The current research starts from the observation that low-qualified employees hold a vulnerable position on the labour market. It has been argued that learning and development can decrease this vulnerability; unfortunately research has shown that low-qualified employees participate considerably less in learning activities in comparison with…

The aim of this study is to understand the different ways that university students conceptualise quality in learning by drawing on a phenomenographic approach. A total of 20 students in higher education in Rwanda were interviewed and analysis of the interviews generated an outcome space of conceptions of quality in learning as transformation,…

This paper draws upon a small-scale investigation to shed light on the perceptions of successful ageing by a group of senior adults in Hong Kong. It also identifies attributes that are associated with ageing well and examines the extent to which education or learning is perceived as important in the ageing process. To this end, the research has…

Within contemporary political discourses that narrowly characterize learning in terms of high-stakes standardized examinations, the value of the "social foundations of education" for teachers is increasingly questioned and challenged by those within and outside programs of teacher education. Even more troubling, prospective teachers…

As two teachers/researchers committed to the values of social justice in the classroom, we are deeply disturbed by the explicit and implicit ways that our education system, operating through neoliberalism, reproduces the inequalities of larger society. To problematize and deterritorialize dominant neoliberal notions of schooling, education,…

The beliefs, attitudes, experiences and responses that Hong Kong higher education students have about assessment are an important facet to developing our understanding of the "Chinese learner". Using six focus groups, 26 Hong Kong university students drew pictures of assessment. The visual elements of the pictures were content analysed…

This study focuses on how a Chicana/Latina professor contributed to the development of social consciousness with Spanish bilingual credential candidates in a Teacher Education Multiple Subject Credential Program, in California, USA. As a teacher educator, my goals were to look deeply at my teaching approach and to evaluate what the students and I…

This study presents the results of a self-study of interdisciplinary work that has generated profound changes in our teaching practices. The research grew out of an interest in exploring the nature of our work and the practices that contribute to its success. Our self-study revealed that our work process consists of five stages and is the product…

This collaborative self-study examines the critical friendship of two doctoral students charged with teaching a methods course in elementary social studies. The authors formed a critical friendship in Fall 2010, initiated by participation in a teacher educator community of practice that encouraged collaboration. With limited experience in…

This paper argues for the significance of Axel Honneth's theory of recognition for understanding recognition of prior learning (RPL). Case studies of the experiences of RPL by paraprofessional workers in health and social care in the UK and Sweden are used to explicate this significance. The results maintain that there are varying conditions…

This article explores motivational changes of first-year students enrolled on German degree courses at two major UK universities. It reports on the qualitative data obtained by a longitudinal mixed-methods study, and focuses on the interplay between students' motivation and the higher education learning environment. In particular, the article…

The article investigates the interactional effects of internal and external university learning environments, and the influence of personal values, in the satisfaction formation process of international postgraduate students from Asia. Past research on student satisfaction has been narrowly focused on certain aspects of the university internal…

Preservice teachers sometimes experience a gap between best practices that they learn in teacher preparation programs and actual practices that they encounter in classrooms as student teachers. In this self-study, I investigate the gap between best and actual practices, as experienced by a university teacher educator who spent a year as a student…

The growing influence of the Bologna Process on higher education around the world has raised concerns about the applicability of this set of reforms in diverse cultural contexts. Ukraine provides an instructive case study highlighting the dynamics occurring at the convergence of the new framework with a state-centred model of higher education. The…

Metaphors representing the practice of teacher educators were the data for this collaborative self-study by a small group of teacher educators from across the USA. Seventy-five pre-service teachers and practicing teachers enrolled in teacher education courses were asked to create metaphors to represent the teaching practices of the authors, who…