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Skilling them softly : an analysis of the experience of unemployed adult learners who are enhancing their employability skills through a programme of studyWincup, Ivan John January 2014 (has links)
The Moser report to the New Labour Government in 1999 confirmed that up to twenty per cent of adults in England have problems with literacy and/or numeracy skills. Following this report the Skills for Life (SfL) strategy was initiated by the New Labour Government in England in March 2001. Its primary purpose was to create learning opportunities to allow adults to advance their language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) skills, identified as a decisive factor in enabling them to engage fully with society, both socially and economically. The strategy was targeted at a variety of groups which included public sector employees, low skilled people in employment, the unemployed and benefit claimants, those supervised in the community, prisoners and other groups at risk of exclusion. A number of training programmes under the umbrella title Skills for Life were made available for these groups however; they suffered from high attrition rates. This research was conducted using a qualitative study approach and focuses on some learners in one of these groups: namely, long term unemployed adults attending an employability skills training programme (ESP). The research found that the ESP significantly reduced the attrition rates, normally associated with these learners, through its approach to teaching and learning. The thesis gives support to the case that flexible training programmes which are contextually linked to personal interests, whether social or vocational, can provide a better framework to support unemployed non-traditional learners. It concludes with suggestions for both management and pedagogic practice in the development of targeted training provision for this group of learners.
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First-generation African Caribbean women pursuing learning in the third age and beyond : an emancipatory role for lifelong learning in community settings?Etienne, Jan January 2014 (has links)
This thesis explores the benefits of lifelong learning and employs narrative inquiry as a key methodological tool to assess the value of learning in later years for black Caribbean women who came to Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s with the expectation of a better life. The study engages with black feminist epistemology (Collins, 2000; hooks, 2001; Hudson-Weems, 2004) to explore social and cultural identities brought to learning, illustrating solidarity in Caribbean sisterhood as the women find ways to rise above past and current oppression. The research examines the nature of learning for a category of women who are living at a time when being black, female and older is often associated with deteriorating health, poverty and isolation and challenges those who might argue that in urban areas, older minority populations have little to offer. Lifelong learning has been studied in a variety of ways and diverse research has examined its nature (Coffield, 1997, Field, 2000), its significant benefits (Schuller, 2001); its role in an ageing society (McNair, 2007, Withnall, 2000, Aldridge and Tuckett, 2001, Soulsby, 1999, McGivney, 1999), and in addressing class and gender divides (Jackson, 2004). However, limited empirical research exists exploring lifelong learning and minority ethnic communities and this study therefore seeks to make an important contribution in this area. The context for the research is located within the wider, largely economic debates into lifelong learning and often conflicting government rhetoric in the UK. It is set against a backdrop of shifting policies and diminishing resources for widening participation and adult learning and acknowledges the global challenge of an ageing society. Through contemporary narrative inquiry embedded primarily in the works of, Clandinin (2007) and Chase (2005), the study draws on the narratives of 102 older African Caribbean women, exploring the social and political dimensions of lifelong learning, alongside the individual benefits, and questions the extent to which their learning also benefits their wider communities.
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The premature end of lifelong learning? : the impact of policy discourse on older learnersHughes, Jonathan Emrys January 2008 (has links)
The thesis is an examination of the interaction between policy discourses. It focuses on lifelong learning in relation to older (retired) learners and in the context of their acquisition of ICT skills. Policy is explored using a framework of espoused, enacted and experienced policy. This framework reveals the importance of considering the implications of policy operationalisation on those who are charged with its enactment. Its use also highlights the value of considering the impact on the lives of those affected by policy. The thesis takes a critical stance with regard to Foucault’s methodology of archaeological discourse analysis and to discourse analysis in general. A range of methods is developed to counter the problems associated with discourse analysis. These include word frequencies and word associations which are particularly appropriate for an investigation of the part played by small details in Foucault’s concept of governmentality. In addition, narrative analysis is employed to explore the implications of discourses for social practices. Espoused policy is explored by analysing selected policy texts. These are The Learning Age, Learning to Succeed and the Learning and Skills Act (2000). A fourth document, Winning the Generation Game is analysed in order to explore government policy in relation to the older people who are the focus of this thesis. Enacted policy is explored in the context of local provision and uses LSC documents in addition to interviews with managers of colleges of further education and organisers of provision for older learners. Finally, experienced policy is analysed by generating data from research workshops with older learners. The analysis of each level of policy is the basis for suggestions about the discourses that are important at that level. A consideration of the interplay of these discourses enables the thesis to add to the literature on the nature of policy fracture. Thus the thesis’ examination of the learning of older people who have retired from the job market uses this relatively neglected context to offer a broader picture of policy fracture that may be useful in the study of other contexts.
