The U.S. workforce is increasingly comprised of older adults, women, and minorities who lack basic skills and are unable to acquire these skills through traditional educational and training programs. New approaches are needed to provide effective training to the adult learner and flexible support for nontraditional students who must balance…

Workforce pipelines are essential to sustain a productive workforce in an increasingly competitive, high-tech environment. Advanced automation, sensors, materials and data analytics will increase the need for highly skilled workers in the manufacturing (and manufactured construction) sector. Attracting and developing the next-generation workforce…

A study focused on formal and informal linkages between industry and education that were supportive of structured work-based learning at three transition points: entry, dislocation, and upgrade. During 1990, site visits were made to 10 school-to-work, 1 dislocated worker, and 4 career advancement programs. Study methodology included informal…

The role of generic skills in the lives, work, and employment of 127 dislocated workers in a broad cross-section of job categories in five areas of Australia were examined through individual interviews, focus groups, and a survey questionnaire. Selected findings are as follows: (1) generic skills are developed in all areas of human endeavor,…

The bulk of this issue consists of five articles providing insight into various phases of adult continuing education. "The Meliorist Position as a Philosophic Base for Adult Education" (Gordon Clay Godbey) examines these questions about meliorism: should we accept as natural improvement of the human condition, the constant wars, the…

Papers in this volume include: "Retirement Learning" (Adair); "Effect of Literacy on Personal Income" (Blunt); "Popular Discourse Concerning Women and AIDS" (Boshier); "John Steinbeck's Learning Project" (Brockett); "Faculty Careers of Professors of Adult Education" (Caffarella); "Racism in…