Leadership programs have been extensively promoted in rural communities in Australia. However, few have been evaluated. The results of the evaluation of a rural leadership program provided in this paper highlight the need for adult learning theories to be more overtly identified and utilised as the basis of planning and implementing leadership…

The use of ePortfolios for recognition of prior learning (e-RPL) and for professional recognition (e-PR) is slowly gaining in popularity in the VET sector however their use is sporadic across educational sectors, disciplines, educational institutions and professions. Added to this is an array of purposes and types of e-RPL and e-PR models and…

Professional learning community (PLC) is a current "buzz" term in business and educational contexts, seemingly referring to anything from decision making committees to regular meeting groups or collegial learning teams. This paper explores the concept of a PLC within three significantly innovative schools, based on an examination of the…

This paper reports on aspects of a recent project carried out for the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, which was designed to feed into the process of updating and expanding India's apprenticeship system. The apprenticeship system in India is extremely small for the country's population, even taking into account…

The purpose of this study was to examine participants' perspectives on how a volunteer-based adult literacy class supports the learning of adults with developmental/intellectual disabilities. Interviews were conducted with four tutors, three adult learners, and two coordinators and observations of the class occurred over a 6-month period…

This paper traces the policies and lessons learned from two consecutive German national programs aimed at developing learning cities/regions. Known as Learning Regions Promotion of Networks, this first program transitioned into the current program, Learning on Place. A case study chosen is from the Tolzer region where a network has self-sustained…

The study is situated within a national youth organisation called the Australian Air League Inc (Air League). We examine the recent progress of the Air League in South Australia, starting as a loose network of volunteers engaged in a sporadic array of activities, to become a learning community that worked collaboratively and then developed further…

The role of a professional and creative writing degree is to provide resources, structured workshops, professional interactions--and the potential for creative risk. Opportunities for risk, within the structured environment of the university, challenge the individual's perspectives and judgements, as well as their ability to analyse and to reflect…

Environmental groups seek to educate and change people, yet there is little discussion and debate about the various theories and practices they use. One has only to think about the big, national environment groups like Australian Conservation Foundation, Wilderness Society, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and World Wildlife Foundation to note…

In this article, the authors set the scene for this research volume. They sought to emphasize and broaden their interest and concern about their "Learning to be drier" theme in this edition to the 77 per cent of Australians who live within 50 km of the Australian coast, the majority of whom also live in major cities and urban complexes. On 24…

Our paper explores how and what adults living and working in the Alpine region of Victoria understand and are learning about the changes to water availability, in a time when the response to water availability is subject to extensive debate and policy attention. Interviews for this study were conducted in the towns of Bright and Mount Beauty, with…

This paper investigates learning related to the phenomena of drying over the past decade in the southern Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, as perceived in a mid-river site within the western Riverina of New South Wales, Australia. The insights from audio-recorded interviews, with a wide range of adults across the water-dependent community, mostly…

This article explores the adult and community learning associated with "learning to be drier" in the Riverland region of South Australia. Communities in the Riverland are currently adjusting and making changes to their understandings and practices as part of learning to live with less water. The analysis of adult and community learning derived…

This research project, part of a much larger study, considered how people in regional communities learnt to deal with the impact of reduced water availability as a result of drought or climate change. The communities in the Mallee-Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia, were the focus of this study and a range of local people from different sectors…

In this final, collaborative paper in the "Learning to be drier" edition, we reflect on and draw together some of the key threads from the diverse narratives in our four site papers from across the southern Murray-Darling Basin. Our paper title, "Wicked learning", draws on a recent body literature (Rittel & Webber 1973) about messy or "wicked…