Data from two research projects with adult literacies practitioners based in Scotland are used to illustrate how policies underpinned by ideologies based on Human Capital Theory (HCT) lead to a narrow conceptualisation of the purpose of literacies education. It is argued that HCT ideology permeates international and national policies and thus…

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an analysis of course titles and descriptions which are part of core adult education university curricula in the United States. The focus of the analysis was on understanding how well these adult education programs, and their curricula, address the need for developing critical literacy and…

Ecoliteracy is essential for adult educators/activists en route to creating ecoliterate populations. Working cooperatively with other networks in the spirit of a 'solidarity economy', a group within the PIMA network has run a climate justice education programme through a series of webinars. We describe and analyse a case story of an emergent…

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 global Occupy! actions gave some pause for thought. At first, some thought that this was a global movement that could change the way politics was conducted and maybe see the end of capitalism as we knew it. The hopes for Occupy! were high, but the highest hopes for the movement were short lived. This paper examines Occupy!'s legacy; what…

One of the major challenges facing Africa today is ensuring that extension practitioners are well trained to enable them function effectively as facilitators of change at the farmers' level. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a mid-career B. Sc. Agricultural Extension Curriculum in meeting the educational needs of…

Reviews Literature on constructivism and adult learning in order to derive principles for technology-based professional development and curriculum design. (Contains 29 references.) (SK)

Although the phrase "holistic approach" is increasingly used in reference to vocational education and training (VET) in Australia, there appears to be a paucity of literature which extensively conceptualises or details its practical application. Existing references to an "holistic approach" appear indicative of an integrated…

In the Australian vocational education and training (VET) context, attention is often given to what youth work training programs should consist of, resulting in less attention on how youth work education and training programs might be imagined, constructed and implemented. In this paper, a particular South Australian youth work training program is…