Lifelong Learning (LLL) has become a pliable term in educational discourse running the risk of meaning both everything and nothing, making it necessary to look at how the notion of LLL has been taken up in different contexts, especially within the context of policy development. Because of the inconsistent ways LLL has been peppered throughout…

In this essay, I argue that our recent pivot toward digital learning, in addition to the social discontent and economic turbulence exacerbated by the pandemic, requires a re-imagining of how we "do" adult and workforce education (AWE) policy. First, I briefly describe the 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (WIOA) policy.…

Organizations advocating for federal, state, and local level support for adult education have long relied on the power of individual story to influence both public perception and public policy. They have developed training programs, provided advocacy toolkits, and organized visits with policy makers in order to promote and sustain awareness of the…

Over half of jobs in the U.S. require training beyond high school but not a four-year degree. These skilled jobs are the backbone of America's economy, and filling them is critical to America's success in the 21st century. Every day, in communities coast to coast, working people, students, and families are looking for opportunities to get ahead.…

In the United States, adult and workforce education (AE) seems to be located, simultaneously, both everywhere and nowhere in particular. Ongoing shifts in national economic demands and changes in requirements for training and education have brought learning in the adult years into the federal public policy arena. Sometimes referred to as lifelong…

The United Kingdom needs a coherent strategy to develop the competence of its people, to enable individuals to cope with the complex world, and to help them make a personal contribution to society. Collaborators in the strategy are representatives from government, trade unions, the labor force, education, personnel and training, and local…

Requirements of a comprehensive approach to adult and continuing education in Quebec are set forth, with particular attention to individual and social needs in a changing world as well as to short-and long-range educational objectives. Proposals are offered for serving the unemployed and other groups, reshaping content and methodology, allocating…

These five papers are from a symposium that was facilitated by Elwood F. Holton, III at the 1995 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD). "HRD Alignment: A Systemic Assessment of HRD in Organizations" (Richard J. Torraco) describes the HRD alignment model as a model for evaluation that offers a systemwide perspective on HRD…

Recent trends indicate increased interest in the education and training of the labor force. However, information in the extent of on-the-job training (OJT) is complicated by conceptual difficulties, such as the informal nature of much OJT, lack of reliable cost data on formal training, and the fact that many studies based on stratified samples…

Panelists at this Montreal conference presented a trade union view of technological change and manpower policy; an account of a program of vocational retraining and upgrading undertaken in Windsor, Ontario, to forestall mass unemployment; and a discussion of principles of manpower development and management development in large businesses. Working…

A project was conducted to assess the need for further education and training (FET) of the labor force. It documented institutional arrangements, policies, and practices regarding FET; analyzed their strengths and weaknesses; and considered possible action by public authorities. The concept of FET was found to have a strong economic character and…

This collection of four articles reflects the suspicions of adult education researchers that politicians are exploiting the positive values attached in Finland to adult education, that is, increasing adult education, while imposing tight restrictions in the form of market mechanisms. "Values and Responsiveness in Adult Higher Education"…

Today, a college education is increasingly viewed as the gateway to the American Dream--a necessary prerequisite for social mobility. Yet recent policy reforms in the United States effectively steer former welfare recipients away from an education that could further their career prospects, forcing them directly into the workforce where they often…

State programs offer greatest promise for practical strategic actions to enhance the quality of the nation's adult work force. Three steps in the recursive process that create a model of state action are as follows: (1) documentation of the platform for action, which consists of current adult work force attributes and current institutional…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on work force issues facing human resource development (HRD). "Diversity Management in Nonprofit Women's Health Care Settings: A Qualitative Study of Race, Class, and Gender Influences" (Camille A. Cordak) demonstrates which organizational activities support diversity and how an…