Higher education should be a social good for everyone and, despite the intentions of university policy on inclusion and diversity with schemes on widening participation, the truth is that for working-class students, university is still a place where they encounter prejudices and feelings of exclusion. This article uses the method of…

This study utilizes adult learning, working-class masculinity, and political economy theories to explore the education and learning that supports engagement in the Just Transition movement in Central Appalachia. The central research question is as follows: in communities with economies formerly dominated by the coal industry, how does an…

This paper draws on both a theoretical understanding and a semi-autoethnographic approach of the lived experience of working class adult learners in higher education during the COVID-19 global pandemic. In particular, the paper warns of the doxic notion of current working class struggles being singularly attributed to COVID-19. Rather it is vital…

This article -- the first part of a two-part contribution -- considers the current and past state of research on the history of adult education in Britain. Although there has been a broadening of interest among historians of adult education, the field remains to an extent in the shadow of the "Great Tradition" of liberal education…

This dissertation examines the relationship between community colleges and prisons as similar institutions that absorb and manage displaced workers, economic refugees, and dispossessed adult populations. Based on interviews with adult learners in two community college settings, I discuss how these two seemingly distinctive institutions work…

Adult Learners' Week has whirled round again, but the author has been looking backwards. An invitation to speak at an event to mark the retirement of Richard Bolsin as General Secretary of the Workers' Educational Association prompted him at last to get hold of Jonathan Rose's "Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes." Rose's concern is…

Social class is a major determining factor of people's life chances. Much sociology-based research shows that socio-economic position is still one of the best predictors of who will achieve success, prosperity and social status and, in particular, who will enjoy the highest levels of educational outcomes. Survey data and qualitative studies alike…

The 43rd annual conference of the Adult and Higher Education Alliance (AHEA) was held at the University of Central Florida in March 2019. Papers in these proceedings include the following: (1) How does Experimental Learning Increase Skills and Knowledge Acquisition and Retention in the Non-Traditional Adult Learner? (David Antico); (2) CHAT and…

Since the government enacted the "Lifelong Learning Act" in 2002, Taiwanese working adults consider lifelong learning as a better route to increase their employability or competitiveness at work. This study analyzed the survey on adults administered by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan in 2008, and statistics analysis showed a close…

Undertaken in the context of an ageing population and under-representation of older adults in formal education in Scotland, this paper reports on selected findings from research funded by the West of Scotland Wider Access Forum. Using a longitudinal design, the project sought, over a two-year period, to track the experiences of 85 working class…

A key factor motivating the organisation of tutorial classes for adult learners, based on collaboration between the Workers' Educational Association and universities in England and Wales, was a belief that they offered an educational vehicle for the promotion of liberal concepts of political citizenship. Attempts to disseminate this tutorial class…

Interviews with seven working-class adults suggest a need to understanding adult-learning patterns within the life context; they demonstrate how gender and class experiences affect learning and attitudes toward education. Pressuring adults into formal credentialing education would not necessarily be appropriate, and may be seen as oppressive. (SK)

The research reported in this paper attempts to document the actual learning practices of working-class people in the context of the much heralded "knowledge-based economy." Our primary thesis is that working-class peoples' indigenous learning capacities have been denied, suppressed, degraded or diverted within most capitalist schooling,…

The Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers was set up in 1976 by a number of independent writing and publishing groups to support and develop the writing of working class and other marginalized people. Focusing on the development of individuals within a collective organization over the previous three decades provides important…

The General Election is over. People now know that the policies for lifelong learning will remain as before: to promote competitiveness through skills and access to educational opportunities for groups previously denied them. The list of potential beneficiaries is a long one: (1) working class people in general (especially those with basic skills…