning from the perspective of the teacher and learner in adult education is considered in this paper by means of an autoethnographic story written as an approach to reflective practice. The genre of autoethnography allows for the personal and the autobiographical as a legitimate site for research into…

This paper explores an area of adult learning that has received little attention of late, the terrain of public education through museums and civic architecture. The goal of promoting adult learning in public places e.g. through the work of museums has become commonplace in countries seeking to encourage adult learning about peace. This invariably…