Accountability mechanisms in adult education, their constitution and their effects, are of increasing concern in an era threatening massive reductions to resources for adult education activity. Such mechanisms are frequently portrayed as unassailably oppressive. However, alternative analyses have illuminated contradictions and ambiguities in the…

This paper critically examines popular discourses of pedagogy circulating in adult education theory and practice: pedagogy as (heroic or nurturing) person, as prescriptive strategy, as political purpose, and as situated practices. I argue that problematic conceptions and desires can be identified across these discourses that lead to orientations…

A discursive study of Canadian women who had started businesses identified five themes about women and entrepreneurship: (1) business plans as the "right" way; (2) profit/growth as success measures; (3) women as misplaced in the masculine business frontier; (4) success in business as liberation; and (5) effect on women's "other" work of…

Examines the problem-based perspective and the pedagogy of problem-based learning. Outlines alternative philosophical perspectives for professional education. (SK)