Apprenticeship is engrained in America's history -- three of the Founding Fathers started their careers as apprentices. Apprenticeship is a model employers can trust, helping to ensure talent is prepared for in-demand opportunities while also providing a quality postsecondary path for young Americans who are questioning the traditional four-year…

"Informal Adult Learning: Shaping the Way Ahead," the Government's consultation on the future of informal adult learning in England, was launched by Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham, on January 15, 2007. The consultation invites respondents to help shape "a new vision for informal adult…

Discusses online learning and the possible impact on classroom-based courses. Highlights include profits and online courses; problems with classroom learning; hybrid courses; potential for interactivity; adult learners and online courses; policies regarding the implementation of online learning; and a sidebar on the nature of interaction. (LRW)

This report is a compilation of the presentations given at a three-credit workshop on self-directed adult learning held July 14-25, 1980, at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. An introductory section overviews the workshop, the purpose of which was to initiate the development of policy guidelines for both facilitators of learning and learners…

This guide for selecting library materials for residents of state institutions is designed to help the institutional librarian who has special groups to serve and who does not have access to standard acquisition tools. The first section lists what information is necessary to order materials, provides samples of filled-in order forms, and mentions…

The College Board's Future Directions for a Learning Society (FDLS) program has increasingly focused on improving access and transition for adult learners. The "learning society" is a name for what is happening and for an ideal. The challenge is to build bridges from what is to what could be. Although over seventeen million adult…

Looks at lifelong learning in the United States and its relation to European concepts, notes different perceptions of adult education, and reviews legislation intended to achieve the goals of a learning society. Considers matters of financing, attitudes, and structure and explores trends in American lifelong learning. (MF)

Influencing government policy in adult learning areas requires consistent efforts in having findings noticed by educational policymakers. Submissions by Adult Learning Australia and researchers have called for unified educational policies and practices across Australia. This paper argues that, whilst it is important to address macro issues of…

The aim of this paper is to describe and critique key policies and policy documents relevant to older adults' learning and education from the 1980s to 2001. It describes relevant aspects of the historical struggles between competing discourses and ideologies which took place during the period. It then examines the impact of these struggles on the…

A study analyzed how a group of single welfare mothers, heads of households mandated to participate in a preemployment program with an educational component, viewed learning. Welfare policy makers assumed a highly illiterate population whose "deficiencies" would be remediated through participation in existing, voluntary basic education. Studies…

This paper describes the development of an array of adult services within New York State's educational structure. The first of seven sections reviews the roles of Melvin Dewey, the 1938 Regents Inquiry, and Proficiency Exams/Regents Degrees in the evolution of state education policy. In section 2, three studies (1972 Postsecondary Education Study,…

A number of factors have come together to generate a renewed interest in adult learning in Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) countries, including emphasis on demand shifts associated with technology and globalization; large size of skills needs; and aging population. Major gaps in knowledge about adult learning still hinder…

Given the discrepancies between the format of graduate programs in educational administration and the actual demands of the administrative work setting, instructors should refocus instruction to bridge the gap between administrative theory and practice. This document describes one instructor's use of an interactive experiential learning activity…

These conference proceedings contain nine theme papers from a conference on the University of the Third Age (U3A); the concept of positive aging; and new directions in political thinking, education, health, and social services. An introduction by the conference coordinator, Geoff Cawthorne, begins the volume. The papers are as follows:…

Before England's Education Reform Act of 1988, higher education (HE) provision in England's further education (FE) colleges was the responsibility of the local education authorities that owned, controlled, and funded the colleges and polytechnics for advanced and nonadvanced FE. In 1987-1997, HE in FE colleges was commonly considered a residual or…