Adult Education

In this review essay 1 , I try to explore the following question: How can we evaluate the process and the outcomes of perspectives transformation? Where is the research on the assessment of transformative learning outcomes today and where it is going in the future? I will describe the most popular tools (see Stuckey, Taylor, Cranton, 2013) for the evaluation of the outcomes of learning activities that may be conceptualized as transformative experiences. The four instruments compared are: 1. Kember's Critical Reflection Questionnaire, a 16-question, four-scale questionnaire (Kember et al., 2000, p. 392); 2. Learning Activity Survey (Learning Activities Survey, King, 2009) questionnaire, based on the theory of the ten steps precursors to transformative learning (King, 2009); 3. Transformative Learning Survey (Stuckey, Taylor, Cranton, 2014); 4. VALUE rubric (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) (AACU, 2013), whose variation Student Transformative Learning Record (Barthell et al., 2010) was created for the assessment of students' own authentic work. Those instruments represent the effort of (a) going beyond the qualitative retrospective approach and (b) finding indicators for the critical reflection engaged by people (students or professionals) in their learning experiences. The purpose is to appeal to faculty members, adult educators, professional coaches, mentoring experts, healthcare professionals in Counselling and Psychotherapy, offering them a review of both qualitative and quantative approaches that they could adopt in their professional practices.

All too often education research focuses on academic disparities with under-served student populations. Frequently, both remedial and introductory college-level mathematics courses are cited as gatekeepers or insurmountable barriers for adult low-socioeconomic status (LSES) students. There has been a call from within the mathematics education community for less gap-gazing at disparities and more studies of success within marginalized groups. Many previously unsuccessful, under-prepared, under-served, and under-supported students persist and eventually succeed. In addition, there is a lack of research through the lens of the community college as a unique educational context, distinct from both K-12 and the four year colleges and universities. The goal of this hermeneutical phenomenological study is to describe and interpret the lived experienced of previously unsuccessful LSES students who became successful. Ten students told their stories during unstructured phenomenological interviews. Upon analysis of the interview transcripts, themes appeared consistent with the patterns of the inward and outward journeys found in the Hero’s Journey or monomyth narrative structure. The stages of the monomyth as described in the work of Campbell (2008) are rooted in the universal human themes of the transformational quest. Six meta-themes appeared through the textual analysis of the interview transcripts; 1) the call of a better life that requires education, 2) connections with mentors and allies through authentic relationships, 3) the cultural border crossing at the threshold to higher education, 4) perspective transformations taking place as tests presented by an array of threshold guardians are passed, 5) increasing resilience through taking ownership and increasing networks of connections as the labyrinth of higher education was navigated, 6) after seizing the magic elixir of education the desire to pay it forward.  Their stories reveal a perspective transformation as described in Mezirow’s (1981) transformative learning theory. These stories of transformational learning as experienced by previously unsuccessful LSES community college students provide essential insights as to how we might foster positive learning transformations, and more importantly, avoid being the source of needless obstacles for our students. These findings present a narrative counter to the current deafening drumbeat of the anti-developmental education, completion and acceleration agendas.

The purpose of this article is to review spirituality at work literature and to explore how spirituality improves employees’ performances and organizational effectiveness. The article reviews about 140 articles on workplace spirituality to review their findings on how spirituality supports organizational performance. Three different perspectives are introduced on how spirituality benefits employees and supports organizational performance based on the extant literature: (a) Spirituality enhances employee well-being and quality of life; (b) Spirituality provides employees a sense of purpose and meaning at work; (c) Spirituality provides employees a sense of interconnectedness and community. The article introduces potential benefits and caveats of bringing spirituality into the workplace; providing recommendations and suggestions for practitioners to incorporate spirituality positively in organizations.

