Professional standards of practice for Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs) urge them to enhance institutional functions while leveraging education to build institutional capacity, but CDOs experience varying outcomes in their work. The current literature is limited with respect to how CDOs facilitate diversity learning and development experiences for…

This paper traces the evolution of discourses around the role of critical social theory in the field of lifelong education that have played out in the pages of the "International Journal of Lifelong Education" and elsewhere in the field, beginning with early critical theoretical discourses, a consideration of the impact of some key…

This study focuses on institutional barriers that adult learners experience while participating in higher education programmes. We developed a holistic measure of diversification, accessibility, flexibility and affordability of higher education for adults. Based on pre-economic-crisis data across Europe we then explored the impact of macro-level…

We explore the need for empathy in diverse groups, conceptualize the epistemology of empathy in relationship to "whole-person dialogue," and examine strategies for creating empathic space that take into consideration the "paradox of diversity." Two examples from our practice illustrate the role of empathic connection in…

For the 25th anniversary issue of "English Teaching Forum," published in 1987, the author wrote about the diversification of the language teaching field. Her point then was that during the preceding years from 1962 to 1987, the language teaching field had diversified: Where earlier there had been a unified approach to language teaching, by 1987,…

The purpose of this dissertation research study was to investigate engineers' perceptions of diversity and the workplace learning environment surrounding diversity education efforts in engineering occupations. The study made use of a mixed methods methodology and was theoretically framed using a critical feminist adult education lens and…

We discuss the ways leaders may nurture collective relationships within culturally diverse staff bodies. We organise our discussion around five key, interrelated issues. These are how leaders position themselves within the school's cultural milieu; how they structure work for collective capacity; understanding collective work; giving expression to…

Diversity is an important goal for any college. A healthy mix of men, women, and people of different races and ethnic and religious backgrounds breeds interaction and readies students for life and work. But it takes more than just students to achieve the right mix on campus. The most progressive colleges also strive for diversity from within and…

The merging of the Bologna and the Copenhagen processes into a single European education area appears appropriate, especially as general, vocational, adult and academic education are to be integrated in a future European Qualification Framework (EQF). This is the backdrop to the following description of the Bologna process, which was originally…

Four large organizations, two each from the private and public sectors of the Northern Ireland economy, were selected for this study which, first, explored the effects of religion-based workforce difference on intergroup relationships, second, investigated the contribution of organizational sector to communicative differences, and third, gauged…

Purpose: This paper aims to construct an approach referred to as "the participatory narrative" for organizational learning in diverse organizations. The approach is grounded in an understanding of organizational learning as the process of social construction which is narratively mediated. Design/methodology/approach: The participatory narrative is…

This qualitative, exploratory study investigated the development and implementation of diversity training in small and mid-size organizations in a midwestern region. The results indicate these organizations are implementing diversity awareness programs that recognize diversity as a business imperative. Common themes found in the diversity…

This article uses empirical material from a qualitative study of adult and community learning (ACL) to explore issues around leading for equality and diversity in educational organisations. What the author is interested in is the way that the commitment to a "community" context in ACL opens up (or keeps open) certain possibilities for "diverse"…

This book is the third book in a series which comprise "14-19 Strategic Planning: A Practical Handbook for Schools, Colleges and their Partners". The first two books were "Broadening the 14-19 Curriculum" and "Developments in 14-19 Teaching and Learning". The main purpose of series is to present a summary for managers…

It is estimated that in 30 years time nearly half the population of Britain will be over 50. In his introduction to "The Learning Age," David Blunkett proclaimed that "we must all develop and sustain a regard for learning at 'whatever age'" (Blunkett, 1998, my italics). Yet such activity does not extend to higher education,…