The purpose of this study is to explore individual conceptions of the experience of traumatic spinal cord injury from the perspective of adult learning. A qualitative research approach was chosen as the most appropriate to explore these meanings. The methodology for this study was both descriptive and interpretive. Data collection took the form of semi-structured in-depth interviews. The research was essentially exploratory. Commonalities of meaning attributed to the injury were revealed through analysis of the data and grouped into three thematic categories; rediscovery of self, redefining disability and establishing a new identity. These themes, whilst representing commonalities, revealed the complex and multidimensional nature of each individual's experience. The disability and overall sense of loss were initially symbolized by the physical changes or the external experience of disability. These are separate from the internal concept of 'self ' which was perceived by the individuals as being the same as pre-injury. The findings suggest that an inner conflict between the external or public 'self ' and the internal or private 'self ' develops which can best be described as an experiential split. The theme of rediscovering self is concerned with those components of the post-injury experience which inhibit or facilitate a reintegration of the internal and external selves. The inhibiting factors identified included the loss of control over physical functioning and capabilities, alienation from the 'real world,' the restrictive environment and instructional limitations of the rehabilitation facility and the attitudes of health professionals. The process was found to be facilitated by the continuity of their sense of self, a gradual build-up of a new framework of experience and personal resources accrued from their pre-injury history and social context. The theme of redefining disability was achieved by challenging the attitudes and stereotypes espoused by health professionals and society, and an assimilation of a new sense of coherence. The latter was seen as occurring through attributing meaning to the cause of the injury, expanding the range of available options and developing new value priorities. The third theme of the establishment of a new identity was found to be associated with making comparisons with others by which self-esteem can be enhanced, by association and dialogue with a peer minority, by creating intimacy with significant others and new ways of interacting with society. These themes bear little relationship to the instructional content of current rehabilitation programs, and defy explanation through the traditional learning perspective of skill acquisition and behavioral change which has dominated rehabilitation practice, and to which research is primarily directed. The data yielded a way of understanding the experience of spinal cord injury which is not adequately expressed in the literature. It became apparent that these individuals were engaged upon a complex learning process. A theory of transformative learning proposed by Mezirow was introduced as a possible alternative, or adjunct to, the educational model of rehabilitation service provision. Central to this theory are two dimensions of meaning described as meaning schemes and meaning perspectives and the unique adult characteristic of critical reflection. The subjects in this study recognized the learning involved in questioning old meaning perspectives and creating new ones. By reflecting and acting on these new meaning perspectives the facts and implications of disability became integrated into a chosen lifestyle. Implications for rehabilitation practice are that the target of an educational intervention may not, in fact, be the clients but the health professionals involved in providing instruction and care. A greater understanding of the experience of traumatic spinal cord injury over time, and the uniquely individual learning process involved, would facilitate a more client centred and relevant approach to instruction. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis was to review the existing research on techniques for adult education and to develop a scheme by which such techniques could be classified in a logical construct. The research reviewed was restricted to that literature pertaining only to educational programmes designed and conducted with adults. The findings of the selected studies on each technique were summarized and the technique was placed in the classification scheme. Many of the existing research studies are not comparable with each other, because of poor research designs and the affect that they were not conceived under the same theoretical framework so that similar variables were not controlled. Research studies dealing with certain techniques were particularly scarce such as those concerned with Information techniques like the lecture, form, panel, debate, symposium and dialogue. The bulk of the research tended to be concerned with techniques involving learner participation, such as group discussion and skill practice. In the case of certain techniques no valid research was found. In addition to research pertaining to techniques, the literature dealing with the classification of techniques for adult education was also examined and the Newberry system was adopted as the most valid for purposes of this study. This system of classification produces a two dimensional scale which placed a technique in terms of the degree of learner Involvement on the one hand, and ascending measures of concreteness of subject matter on the other. On the basis of the research reviewed, each technique considered has been placed in a cell on the Newberry Scale. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The discipline of adult education has been concerned with factors affecting participation, particularly those factors influencing either enrollment or dropping out. Little attention has been devoted to the examination of factors which affect an adult's decision not to return to a subsequent course at the institution which he had attended previously. The purpose of this study was to identify the major factors or combinations of factors which may be related to the failure of adults to re-enroll in Extension programs at the University of British Columbia. The analytical survey method with a structured interview schedule was used to conduct the study. A random sample of 100 subjects was drawn from a population of 650 participants in non-credit Extension classes in the fall of 1966 who had not returned for another non-credit program over a subsequent three year period. The sample group did not appear to differ markedly with respect to those characteristics studied, from participants at similar institutions or from those who participate and return for subsequent courses at the Extension Department studied. Those characteristics of the sample which were cross-tabulated and found to be significantly related appear to be typical of university non-credit extension course participants. The majority of the reasons given for not returning were personal in nature as opposed to institutional and the five most frequently mentioned reasons were all personal. Lack of time because of business commitments was evidently the most important single factor preventing re-enrollment, followed by lack of time because of family commitments, involvement in courses elsewhere, lack of time because of other clubs or groups, and the inability to schedule time on a regular basis. The other factors mentioned by the subjects did not indicate a consistent theme, rather they formed a haphazard mosaic of isolated reasons about which no single explanation was evident. With one exception, the categories of reasons given for failing to re enroll were not associated significantly with the characteristics of the sample. In that one case, there did. not appear to be a suitable explanation of the relationship found between occupational change and the reason given for not returning. There is evidently no single identifiable institutional adjustment which could have aided re-enrollment by a large number of the non-participants. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Research into self-direction has been hampered by the absence of a consistent theoretical framework, and the indiscriminate application of the term 'self-direction' to different phenomena. The purposes of this study were: (a) to critically analyse the use of the term 'self-direction' in adult education and to ascertain whether there are differences among the phenomena subsumed under that label; (b) to critically survey the literature, and synthesise research findings; (c) to compare the significance of 'self-direction' in adult education with other sectors of education; (d) to identify and evaluate assumptions underlying past and present research traditions in 'self-direction'; and (e) to reconceptualise 'self-direction' from a constructivist perspective and to formulate themes for future research. It was shown that 'self-direction' has been used to refer to three different phenomena: (i) as a personal quality or attribute (personal autonomy); (ii) as the independent pursuit of learning outside formal instructional settings (autodidaxy); and (iii) as a way of organising instruction (learner-control). Two distinct approaches were used in undertaking the study. The first involved a critical analysis and review of literature in each of the three domains, the second was based on a form of conceptual analysis. Major paradigms in educational research were surveyed. It was asserted that assumptions underlying the interpretive paradigm were congruent with the phenomenon of self-direction and that, despite its limitations, there are advantages to adopting a constructivist perspective. Major findings were: (1) lack of internal consistency in the literature precludes the development of a coherent 'theory of self-direction' from within the literature; (2) autodidaxy can be usefully distinguished from learner-control; (3) autonomy in learning does not necessarily lead to personal autonomy, nor does personal autonomy always manifest itself in the learning situation; (4) autonomy has both personal and situational dimensions; (5) understanding the perspective of learners is vital to understanding strategies used and outcomes attained; (6) personal autonomy in learning comprises both cross-situational and situation-specific dimensions; (7) research into learning outcomes should stress qualitative rather than quantitative dimensions of knowledge acquisition; and (8) constructivism sanctions action-research and other naturalistic inquiry modes. The study incluuded an agenda for research into autodidaxy and learner-control from a constructivist perspective. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

