As unemployment levels rise, so education and training move into the policy spotlight. For the government, this is a very uncomfortable place to be right now. A number of large companies have withdrawn from the flagship Work Programme--under which jobseekers are invited to take up unpaid work placements of between two and eight weeks--amid…

It is increasingly important for adult educators to articulate more clearly their understanding of the benefits and outcomes of adult learning. This paper reviews existing evidence of the impact of participation in education, and particularly explores the relevance of recent studies of how learning has influenced adults' health and well-being.…

Generational conflict is back. After years of relative silence, and mutual ignorance, the young and old are once more at war. With youth unemployment high on the political agenda, the fortunes of the "jobless generation" are being contrasted with those of the "golden generation" of baby boomers, but is one generation really…

Rioting usually achieves nothing in itself, but it can tell the people a lot about their society. For anyone interested in adult learning, the experience of the public debate has been salutary, with any attempt to explain the events being dismissed as "condoning" the looters. While it would be arrogant to assume that everyone now knows…

Everyone is talking about civil society. Perhaps it's the election, and the shock of seeing more voters at the polling booths than anyone had expected. Now David Cameron's idea of a "big society" is being translated into some early policy measures. Does today's debate have anything to do with adult learning? The author believes that the…

Due to the effects of global warming, writes Field, everyone now lives in times of plague, floods, and famine. While the UK government's track record on green issues is not all bad, still it is vulnerable to criticism. In this article, the author discusses what adult education has to offer to the environmental movement, despite existing…

Although there is a widely held view that adult learning has a positive impact on well-being, only recently has this proposition been systematically tested. A review of recent research confirms that adult learning has a clear influence on earnings and employability, both of which may influence well-being indirectly. These are more important for…

Describes the establishment and progress of courses in peace studies, a controversial topic that falls well within the tradition of adult education. (JOW)

Answers the following questions about transformative research: (1) is the concept needed? (2) does it represent a new methodology? (3) how does it relate to social movements? and (4) is it limited to postindustrial societies? (SK)

Under current arrangements, the Scottish Parliament has powers covering domestic matters such as health, the justice system, economic development, environment and transport, and education. Defense and foreign policy are not devolved; tax-setting is only partly devolved. The author prognosticates that the Scottish National Party (SNP) will exercise…

The nature of adult education may suit it for a partnership role in the Green movement--people concerned about the environment. Because Greens are ideologically diverse and generally well educated, adult educators' best opportunity may be in fostering awareness of ways in which environmentalists learn, as adults. (SK)

A review of the European Union's adult continuing education (ACE) and training policies concludes that most national systems of ACE are already multifaceted and flexible; the European Union's policy focus on economic growth and competitiveness intensifies environmental degradation and economic inequities; and European Union financial support may…

The European Union is reshaping its education and training programs to focus on the need for the whole community to learn throughout life. However, resources continue to be targeted mostly on initial schooling and undergraduate education. (SK)

The opportunities paradigm assumes that participation in lifelong learning is positive and voluntary, yet discourse analysis reveals pervasive pressure to be permanent learners. Recent research suggests that learners may switch between discourses of compulsion and self-realization, and they may combine participant and nonparticipant identities.…

The citations contained in research published in two British scholarly periodicals in the field of continuing education for the years 1986-1990 were analyzed. The analysis had two primary objectives: (1) to evaluate the potential of citation analysis as a quantitative method of studying the quality of research output; and (2) to determine whether…