Many teaching strategies exist to develop critical thinking with students. Art students engage with critical thinking in a "Connected Art" workshop, implemented in three diverse Higher Education (HE) learning environments. Participants are interdisciplinary adult learners in the UK, Germany and Spain. Using joint practice development,…

This article focuses on the trajectories of adults returning to full-time study in technical and vocational education and training. The results presented are drawn from a critical ethnography conducted in a General and vocational colleges (referred to as cégep, their French acronym) in Montréal, Québec. The aim of the study was to describe and…

This paper outlines the pedagogical approaches taken on a University Access course, teaching predominantly mature students on a 12-week 'inclusion in education' module. The methods aimed to validate and develop literacy and academic skills for students undertaking undergraduate courses. Practice on the programme of study, replicated over three…

This study utilizes the personal critical narrative of myself, a woman from the Chaoshan region in China, as the primary data source to explore the impact of traditional gender roles and patriarchal values on women's personal growth transformation through a feminist lens. Integrating feminist and transformative learning theory, it encompasses my…

The Labour Party's manifesto aims to reform further and higher education by integrating business, training providers and unions within a governmental effort to ensure a highly trained workforce. Skills England will align training with labour market needs, empower local leaders and enhance support for job seekers. However, the focus on young people…

The funding model for further education and training (FET) in the Republic of Ireland currently describes provider and learner success in narrow quantifiable terms as captured on the national Programme Learner Support System (PLSS). FET practitioners have grappled with the restrictive rigidity of these outcomes and measures of success for adult…

The purpose of this study is to explore the experience of Chinese immigrant mothers in Canada and the US overcoming the challenges through adult learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Transformative learning theory is utilized as a theoretical framework. Transformative learning, as an important component of adult learning theory, emphasizes the…

COVID-19 and the looming economic recession threatens adult educators' long-fought battle to create dialogical spaces for transformatory learning. Previous experience of designing and delivering community programmes to marginalised, non-traditional students, has taught us the necessity of building strong tutor-student and student-peer…

In this article, we argue that drama can serve as an interconnecting method for climate change education. In this study, we elaborate the practice of drama and participation experiences through three drama workshops: 1) process drama work on the global, social, and individual aspects of climate change, 2) outdoor drama practice on relations to…

This article reports on the findings from an interview-based, qualitative study of adult learners in Scotland participating in the MITx u.lab massive open online course in 2015 and 2016. It focuses on interviewees' accounts of the impact of participating in u.lab on their work and lives. Using grounded theory as an analytical guide, we explore…

The decline in foreign language learners in tertiary education is a concern in many countries. While factors influencing students' persistence in second language learning have been explored, there has been limited discussion on the potential of language programmes that develop students' self-formation alongside language learning. This study aimed…

Aim: To identify how a college of further (tertiary) education might promote the wellbeing of adults with mental health problems. Study design: Qualitative study of the college-related experiences of people with mental health problems. Setting: A further education college in inner-city London, UK. Methods: Fifteen students, all of whom had been…

Despite a wide-spread pedagogical interest and scholarly conviction in the possibilities of educational drama for creating more contextually-situated, engaging, and multi-modal L2 learning experiences (Piazzoli, 2018; Stinson & Winston, 2011), there is scarce empirical evidence concerning what is actually taking place interactionally in L2…

In the United Kingdom, although one in four adults reportedly experienced mental health difficulties within a one-year period, only 25% of them received treatment for their condition. Moreover, this group of adults are underrepresented in full-time employment and education and so to discover ways which may help to counteract this imbalance, an…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the first-year university experience as an agent for the (re)learning and (re)making of masculine identity as it intersects with other categories of identity. Historically, male students from working-class backgrounds have often struggled with identity issues and many leave school early for…