Lifelong Learning Participation And Equity

In many countries, schools, universities and other traditional learning institutions are not providing for the educational needs of all members of the community. Many communities, particularly in regional, rural and disadvantaged areas, can offer only limited educational options. This book addresses the challenge of identifying effective ways of accommodating the learning needs of all people and in so doing achieving the goals of lifelong learning for all.

A collection of 46 articles from the diverse and still emerging field of adult education.

Whether it is earning a GED, a particular skill, or technical topic for a career, taking classes of interest, or even returning to begin a degree program or completing it, adult learning encompasses those beyond the traditional university age seeking out education. This type of education could be considered non-traditional as it goes beyond the typical educational path and develops learners that are self-initiated and focused on personal development in the form of gaining some sort of education. Essentially, it is a voluntary choice of learning throughout life for personal and professional development. While there is often a large focus towards K-12 and higher education, it is important that research also focuses on the developing trends, technologies, and techniques for providing adult education along with understanding lifelong learners’ choices, developments, and needs. The Research Anthology on Adult Education and the Development of Lifelong Learners focuses specifically on adult education and the best practices, services, and educational environments and methods for both the teaching and learning of adults. This spans further into the understanding of what it means to be a lifelong learner and how to develop adults who want to voluntarily contribute to their own development by enhancing their education level or knowledge of certain topics. This book is essential for teachers and professors, course instructors, business professionals, school administrators, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the latest advancements in adult education and lifelong learning.

Existing equity strategies for postcompulsory education and training in Australia were examined to assess their effectiveness in a learning society. First, the equity and access policies in schools, vocational education and training (VET), higher education, and adult community education were compared. Next, educational outcomes of target groups in each sector were examined to identify patterns of participation for specific disadvantaged groups and to determine the extent to which structural factors affect patterns of participation in each sector. The feasibility of developing access and equity policies that would transcend sectoral boundaries was also explored. The following were among the study's key findings: (1) government equity strategies could be improved by targeting low socioeconomic status students within all equity groups, reporting performance so as to focus on outcomes, and strengthening pathways to employment from education and training; (2) performance reporting could be improved by collecting and publishing data in all sectors to the standard set by the VET sector; and (3) although it is not necessary to redefine equity in the context of lifelong learning, governments may need to develop new approaches to equity policies and programs to ensure that workers are able to participate effectively in the knowledge economy. (Contains 130 references.) (MN)

Drawing on the role of individuals, education and training providers and countries' social policy actions, and borrowing insights from psychology, sociology and economics, this book works towards an interdisciplinary theory of adult lifelong learning participation. It explores the fragmented evidence of why adults do or do not participate in adult lifelong learning activities and focuses on the relevance of policy, the social character and expected benefits of lifelong learning participation and discusses the potential implications for policy, practice and research.

The ongoing economic crisis raises fundamental questions about the political and social goals of the European Union, particularly the feasibility of harmonising social and education policy across member states. The forward momentum of the European project is clearly faltering, raising the possibility that the high water mark of European integration has been achieved, with implications for many aspects of education and social policy, including lifelong learning. This timely book makes a major and original contribution to the development of knowledge and understanding of lifelong learning in an expanded Europe. Its wide range of contributors look at the contribution of lifelong learning to economic growth and social cohesion across Europe, focusing its challenge to social exclusion. It draws on comparative data from the EU Sixth Framework Project Lifelong Learning Policy and Practice in Europe (LLL2010), which ran from 2005 - 2011 and involved twelve European countries and Russia. Very little research has been conducted to date on the nature of lifelong learning in post-Soviet countries, and this book provides important insights into their evolving education and lifelong learning systems. The book will be of interest to researchers and academics in the UK and Europe, especially those from social policy, adult and comparative education, equality studies and practice of lifelong learning.

This book is a tribute to a leading researcher in participation studies, as well as a look back to the lessons to be drawn from past struggles to secure greater equity for marginalised groups, and forward to the social, political and educational policy challenges facing providers, administrators, politicians and public in securing life-wide and life-long learning for all. The opening chapters cover the relationship between informal learning and the pursuit of learning for everyone; the central section addresses women's education, social class and adult learning, older people, learning and work, and the place of volunteers as learners and teachers in their own right; followed by two chapters looking at widening participation in further and higher education. The final chapter returns to the key theme: evaluating Veronica McGivney's work in participation studies, and considering its implications for adult learning and active citizenship. The contributors are leading practitioners and theorists of adult and continuing learning. Together, they present a powerful, coherent case for the support of adult learning, in Jane Thompson's memorable phrase, 'for a change', asserting that the pursuit of an inclusive and egalitarian society through inclusive and egalitarian polices for the education of adults is right for a civilised society and a dynamic economy.