Research and development on formative assessment has paid little attention to part-time adult basic education in informal community-based settings. A three-year project funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the National Research Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy, and the Quality Improvement Agency addresses that gap in vocational and…

This article examines the use of research by adult education practitioners both empirically and theoretically. It is suggested that arguments for making research more relevant to practice must be treated with caution and that the relationship between research and practice is inherently loose. Implications for researchers and practitioners are…