This study examines how adult education can facilitate learning towards the full realization of human potential. It synthesizes two theories of human development, and applies this to the practice of community-based adult education carried out by trained facilitators who do not have formal degrees in the field of mental health. The first part of the methodology used modified analytic induction to carry out a synthesis between the works of William Hatcher (1935–2005) and Roberto Assagioli (1888–1974). The second part of the methodology works with the goals, principles, and practices which emerged from the lens” provided by this synthesis, and applies these to an analysis of the Integrated and Systemic Community Therapy (CT) approach to community-based adult education, in Brazil. The impetus for this study was a desire to move beyond limitations of the humanistic orientation in adult education towards a more holistic theory, which draws on and combines both scientific and spiritual views of human reality. The study theorizes that learning which supports the full realization of human nature should actively seek to a) foster a person’s ability to take action in the ‘outer world’ of human social relations (interpersonal dimension) while b) aligning one’s ‘inner world’ (intrapersonal dimension) with an emerging implicate order, which is the origin of the structure of reality. Based on its relevance to the expanding Community Therapy approach the conclusion of the study is that the “lens” of a Hatcher-Assagioli synthesis deserves to be applied and explored further. Key words: community-based adult education; William Hatcher; Roberto Assagioli; Integrated and Systemic Community Therapy; spirituality in adult education.

Against the backdrop of a high level of personal over-indebtedness experienced by a large number of a Company's call-centre employees, a basic financial literacy workshop was conceptualised, implemented and offered to employees. However, while some participants found the learning helpful in alleviating their indebtedness to a lesser or greater degree, others did not. Drawing on qualitative data analysed through an interpretivist lens, this paper attempts to understand the extent to which the adult learners experienced transformative learning in the classroom. The paper's argument states that if transformative learning conditions are identified as being present in the workshop and adult learners experience a shift to a new worldview of their indebtedness situation, they will successfully implement positive changes towards alleviating their debt. The interview data for this small-group study comprised in-depth, face-to-face interviews with two participants, regarded as representative of the larger group of participants, triangulated with facilitator interview data and with workshop observation and note-taking. The thematic analysis method was used for identifying, coding and analysing the data. The themes identified related to the four main components of transformative learning theory namely, (1) triggering transformation; (2) critical reflection; (3) critical discourse and (4) willingness to act. The study showed that there were indeed components of transformative learning evident in the workshop facilitation and experienced by the study participants but that the nature of these components were embryonic. Further development of these emergent elements is required for true transformative learning to take place. Owing to the deep seated influence of a learner's worldview in prescribing how to spend his or her money, against the backdrop of the broader South African culture of indebtedness, it is only through experiencing true transformative learning that adult learners can identify and critically reflect on the belief systems that shape the way they think about and make positive changes towards their indebtedness.

