Experimental narrative forms of writing research can offer empowering representations for adult education and feminist researchers. This article presents a selection of academic storytelling in the form of scanned transcript poems or "Learning stories," produced through interviews with women who participated in a special access program in rural…

The role and position of liberal non- or semi-vocational adult education (LAE) within English university provision is endlessly debated, centred upon policy and funding issues in Higher Education (HE). This debate seldom descends to delivery level to relate strategy to the experiences of a largely part-time, casually employed tutor body. This is…

In this paper we provide a North American perspective as we explore the formation and comprehension of queer knowledge in adult education and in larger sociocultural contexts. We consider the need to position queer in adult education mindful of how queer is historically and currently positioned in culture and society. In doing so, we articulate…

This paper conceptualises a basis for understanding learning in workplaces. This comprises a duality between how access to workplace activities and guidance is afforded, on the one hand, and how workers elect to engage with what is afforded to them, on the other. This reciprocal basis for thinking, acting and learning is referred to as…

This paper presents a study of the rhetoric of employee training in two US management trade journals, Personnel and Management Review, from 1920 to 2000. A discussion of forces that have influenced US employee development theory and practice throughout the twentieth century is followed by findings of a thematic analysis of the trade journal…

This article explores how planning the Botswana National Literacy Programme aided the state in maintaining its power and control over the past two decades. Using critical educational theory as the theoretical framework, it demonstrates how the planning of literacy education promotes conventional views of literacy and perpetuates state hegemony. It…

Widening participation initiatives tend to focus on raising the aspirations of the working class rather than changing educational cultures. However, any analysis must take account of the role of the educational institution itself in creating and perpetuating inequalities. Participation in higher education (HE) is an inherently more risky, costly…

On 21 March 1941, the Council of the Workers' Educational Association of Victoria, Australia, (the Association) voted the organisation out of existence. The demise was in no way contemplated, and there was no practical reason why the Council acted in the way it did. This paper is the story of the destruction of a successful adult education…

Analysis of the use of the skills model to teach basic writing to nontraditional English language learners in community college points out barriers to this approach, including wide variation in linguistic, cultural, and educational background and inability to help students transition to academic discourse. An academic socialization model using…

Interviews and observations involving 20 coal miners and 7 trainers found the group constructed a community of practice that reinforced the culture of masculinity. Miners learned safety measures through experience and from coworkers. Trainers viewed their work as simulated environments and codified practices, which implicitly devalue experiential…

Using an autobiographical narrative and the writings of Foucault, the author explores how power constructs subjectivity in learners, ways to resist self-regulation, and ways to use power ethically in adult education. (Contains 57 references.) (SK)

Argues that discourses of lifelong learning act as intellectual technologies that construct individuals as subjects in a learning society. Discuses three discourses using actor-network theory: (1) economics/human capital (individuals as accumulators of skills for competitiveness); (2) humanistic psychology (individuals seeking fulfilment through…

Analysis of statistics since 1994 on the use of study leave as allowed by a 1974 Swedish law indicates that about 1% of the work force takes leave at any time. Women and manual workers benefit more than men and salaried workers. Leave application causes employees few problems with employers but financial assistance is a concern. (Contains 37…

Discusses concepts and assumptions underlying actor-network theories and the new literacy studies. Identifies lessons for adult education research derived from sociological approaches to scientific knowledge, which examine power circulating in networks of human and nonhuman entities. (Contains 36 references.) (SK)

Auto-photography and photo elicitation are techniques that can help teachers articulate often subconscious beliefs about teaching. In auto-photography, participants, not researchers, take the pictures. Photo elicitation uses photographs to stimulate the interviewing process. Issues include research collaboration, mutual visual context,…