The theses is focused on the topic of museums and their role in adult education and learning. It provides a basic overview of the development of museums and their educational role in history. A special attention is also paid to adults as a specific target group of the museum education, their specifics in terms of the leisure education and the educational process. It is also devoted to the educational offer of museums in the field of formal and non-formal education and informal learning. A part of the thesis is a qualitative survey that focuses on the educational offer of selected museums and to what extent the specifics of adults are taken into account by the staff in the area of the museum education. Key words museum, museum education, adult, adut education, leisure education, non-formal education, informal learning

This thesis investigates the learning experiences of students who participated in short-term study abroad trips (also known as regional academic travel) offered by New York University Abu Dhabi’s Office of Global Education, with the objective of attaining an authentic account of these experiences. This authentic account supports a better understanding of a student’s experience, and leads to a more in-depth understanding of learning, which for this research is called the learning lifeworld. Phenomenography is used to capture the qualitative variation of individual experiences leading to four categories of description placed in logical relationship to one another yielding an outcome space of four conceptions of learning experience. Phenomenography alone, while reflective in nature, has limitations on determining an authentic account of experience. Therefore, it is helpful to draw upon reflective thinking ability, which produces information on each student’s ability to reason through an ill-structured problem, and puts students in a reflective thinking development stage, which is linked to a student’s critical reflection ability. Reflective judgment stages for each student were determined using the standard reflective judgment interview (King & Kitchener, 1994), and then compared against the instances conceptions of learning experience that appeared in each student account. A relationship was identified between instances of conceptions and the level of a student’s reflective thinking ability that could lead to a deeper understanding of the learning lifeworld through the language students used in responses from the phenomenographic interview and the reflective judgment interview. The findings of this research show that there were at least four qualitatively different ways students experienced regional academic travel trips. The categories developed through an analysis of student reflective accounts are: the regional academic travel experience complements and supplements classroom learning; develops academic skills; affects students’ future academic, personal, and professional endeavours; and offers students a chance to reflect on impacts they have made and can make in a community and the world. The results of this research make an original contribution to lifeworld theory, transformative learning, and short-term study abroad research by utilizing a unique combination of research approaches (phenomenography and reflective judgment to inform lifeworld theory and transformative learning) in a novel setting (NYU Abu Dhabi regional academic travel). The design of this research could be used for future studies to examine learning in an in-depth way, whilst assuring that the accounts given could be considered authentic. Finally, the results also led to recommendations for improvement of future regional academic travel trips offered by The Office of Global Education.

This thesis outlines the current state of adult media literacy and education in the Czech Republic. It defines basic concepts, present and historical approaches of media literacy and its anchoring in the Czech legal order and international documents. It further focuses on current phenomena of media world and selected media institutions involved in media literacy development. The analytical part compares and evaluates Pan-European and Czech research aimed at measuring the level of media literacy of adults. Key words media literacy, media education, media, adult education, longlife learning, civic education

The aims of the present study were to investigate how women manage the transition to professional programmes of higher education and to identify what might assist and hinder their coping. Initial conceptualisations were based on an assumption that there would be an interaction between the different spheres in which the women operate; the private, the professional and higher education. The literature reveals a preoccupation with either psychological or social factors but there is a lack of theory which integrates these and 'solutions' put forward, aimed at assisting women in education, are broad and general. The investigation took place in a School of a British University where the professional areas chosen were social work and health care education. A feminist ethnographic approach using multiple methods of data collection was taken. However, as the central focus was an investigation of subjective accounts a phenomenological perspective was adopted and the methods used were mainly qualitative. The investigation took place over two phases, covering the period of transition to programmes over two consecutive years. The overarching theme to emerge is the importance of continuities in terms of what women 'bring' from the private sphere and their professional context. Aspects of these continuities were found to centrally impinge upon the women's sense of who they are and their current situation, and arise from their social situation. Higher education does not always recognise the importance of these continuities. The private sphere, the professional Context and higher education are conceptualised as 'greedy institutions', with competing demands and value bases. It is the movement between these contexts which causes problems for women. An integrative framework based largely on Breakwell's (1986) theory of coping with threatened identity is developed. The framework is extended to include a feminist analysis of the social context in order to understand the women's coping. Specific suggestions are put forward to assist mature women students 'manage' the transition.

