In a Norwegian study, mature adult graduates had low rates of unemployment compared to traditional graduates, women were likely to have high-status jobs, and ageism was greater in the private sector. In Britain, mature graduates have higher unemployment, are excluded from better paying jobs, and are more commonly in the public sector, especially…

Trainers using dialog, critical thinking, and problem solving were challenged in training teachers in a ministry based on charismatic prophecies and unquestioned dogma. They questioned whether it is possible to change attitudes of those who believe in education for domestication in a context hostile to dialog and ambiguity. (SK)

Using guided apprenticeships in cognitive and social development and action research, a nonformal education project focused on developing strategic thinking, team values, and internal locus of control in 20 South African industrial participants. Increased self-confidence, better communication/relationship skills, and a broader knowledge base were…

Interviews with 56 Dutch adult students, 46 ex-students, and 27 teachers revealed that the centrality of school in the social environment was the same for persisters and dropouts. There was a clear correlation between dropout and the degree of disparity between student self-images and those teachers have of them. (SK)

The agricultural work force includes farmers and farm laborers, agricultural institution employees, and agriculture students. Their varied human resource development needs must be met within a context of global forces affecting agriculture and on various levels: policy (information needs), institutional (strengthening programs, improving access),…

The voluntary, public, economic, and professional sectors form an interactive network in which the voluntary sector has an important impact on the quality of community life. The kinds of formal and informal learning that take place in voluntary organizations bring about individual change and empowerment and should transfer to active citizenship.…

Portrays the changed context of adult education in Central and Eastern Europe; social and individual learning needs such as training, retraining, upgrading, education for responsible citizenship, and adult educator training; and assistance needed from abroad. (SK)

The dominant paradigm of adult education--adult development--is being challenged profoundly in the context of postmodernism, social fragmentation, and cultural erosion. Adult education's new role should emphasize the collective, collaborative, and social dimensions of adult learning in order to make a significant contribution to society. (SK)

Argues that radical education and leftist political practice have misread Gramsci, claiming him for inspiration while advocating approaches to which he was opposed. Proposes that political projects be based anew on Gramsci's core concepts: the contingent/provisional/conjectural, the progressive, alliances, and the role of the party. (SK)

Interviews with 11 policymakers, 49 teachers, and 125 adult learners in Alberta explored their socioeconomic characteristics and political culture. Results showed the predominance of the therapeutic model, in which social problems are considered pathologies or deficits and treatment involves adapting learners to the economic requirements of…

The first phase of a pilot project to compare morbidity and mortality of children of three groups of mothers (illiterate, literate through formal schooling, literate through Nicaragua's National Literacy Crusade begun in 1980) found that substantial numbers of women became literate as a result of the crusade and have maintained their literacy. (SK)

A survey of Japanese community education committees received 2,818 responses (87%) providing data about the promotion of lifelong learning, cooperation with schools and department chiefs, methods of establishing courses, and the desired scope of community education courses in the future. (SK)

All nations face similar choices related to the cost, scale, quality, relevance, access, and flexibility of their learning systems. Adaptive learning systems are learner centered, change focused, value based, technologically mediated, and built on open systems principles. Adaptive learning systems have the capacity to empower the learning…

Examines the relationship of feminist education, feminism, poststructuralist social theory, and postmodernism. Considers epistemology, knowledge and power, and ontology, and asks whether women's studies can be radical within academia. Advocates a learning environment in which teacher and students explore lived reality and engage in critical…

Interviews with 36 part-time adult students showed them to be in 2 distinct groups: those for whom there was a clear link between educational participation and life transitional events and those for whom no linkage was apparent. The latter appear to participate for intrinsic interest with no immediate instrumental goal. (SK)