The major goal of the Bachelor of Adult Education degree is to equip officers with the prerequisite skills, knowledge and attitudes to design and deliver programmed instruction to different categories of learners as well as to equip them with skills to conduct research in the field of adult education practice. The present study undertakes to investigate the reasons for lack of patronage for the adult education degree at Zimbabwe Staff College (ZSC) by exploring the quality of the adult education degree programme in terms of its effectiveness, relevance, value and its ability to enhance the quality of life. An adult education degree programme should reflect the sociocultural realities and experiences of adult learners. Participatory approaches should inform the development and implementation of curriculum. The aim of the study is to inform decisionmaking aimed at programme improvement. Effectiveness entails adequacy and appropriateness of teaching methods and support services. Relevance is ensured by considering the policy framework, curriculum provision, learners‟ needs and non–participation in the programme. Value constitutes the ability to improve the economic, professional, social and political aspects of life. Using the qualitative case study design, seven students and two administrators were selected using purposeful sampling, which is informed by the non-probability theory of sampling, to participate in individual and focus group interviews, which were subsequently conducted and generated data for analysis. Available relevant documents were analysed. The major finding revealed that a lack of recognition of the adult education programme by superiors at ZSC was the major obstacle to participation. Lack of recognition was found to be attributable to the absence of any national lifelong learning policy, ZSC policy framework, institutional structural conditions, and non–participatory curriculum development process and also to other associated barriers. The non-existence of the national and local policies on adult education was found to be negatively affecting not only participation but also the quality of the content provision because a lifelong learning policy framework is supposed to be informing design and practice. Recommendations focus on revision of the policy framework and the way the policies are implemented at national and local levels. A review of the implementation of policy is imperative if the restrictions responsible for the invisibility of adult education in the country and adult education programmes at ZCS are to be removed. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

For school libraries to sufficiently contribute to better information skills’ development and creation of a culture of lifelong learning among students, they require backing through well articulated policies both at national and individual school level. This study investigated the prevailing status of school libraries in public secondary schools in Nairobi County, Kenya. Using a survey research design, with a response rate of 68% for school principals and 66% for school librarians, this study established that although the majority of the schools had school libraries, these were individual schools’ efforts. There were no government policies on school libraries and most of the schools lacked explicit library policies. Additionally, they had not embraced contemporary trends in technology and the major impediment was lack of financial support. The study concluded that school libraries in Nairobi County were inadequately resourced and supported and recommended that the government of Kenya should come up with national policies that will entrench school libraries in the education system. / Information Science / MA (Information Science)

1 ABSTRACT The thesis discusses possibilities of application of the concept of lifelong education in Basic Art Schools. The goal of the thesis is to propose a basic model of adult education which could be applied in Basic Art Schools. It focuses on the analysis of the literature on lifelong learning, lifewide learning, further education, and also on the analysis of strategic documents of the European Union and the Czech Republic in the field of lifelong learning and further education. Based on the analyses of the documents and external environment, a model of adult education in Basic Art Schools is proposed, the applicability of which is verified by a research investigation. A survey research examines the existence of education of diverse target groups of adults (both laymen and experts) in Basic Art Schools in Prague, the ratio of adult to younger students and the employed methods of their education. Structured interviews among five headteachers of Basic Art Schools in Prague clarify specific details of the process of educating adults in Basic Art Schools and provide more observations on the topic. The thesis contributes to the advancement of the concept of lifelong learning in the sphere of Basic Art Schools. Also, it brings forward possibilities of use of vacancies in Basic Art Schools for adult...

The diploma thesis focuses on a European activity eTwinning and its implementation within the system of education. The theoretical part of the thesis introduces the activity and its main principles, as well as its goals and management. The emphasis is also put on its position within the conception of lifelong learning. The thesis presents the development of the activity since its lunch in 2005 until now, describes its original direction to be followed at the beginning as well as the gradual changes that happened during its further implementation. The practical part defines the main internet tools offered by eTwinning to its users and describes those in detail. In the last part, three eTwinning projects are presented as good practice examples from the Czech Republic. The main aim of the diploma thesis is to present the European activity in as broad context as possible and from different points of view. All the data used are based on relevant literature and other sources.

