Sociology Of Adult Education

Discussion of the sociology of adult education (nonformal education) - examines social theory approaches; looks at the functions and role of the curriculum; provides a cost benefit analysis of educational innovations; outlines the scope of distance study with examples; reviews adult education and modernization in developing countries with case studies of Botswana; makes a comparison of formal and nonformal education models. Bibliography.

This book provides a comprehensive sociological overview of adult and continuing education. It draws on all branches of sociology rather than advocating one approach. It examines the theories of all the significant sociological writers in the field such as Knowles, Marx, Freire and Gramsci and sets them in the broader intellectual context. It also considers the content of the curriculum in adult education and the place of adult education in society at large. The author indicates the strengths and weaknesses of the different sociological perspectives and demonstrates how they can be used to analyse the function and purpose of adult and continuing education.

Critical Theorist Carlos Alberto Torres offers a political sociology of adult learning and education, based on Critical Social Theory and the always inspiring work of Paulo Freire. Empirically grounded and theoretically sophisticated, this new book follows the footsteps of his classic book published in the early nineties The Politics of Nonformal Education in Latin America. Torres book offers comparative and international sociological analyses of adult learning and education, an area in which there is an obsession with ‘practice’ and an aversion to theory, with some notable and laudable exceptions, but which has the potential to provide avenues for social justice education in ways that no other systems and policies can. This book revitalizes social theory in education, and provides ample evidence of the power of adult learning and education, examining a variety of policy documents connected with the various adult education congresses promoted by the UNESCO, which are thoroughly scrutinized for what they bring to or omit from the policy agenda. In the context of new developments in adult learning and education, particularly the impact of multiple globalizations, neoliberalism, and the new role of international organizations in reconceptualizing lifelong learning, new evidence-based research, new narratives, and the vibrancy of social movements striving for a new and possible world, it is clear that new theoretical designs were needed making this is a must-read book.

This book provides educators and facilitators with a comprehensive overview of the historical underpinnings and philosophical orientations of adult education and adult learning while attending to the various roles individuals play both within and beyond the formal constraints of the classroom. Positioning learners' and instructors' educational narratives as central to the theories that inform adult education, Pathways of Adult Learning opens up a dialogue among students, educators, community members, scholars, and working professionals about the many possible avenues toward knowledge sharing. Employing a personal, accessible tone, Janet Groen and Colleen Kawalilak take up a relational approach that encourages readers to reflect upon their own experiences as learners within the broadening context of adult education. Conscious of the power imbalances that can emerge in both institutional and professional work and learning environments, this text explores specific teaching and facilitation strategies that effectively generate ideas and accommodate adult learners of varying gender orientations, socio-economic backgrounds, and ethnicities. Through their collaborative analysis of a diverse collection of first-person narratives, provided by both students and scholars working in the field, the authors construct a multi-faceted portrait of the status of adult learning today. Integrating a critical lens to explore how social, cultural, and economic factors influence and shape individual and collective pathways toward lifelong learning, this text is an indispensible guide for anyone studying or facilitating educational programming for adults in diverse work and learning contexts.

The relationship between adult education research and theory is one of tension. On the one hand, there are several empirical studies carried out without any theoretical guidance. On the other hand, there is theorizing and theory building taking place without any empirical support. Social Science Theories in Adult Education Research, the third volume of the Bochum Studies in International Adult Education series, pleads for the importance of the combination of empirical and theoretical work in a symbiotic way. Good empirical studies need theoretical guidance and good theory building needs a solid empirical basis; thus the book explores and displays the most often used theories and theoretical perspectives in adult education research in the last decade within the European discourse and analyzes their potentials for adult education research. The chapters presented in this volume have a more or less similar underlying structure. They display the most important contours of the theory or perspective in question; they analyze and discuss the relation to adult education research, focusing on examples of other researcher's work; and they give an outlook on what can be expected of the respective paradigm's in the future.

USA. Case study of sociological aspects and administrative aspects of adult education in california to illustrate institutional adjustment to social change - covers historical evolution, financial aspects, the role of interest groups, student enrolment, recruitment and supply of teachers, evening classes, the curriculum, etc., and includes information on the research method and the text of the questionnaire used, and a list of organisations co-sponsoring adult education.

This book re-imagines the essence and role of adult education at both the individual and societal levels. It provides arguments for understanding adult education as a process of agency and empowerment, which has not only instrumental but intrinsic and transformative roles to play. This book brings together ideas from the capability approach with insights from recognition theory; the embeddedness approach; the political economic perspective for understanding public and private goods and the common goods perspective. The analysis draws on data from large-scale international studies – alongside qualitative data - and adopts a wide-ranging European comparative perspective. The book develops original instruments for measuring different dimensions of adult education as a common good, and its realisation in different social contexts. It is aimed at academics, students, practitioners, and policy makers interested in adult and/or higher education and the social justice perspective to human life.