This paper explores the application of the card-sorting interview technique in understanding the complex interplay of motivations and barriers faced by adults engaging in learning. Traditional research methods, whether quantitative or qualitative, often fail to capture these nuanced interactions or to provide scalable insights for policy…

The aim of the OECD Career Readiness project is to identify patterns of teenage attitudes and activities that are associated with better transitions into employment by analysing multiple national longitudinal datasets. This paper looks for further evidence of the link between teenage activities, experiences and career-related thinking and adult…

This paper reports on the longitudinal links between first-time mothers (N = 48) Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs), provided during pregnancy, and their first-born children's AAIs, provided at age 16 years. The AAIs from the adolescents were scored for reflective functioning (RF), and this was found to be significantly linked to whether their…

In this commentary, Spangler evaluates the Steele, Perez, Segal, and Steele report that arguede that reflective functioning in adolescence could not be predicted by quality of early infant attachment, but was associated with maternal (but not paternal) attachment representation, assessed before the adolescents' birth. Assuming that parental…

In this commentary, Soares and Baptista state that the Steele, Perez, Segal, and Steele (2016) article contributed with an informative study that adolescents' reflective functioning (RF) is predicted by maternal attachment representation, which was assessed even before the youth were born by using the Adult Attachment Interview. The authors assert…

Laypersons and experts believe that wisdom is cultivated through a diverse range of positive and negative life experiences. Yet, not all individuals with life experience are wise. We propose that one possible determinant of growth in wisdom from life experience is self-reflection. In a life span sample of adults (N = 94) ranging from 26 to 92…

This qualitative phenomenological study was done to better understand the school experience of adolescents after the death of a parent. The participants were adults over the age of 19 and between 3 and 43 years past the death of a parent during adolescence. The study involved personal, reflective interviews with each of the participants. The…

In this essay, the author provides an in-depth description of the course "Communication and Activism" and its rationale. She then offers some evaluative reflections, and concludes with a discussion of tensions experienced and lessons learned. She closes with a recommendation for activist educators to be mindful of these tensions and their ethical…

Youth-adult partnerships (Y-APs) are an innovation being used increasingly as a key strategy for promoting youth development, as well as for building strong programs and communities. This article discusses three pitfalls that can undermine their effectiveness: (1) the assumption that youth should do everything of importance; (2) the belief that…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an evaluative case study that used an electronic portfolio to enhance the employability of older adults. The evaluation sought to identify programme effects and highlight the factors that were instrumental in generating them. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative inquiry methods…