Bibliography: pages 315-322. / This study explored the use of the experiential learning methodology and the concept of learner responsibility within a course for the professional preparation of adult educators at university level. The research methodology was illuminative evaluation using case study research and participant observation. The study described the problems and issues that arose when the students, on the 1982 Diploma Course for Educators of Adults at the University of Cape Town, were faced with the responsibility for the designing, managing and teaching of their own curriculum. The analysis of this showed an ability and willingness on the part of most students to engage in this responsibility. For some students the required role as "curriculum constructor" contradicted with their expected and preferred stance of a learner receiving mediated knowledge from a teacher. The role of assessment diminished the freedom to engage in responsibility, and the difficulties of decision making and management led ultimately to the formation of a management committee. The study went on to examine learner responsibility and experiential learning in more depth. The students' preference for other methodologies and their own perceived ability and confidence to engage with both learner responsibility and experiential learning were major hindrances for the course. The conflict of roles experienced by both the staff and students at a variety of points required a way of clarifying and resolving this conflict, otherwise it continued to block involvement for the students or staff. For learner responsibility the access to learning resources was a further problem. The introduction of experiential learning and the apparent non-openness of it to other methodologies were also problems experienced in practice. The research concluded with an attempt to address these problems. It was proposed that experiential learning and learner responsibility needed to be reconceptualised. Developments such as "learning contracts", "a learning community", new forms of assessment, "learning conversations" and increasing the reflective capacity of experiential learning were proposed. The research ended with a series of implications for practice for those adult education programmes which were committed to a learning process which maximised learner responsibility and autonomy and took seriously the life experience of the students.

Since the mid-1980s several forces have brought about changes in the delivery of special education services to students with disabilities: the Regular Education Initiative and inclusive education movements; increase in parent advocacy for including students with disabilities in general education classes; increases in student diversity in terms ofrace, language, income, exceptionality, and culture; and a trend toward heterogeneous grouping in special education classes. As a consequence, the new California Standards for teacher credentials in special education require competencies and skills to implement inclusive service delivery models. Current holders of Learning Handicapped (LH) and Severely Handicapped (SH) credentials, trained under previous standards, may not have all of these skills. The purpose of this study was to determine training needs of veteran special education teachers in California, as perceived by those teachers and their school site administrators. Specifically, this study sought to determine the extent to which these teachers and administrators perceive that (a) the teachers possess 31 skills in eight new Level I standards and (b) the teachers need additional training in these skills. Responses to 167 questionnaires completed by LH teachers, SH teachers, and school site administrators, and two follow-up interview sessions with a selected subsarnple of each group were analyzed. Overall, the teachers perceived themselves to be competent in the examined skills and indicated little need for further training. Responses to follow-up interview questions showed that they have a balanced awareness of their competencies and need for training. Administrators rated the teachers lower in skills and in greater need of training than the teachers rated themselves, but the administrators expressed (a) a high level of regard for the abilities of the teachers and (b) a high level of expectation for the teachers as they take on new roles in the inclusive system. Based on the findings, it was recommended that (a) districts implement pragmatic inservice training, rather than university coursework; (b) administrators formally state their expectations for these teachers in the general education setting and provide system-level support and training to facilitate the teachers' assumption of their new role; and (c) administrators form a closer alliance with these teachers to better understand their performance and their needs.

"The primary objective of this paper is to describe the purposes, background and procedures involved in providing a handbook for teachers of adult students in Polk County. The term adult education, in this paper, is used to denote non-vocational classes below college level, for employed persons and other not enrolled in the regular day schools"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1959." / "Submitted to the Graduate School of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Edward K. Hankin, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 35).

The purpose in writing the handbook of instruction is two-fold: 1. To provide physical training instructors with essential and functional information concerning the aim, objectives, activities, and procedures for the administration and conduct of the selected physical training program of the 308th College Training Detachment at Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. 2. To obtain uniformity in the conduct of the physical training program by various instructors.

M.Ed. (Adult Education) / Inadequate school education in South Africa has resulted in the maJority of the adult population being illiterate, not possessing the most basic living skills. Recent estimations indicate that only one percent of approximately 15 million illiterate adults in South Africa is presently engaged in basic education programmes. Since education is regarded as a basic human right, Adult Basic Education (ABE) is therefore a priority of the South African government. The provision of large scale, effective ABE programmes in future will depend on the availability of an adequate number of professionally trained and well equiped instructors in ABE. At present very little theoretical background can be provided for training such instructors. The instructors, cum facilitators I are mostly trained informally, haphazard, fragmented and limited to a specific programme. Apart from the general characteristics and needs typical of adult learners, illiterate South African adults have specific characteristics and needs unique to their circumstances. In view of the above, the question posed in this study is as follows: What recommendations can be made' to design a curriculum for a training programme for ABE instructors? Within the framework of a descriptive-interpretative research paradigm, an elaborate literature study forms the background for the empirical research. The recommendations for the training of ABE instructors are made in the form of answers to the following three questions: * Who should be trained as ABE instructors? * What objectives should be achieved by training ABE instructors?i and * How should ABE instructors be trained? According to research individuals should possess certain characteristics, values and attitudes, in order to be trained as ABE instructors. Potential ABE instructors should thus be selected, bearing these attributes in mind. Training objectives should include that instructors be equipped with the knowledge, skills. values and attitudes they need to perform their task as efficiently as possible. The selection of the candidates and/or the knowledge and skills the instructors should be equipped with. is perhaps less important than the way in which they are trained. Research indicates that instructors tend to have two theory types in their repertoires, namely espoused theory and theory- in- action. A training programme for instructors in ABE should serve as an example of espoused theory, also being theory- in-action. Instructors in ABE should be trained as reflective practitioners - learners should thus be empowered to take control of their own learning. This implies that instructors should already be able to exercise control of their own learning.

