Mass higher education, a characteristic recently unique to the United States of America, is now almost universal in scope in developed countries. This article contrasts the relative ease with which American higher education accommodated the rapid expansion of its student base with the difficulties that the United Kingdom, more particularly…

In the United States, developing "human capital" for both economic and social benefit is an idea as old as the nation itself and led to the emergence of world's first mass higher education system. Now most other nations are racing to expand access to universities and colleges and to expand their role in society. Higher education is…

Although the National Targets for Education and Training in England and Wales include indicators for lifelong learning, and the progress towards the targets set for these indicators has been lauded by politicians and other observers, much of this apparent progress is actually accounted for by changes in these same indicators. However, once the…

This book encompasses a systematic, comparative study of change in educational stratification in 13 industrialized countries, exploring which societal conditions help reduce existing inequalities in educational opportunity. The contributors show that in most industrialized countries inequalities in educational opportunity among students from…

Part 1 extends a previous study of "fresh start" courses in adult education in England. It focuses on the particular needs of women for renewed educational opportunities in mature life. This part describes and analyzes the provision to meet those needs represented by seven years' further work in Fresh Horizons at London's City Literary…

This bibliography cites resources in 13 aspects of education relating to literacy: approaches to literacy; research and practice; critical approaches to literacy (including Paolo Freire, critical theory, literacy and gender); adult education (adult learning, working in groups); popular education and popular culture (community development, writing…

The groups least represented in education and training provision in the United Kingdom are those who are also the most socially and economically disadvantaged: long-term unemployed people; low-wage manual workers; people with poor literacy and no qualifications; members of some black and Asian communities; older adults; homeless people; single…

This book about widening educational participation draws on an ethnographic study of 23 students returning to learning through access courses provided at their local further education college in suburban England. Chapter 1 explains how certain poststructural concepts (discourse, hegemony, deconstruction, and subjectivity) are used as analytical…