The purpose of this article is to argue that student engagement, an important area for research about learning and teaching in formal higher education, has an elective affinity with neoliberalism, a hegemonic ideology in many countries of the developed world. The paper first surveys an extensive research literature examining student engagement and…

Student engagement, a student's emotional, behavioural and cognitive connection to their study, is widely recognized as important for student achievement. Influenced by a wide range of personal, structural and sociocultural factors, engagement is both unique and subjective. One important structural factor shown in past research to be a barrier for…

This article addresses the question: how can lifelong education contribute to subjective well-being by engaging learners and fostering active citizenship? The question arises due to the fact that governments in the western world have identified well-being as an important policy driver. Well-being research suggests that subjective well-being,…

This paper sets out to answer two questions "Given the policy settings for lifelong learning for adults in Europe and much of the western world, what are the policy settings and experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand?" and "Will the future of adult lifelong education there be neoliberal or cosmopolitan?" The article first examines…

This article explores how far research findings about successful pedagogies in formal post-school education might be used in non-formal learning contexts--settings where learning may not lead to formal qualifications. It does this by examining a learner outcomes model adapted from a synthesis of research into retention. The article first…

Diversity in its many guises is strongly championed in the adult education literature. To conceive a future for adult education that is not diverse and does not try to address the needs of diverse learners seems absurd. Yet, diversity is not a unitary concept, having many definitions and paradoxical effects. Questions arise about its future in a…