Resources

This volume critically explores themes of belonging, learning and community, drawing on a range of research studies conducted with adult learners in formal and informal contexts and employing interdisciplinary theory from education, feminist theory, cultural studies and human geography. Dominant but simplistic and regulatory ideas and practices of learning community in higher education and lifelong learning are critiqued. Instead, Jocey Quinn argues that learners gain most benefit from creating their own symbolic communities and networks, which help to produce imagined social capital. A rich variety of empirical data is used to explore and demonstrate how such imagined social capital works. (From the Publisher)

1986 Winner of the Imogene Okes Award and the Cyril O. Houle World Award for Literature in Adult Education The first book to receive both the Imogene Okes Award and the Cyril O. Houle World Award for Literature in Adult Education presented by the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education. This book analyzes current approaches to adult learning and presents a comprehensive review of the research on how adults learn. (From the Publisher)

An authoritative overview of the current state of the field of adult and continuing education Drawing on the contributions of 75 leading authors in the field, this 2010 Edition of the respected Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education provides adult education scholars, program administrators, and teachers with a solid foundation for understanding the current guiding beliefs, practices, and tensions faced in the field, as well as a basis for developing and refining their own approaches to their work and scholarship. Offering expanded discussions in the areas of social justice, technology, and the global dimensions of adult and continuing education, the Handbook continues the tradition of previous volumes with discussions of contemporary theories, current forms and contexts of practice, and core processes and functions. Insightful chapters examine adult and continuing education as it relates to gender and sexuality, race, our aging society, class and place, and disability. Key Features Expanded coverage of social justice, the impact of technology, and the global dimensions of adult and continuing education provides a useful update on theories and practices in the field as they have evolved during the last decade. An invaluable introductory overview and synthesis of key aspects of the field of practice and scholarship acquaints new readers to the field The centrality of social justice in adult and continuing education is addressed in a new section. The broader global context of contemporary adult and continuing education is covered in a final section. (From the Publisher)

Like many ideas that inform policy, practice and research, ‘transition’ has many meanings. Children make a transition to adulthood, pupils move from primary to secondary school, and there is then a movement from school to work, training or further education. Transitions can lead to profound and positive change and be an impetus for new learning for some individuals and be unsettling, difficult and unproductive for others. Transitions have become a key concern for policy makers and the subject of numerous policy changes over the past ten years. They are also of interest to researchers and professionals working with different groups. Transitions and Learning Through the Lifecourse examines transitions across a range of education, life and work settings. It explores the claim that successful transitions are essential for educational inclusion, social achievement, and economic prosperity and that individuals and institutions need to manage them more effectively. Aimed primarily at academic researchers and students at all levels of study across a range of disciplines, including education, careers studies, sociology, feminist and cultural studies, this book is the first systematic attempt to bring together and evaluate insights about educational, life and work transitions from a range of different fields of research. Contributions include: The transition between home and school The effects of gender, class and age Transitions to further and higher education Transitions for students with disabilities Transitions into the workplace Learning within the workplace Approaches to managing transitions (From the Publisher)

From the “Forward” by Stephen D. Brookfield, Distinguished University Professor, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis St. Paul, Minnesota “These days it is fashionable to lament the passing of adult education’s transgressive spirit. The historical myth that exercises considerable influence on the field is that adult education used to be a radical expression of the democratic spirit, but it has been tamed, moved to the dark side, become the lapdog of workplace learning, sold its soul to the devil of professionalism in a misguided attempt to be taken seriously by more powerful branches of education. This myth is just that – a myth. I have never believed it. The radical, transgressive spirit of adult education has endured and constantly reconfigured itself, doing its best to escape and outwit those who would contain and neutralize its energy and surfacing in ways that constantly take adult e ducators by surprise. The colleagues I work with in adult and higher education and the learners I serve and study with are neither tamed nor ideologically hoodwinked. This volume of spirited commitment — defiantly hopeful, seriously playful, and placing matt ers of desire and resistance at its center — is an apt representation of the enduring radical spirit of the best of adult education.”

Adult and continuing education continues to evolve as both a strong discipline and a professional field of practice throughout the global community. Both adult educators and adult learners require a common and informed conceptual and theoretical framework to assist them in developing meaningful curricula for adult learners. This book, in a collective and unified manner, describes innovative strategies for developing curricula for adult learners in diverse social, cultural, and economic contexts. (From the Publisher)

Adult and continuing education continues to evolve as both a strong discipline and a professional field of practice throughout the global community. Both adult educators and adult learners require a common and informed conceptual and theoretical framework to assist them in developing meaningful curricula for adult learners. This book, in a collective and unified manner, describes innovative strategies for developing curricula for adult learners in diverse social, cultural, and economic contexts. (From the Publisher)

Transformative learning is a theory of adult education that focuses on the profound changes-or transformations-that can occur in the lives of adults. It is not as concerned with incremental advances in learners' knowledge as it is with their mental frameworks for making meaning from life experiences. This book explores the role of creative expression in this transformational process. It provides a practical and accessible approach to using creative expression with adult learners. The book provides various tools, methods and creative modalities that have been used to promote transformative learning, and discusses how adult educators themselves are transformative learners. (From the Publisher)