"The professional development and the improvement of the quality of adult learning staff have been recognised as a priority at European level. However, at European and national levels there is not always a clear view of the competences needed to fulfill the professional tasks in adult learning, partly due to the diversity of the field. In several European countries, competence profiles and standards for adult learning staff (referred to hereafter as adult learning professionals) have been developed and implemented, although their scope of application differs considerably between institutional and regional levels. Therefore, the European Commission decided to finance a study on key competences for adult learning staff. The aim of this study is to come up with a set of key competences which can functions as a reference for Europe and which can be used by Member States on a voluntary basis.
The study has been carried out by Research voor Beleid in partnership with the University of Glasgow, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the University of Leiden. During the last year the research team has studied a large number of documents on the duties, tasks, responsibilities, roles, competences and work environments of adult learning professionals, described them in a narrative, organised an expert meeting for modeling the key competences and discussed the outcomes of this modeling exercise with a broad group of stakeholders all over Europe. Overall the research team’s opinion is that this study has triggered an intensive and stimulating professional debate, and we are confident that the set of key competences could play an important role in structuring future debates and developing policies for improving the quality of adult learning.
This report contains the outcomes of this study:
- Chapter 1 presents as an executive summary the set for key competences of adult learning professionals.
- Chapters 2 to 6 contain the report on the study on key competences of adult learning professionals.
- Chapter 7 and 8 provides information about the sources and literature used in this study.
- In the last chapter a short description is given of the educational programmes and job descriptions used to ground the set of key competences in empirical reality. These educational programmes and job descriptions have been taken up as case-studies in the report."

Anormal Psikoloji kitabı, ruhsal bozukluklar alanında çalışan tüm profesyoneller, psikiyatristler, klinik psikologlar, psikologlar, psikolojik danışmanlar, hekimler, sosyal hizmet uzmanları, psikiyatri hemşireleri ve bu alanlarda öğrenci yetiştiren akademisyenler ile eğitim alan öğrenciler için temel bir başvuru kitabıdır.
2013 yılının Mayısı ayında yayımlanan DSM-5 ölçütlerine göre ruhsal bozukluklarla ilgili sunulan bilgilerin güncellemesinin de yapıldığı bu kitap, tüm dünyada pek çok üniversitenin psikiyatri ve psikoloji bölümlerinde ders kitabı olarak okutulmaktadır.
Kitabın her bölümünde, ilk olarak ruhsal bozukluklarla ilgili vakalar sunulmakta, daha sonra bozuklukların klinik tanıları yapılmakta ve DSM-IV-TR’den farklı olan DSM-5’te yapılan değişikliklere yer verilmektedir. Ayrıca, DSM-5’teki tanı ölçütleri, bozuklukların etiyolojisi ve epidemiyolojisi, bozukluklar üzerinde kalıtımın ve çevrenin etkileri, biyolojik ve sosyal ve kültürel etkiler, en güncel araştırmalardan elde edilen verilerle harmanlanarak sunulmaktadır. Ruhsal bozuklukların tedavisinde etkili olacak terapi yaklaşımları ve ilaçla yapılan tedaviler hakkında da bilgiler veren kitap, sahip olduğu zengin içeriği ile eşsiz bir kaynaktır.
Anormal Psikoloji kitabının; profesyoneller ve öğrenciler için önemli bir rehber olacağına, yardıma ihtiyaç duyan insanların sorunlarının çözümüne, ruhsal bozuklukların tanı ve tedavisinde önemli katkılar sağlayacağına inanıyoruz.

The main thrust of the research Developing a Scheme of Action for Enhanced Alternative Learning System was to measured and assessed the Alternative Learning System in the Department of Education, Talisay City Division for the improvement of the program implementation and to develop on its operation in the field. The study utilized the descriptive research supplemented by questionnaire and were given to 12 implementers and 186 learners in Alternative Learning System. It was found out that the ALS Implementers used andragogy method of teaching for the learners who were the Last, Least and Lost learners which is the out of school youth and adult learners. In terms of academic profile, only few of the Implementers finished their Master’s degree and all of them are Bachelor’s Degree holder with an area of specialization in education. It was also established that the Implementers possess the attributes of a good leader based on the performance in handling ALS sessions and linkage to stakeholders. The challenges, threats and opportunities met in the program implementation were also explored as basis for the proposals of an improved development plan. The attitude of being an ALS facilitator is contributed much, as guide on the learners’ performance and how they responded on the program. The Alternative Learning System is a way for the non-formal education program and busy students to achieve elementary and high school education without need of going to attend classroom instructions on a daily basis just like the formal education system. Furthermore, an enriched instructional program was prepared for the implementation of the delivery system of the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) Program. This study provided a direction on how ALS will be implemented in the community through the factors that effect on its implementation.
Key Words : Alternative Learning System, Development Plan, Scheme of action, enhance; Talisay City, Cebu.