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The mature student in further education : a study of mature students and the G.C.E. courses provided for them in colleges of further education in two areasBell, Judith Margaret January 1976 (has links)
No description available.
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Reconceiving learning in further education : a Wittgensteinian perspectiveGuy, Catherine January 2014 (has links)
As Manager of Northern Ireland's Regional Support Centre, the author has the role of supporting further educational colleges in their implementation of blended learning. Blended learning is the first research theme in this dissertation. The author's Doctorate in Education studies have played a determining role in her approach to "selling" blended learning to college lecturers. This research began in the search for a "theory" of blended learning but quickly became a preoccupation with learning in its widest sense. The dissertation uses the later philosophy of Wittgenstein to demonstrate that learning is characterised by a first-person/third-person asymmetry. While third-person ascriptions of learning are based on criteria, this is not the case for first-person ascriptions. When this approach to learning is applied to the cognitivism which underpins contemporary blended learning, it is revealed to be a theoretical. In addition, claims that software can personalise learning by tailoring learning experiences to the individual are questioned. While this takes nothing away from the immense value of blended learning, the blend of ICT-mediated personalised teaching and learning and the focus on developing higher order skills in face-to-face interactions with college lecturers cannot be incorporated into a coherent learning theory. The second research theme was to critique the deep-seated contrast between academic learning (in subjects like mathematics, history, physics) and the vocational learning that takes place in further education colleges. The dissertation claims that what is perceived as a difference in kind is merely one of degree. The author traces the enduring appeal of the erroneous notion that while academic learning is concerned with the "in here" (the intellectual processes located in the mind), vocational education concerns the "out there" (the practical activities located in the physical world) to a mistaken picture of the relation between inner and outer.
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Supporting lifelong learning with Open Educational Resources (OER) among diverse users : motivations for, and approaches to, learning with different OERKozinska, Katarzyna Aldona January 2013 (has links)
This thesis presents a study which aimed to understand: 1) What motivates and influences learning with Open Educational Resources (OER) among different users, and 2) What role OER play in supporting lifelong learning among different users. The activities of key international organisations promoting lifelong learning as significant in the context of globalisation, combined with the innovative character of OER as high-quality open learning resources, were the reasons for the focus. The aim was to understand the function of OER through exploring motivational aspects, approaches to and contexts of individual learning among users of five different OER: penLearn, OpenSpires, OpenStudy, METU OpenCourseWare and Wolne Lektury. A case study approach allowed the focus on the uniqueness of specific OER. Semi-structured interviews and virtual output collection were triangulated as data gathering methods. Interviews were analysed using the Miles and Huberman’s (1994) qualitative framework and output - using Preece et al.’s (2002) thematic analysis guidelines. Results show OER as not only resources but learning environments supporting ‘expansion of human learning’ (COL, 2011:2) through being accessible free-of-charge, openly, without registrations, exams; providing various subjects, levels and formats suitable for users with different needs, disabilities, interests and resources. OER support wider access to and inclusion in learning, empowering individuals in directing their learning, especially 9 during transitions or ‘critical periods’ (Knowles, 1973). OER users emerged as motivated by various online and offline factors related to supporting formal education or non-formal learning, and exchanging expertise or support. Even if linked to supporting formal goals, learning, participation and communication within OER are motivated intrinsically, by interest, knowledge, curiosity, enjoyment and appreciation of learning, subject or interactions. OER help foster positive attitudes to learning and teaching as flexible and innovative possibilities of skills development and re-using OER are valued by learners, educators and organisations using OER to promote their missions.
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Praxis, critical pedagogy and critical adult and community educationConnolly, Brid January 2009 (has links)
My motivation for undertaking this research stemmed from the fascination I had in the ways of working with adult learners and the way in which adult and community education was a powertul tool for change. The purpose of this study was to explore this interest in close detail examining how praxis, the cycle of action and reflection, and critical pedagogy in adult and community education might work towards social transformation. Critical pedagogy, the dynamic interaction between 'really useful knowledge', the educators and the learners, in the learning environment, lacked an ingredient that I sought to uncover in the study. What do adult educators do that enables them and the learners to act upon the world? The study found that the practice which aimed to develop critical consciousness comprised a wide variety of methods, 'really useful methods', which engaged learners, motivating them to think critically, to discuss and to question. That was a way to create the environment for acting upon the work.