This final thesis deals with innovations in the management of informal education. The main goal of this work is to determine the extent to which the executives of leisure education organizations recognize the need for innovations in different areas of the organization, to compare the extent and content of specific innovations in selected organizations and explore in which areas and based on which stimuli the innovations in these organizations arise. The obtained information is useful for efficient preparation of further training of organization executives and described examples of good practice as an inspiration to improve the performance of leisure and informal education organizations. The theoretical part incorporates leisure and informal education into the overall education system of the Czech Republic and its development is illustrated on the laws and decrees from 1948 to present. Research in the form of structured interview reveals the respondents view on innovations in leisure education and shows the respondents experience with the introduction of innovations in their own organizations. The conclusions of this research clearly show the need for innovation in informal and leisure education for the competitiveness of individual organizations. KEYWORDS : lifelong learning, formal education,...

Contrairement à ses homologues européens, le Royaume-Uni n'a pas adopté en 1989, le texte de la charte communautaire des droits sociaux fondamentaux des travailleurs abrégée charte sociale. Il s'est tenu, jusqu'en 1997, à l'écart des décisions européennes en matière sociale. Au lendemain de son arrivée au pouvoir, le gouvernement de Tony blair a mis fin à cette exception britannique. Le parti travailliste, fervent opposant à l'adhésion du royaume-uni au marché commun dans les années 1970, a pu rallier ses partisans au chapitre social de la construction européenne deux décennies plus tard grâce à cette charte. Depuis, le Royaume-Uni a su démontrer son engagement européen par rapport aux politiques sociales. Il a approuvé le traité d'Amsterdam qui a vu la mise en place de la Stratégie Européenne pour l'Emploi. Pour autant, il reste toujours celui qui incarne en Europe, le « modèle libéral anglo-saxon », en vigueur aux États-Unis. Il est vrai que malgré cette adhésion, les politiques thatchériennes n'ont pas été modifiées en profondeur par le New labour mais juste infléchies et il existe toujours en Europe, une spécificité britannique au niveau de la législation du travail et des relations sociales. Paradoxalement, malgré cette spécificité britannique, le Conseil européen, en 2002, a estimé que les programmes mis en place au Royaume-Uni sont compatibles avec les objectifs européens pour l‘emploi.Ce travail de recherche s'intéresse aux enjeux que représente la Stratégie Européenne pour l'Emploi au Royaume-Uni. Notre analyse nous amènera à mettre en évidence la situation britannique par rapport aux recommandations européennes en matière de politiques pour l'emploi. L'intérêt de ce travail de recherche est de souligner un paradoxe : à la fois comprendre les spécificités du marché du travail britannique, occupant une position unique en Europe mais aussi se rendre compte que les politiques de l'emploi menées au Royaume-Uni sont tout à fait compatibles avec les recommandations européennes et compatibles avec la Stratégie Européenne pour l‘Emploi. / Unlike her European counterparts, Britain did not sign the Social Charter in 1989 and benefited from an opt out of the social rights included in this Charter until 1997. When the first New Labour government came into office, Tony Blair put an end to this British opt out. The Labour Party, which had been against the British entry into the EEC in the seventies, managed to convince its members to change their views on the European Union two decades later thanks to this Charter. By signing the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997, the UK adopted the Social Charter and accepted the changes brought by the “Social Chapter” included in the Treaty. The Treaty of Amsterdam also introduced the European Employment Strategy. Since then, the UK has endorsed the Social Charter and implemented a range of UE social measures. Despite social policies, the UK compared to its European partners is considered as “the Anglo-Saxon model” available in the US because Margaret Thacher's economic policies have not been deeply modified and at the European level, there are British particularities as far as labour law and industrial relations are concerned. Yet despite such disparities, the European Council considered in 2002 that the employment policies carried out in the UK were in accordance with the European Employment Strategy. This thesis examines how the European Employment Strategy is operating in the UK. The analysis focuses on how the European guidelines are implemented in the UK labour market regulation. The aim is to shed light on a paradox: on the one hand, the UK labour market has its own specificities which are not similar to other European countries; and on the other, the employment policies pursued in the UK comply with the European guidelines within the European Employment Strategy.