This paper explored the profile of HIV and AIDS caregivers in Thohoyandou in South Africa. It used a quantitative exploratory - descriptive research design. Thirty-nine female respondents aged between 20 and 35 completed a self-administered questionnaire. The findings of the study confirmed the general perception that HIV and AIDS was associated with marginalisation. Majority of the care-givers were women with little education, based in a rural environment with inadequate amenities essential to enhance their vocation. Apart from the educational status and environment, the care-givers’ training on HIV and AIDS palliative care was inadequate, thus rendering them susceptible to HIV and AIDS infection. The findings implied that although HIV and AIDS care-giving was beneficial, it could pose risks to both the patient and the care-giver. Recommendations on how to make care-giving more beneficial to patients and care-givers was also given.

Päivi Tynjälä, Eeva K. Kallio & Hannu H.L. Heikkinen This chapter examines adult thinking from the perspective of professional expertise and phronēsis, that is, practical wisdom. It first describes differences between experts and novices, and presents three conceptualisations of the development of expertise. This is followed by an analysis of the form of adult thinking referred to as integrative thinking, and phronēsis. The relationship of these two with expertise is examined. The analysis shows that professional expertise requires holistic thinking involving the ability to integrate or conciliate various and even conflicting perspectives in order to find new solutions to problems. Furthermore, the role of emotions and ethical reflection is emphasised. All this lead to the examination of practical wisdom, phronēsis, in particular. As a conclusion, a model of the nature of wisdom in professional expertise is presented, and it is suggested that the development of expertise and wisdom in the fast changing and complex world requires pedagogical approaches that support the integration and fusion of different forms of knowledge, various perspectives, and socially responsible ethical action and interaction in problem solving situations.

Large-scale studies such as Programme for the international assessment of adult competencies (PIAAC) are currently the most influential variant of literacy research. PIAAC is undergoing a process of regional expansion towards countries located in the geographical south. Based on the finding that large-scale studies can create stereotypes about social groups, this contribution examines the extent to which this danger also exists with regard to countries and regions. For doing so we suggest the term southering. Southering brings together the discourses about the South with the concept of othering, introduced by Said (1978). The presentation of the results as tables and world maps can result in exposing countries of the South to a pronounced deficit perspective. The contribution does not pursue the goal of questioning the legitimacy of international studies. Rather, we would like to point out the necessity of exercising due care in the interpretation of corresponding study results.

Website in higher education utilized for many purposes such as providing learning resources, information, and news related to student's academic needs. For this purpose, university websites must be accessible for all users including students with disabilities. This article describes a study conducted to evaluate the accessibility of university websites for people with disabilities in Indonesia. The accessibility evaluation focused on compliance with the most recent international standards provides by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) called WCAG 2.0. A quantitative research would be utilized in this study using website accessibility online evaluation tools namely, Achecker. This study comprises the analysis of accessibility of 20 websites from topranked universities in Indonesia based on webometrics ranking. The result of this study showed that 95% of the university websites examined carried problems in conformity with WCAG 2.0 Level AAA.

