The central questions addressed in this paper are the following: (1) In the context of the (European Union) EU's goal of severing the link between social class background and higher education participation, what progress has been made in widening access over the past two decades? (2) Has the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) helped EU…

This paper discusses a pilot project held at Middlesex University to enhance students' writing skills through literature teaching. It argues that literature teaching can offer a profound contribution to work-based learning and lifelong education: first, by showing students how effective arguments are constructed; second, by inspiring students…

Mobile technologies are becoming ubiquitous in education, yet the wider implications of this phenomenon are not well understood. The paper discusses how mobile lifelong learning (mLLL) may be defined, and the challenges of forging a suitable definition in an ever-shifting technological and socio-economic landscape. mLLL appears as a ubiquitous…

Based on a Globally Structured Agenda for Education, this article presents the construction of the New Opportunities Initiative in Portugal. Thus, it analyses the relationship between the European Union and the Portuguese State with regard to the construction of this programme, identifying for this purpose the effects of governance processes.…

This article focuses on findings from an Economic and Social Research Council study in England about the uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) among 15 highly mobile migrant workers within their transnational families. Using an extended case study approach including ethnographic methods and a thematic analysis, patterns…

This qualitative case study attempts to conceptualize certain "patterns" and "processes" of which 28 mature women undergraduates give meanings to their motivation for higher education in their life contexts. Particular attention has been paid to include diverse groups of women according to their age, prior educational…

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…

This paper analyzes the importance and role of the reciprocity relationship in education. It presents a review on the mobilization of the principle of reciprocity--in the anthropological but also sociological and economic senses--in educational processes, especially in adult education. The study is divided into three parts. The first part analyzes…

There are few empirical studies that demonstrate how values are developed and how they are linked to coaching actions. There can be a discrepancy between the statement of coaches' values and their actual coaching actions. In order to examine how coaching actions are influenced by values that are developed over a lifetime, the purpose of this…

The basis of this article is findings from the Music for Life Project which investigated the benefits and challenges of music activity participation for the over 50s in three case study sites in the United Kingdom. The paper uses a philosophical lens to explore the leaders' and participants' views on the purpose of the activities, how…

The development of a continuing vocational training programme at the Information Satellite Systems Joint-Stock Company (ISS JSC) during the transition from the planned Soviet economy to what is now called the Russian market economy is briefly outlined. How the collapse of a planned economy led to the degradation of engineering higher education…

This article argues that Burton Clark's notion of the expanded developmental periphery provides a useful conceptual framework for examining the differing relationships between continuing and professional education units and the institutional core of traditional research universities. The intent is to examine how Clark's notion offers a…

For highly educated refugee professionals who flee to the UK, gaining a university qualification is one of the key strategies which can be used to re-establish a professional identity and find employment, and yet little is known about their experiences in higher education. This article utilises Bourdieu's framework of field, capital and…

Governments across Europe have been encouraged by the European Union (EU) to take measures to upskill their workforce to ensure growth and social inclusion. Low-skilled workers are particular targets and learning providers and employers are expected to provide learning opportunities for them. However, research shows that those with low skills…

Given the widening participation agenda and associated enrolment targets, mature students who enter higher education by non-traditional pathways look set to become an increasingly prominent cohort who bring with them valuable skills, experiences and personal attributes that can and do enrich the learning environment. However, the Australian case…