The transition into a post-industrial economy changed the nature of the Australian labour market extinguishing jobs in traditional industries and creating jobs in new industries. Workers displaced from the manufacturing sector and women seeking to re-enter the labour market after taking time out for family reasons need to retrain in order to…

This paper discusses a pilot project held at Middlesex University to enhance students' writing skills through literature teaching. It argues that literature teaching can offer a profound contribution to work-based learning and lifelong education: first, by showing students how effective arguments are constructed; second, by inspiring students to…

Governments across Europe have been encouraged by the European Union (EU) to take measures to upskill their workforce to ensure growth and social inclusion. Low-skilled workers are particular targets and learning providers and employers are expected to provide learning opportunities for them. However, research shows that those with low skills…

Within the last decade, adult education has faced significant challenges in terms of its relevance to socio-economic development as it sought to define itself through many international conferences. In spite of these re-conceptualisations, adult education continues to be relegated to the periphery, and therefore lacks the needed funding to play a…

The public supply of adult education is very different between countries, making it likely that there is scope for efficiency gains. The contribution of this paper is to provide an economic evaluation of the earnings impact of adult education at upper secondary level (AE) in Sweden, where the supply is plausibly larger than in any other country.…

Although there is a widely held view that adult learning has a positive impact on well-being, only recently has this proposition been systematically tested. A review of recent research confirms that adult learning has a clear influence on earnings and employability, both of which may influence well-being indirectly. These are more important for…

Today, "lifelong learning for all" figures prominently within the education and training policies of governments throughout the developed world and is presented as a powerful solution to a wide range of economic and social challenges. Norway is often regarded as a country that has perhaps made more progress towards this ideal than many…

The anniversary of the "International Journal of Lifelong Education" can participate in a conceptual landslide from lifelong education to lifelong learning. Contemporary discourses of lifelong learning etc. are abstractions behind which new functions and agendas for adult education are set. The ideological discourse of recent policies…

Describes a computer-based remedial education and training project for disabled adults. The project is run by the University of Nottingham Department of Adult Education. (CH)

The author attempts to identify the criteria and measures determining the early evolution of British governmental influence on the education of adults, particularly vocational education. He covers the period from the ending of Statutory Apprenticeship in 1814, to the role of the Science and Art Department by the 1860s. (CH)

Education and training are seen as a panacea for the problems of deskilling and mass unemployment. The lack of an overarching policy suggests a need for a discourse accepting paid work as an important area for lifelong learning, but also recognizing the learning needs of people largely excluded from paid work. (SK)

Transitional learning--a process of adaptation, growth, distinction, and resistance to changing circumstances--is illustrated through research on women's biographical learning related to work and on socioeconomic integration of young adults. Transitional learning is aimed at creating meaningful connections between individual life and society…