In the new economy, increased polarization of rich and poor is supported by the rhetoric of lifelong learning policies focused on training as panacea. Adult educators are urged to analyze the new economy from alternative perspectives, adopt a holistic view of lifelong learning, and advocate more progressive policies. (Contains 47 references.) (SK)

Four case studies of volunteer training focused on achievement of certification or other qualifications identified complex reasons why volunteers drop out or do not complete assessments: a vocation versus vocationalism view of volunteering, intrinsic versus extrinsic incentives, motivation for learning, and role conflict. (Contains 34 references.)…

Focuses on tensions between two perspectives: a global political consensus on lifelong learning as reorganization of the education system and a phenomenology of lifelong learning that depicts education as a biographical process. Presents research needs focused on social learning. (Contains 93 references.) (SK)

Interviews with 36 adult learners in information-communications technology (ICT) settings, using the concept of learning trajectories, revealed barriers to widening participation through ICT. In addition to technical shortcomings, social, economic, cultural, and political issues hinder the process, including lack of innovative instruction and…

Recent policy developments have involved adult educators and unions in work-related learning. However, an uncritical analysis of learning in the workplace risks aligning these activities with new forms of oppression and managerial control. (Contains 39 references.) (Author/SK)

Although workplace learning is frequently characterized as informal, it usually involves structured, goal-directed, intentional activities. Instead, learning should be seen as interdependent between the individual and the social practice. Tensions arise between the need for continuity and work practices and individual needs to realize goals.…

Interviews with participants in extramural archaeology in British universities reveal growth in field-based involvement of adult students from 1943-1975. Since the 1970s, archaeology has been increasingly professionalized, leading to its decline in extramural adult education. (Contains 55 references.) (SK)

Although a Canadian training project was conducted by a union with a progressive philosophy, it construed unemployment as a personal rather than a public issue. Analysis using a social/cultural capital framework uncovered four areas of tension: organizational structure, educational content, diversity, and the "good employee." (Contains 29…

Habermas' commitment to deliberative democracy and civil society as the preeminent learning domain can help adult education address the changing world. His view of civil society is a guide to achievement of a learning society that encourages active citizenship, nurtures people-centered work, and fosters commitment to the common good. (SK)

Within the framework of the body as a significant site for learning, case studies of staff in an eldercare facility and of adult learners of English as a second language are used to support the claim of ontological performance (practical embodied actions) as a way to approach adult learning for and at work. (Contains 38 references.) (SK)

Fundamental changes in higher education are needed to turn the rhetoric of lifelong learning into reality. Whether work-related learning, an aspect of lifelong learning, becomes a force for progressive development will depend on university culture and the motivation of educators, employers, and learners. (Contains 28 references.) (SK)

The debate over whether recognition of prior learning (RPL) should focus on access or credit involves four issues: (1) challenges posed by the higher education environment; (2) the narrow instrumental view of curricula associated with RPL for credit; (3) the limitations of portfolios; and (4) relationship and status of different forms of…

Reviews the history of comparative adult education and the multiple pathways afforded by postmodernism and poststructuralism. Concludes that comparative adult education should avoid bipolar constructs and include exploration of the following: analysis, forces, power, genre, communication, interculturality, knowledge construction, evaluation, and…

Multicultural immigrant workers (n=23) studying English as a second language took photographs about their lives, wrote about them, and displayed them on the Internet. The materials depicted their cross-cultural journeys and transformative experiences. The process increased their communication skills and empowered them to make workplace changes.…

A study of 13 female educators working aborad found their status as professionals superceded female status in host countries; trigger events emanated from personal relationships; and trigger events had four stages: communicating with family about departure, culture "shocks" in the first 3 months, cultural adjustments, and reentry into the home…