Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy's work related to andragogy is insufficiently discussed in adult pedagogical literature, although most of his work deals with this field, if we employ his own definition of andragogy. This paper makes visible his role as an andragogical pioneer, and clarifies his understanding of andragogy and basic perspectives in his…

The qualification of adult educators is a central aspect of the quality of adult education. However, within current policy discourses and adult education research on the professional development of prospective adult educators, little attention is paid to teacher qualification when compared to other fields of education and training. In this study,…

Actor network theory (ANT) is used to explore how work-learning is enacted in informal online communities and illustrates how researchers might use sociomaterial approaches to uncover complexities, uncertainties, and specificities of work-learning practices. Participants in this study were self-employed workers. The relational and material aspects…

This article explores the discursive work done by different notions of professional development in adult education. In particular we outline the ways in which the discourses of technical expertise, competence and reflective practice are deployed to mobilise professional practices and identities in particular ways and position certain practices and…

This article explores videoconferencing in the context of local learning centres in Sweden. The practice is described as a "learning space" in which adult learners construct socio-spatial relations. The study goes beyond a sociological apprehension of actors and opposes the idea of the material as neutral, passive and conformed by practice. On the…

This paper examines the results of research into the learning experiences of a group of adult learners in a university preparation programme in a college of Technical and Further Education in Sydney, NSW, Australia. The research was conducted over a three year period by the author as a teacher-researcher and is grounded in the phenomenological…

Prior to 1949 the Chinese Communist Party orchestrated innovative and participatory forms of adult education. This article concerns Madame Li Li, a leading Chinese Communist woman adult educator. Western delegates at the International Council for Adult Education 1984 Shanghai symposium on adult education were fascinated by Madame Li Li because,…

This paper considers the implications of current notions of the learning city. It argues that popular neoliberal ideologies create an environment in which lifelong learners strive for the learning city as an end product, both in production and for consumption, rather than embrace it as a living, social context. The rhetoric of the knowledge…

"Recognition of Prior Learning" (RPL) is usually associated with assessment processes prior to entry into an educational programme. This paper considers the recognition of prior learning in post-entry pedagogy (referred to here as "rpl" lower case). The focus is on informal learning or experience in courses in Labour Law at two universities in…

The changing face of midwifery practice and education in Australia is challenging the previously accepted notions of the birth experience, the options of care that are available for women and their families, and the role of the midwife in that experience. The role of the midwifery educator is also challenged by the move away from a predominantly…

Portfolio work has become recognized as a significant if under-researched form of work emerging in changing work structures. This article presents findings of a qualitative study of nurses and adult educators who function as 'portfolio professionals', in that they contract their services to multiple employers and organizations. Proceeding from…

From part of a larger study, interviews and observations of three Australian adult educators in the vocational education sector showed that those with work histories as teachers resisted discourses positioning them as trainers. They understood teaching and training as diametric opposites, a rigid position that may be counterproductive to…

Three adult educators who conducted a summer institute for 40 graduate students discuss how their positionalities influence conceptions of pedagogy and multiculturalism and shape inclusive teaching/learning interactions. They describe the sometimes uneasy intersections of the personal, the professional, and the political. (Contains 18 references.)…

A case study of a village in Zimbabwe illustrated how collective community actions resulted in learning that enabled sustainable management of a community resource. Educators' role was helping the community ask the right questions in the process of producing useful working knowledge. (Contains 34 references.) (SK)

The author's background in psychology and adult education is used to identify two shifts in his perspective: (1) a move from disciplinary to applied knowledge toward working knowledge and (2) from the subject of psychology being the rational autonomous self to the socially constructed self to the relational self. (SK)