Open Stages is Britain's biggest amateur theatre project, a hugely ambitious scheme to bring the professional and amateur theatre worlds together. It is a learning project but, as the Royal Shakespeare Company's Ian Wainwright tells this author, it is not only the amateurs who are learning. Wainwright states that the amateur and professional…

Like adult education, the field of volunteer management shows increasing movement toward professionalization. The establishment of standards--both for the profession of volunteer management and for volunteer service itself--is generating debates similar to adult educators' debates over purposes and objectives. The types of learning that occur in…

In November 1996, the National Institute for Adult and Continuing Education arranged a conference on the theme "Museums and Adults--Partners in Learning" held at the British Museum. The conference was attended by numerous local authorities and various adult education organizations, including the Workers' Educational Association (WEA).…

A conviction that democracy required for its citizens access to knowledge and to habits of critical thought has been recognized as a driving dynamic behind educators such as Albert Mansbridge. Britons must reshape their vision for the turn of the millennium, but they need to draw on their inheritance, on the understanding of their predecessors…

Conference proceedings survey Australian adult education as organized under voluntary bodies, statutory authorities, universities, state education departments, universities and colleges, agricultural extension departments, the rural youth movement, and colleges of advanced and adult education. First, the need for universal and lifelong continuing…

The impact of the abolition of the Inner London Educational Authority (ILEA) on adult education in London (England) was explored. Specifically, the impact of abolition, that might support the concept and practice of active citizenship, was studied on three areas of adult education: environmental education, antiracist work, and work with voluntary…

Although older persons are increasing both in number and as a proportion of the total American population, they are not taking advantage of educational opportunities. Barriers to their educational efforts include inadequate transportation, lack of money, poor health, program scheduling, and the attitude that learning is for others. Available…

The six articles in this first issue comprise a critical discourse about theories, practices, and research with the intent of realizing the potential of adult learning to bring about social change. "Adult Education and Empowerment for Individual and Community Development" (Jack Mezirow) outlines and updates the author's transformation…

A study isolated and examined the words most frequently used by voluntary organizations in Atlantic Canada to describe their goals (what), learning objectives and activities (how), and conditions (who/for whom). Research methodology involved (1) administering a questionnaire for identification of goals, learning objectives and activities, and…

The essays in this collection describe some of the main aspects--theories, programs and practices--of adult education in Israel. The 22 essays are: "Problems and Objectives of Adult Education," by Elad Peled; "The Principle of Dialogue in Education," by Martin Buber; "The Jewish Tradition of Life-long Learning," by…

This document uses clear language and pictures to help adults with learning disabilities learn how other adults with learning difficulties have made the jump from courses and training into jobs and kept working. The following are among the topics discussed in Sections 1 through 9: (1) the objectives and activities of the Making the Jump project…

The following papers are included: "Preface" (Huey B. Long); "Self-Directed Learning: Smoke and Mirrors?" (Huey B. Long); "From Self-Culture to Self-Direction: An Historical Analysis of Self-Directed Learning" (Amy D. Rose); "The Link between Self-Directed and Transformative Learning" (Jane Pilling-Cormick);…

This book examines the impact of globalization, economic restructuring, and the enhanced role of community and voluntary organizations in the provision of education in Great Britain and elsewhere. The following topics are discussed in the book's eight chapters: the implications of the market-led approach to adult education as a means of economic…

Ireland's economic and social problems in the 1980s spawned a new kind of community education. Key characteristics of the new community education are as follows: (1) it is a learning environment and located in the community; (2) it provides learning programs based on identified needs; (3) its control remains in the local community's hands; (4) its…

The following conference papers cover a wide spectrum of issues in continuing education: "Introduction" (Katherine Leni Oglesby); "Footprints in the Sand?--The Legacy of the University Funding Council's Support for Research in Continuing Education" (Chris Duke); "Thinking Fragments: Learning, Life Histories and the…