<p>The problem that gave rise to this study was to determine how Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) was implemented in the Western Cape and to find answers to the question of &quot / what exactly is the nature of the relationship between adult education and training&quot / ?</p>

The purpose of this study was to understand the individual experiences of four adult literacy practitioners, Anne, Bill, Candy, and Emily, in the first cohort of the Oregon Field-Based Cohort Master's Program. This program, which Oregon established in 1993 as one venue of professional development for adult literacy and English as a Second Language practitioners, was developed jointly by the Office of Community College Services of the state Department of Education and Oregon State University. The inquiry proceeded from three assumptions. First, effective professional development must be grounded in understandings about how practitioners learn. Second, an understanding of practitioners' learning is attainable only through intensive examination of individual experiences. And third, practitioners' accounts of their learning experiences are legitimate sources of knowledge; they are, in fact, the only accessible avenues for investigating individuals' learning. Transcripts of in-depth interviews and participants' cumulative portfolios were coded and analyzed in the first phase of data analysis to produce stories which integrated Anne, Bill, Candy, and Emily's own words with metaphors they created to frame their experiences. Each story reconstructs a practitioner's construction of the emotional, intellectual, and material experience of learning in a cohort. Together, they represent the uniqueness and complexity of adults' learning. In the second phase of analysis, the stories were compared to reveal relationships of similarity and difference among them. The cross-case analysis generated five themes around the self as learner, the contribution of dissonance to reconstruction of meaning, personal transformations in an academic setting, increased confidence as an outcome of graduate study, and stance as a contributor to the variability and complexity of adults' experiences of learning in a formal setting. The final chapter drew directly on the themes to make suggestions for planning and practice and pose questions which might be used to focus conversations or frame future research about adult learning, graduate programs, or staff development for adult educators. Specific topics included authentic learning situations, reflection, graduate cohorts, collaborative learning, adult learners' stances toward learning situations, distance delivery and professional networks for adult literacy practitioners, and evaluation of professional development programs. / Graduation date: 1998

The recent focus on transition from school to working life has created a growing concern in Oregon about teachers with elementary certification as their initial certification who earn a special education certificate and teach students with disabilities in secondary settings. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among initial certifications (elementary, secondary, and K-12), where Oregon high school special education teachers received the major part of their transition skills training, and their self-perceived needs for further transition skills training. The population for the study consisted of 213 secondary special education teachers of students with mild disabilities from throughout Oregon. The instrument was a survey-type questionnaire that included 14 transition skill competencies for teachers. Subjects were first asked where they received the major part of their training in each of the transition competency skills. Next, they were asked to rate their self-perceived needs for further training in each of the transition skills. The instrument design was validated through a Delphi procedure. Data were collected during the spring of 1987 and the fall of 1988. No significant statistical relationships were found between initial certification and where teachers received the major part of their transition skills training, or their self-perceived needs for further training. However, three major implications became apparent from the data. First, decisions regarding coursework could be examined at the preservice level. Next, opportunities for preservice teachers to participate in team decision-making activities should be examined. Lastly, personnel inservice preparation programs at the district level should be examined to ensure that transition skill competencies for teachers are included. Recommendations included follow-up studies to find out if the size of school, type and level of endorsement, major and minor fields of study and years of teaching may have an effect on transition skills training of secondary teachers. / Graduation date: 1992

The purpose of this study was to identify competencies which are perceived as important by Thai adapted physical educators, to determine the differences that exist in the way physical education professors and adapted physical educators judge the level of each competency, and to recommend a set of competencies for adapted physical educators in Thailand. The questionnaire, Competencies for an Adapted Physical Educator in Thailand containing 59 competencies based on 6- point Likert type scales, was used in this study. The fifty-nine competencies were translated from the Competencies for an Adapted Physical Education Specialist, modified by Dempsey (1986) from the 1981 AAHPERD Guidelines for Adapted Physical Education. The meaning equivalence of the competencies was validated by using the Delphi method along with the back translation technique. The computed reliability coefficients of the questionnaire, using the Hoyt-Stunkard's technique was .9577. The study's population consisted of 31 College and university professors who have taught adapted physical education courses to college/university students and 40 adapted physical educators who have conducted physical activities for people with disabilities in schools and institutions for the disabled in Thailand. Data collection was completed in an eight-week period. Means, standard deviations, a t-test and the Bonferroni Method of Multiple Comparisons were used to treat these data. The results showed that 1) the competencies were perceived as extremely important by professors and adapted physical educators in Thailand, 2) the perceptions of professors and physical educators on the competency statements individually and overall were similar since the null hypotheses were not rejected, and 3) the relationship of both groups on the importance of each competency and competency category was high with a Spearman rank correlation of .7842, and .8857 respectively. Based upon the findings of this study, it was recommended that this set of competencies should be used as guidelines for the preparation of adapted physical educators in Thailand. / Graduation date: 1992

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between divergent thinking and Schmidt's schema theory of motor learning in a population of first year University physical education students. / Problem solving teaching methodology was used as the intervention program in this study and the main sources of data were the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and tests of Schmidt's schema theory designed by the researcher. Descriptive data were used to explain the intervention program. / A mixed model analysis of variance was used to compare the pre-test and post-test performance on Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), and the Pearson product-moment correlation technique was used to compare the results of the TTCT post-test and the Schmidt test. / Results showed minimal differences attributable to the intervention and no relationships between the two tests. Analysis of the descriptive data suggests several limitations to the intervention program and some suggestions for further research are offered.