The purpose of this paper is to systematically review and trace the lineage of theoretical debates around social movement learning in the field of adult education. We compiled articles, books and conference proceedings on adult education and social movements from Google Scholar using the software "Publish or Perish" and manually filtered…

This paper explores how Peter Jarvis's work offers a comprehensive grounding in many of the key principles and insights offered through the field of adult education. His work directs us to the different factors--psychological, social, economic and political required for understanding lifelong learning contexts. As scholars and educators, he…

The qualification of adult educators is a central aspect of the quality of adult education. However, within current policy discourses and adult education research on the professional development of prospective adult educators, little attention is paid to teacher qualification when compared to other fields of education and training. In this study,…

This book assembles over 50 papers from the 7th Triennial European Research Conference of the European Society for Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA), which was held from the 4th to the 7th of September 2013 at Humboldt-University in Berlin. The title of the conference was "Changing Configurations of Adult Education in Transitional…

This paper addresses the general significance of the collection. It briefly and broadly traces the relation of the project's theoretical concerns to its purposes and its positioned nature. These concerns and this positioning are connected with tendencies in contemporary thought in social science theory and in research philosophy. The project's…

This book addresses the "warrior" who rises to the challenge of teaching the adult learner. The discussion is designed as a catalyst for dialogue about the adult learner and to uncover the complexities of teaching this rare and riveting species. This book is organized around three interlocking themes: some things we know about the adult learner;…

This paper examines the nature of learning cultures in English Further Education (FE), as revealed in the Transforming Learning Cultures in FE (TLC) research project. In it, we describe four characteristics of a generic FE learning culture: the significance of learning cultures in every site; the significance of the tutor in influencing site…

From its inception, the Transforming Learning Cultures in Further Education (TLC) project included an explicit intention to identify some principles for the enhancement of learning cultures in order to improve student and teacher learning, and a wish to see how effective different strategies could be in this endeavour. The project showed that both…

Argues that there are four areas where metaphors may be of use in educational research: identifying research problems, suggesting possible strategies, representing potential solutions, and explaining results. Looks at the process of retroduction or abduction, whereby models, theories, or characterizations from one field are applied to another, as…

Discussed the search for an adequate motivation for adults interested in learning. (RK)

Only eight recent studies clearly fit the parameters of qualitative research on self-directed learning. Four of the studies appear to fit the more traditional notion of what the qualitative paradigm is all about, in that they are exploratory in nature. The remaining four studies focus more on the expansion of earlier ideas that had been generated…

The biographical method derives information from life histories to understand how and why adults transform themselves. Three types of transformation are (1) old-new, transforming new information to a familiar, safe environment; (2) home-abroad, achieving emancipation by exploring unfamiliar environments; and (3) inside-outside, elaborating a…

Studies conducted at the Institute for Research on Learning demonstrate that, at work, people learn by doing things together. Communities of practice--groups that develop and share ways of doing things--are fundamental elements of learning organizations. (SK)

Suggests a rationale and strategy for the systematic development of an integrated body of inductively formulated generalizations with which educators can understand and predict behavior of adults in educational situations. Research-based qualitative theory, indigenous to adult education and capable of indicating dependable and practical guidelines…

This document is a tentative effort to lay out some of the components and implications of the "learning how to learn" concept. It is intended to be used in theory building and practical applications in the realm of adult education. Four chapters are included: The Concept (with the subheadings Concerning Terminology, The Learner's Needs, Some…