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Ways of learning in later life : older adults' voices. An exploration into older adults' preferred learning and communication styles and how these fit with recent neuroscience insights into adult learningBissland, Val January 2011 (has links)
This study explored older adults’ preferred learning and communication styles to identify the types of classroom experiences which could best contribute to wellbeing and mental capital. Growing evidence from the brain sciences points to associations between learning and well-being, and between learning and protection from cognitive decline (Foresight Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project, 2008; Field, 2009; Frith, 2011). The mixed method study has an equivalent status design (Creswell, 1995) which used Honey and Mumford’s (1986) Learning Styles Questionnaire, followed by a supplementary questionnaire. Then, it moved to a social constructionist/interpretive framework (Gergen, 2004), which involved conversations to determine older adults’ subjective understanding of learning now and in the past. The main framework for thematic analysis came from neuroscience which has uncovered knowledge about lifelong brain plasticity and the interconnectivity of emotions and memory. Also, of importance were the theoretical frameworks of Yang’s (2003) holistic theory of knowledge and adult learning and, to a lesser extent, Gee’s (2005) Discourse analysis. The study found a range of learning styles, encompassing 14 combinations, from activists to theorists. Therefore, this indicates the need for a wide range of imaginative classroom practices. The participants conveyed a sense that they wished to build on their existing understanding in open and interactive modes, which contrasted strongly with early memories of learning. This also chimes with developments at the interface of neuroscience and adult learning, where constructing one’s own knowledge in a social context has been shown to activate multiple brain networks and build stronger memory. In essence, the older adults were seeking enrichment, not acquisition. While there is no single right way to learn, this study provides evidence that insights from neuroscience indicate that classrooms where social dimensions and active engagement are intertwined, create learning spaces attractive to older learners, and can offer opportunities to build cognitive reserve, wellbeing and mental capital, which is vital with the new timeframe of possibilities that longer lives afford.
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Learning and support of 'older adults' in the use of Information and Communications Technologies : a framework to enhance technology engagementJones, A. January 2013 (has links)
This research provides independent and in-depth knowledge and understanding of ‘older adult’ learning (those aged 50 and over) and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) with respect to the new dynamics of ageing (e.g. changing motivations, requirements, preferences and ‘learning capacities’). From this knowledge, understanding and synthesis, learning strategies and recommendations within a framework consisting of different categories are proposed. A mixed methods’ methodology was used which is underpinned by the principles of participatory action research and has a qualitative emphasis. It comprised semi-structured in-depth interviews, focus groups and research diary workshops as the qualitative methods. It was complemented quantitatively by two primary source surveys for ICT and Non ICT users and a secondary source ‘digital engagement’ themed questionnaire. The research focuses on the learning and engagement of ICTs and new learning and support to be used. It also identifies aspects that comprise learning mechanisms, and their relationships with gender and age groups. In terms of contribution to knowledge, the research delivers previously unreported knowledge and understanding of substantial significance on the learning and support of ‘older adults’ and ICTs with respect to the new dynamics of ageing. Further, the study provides innovative and unique learning strategies within a framework consisting of different categories of various digital technologies. This is imperative to encourage and further the engagement between older adults and ICTs to promote autonomy and independence. It is a comprehensive study that encompasses a multitude of factors that support and influence an older adults’ engagement with ICTs. The learning strategies and recommendations are expansive and are based upon a wide variety of learning modes. The research is imperative in breaking down the barriers to the older adult learning uptake of ICTs, and providing solutions in the form of learning strategies and recommendations to social policy, research, design and practice. The discipline in which the thesis is located is the ‘educational studies’ field, as ‘learning’ is the central theme.
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Women's adult education as a 'Site of Struggle' in marriage in MozambiqueEinarsdottir, Marta January 2012 (has links)
In this thesis I have adopted a feminist ethnographic approach to explore how women's adult education in Mozambique is influenced by perceptions of their gendered identities and roles as wives and mothers. Adapting narrative analysis I examine the case stories of four women who met resistance by their husbands when they went back to school as adults and one woman who was supported by her husband. I explore how they make meaning of their experiences and position themselves and their husbands in relation to dominant discourses on masculinities and femininities. I found that in the context of rapid economic and social change, the formal job market offered new opportunities for women, where completing 7th grade was a prerequisite. I argue that education can be seen as a ‘site of struggle’ in marriages where husbands tried to hinder their wives from studying. I found that the dominant femininity entailed being ‘submissive’, ‘cultivating’ and taking care of children and the household. I suggest that some men saw their wives’ education as a threat, fearing they would subsequently leave them. They also seemed to fear that if their wives became educated and employed, this would threaten their masculine position as ‘head of household’ and ‘provider’. Some women resisted dominant discourses and drew on their families for support. At the same time, they seemed to see education as a ‘fall-back’ position in cases where they felt abused by their husbands but unable to leave for lack of external support. I argue that the needs of women who wish to pursue education beyond adult literacy programmes have been somewhat forgotten and suggest the need to promote women’s adult education as a human right and pay more attention to the gendered constraints many women meet at different levels of education.
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