To investigate whether attending a six-week stress management course in a rural adult education centre is effective in reducing participants' levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Repeated measures design using self-report measures of stress, anxiety and depression at commencement and completion of a six-week stress management course, and six months post-completion follow up. One hundred and thirty-two adults (age range 18-73 years) living in a rural community who self-enrolled in the stress management course at adult education centres. The course consisted of six weekly group sessions. Each two-hour session conducted by mental health professionals, included teaching cognitive behavioural strategies targeted at reducing individual symptoms of stress. Comparative analysis of pre- and post-test and six-month follow up on measures of stress (Stress Symptom Checklist), anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). RESULTS indicated a significant reduction in stress symptoms (F(7,90) = 34.92, P < 0.001), anxiety and depression (F(3,95) = 87.92, P < 0.001) from course commencement to course completion. These improvements were sustained six months after course completion for stress symptoms (F(11,65) = 22.40, P < 0.001), anxiety and depression (F(5,73) = 41.78, P < 0.001). Findings demonstrate the stress management course is an effective community intervention in a rural community. Challenges for future implementation of the program are discussed.

The present paper unveils Booker T. Washington’s thoughts on education and their relevance in the contemporary educational system in India. Education is the most powerful tool which changes our life, society and ultimately country. A proper education moulds an individual’s character and makes his/her life better by inculcating moral values, intelligence, creativity and skills. It shows the way how to live and behave in society with dignity. It strengthens an individual’s head, hand and heart. Booker T. Washington, a renowned African-American educationist, dedicated
his entire life for the empowerment of the coloured people of America through the means of education. His educational model proposes industrial and technical education, agricultural education and training, vocational education, skill based knowledge, moral values, etc.

Στην παρούσα εργασία παρουσιάζονται τα ευρήματα ποιοτικής έρευνας που πραγματοποιήθηκε με 18 δομημένες συνεντεύξεις σε εκπαιδευόμενους των Σχολείων Δεύτερης Ευκαιρίας (ΣΔΕ), που είχαν μαθηματικοφοβία. Με βάση τις απόψεις των εκπαιδευομένων διαπιστώθηκαν τα είδη και οι μορφές εμποδίων που αντιμετώπιζαν στην εκμάθηση των μαθηματικών στο παρελθόν, αλλά και οι παράγοντες που συνέβαλαν στην υπερνίκησή τους κατά τη διδασκαλία του Αριθμητικού Γραμματισμού με αποτέλεσμα μάλιστα την απόκτηση θετικής διάθεσης για το μάθημα.

A third key concept underlying Equipped for the Future (EFF) relates to its contextualized approach to curriculum and instruction. Instead of first teaching skills and knowledge separated from their context and hoping that learners will end up knowing how to transfer what they have learned to life outside the classroom, EFF teachers start with real-life contexts and weave these contexts into every stage of the teaching and learning process. Instruction and assessment are aimed directly at the skills and knowledge adults need to perform tasks they have identified as important and meaningful to them “right now” in their everyday lives. The focus is on the application rather than on the possession of basic skills and knowledge (Merrifield, 2000).

Learning is closely linked to individual motivation. The capabilities themselves are no longer sufficient for an adult to learn, however with a low motivation, even so well-developed abilities do not come to the core. In this paper, we will shortly present five selected motivation theories; the theory of the expected value, the attribution theory; socio-cognitive theory, goal-orientation theory and the self-determination theory and highlight their practical implications, which can serve as a basis for motivating adult for learning. We will focus our attention also on the attitude of the adult social environment (such as company or organizations) towards the acquisition of the knowledge, beacuse their attitude either strengthen or weaken the adult motivation for learning.

What motivates adults for learning? Implication of different motivation theories on the field of adult learning

Research plan for project granted by the Swedish Research Council (the Swedish research links-programme) in November 2013. Project title: Interactions between traditions of lifelong learning in Scandinavia and Eastern Africa. Project leaders:
Associate Professor Henrik Nordvall (Linköping University, Sweden), henrik.nordvall@liu.se
Professor Maurice Amutabi (Catholic University of Eastern Africa/Kisii University, Kenya), amutabi@yahoo.com

The purpose of this action research study was to restructure and implement an effective middle school advisory model. This was conducted at a Middle School in Painesville Township, Ohio consisting of approximately 800 students. In order to meet Adequate Yearly Progress and adapt to the changes of the 21 st century, a way to help the school progress was recognized by restructuring the 25 minute advisory period. An affective-academic-housekeeping program was applied with the idea of shifting from a heavily social-emotional focus during the first semester to a heavily academic focus during the second. A sample was selected, known as the experimental group, consisting of 250 sixth and seventh grade students. There was a comparison made to a control group within the same school. The study showed positive impacts on attitude, behavior, attendance and academic success.

