The decline in foreign language learners in tertiary education is a concern in many countries. While factors influencing students' persistence in second language learning have been explored, there has been limited discussion on the potential of language programmes that develop students' self-formation alongside language learning. This study aimed…

Citizenship education played a crucial role in the 19th century transition from royal sovereignty to democracy in the Nordic region, with folk high schools (FHS) playing an important role. While established to empower the people ("folk") for active participation in society, the contemporary folk high schools have reoriented from their…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore, understand, and document former students' perceptions of the vocationally focused theater training they received at a 2-year community college and to discover how that training helped them meet their goals and expectations for careers in the theater. Listening to individual stories of theater…

Many educators in adult, community and higher education contexts are concerned with fostering reflective learning amongst their students. This paper explores the concept of critical reflection and considers how engaging with fiction may be an innovative pedagogical approach to support critical learning opportunities. Drawing upon interviews with…

With innovations in technology, adult educators can begin to create learning opportunities in very expansive terms. But, innovative, technologically advanced learning environments still benefit from a solid foundation in adult learning theory, instrumental theories like John B. Watson's Behaviorism, Lev Vygotsky's Social Development Theory, Jack…

Both Jarvis and theories of Christian Religious Education (CRE) emphasise that learning develops the whole person, yet they differ in their understandings of how and why this is the case. Jarvis's experiential learning theory begins "from below" with experience, whereas many approaches of CRE begin with the end result: individuals…

A "Model of Authentic Becoming" that conceptualizes learning as a continuous and ongoing embodied and relational process, and uses social constructionism assumptions as well as Kolb's experiential learning model as its point of departure, is presented. Through a focus on the subjective, embodied, and relational nature of organizational life, the…

This study was conducted to investigate which pitfalls users of personal development plans (PDPs) perceive in business and governmental organisations with mandatory PDP use. Hundred and thirty-one written statements of PDP users across three Dutch organisations were analysed and categorised into nine pitfalls. Next to an overall lack of use and…

Purpose: This article aims to understand conditions under which personal development plans (PDPs) can effectively be implemented for professional learning. Both the organization's manner of supporting the PDP practice as well as the individual employee's motivation is taken into account. Design/ methodology/approach: A questionnaire was…

In this article the life history of a young Finnish woman, Salla, is explored along with reflections of her best friend and other peers. The analysis is conducted from the perspective of Finland as a country of "genderless gender", where mute or hidden gendering and sexualisation converge with the gender-neutral rhetoric about the…

This manuscript provides a model and an assignment based on the model that allows emerging leaders to examine the purity of their heart, the accuracy of their thoughts, whether they operate from reasoned emotions, effective dispositions, words seasoned with grace, appropriate actions, and habits that engender honorable leadership character…

Because wisdom is such a complex and multidimensional construct, it is difficult to study, much less to define. Based on the author's understanding, her definition of wisdom is as follows: "Wisdom is about human flourishing; it is having sufficient awareness in various situations and contexts to act in ways that enhance our common humanity." This…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify, compile, and describe how community college graduate dental hygienists perceived their initial dental hygiene curriculum preparation and how they subsequently adapted their curriculum preparation in order to perform their responsibilities in their first clinical dental hygiene job.…

This paper stems from a dialogue on the subjects of learning and learners: one forged out of experiences in research and teaching, and the application of psychodynamic insights, developmental psychology and recent work in the neurosciences, to thinking about adult learning and subjectivity. We argue that some notion of the self needs to be…

This reflective paper discusses aspects of the author's personal development as an adult learner. Though that development is reflected in her practice as an adult educator, she does not explore those implications in the paper. Instead, she grapples with what it means to make meaning, to determine how she knows what she thinks she knows. The author…