The purposes and implementation of adults' lifelong education (LLE) has been shaped by two imperatives: i) neoliberal reforms and ii) focuses on employability and economic outcomes. This has led to LLE taking similar pathways across many countries, i.e., away from a focus on personal and cultural betterment, to one associated with promoting…

Funded by the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grant, this national study examines arts-based adult education organizations involved in dance, music, drama, and visual arts with a philosophical perspective aligned with a multiliteracies theoretical framework. Multiliteracies considers how cultural and linguistic diversity…

Many adult English learners enroll in U.S. Adult Basic Education programs every year. The federally defined goal of these programs is to increase adult learners' skills to enable them to enter the workforce, but it is not clear whether this purpose matches learners' own motivations for entering these programs. Using the lens of self-authorship…

This is a study of the process of biographical learning and how it can be observed in narration. There have not yet been empirical studies focused explicitly on the learning aspects of biographical learning, as scholars have focused more on the biographical part of the concept -- more on the question of what is learned than of how it is learned.…

Neighbourhood Houses are significant sites of community-based adult learning spaces that are empowering, supportive and caring. They embody inclusive community development processes and adult learning practices that facilitate formal, informal, and incidental learning. Practices in these sites of social inclusion support relationships and shared…

The study reports the author's innovation of teaching climate education to adult learners in an English class using project-based learning (PBL). Over a whole semester in 2022, six topics related to climate change were taught and learned in a core curriculum tertiary English class in China. At the end of the semester, data showed a high level of…

The origins and focuses of adult education across Western countries are often about meeting adults' needs, and for purposes they have nominated, not those compelled by others. Unlike other sectors (e.g. schools, vocational colleges and universities) that were mainly initiated and sustained by church or state, adult education has long been grounded…

The importance of providing institutional assistance to adult learners with visual impairment throughout the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be overemphasised. This paper examined the experiences of adult learners with visual impairment, whose studies were significantly affected by the implementation of lockdown and social distancing that led to their…

Young people from refugee backgrounds in Australia face numerous barriers to successful tertiary education. One key challenge is developing critical literacy skills beyond basic language proficiency. Critical literacy empowers students to understand power relations, critique underlying assumptions and explore issues of belonging -- factors crucial…

Previous research has made it clear that older learners are mainly learning for learning's sake. However, few studies have explored the intrinsic aspects of older learners' motivation in detail; also, the factors that influence their learning motivation remain under-researched and under-theorised. To address this gap, this survey-based…

The study uses a pre-test, post-test experimental randomised control group design to examine the effects of a blended learning environment on Chinese adult learners' English acquisition. At the initial stage the study constructed a blended learning environment composed of three parts: task-based online learning, group-based peer learning and…

Identifying and fulfilling adult learners' needs is critical to instructional designs aimed at enhancing their achievement and self-empowerment. In reviewing different theories and perspectives on adult learning and online and blended learning (OBL), it is noteworthy that there is not a comprehensive framework to guide the design of OBL…

Mature-age postgraduate students are those who are late to higher education or have returned to postgraduate study after an educational hiatus in industry. While some mature-age students seek a postgraduate qualification out of extrinsic motivations such as for vocational reasons, there are older non-traditional students who seek higher status;…

Neighbourhood Houses in Australia are spaces of education and learning that cater to and work with adult learners across a lifespan. They are known as fourth sector education providers in the Adult and Community Education (ACE) sector. With a history spanning nearly 45 years, Neighbourhood Houses provide vital education opportunities for adult…

High attrition rates from university-based enabling programs continue to be the subject of much research and administrative effort. Understanding the factors behind decisions to withdraw from such programs is difficult since those who do not successfully complete an enabling program may not readily agree to participate in research into their…