This study considers the influence of adult experiences on the development of Latino ethnic identity. Using purposeful and snowball sampling, adult participants responded to open-ended questions about their understanding of being Latino. Analysis indicated that changes in the environment or life circumstances had the greatest effect on the reevaluation of identity. This process, referred to as looping, occurred in 35%

The  present  study  is  carried  out  with  the  objective  of  proposing  methodological guidelines  for  the  management  of  the  educational  potentialities  of  schoolchildren  with intellectual  disabilities  (ID)  from  positive  psychology.  It  is  based  on  an  optimistic conception  of  human  development  applied  to  the  particularities  of  schoolchildren  with ID.  The  proposal  is  operationalized  in  mindfulness  and  its  specific  mechanisms  of action:  attentional  control  and  sustainability,  cognitive  distancing,  and  cognitive revaluation  of  emotions.  It  is  concluded  that  understanding  people  with  ID  from  a positive,  optimistic  and  developmental  perspective  constitutes  an  unavoidable  premise to  manage  their  educational  potentialities  in  a  healthy,  respectful  and  creative  way. Operationally,  positive  psychology,  through  the  application  of  mindfulness,  constitutes a viable support for the management of training potential in people with ID.

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the contributions of the dvv International project on integrated functional adult education program (IFAEP) in Abobo woreda. The research design employed was descriptive survey with both quantitative and qualitative approaches of data analysis used. Though the dvv International project is being conducted in 20 Centers in five kebeles, only 10 centers were purposively selected for this study. The AWEO (Abobo woreda education office) was the education sector office of the woreda worked with dvv international project. Data were collected on total of 274 respondents i.e. 10 facilitators, 2 supervisors, a dvv international project focal person, a woreda education office head, a woreda chief administrator, 4 strength committee, 250 adult learners and five (5) Kebele chair-persons representatives were also included purposively selected for the study. The data gathering tools include; questionnaire, focus group discussion, observation and interviews. The data obtained using the structured questionnaire were entered and analyzed using SPSS software.  The qualitative data generated through FGD and in-depth interviews with the project focal person, woreda education office, woreda chief administrator, strength committee, and kebeles chair persons were analyzed using descriptive narrative method. The finding of the study shows that tremendous support was rendered by the dvv international project in the target centers of Abobo woreda education office department. Nevertheless, these contributions were either poorly documented or not documented at all both in the adult learning centers, and the woreda education office. Therefore, it is recommended that Abobo woreda education office and the  woreda administration to keep track of the contributions of dvv international project so that others can draw lessons to scale up access and equity among adult learners, in the future in order to contribute to the development effort in Gambella regional state in general and Abobo woreda, in particular

Ongoing training of serving officers in the Police Service of England and Wales is an important function of the organisation. It is necessary to maintain competence of officers and prevent failures of the organisation for which it could be liable. The Theory of Andragogy is the major theory of adult education and its principles include that organisations should encourage individual self-motivation to promote effective learning. This thesis was intended to be a mixed methods empirical study combining a staff attitude survey and focus group data to examine the extent police ongoing training fulfils this principle. However due to participation issues the qualitative phase was unable to provide firm conclusions, but does provide us with potential hypotheses for further research. The survey suggests that current training provision does not appear to take the andragogical principle of self-motivation into account and this is detrimental to the effectiveness of the training. Whilst we can ...

Stories of Beeja-One Let's hear about the beginning of 'The Beginning'…. D: I have seen quite a few of Beeja's designs and I feel they have a rustic connect, not just in terms of the material used but the designs as well. Tell me what inspires Beeja's designs ?