This study is an investigation of how cultural traditions can militate against the education of women in Zambia with a focus on the Tumbuka tribe. Ethnographic methods were employed over a period of three months in a village in the Eastern Province of the country. Data were collected through participant observation, focus group and in-depth interviews, narratives, and documents. A total of 47 participants comprised the sample. This research cuts through multidisciplinary fields such as social sciences, education and anthropology. Through thematic analysis data were analysed. Evidence in this research demonstrates that patrilineal groupings are strongholds of the patriarchal predisposition and that patriarchal attitudes and cultural traditions do not recognize women as equal partners with men. The Tumbuka women‟s experiences and beliefs reflect socio-cultural traditional norms that tend to limit gender equality, and compel women to accept and justify male domination at the expense of their own status and to regard consequent inequalities as normal. Evidence demonstrates that the initiation rites, an active institution for girls of pubescent age, interfere more with the school-based education of girls. The women are active social agents as well as passive learners who will not allow the girls they are coaching to question the reason or purpose for some traditional practices that are oppressive and directly cause them to fail to complete their schooling successfully. The strong hold that the cultural traditions has on the locals has further resulted in conflicts with modern schooling, which is viewed as disseminating „white‟ man‟s culture and values. Established in this research is the fear and suspicion that the locals have on the outcome of their children learning these values that they see as alien to their own. The modern education provided in school is perceived as a force that undermines cultural values. It is viewed as presenting an inherent challenge to the cultural traditional control measures that are in place. Arguably, while ethnic traditions should be respected and sustained because they define one's identity, aspects of culture which are discriminatory, restrictive and tend to devalue women‟s physical, emotional and psychological development should be eliminated because they are retrogressive. Therefore the argument that deep seated socio-cultural traditions play a significant role in encumbering female education is proven.

This diploma thesis presents the concept of lifelong learning as an ambitious political project born in the field of international organisations at the beginning of the 1970s which now reaches far beyond the borders of national states and education policy. The sphere of education still remains the responsibility of national governments, however, even here strong globalising tendencies have occurred since the 1990s, as a result of which the national policy is more and more being influenced by supranational institutions. Although the concept of lifelong learning now serves as a common framework, it has been interpreted differently during its evolution and a consensus on what it exactly means and how it should be put into practice still does not exist. Based on analysis of key documents, this thesis aims to compare the view of lifelong learning held by the international organisation UNESCO with that of OECD, as two distinctive perspectives on this issue. The comparison draws on Rubenson's model (2004), which examines lifelong learning through three key categories representing the main actors of social life - the state, the market and civil society. As this topic has not been widely explored in the Czech Republic, this thesis aims to present a complete overview, including a critical assessment of both...

Il proposito di questa ricerca è di conoscere gli utenti dell’educazione degli adulti in Cile, il motivo per cui hanno abbandonato e poi ripreso gli studi, oltre alla loro attuale percezione del sistema scolastico. Per lo studio si è utilizzata la tecnica dei questionari, con un campione aleatorio di 597 giovani e 61 docenti in 24 scuole della regione di Valparaiso. Gli aspetti analizzati per gli studenti sono stati: abbandono della scuola, reinserimento nel sistema scolastico, didattica dell’insegnante; per gli insegnanti: soddisfazione per lavorare nei centri per adulti, opinioni rispetto agli studenti e percezione della propria didattica. Tra i risultati risalta il fatto che gli studenti riconoscono di aver abbandonato la scuola per mancanza di motivazione e per motivi didattici e per contro la buona percezione che hanno delle peculiarità della modalità di Educazione degli Adulti e del modo di fare degli insegnanti. Gli insegnanti si sentono soddisfatti del loro lavoro e considerano che la specializzazione nell’area l’hanno acquisita con l’esperienza. Riguardo agli studenti rilevano carenze nella motivazione, nella costanza allo studio e nella presenza alle lezioni; c’è una buona percezione dell’aiuto reciproco tra studenti anche se si registrano casi di auto-isolamento. / The purpose of this research is to know users of adult education in Chile, because they left their studies and taken up today, as well as current perception of the school system. The survey technique was used in the study and a random sample of 597 youth and 61 teachers from 24 schools in the Region of Valparaíso. The studied topics of students were: return to the school system, teaching used by teachers and drop out of school. The teacher topics were: satisfaction of working in adult schools, students view and perception of their own teaching. Results indicated that students admit to having left the formal system mostly due to lack of motivation and educational reasons. In addition they have a good perception of the treatment of teachers and characteristics of the adult education system. On the other hand, teachers believe that specialization in this area have been acquired through experience and feel satisfied in their work. About their students, teachers emphasize their lack of motivation, failure to attend classes and persistence in their studies.