Adult Learners

In a previous study it has been suggested that there are six stages that adults move through before they feel ready to participate in higher education, and proposed a chain-of-response (COR) model to describe the process. In this study we examine the reported experiences of nine adult entrants during the second year of a work-related degree course. The analysis of the previous studies accounts of the process indicated that a sequential model of the type introduced did not adequately describe the process of induction experienced. Here ‘induction’ is taken to mean something more than the short institutional induction process organised by the university. What participants in this study described was a gradual transformation that occurs in each individual until they are ready to accept the identity of ‘student’ – a transformation that not all achieved, even those who appeared to be meeting all course requirements. On the basis of this analysis we propose a threshold-of-induction (TOI) model, based on the COR model. We argue that, while our data confirm the importance of the elements captured in the COR model, a threshold model represents the journey through induction experienced by these adult learners more authentically.

Another co author: Dian Hazwani

Pendidik merupakan seorang pembimbing yang mendidik pelajar dari usia  kecil hingga ke dewasa selain ibu bapa. Secara tidak sedar, para pendidik akan memberi kesan yang mendalam ke dalam kehidupan seorang pelajar dari segi rohaniah dan jasmani. Maka, seseorang pelajar itu akan terdorong untuk belajar jika mendapat pendidik yang mahu mengenal keperluan pelajar dalam pendidikan atau sebaliknya. Apakah kesannya jika para pendidik mengenal kepentingan keperluaan pelajar atau sebaliknya?

Enabling courses are designed to assist with the upskilling of non-traditional students in order to make the transition to university more seamless. Enabling educators understand that the cohort who enter via the enabling pathway are unique and require holistic support as the students develop their academic skills and their self-efficacy. Class attendance has long been regarded as a vital component of a quality education, but with the accessibility of online material and the ever-increasing opportunities to study online, the viability and value of face-to-face classes is being challenged. This paper reports the findings of a research project that sought to better understand enabling students' conceptions of the benefits of attending face-to-face, on-campus classes and the factors that influence their choices to attend. The project investigated the link between attendance, academic achievement and retention and aimed to identify a more effective alignment between the conception of expectations and the provision of a quality learning experience.

""This is an edited volume with Maria Gravani (Open University of Cyprus) in the Springer Lifelong Learning Book Series (Series Editors: Aspin, David N., Chapman, Judith). The volume contains 25 chapters from 35 contributors from all around Europe.
-Analyzes the implementation of the Memorandum for Lifelong Learning from a wide range across the European Union
-Helps understanding and interpreting the different dimensions of lifelong learning
-Brings forward new aspects of lifelong learning that are critically positioned towards European policy trends
The book critically reflects on the context in which lifelong learning policies and practices are organized in Europe with contributions of researchers and policy makers in the field. Through a critical lens the book reinterprets the core content of the messages that are conveyed by the European Commission in the “Memorandum for Lifelong Learning”, the most important policy document in the area, which after a decade from its publication still remains the vehicle for all current developments in lifelong learning in Europe. With references to research findings, proposed actions, and applications to immediate practice that have an added value for Europeans –but which either do not appear to correspond directly to what is stipulated by the European Commission, or are completely ignored as part of the lifelong learning process– the book offers an analytic and systematic outlook of the main challenges in creating the ‘European Area of Lifelong Learning’. In times as decisive as the ones we are going through today (both in social and economic terms), a critical perspective of the practices and policies adopted by the EU Member States is essential. The book follows the same structure as the Memorandum in order to debate and critically approach in separate sections the core issues that Europe faces today in relation to the idea of making a ‘European area of Lifelong Learning’. ​

Contents:

Introduction, Maria Gravani & George K. Zarifis

Part I: Lifelong learning and new basic skills for all.
The Skills - a Chimera of Modern European Adult Education, Katarina Popović | Computer Literacy among the Generations: How can Older Adults Participate in Digital Society? Bernhard Schmidt-Hertha & Claudia Strobel | Basic Skills for Becoming a Citizen, Emilio Lucio-Villegas | ‘New Basic Skills’, Non-Basic Skills, Knowledge Practices and Judgment: Tensions between the Needs of Basic Literacy, of Vocational Education and Training, and of Higher and Professional Learning, Martin Gough.

Part II: Lifelong learning and more investment in human resources.
Incentives and Disincentives to Invest in Human Resources, Marcella Milana | An Inconsistent Policy: Lifelong Learning and Adult Education Policy towards Competitive Advantage, Paula Guimarães & Fátima Antunes | Vocational Education – the Tension between Educational Flexibility and Predictability, Eva Andersson & Gun-Britt Wärvik | Lifelong Learning and Employability, Andreas Fejes | Human Capital and Human Activity in Lifelong Learning,
Despina Tsakiris.

Part III: Lifelong learning, innovative teaching and learning, and rethinking guidance and counselling.
Re-representing Education’s Image and Status: In the ‘Interest’ of Pedagogical Innovation, Stephen O’Brien | Teaching Methods and Professional Teaching in Adult Education: Questioning the Memorandum's Understanding of Professional Teaching, Regina Egetenmeyer & Patrick Bettinger | From “Innovation” to “Quality”: The Topic of Professionalization for adult Learning Staff in Selected European Policy Documents, Simona Sava | Being an Adult Learner and Learning through Life, Larissa Jõgi | Perspectives on Guidance and Counselling as Strategic Tools to Improve Lifelong Learning in Portugal, Maria Paula Paixão, José Tomás da Silva & Albertina L. Oliveira.

Part IV: Lifelong learning and valuing learning.
Contradicting Values in the Policy Discourse on Lifelong Learning, Nils Bernhardsson | Quality in Adult Learning: EU policies and Shifting Paradigms? Bert-Jan Buiskool & Simon Broek | The Adoption of an International Education Policy Agenda at National Level: Conceptual and Governance Issues, Alexandra Ioannidou | Vocational Learning: Shifting Relationships between Education and Working Life, Erik Kats & Jaap van Lakerveld | Evaluating Learning and the Work of a Researcher in the Era of Lifelong Learning, Κristiina Brunila | What About the Learner-Search for Identity and Meaning in Autobiographic Methods, Laura Formenti & Michaela Castiglioni.

Part V: Lifelong learning and bringing learning closer to home.
“Bringing Learning Closer to Home”: Understanding ‘outreach work’ as a mobilization strategy to increase participation in adult learning, Barry Hake | Lifelong Learning and Schools as Community Learning Centres: Key Aspects of a National Curriculum Draft Policy Framework for Malta, Peter Mayo | The Rise and Fall and Rise again of Learning Cities, Lynette Jordan, Norman Longworth & Michael Osborne | Collective Dimensions in Lifelong Education and Learning: Political and Pedagogical Reflections, Françoise F. Laot | Reinstating the invisible: a proposed framework for European Learning Collectives, George K. Zarifis & Maria Gravani.

Index""