This article looks at how administrators and teachers who consider themselves adult educators but who find themselves in a union environment come to think about their role and their context. This article is based on research conducted with administrators and teachers working in a joint union-employer sponsored program. Joint programs were…

In these austere times it is difficult not to feel pessimistic about the future. The economic news seems universally bad, the Euro crisis seems interminable, the housing market is stagnant, there are more than one million young people out of work and public spending is set to fall even further over the next few years. Participation in learning has…

This article discusses the findings of the commission set up jointly by NIACE, the Association of Colleges (AoC) and the 157 Group to investigate the role of colleges in their communities. The commission learned that: (1) further education colleges are, often, already embedded in their communities; (2) although there has been some simplification,…

The "Programme for Government" is the Welsh Government's plan of action for this term of the Assembly. At the forefront of the programme is growth and sustainable jobs. As a small economy, still recovering from the decline of manufacturing and the coal industry, Wales' economic and social outcomes are inextricably linked. Certainly, the link…

"Meeting the needs of the learner is at the heart of all our proposals", is the claim in the ministerial foreword to "Putting Learners at the Centre", the document in which recent pre-legislative proposals for reforming the post-16 education sector are set out by the Scottish Government. Such a grand claim warrants scepticism. Despite references…

Few university leaders can speak with as much authority about the transformative power of learning as Mary Stuart, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lincoln. She knows first-hand both what it is like to be poor and down on her luck and how "second chance" education and a willingness to work hard and take risks can turn lives around. Stuart is…

Generational conflict is back. After years of relative silence, and mutual ignorance, the young and old are once more at war. With youth unemployment high on the political agenda, the fortunes of the "jobless generation" are being contrasted with those of the "golden generation" of baby boomers, but is one generation really being mugged by the…

Over the past few decades social policy in the UK and other major developed countries, has emphasised the provision of social care programmes to deal with vulnerable, deprived groups and communities. This reflects the increase in social problems such as addictions, homelessness and poverty which have occurred in that period. It also illustrates a…

The British current model of education has turned schools into exam factories and further education colleges and universities into skills factories for British industry. In their book, "From Exam Factories to Communities of Discovery: the Democratic Route," the authors offer an alternative way of thinking and talking about education, as well as…

In this article, the author talks about citizenship, which raises raises a question whether the good citizen is the one who fits in, the one who goes with the flow and is part of the whole, or whether the good citizen is the one who stands out from the crowd, the one who goes against the flow and bucks the trend, who is, in a sense, "out of…

Lifelong learning has a crucial role in enabling individuals to handle key transition points in their lives, but what can education do to prepare them for the final, inevitable transition. Some of the educational contribution to managing the final transition is very broad, a matter of general enlightenment. But there are some more specific…

With women bearing a disproportionate share of economic hardship, their poor representation on training designed to tackle barriers to work is a critical concern. The author asks what can be done to improve women's access to this sort of learning. As the underrecruitment of women to ESF pre-employment programmes demonstrates, the author suggests…

The concept of Big Society provides inspiration--working "bottom up" to promote "collective action, reciprocity and a new, more engaged relationship between local people and public services". With so much written about the theory of the Big Society, this seems like an ideal time to put a little more practical detail into the mix. The authors argue…

The learning and skills sector plays a critical part in working with young people disengaged from education, or at risk of becoming so, and supporting adults with low skills levels to achieve their ambitions in life, work and learning. In particular, the sector has a key role in enabling people to become engaged in education, training and work and…

It is widely recognised that securing employment on release from prison is a significant factor in reducing the chances of an individual re-offending. In the current economic climate where 25 percent of men under the age of 25 are unemployed and total unemployment is running at 2.7 million, the challenge for ex-offenders entering the workplace is…