The origins and focuses of adult education across Western countries are often about meeting adults' needs, and for purposes they have nominated, not those compelled by others. Unlike other sectors (e.g. schools, vocational colleges and universities) that were mainly initiated and sustained by church or state, adult education has long been grounded…

This article proposes lifelong learning as a socio-personal process and a personal fact. As such, it is conceptually distinct from an educational provision, which constitutes one kind of institutional fact. In making this distinction, this article seeks to elaborate a major flaw in the precepts for conceptualisation and enactment of the report…

Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes are perhaps the most heterogeneous of the nation's educational sectors. However, TAFE institutes' capacity to provide inclusive education is constrained by their curriculum focus and pedagogical practices and culturally premised assumptions that may inhibit learning for students from…

Beyond the obvious acquisition of the three "R's"--reading, writing and arithmetic--many other benefits derive from learning. Increases in self-esteem and confidence have often been cited as consistent, if unanticipated, outcomes of learning and have been achieved even when there has been limited gain in the competency being learned.…

This Support Document was produced by the authors based on their research for the report, "Assessing and Acknowledging Learning through Non-Accredited Community Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy Programs," and is an added resource for further information. There were five phases of this project: Phase 1 comprised further interrogation…

The way school students understand work through their paid part-time work and participation in school-based apprenticeships has the potential to inform career decision making and further education pathways. Through classroom-based interventions this project sought to assist student's and teacher's understandings of 'authentic' work experiences.…

The factors that influence learning in workplaces were examined through a study of guided learning in five workplaces. Special attention was paid to the dual considerations of how workplaces afford opportunities for learning and how individuals elect to engage in activities and the guidance provided by the workplace. The readiness of the workplace…

This book, which is designed for human resource practitioners and students in courses on professional development and adult and vocational learning, examines strategies for effective practice in workplace learning. The introduction discusses interest in and ambivalence toward workplace learning and key premises of workplace learning. The following…

The reciprocal process of engaging in and learning through work was examined. Reciprocity between how workplaces invite individuals to participate in and learn through work (its invitational qualities) and individuals' engagement in the workplace was proposed as a means of understanding how learning through work proceeds. Workplaces' invitational…

Recent research on Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system and women in small business was synthesized to identify ways of making VET more responsive to the needs of women in small business. Special attention was paid to the following topics: key issues affecting public policy (globalization, economic development, industry…