本論文「台灣社區大學之研究─公民社會建構與終身學習政策的實踐」主要目的在研究台灣最近四年以來，蓬勃發展的另類高等教育社區大學，目前已經招生上課的社區大學共有卅七所，每年參與選課的學員將近七萬人次，並且仍然持續增加之中。本論文藉由個案研究（採取質的研究中文獻分析、參與觀察與深度訪談等方法）探討：1、公民社會建構（社會面向）。2、終身學習政策（政策面向）。3、社區大學的定位、法制化（文憑授予）、財源、課程與教學，以及與政府關係（組織管理面向）。研究結果分析與歸納為： 　　研究發現（一）：社區大學的環境。 　　1、社區大學是民間教育改革（四一○教育改造）運動的延續；在意識型態方面是由民間自發性的草根運動，訴求改革官方傳統的制式教育；此外，由於宗教團體涉入社區大學的經營，其重視個人心靈成長的教育，則和社區大學「知識解放與公民社會」宗旨有所差異。 　　2、社區大學透過發展地方產業文化、社區參與、課程社團化和社團課程化等策略，繼續發揚社區總體營造的精神。 　　3、知識解放是社區大學的核心價值，民眾透過社區大學強調經驗知識與對話的學習，培養批判思考能力，建立個人價值觀，並朝向改造社會與建構公民社會的理想邁進。 　　4、社區大學全國研討會的參與觀察，以加強社區大學扣緊本土社會脈動與議題發展，以及全球化趨勢（例如：農村、原住民、勞工議題，以及WTO的因應策略等）。 　　研究發現（二）：社區大學的實踐。社區大學對於公民社會建構與終身學習政策等指標的實踐，歸納為下列的結果。 　　1、倡導公共性：社區大學是透過非營利組織的倡導，以及提升公民參與能力，強化其公共性特質。 　　2、促進社區參與：社區大學將社團活動納入正式課程，並採取工作坊方式運作，走出學校進入社區服務策略，使得社區大學在社區意識凝聚的成效顯著。 　　3、型塑公共領域：社區大學利用公共論壇的實施，提供一個公共議題對話的平台，來喚醒學員的公共意識與公民參與的能力。 　　4、提昇終身學習的品質：社區大學提供民眾系統性的終身學習場域，並建構成為學習型組織，以提昇個人知能與素質，以及整體社會的水準。 　　5、延伸社區大學的視野：研究發現法制化是目前社區大學最急迫的議題，也是拓展社大視野與永續發展的關鍵要素。 　　最後，本論文綜合研究結果，提出對於政府部門、社區大學、社會大眾，以及後續研究的建議，以作為政府部門（特別是地方政府）、社區大學、非營利組織、社區工作者、民眾，以及將要開辦社區大學機構的參考。 / The objective of this doctorial dissertation, A Study of the Community Universities in Taiwan: the Practice of the Structure of Civil Society and Lifelong Learning Policy, is mainly about the growing of the higher education system, the ‘community universities,’ in the past four years in Taiwan. Up till this moment, there are totally thirty-seven community universities in Taiwan with approximately seventy thousand students, which are still increasing in every year. 　　Through cases studying, the structure of civil society (in terms of society), lifelong learning policy (in terms of policy), and the definition of the community universities will be discussed in this dissertation. The result can be divided into two parts： 　　A. The environment of the community universities： 　　a. The community university is the continuing of the nongovernmental education revolution (410 educational reformation), an activity initiated by the locals in order to reform the traditional education system made by the authorities. Moreover, the involvement of religious associations and their idea of inner growing of an individual differ from the mission statement, liberalizing of knowledge and civil society, of the community universities. 　　b.The community university helps to develop the spirit of social construction by developing local culture, taking part in the community, and using the tactics of making courses socialized and bringing social activities into class. 　　c.Liberalizing of knowledge is the key point of the community universities. The mass population can not only train their thinking ability, but also build their own value as individuals in the community universities which emphasizes the learning from the knowledge of experience and dialogue. Furthermore, they can move on toward the idea of social reformation and civil society. 　　d. Participating in the National Conference of the Community Universities can reinforce the ties of the universalities, the movement and the growing issue of local communities, and the global tendency. 　　B. The practice of the community universities： 　　a.Advocating its public nature: The quality of the public nature in the community university is advocated by nonprofit organizations and the elevation of citizen participation. 　　b.Promoting social participation: The community university adds social activities into formal courses and runs as a workshop to join in social service, and makes a successful effort from gathering social consciousness. 　　c. Sculpting public sphere: The community university uses the public forum as a place for discussing public issues in order to arouse the social consciousness and the citizen participation of the students. 　　d.Advancing the quality of lifelong learning: Forming as a study organization, the community university provides people a systematic lifelong learning to advance not only individual knowledge and competency, but also the level of the whole society. 　　e.Expanding the outlook of the community university: According to the research, the most important issue for the community university is to make it legalized, which is also the key point to expand the outlook and the interminable development of the community university. 　　To conclude, the comprehensive study result of the dissertation gives the government, the community universities, the public, and the follow up study a word of advice and serves as a reference to them and the organizations that is about to found a community university.

