An increasing number of mayors are adding 'learning' to traditional city responsibility for sewers, roads, parks, garbage and dog-catching. However, just like in the 1970s, there is uncertainty about what is meant by 'learning' and considerable variance embedded in the notion of 'city'. Some Learning City advocates look to UNESCO's Faure and…

After Deng Xiaoping's 1978 reform and opening, foreigners had a chance to see adult education in China. As a result, many met Yao Zhongda, Chief of the Bureau of Workers' and Peasants Education. From 1921 onwards, adult education has been a vital corollary of Communist revolution. Although Yao's biography was extremely relevant to what foreigners…

Prior to 1949 the Chinese Communist Party orchestrated innovative and participatory forms of adult education. This article concerns Madame Li Li, a leading Chinese Communist woman adult educator. Western delegates at the International Council for Adult Education 1984 Shanghai symposium on adult education were fascinated by Madame Li Li because,…

Staff and students grumble about how research allegedly obscures the merits of exemplary teaching at universities. Modern efforts to move teaching from the periphery to the centre of the university were marked by books on the scholarship of teaching (SoT). Starting in the 1990s it became possible for academic staff to cite their SoT in claims for…

Considers what U.S. dominance of the World Wide Web means for smaller nations and non-English-speaking people, especially in terms of Web-based education. Advises Web users to consider the positionality of Web course developers and cautions against uncritical use of U.S. courses, links, and learning materials. (SK)

In March 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao acknowledged that the situation in the Chinese countryside is desperate and claimed new resources would be devoted to healthcare and education. This announcement should have pleased architects of the Chinese "learning initiative" who are building learning cities and villages. The authors describe why…

Whenever scholars write about reforms in curriculum or teaching they often shine the spotlight on schools and schoolteachers. Education in formal settings is an important vehicle for responding to globalization, but educational reform in China has more to do with learning-out-of-school than listening to (often tyrannical and didactic)…

Describes Back Shed, a group of New Zealand heritage conservationists who center their work in lifelong learning. Situates their activities in the context of the learning city, a community development concept that mobilizes learning resources across many sectors. Discusses heritage conservation as a process of meaning making. (Contains 29…

As part of a large-scale learning initiative, the Chinese Communist Party has declared Lushan to be a "learning mountain". There have been people learning at Lushan Mountain for 2000 years. In 1959 there was a Central Committee meeting at Lushan, where Mao Zedong purged his widely respected comrade Peng Dehuai for daring to say people…

Challenges the notion that excellence requires higher education by analyzing the approaches to learning of self-educated people in a variety of fields ("farm-gate intellectuals"). Considers how they fit into the anarchist-utopian tradition in adult education and how universities and adult educators can benefit from understanding their…

Contrasts current conceptions of lifelong education, focused on democratization and restructuring of educational systems, with lifelong learning, which views learners as consumers of educational opportunities. Compares the purposes of learning for active citizenship with learning for the global economy. Addresses the role of technology and the…

Describes the "marketization" of New Zealand higher education since 1984 and its core conceptualization of lifelong learning as vocationalism. Discusses the consequences for universities of the market emphasis. Illustrates how such policies have widened the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged groups. (Contains 40 references.) (SK)

In an extensive review of research on participation in adult education, the author discusses limitations and problems in past studies. If lifelong learning principles are to be adopted worldwide, he suggests that participation data be systematically collected and experimental research be rigorously conducted. (SK)

A study analyzed the motives of inmates participating in prison educational programs in Canada. During the study, a prison education participation scale was developed to measure the interrelationship among motivational orientations and the following factors: inmates' personal characteristics, criminal background, present offence and sentence,…