No undergraduate or postgraduate programmes currently exist for the professional education of informal educators. The authors outline the development of previous programmes and consider the emergence of informal education as a discrete concept. The article then highlights some key failings in the professional education of informal educators and…

In this paper, the author shares his perspective on the future of lifelong learning by looking back to the vision of the pioneers of adult learning, and picking out four messages that are relevant as people face their own, distinct, challenges. The author stresses the need to seize the opportunity to reinvigorate the original vision of adult…

In the second article in a series marking 90 years of NIACE support for adult learning, the author charts the changing shape of adult education in the decades following the Second World War, and the Institute's emergence as a "major non-governmental force" in the development of adult education. In 1983 the NIAE changed its name to the…

One of the successes of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has been to recognize the importance of advice and guidance to adults on courses as well as those wanting to access provision. Information, advice and guidance (IAG) matters: it helps people to overcome barriers to learning. It enables adults to identify what learning is right for them.…

Research from the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe explored the concept of motivation in relation to education and training schemes for the unemployed. Studies suggest that lack of motivation can be explained by socioeconomic status, recent training experience, lack of perceived links between training and jobs or career progression, and…

Issues in distance education at the tertiary level in Australia are addressed in three papers. The need to provide mature students with information before course attendance is discussed by Edward R. Reid-Smith in "Why Educational Advisory Services for Mature Students?" During 1982-1984, new external students at Riverina College of…

This guide to rural learning is intended to help those developing learning opportunities in the United Kingdom countryside--teachers, program organizers, project and development workers, and health and housing workers. Section 1 supplies up-to-date facts and figures and useful information about living in the rural context. It highlights issues…

Purpose: This paper reports on the development of a workplace-based e-learning programme for small and medium enterprise (SME) managers in five European countries. The course is designed to address the specific needs of SME managers who, it has been noted, represent a significant proportion of the EU workforce but often experience difficulty in…

This document is an overview of the projects conducted in England and Wales as part of the European Year of Lifelong Learning. The document begins with an overview of lifelong learning that outlines the United Kingdom's educational attainment targets for the year 2000 and the six strands of the United Kingdom's lifelong learning policy framework…

This document is designed to help adult and community learning (ACL) services across the United Kingdom complete the annual self-assessment reports (SARs). The guide begins with background information on the purposes of self-assessment, the new context of ACL and the elements and format of the new SARs. The remaining four sections examine the…

This document presents guidelines for engaging employers in work-based learning programs offered by post-16 institutions in the United Kingdom. Chapter 1 explains why the guidelines are needed, how they were developed, and how they can be used. The following are among the topics examined in Chapters 2-6: (1) getting employers involved (benefits of…

This report describes developments in Britain and the United States which enable people to use, in an education or training context, components of their achievements drawn directly from their prior experience. The report is divided into three sections. The first section consists of an account of the present situation in Britain concerning further…

This book, which is intended for individuals involved in the education of adults and museum education, explores the potential role of museums in creation of a learning society, possibilities for collaboration between museums and adult education providers, access to museum resources by adult learners, and training and staff development. The…

The Public Libraries and Adult Independent Learners (PLAIL) Project was conducted in the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Spain to identify the following: needs of adult independent learners; services required to meet those needs; extent to which those services rely on existing and new technology; and skills and competencies required to provide the…

Successful employer engagement requires that colleges in the United Kingdom secure employers' involvement in the design, development, management, and delivery of post-16 learning so that the skill needs of employers and the workforce will be met and the increased productivity, competitiveness, and efficiency of individual organizations and the…