La ricerca approfondisce il rapporto tra qualità della sicurezza e qualità della formazione ai fini di realizzare uno spazio di sicurezza libertà e giustizia in Europa. Lo studio rivolge particolare attenzione alla formazione di polizia erogata in Europa dai differenti sistemi organizzativi che determinano l’accesso alla professione sviluppando un’analisi trasversale dei diversi Paesi da cui trarre gli elementi comuni attinenti al profilo di poliziotto. L’organizzazione delle forze di polizia negli Stati dell’Unione è risultata complessa e diversificata si è quindi impostato lo sviluppo della ricerca secondo la metodologia dello studio di caso, riferendosi a Italia Francia, Regno Unito, Polonia, Quattro Paesi significativi e rappresentativi . Obiettivo specifico dell’ analisi è pervenire a un profilo professionale formativo comune che permetta l’elaborazione di un’azione finalizzata alla definizione e alla successiva sperimentazione di un sistema di monitoraggio della qualità della formazione erogata nelle Scuole di polizia europee. / This Research investigates the relationship between security and education to realize an Area of security, freedom and justice in Europe. The focus is on Constable Courses of Police Training Schools within The European Union to find out a competency framework for cope. The Study is fully aware of the fact that different Police Training Systems are used within the Member States. Regarding this aspect the Research proposes study cases about Italy, France, United Kingdom and Poland. Its purpose is to have a vision on the core tasks of police and then to propose quality control standards to be implemented in National Police Courses.

A trace of lifelong-learning qualifications has become more mandatory at the European and even at world level. However, for higher education courses, the former could imply complex learning designs and abundance of data to monitor, analyze, and report. This work combine the ideas of personalized, competence-based, and social learning by providing course lifecycle support through competence-based design, outcome based assessment, social learning context analytics, and open student modeling visualizations. A series of studies using a virtual learning environment exploited the idea of the approach and revealed promising results. These results demonstrated the approach helped students and teachers to trace learning outcomes of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) in higher education courses. Thus, this thesis extends the approach of higher education to a larger collection of learning objects for designing, assessing, and analyzing courses. Moreover, this approach verifies its capability of supporting social context visualization for online and blended personalized education. / Un rastreo del aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida es cada vez más obligatorio en Europa y el mundo. Sin embargo, en educación superior, esto implica diseños de cursos más complejos y abundancia de datos para rastrear, analizar e informar. Este trabajo combina aprendizaje personalizado, basado en competencias y social, apoyando diferentes instantes de los cursos universitarios a través de diseño basado en competencias, evaluación basada en resultados, analíticas del contexto social del aprendizaje y modelos abiertos del estudiante. Una serie de estudios exploró el enfoque revelando resultados prometedores. Se demostró el apoyo a estudiantes y maestros para monitorizar el aprendizaje según el EQF en sus cursos. Así, esta tesis extiende la educación superior a una colección más grande de objetos de aprendizaje para el diseño, la evaluación y el análisis de cualificaciones. Además, brinda visualización del contexto social para educación personalizada en ambientes mixtos y en línea.

The purpose of this study was to examine formal volunteering among retirees in order to explore whether their volunteer experiences represent an extension of their career in the paid workforce or whether their volunteer activities represent a completely new direction, and how this influences their career self-concept, as interpreted through Donald Super’s life-span, life-space theory of career development. This study employed a developmental mixed-method design. In Phase 1, qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 participants to better understand retirees’ volunteer experiences. Phase 1 informed the design of an instrument for the Phase 2 survey which examined the issues among a larger sample of 214 retirees. The Phase 2 results supported the Phase 1 findings and indicated that many retirees sought an extension of career in volunteer activities in that they used similar skills and knowledge. Study participants also displayed a desire for lifelong learning. Retirees relinquished their paid-work career, took on the retiree and volunteer roles, and integrated these roles within their career self-concept to create a new sense of self. These results indicated that the retirees had entered a new stage of life, qualitatively different from ‘retirement’. To better reflect the experiences of these retirees, it was proposed that Donald Super’s life-span, life-space theory of career development be extended to include Redirection. This theorizing is consistent with the finding that retirees both wanted to and are able to integrate previous paid work elements as well as seek out lifelong learning opportunities within their volunteer activities. This study demonstrates that the volunteer role in the lives of retirees can lead to personal renewal and reshaping of the career self-concept, or what is labeled as the stage of Redirection. This study also has implications for volunteer management, retirement planning and social policy, and may be of interest to volunteer managers, nonprofit organizations, career counsellors, financial planners, retirement planning consultants, life coaches and policy planners.