Word processed copy. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-131). / This research explores how the term 'lifelong learning' is understood at a higher education institution in South Africa. The study is built around a case study at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The research questions posed were: What are the different understandings of 'lifelong learning' at UCT? And secondly, what factors have shaped the development of these different understandings of 'lifelong learning'? The thesis approaches the research questions from two angles: What people working in the institution say about the topic and what can be read from the official University documentation on the topic. Continuing education work is used as a general proxy for lifelong learning as the term itself did not prove to be a useful identifier of specific educational activities at UCT. In analysing the data, two inter-related theoretical frameworks are employed - thematic analysis of the interviews and a critical discourse analysis of the texts. Some of the key pressures and issues facing institutions globally as well as specific local concerns are identified when setting the context. In the interviews, practitioners identified some of these contextual issues as factors influencing the development of continuing education: funding pressures, responding to socio-political demands for rapid student throughput while also widening access, and the particular character of the institution. The literature reveals some common approaches to lifelong learning - identified as economic, humanistic and social discourses - which were used to engage the perspectives of practitioners working on continuing education programmes. Based on an interpretation of the data, this thesis argues that in practice, the distinctions between the discourses tend to blend or transform. The economic and humanistic discourses begin to merge, as an individual's motivations cannot be neatly categorised as either learning for work or learning for personal development, pointing to the emergence of a new discourse. In the case of the social discourse, the more widely used definitions of social responsiveness embrace economic (and political) imperatives, while also maintaining a development and democracy agenda. Instead of seeing the data as only revealing what exists, the analysis argues that emerging discourses themselves help to create new realities.

This study aimed to explore whether the curriculum and pedagogy of an Early Childhood Development (ECD) Level 4 Learnership recognized the informal knowledge of experienced practitioners. It focused on whether the curriculum and pedagogy considered the experiences of adult learners and to what extent adult education principles were followed in its delivery. A review of the literature in South Africa showed that there is a very limited amount of research on the training of ECD practitioners. The study considered the experiences of adult students completing their Learnership at two TVET colleges in Cape Town and focused on practices that could potentially have followed principles of adult learning as well as the recognition of prior experiential learning. The research explored whether the ECD teachers who had gained entry to the Learnership felt that their prior experiential knowledge was considered in the delivery of the learnership. The research adopted a qualitative and exploratory approach, using a conceptual frame drawn from the theoretical literature on adult learning, and on the Recognition of Prior Learning. The research design adopted a mixed methods approach involving interviews with the ECD managers at two TVET colleges and eight ECD teachers drawn from four different ECD centres in Mitchells Plain. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the research participants and semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with each participant. In addition, data was collected via classroom observations as well as relevant policy and course documents. The analysis of research findings revealed that although ECD teachers without formal training had considerable understanding of how to educate the young children in their classes, this rich experiential knowledge was not drawn on during the initial process of entry into the learnership, nor in the curriculum or teaching strategies within the ECD Level 4 Learnership. The thesis ends by noting that there are various ways in which ECD teachers could have been better assisted.

The record shows that evening classes for adults were started on a temporary basis in Dade County in 1932. With the return of the GIs after World War II, the adult education classes in Dade County took a sharp turn. From this period, the adult program took hold like a rolling snowball--until there are approximately 5,000 students enrolled. During the period following World War II until the present date, the curriculum had to be developed to meet this headlong rush of students. Just when the administration thought the major problems were being solved, the non-veteran adult became interested and started to enroll in the school in an ever-increasing number, causing the program to push ahead like the pseudopodia of the ameba, without any general direction. In 1955 the administration was recommending that a large sum of money be encumbered to operate a program that would be able to enroll and give instruction to approximately 7500 adults. Before requesting this budget, the administration felt they must develop a philosophy and know more about the adult who had been attending classes. With this in mind authority was given for a survey in Dade County. / Typescript. / "August, 1957." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 17).

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-92). / In this research study I explore the role and value of formal and informal learning in leadership continuity in South Africa. In order to do this I look at the experiences and perceptions of 6 NGO leaders in South Africa whom I locate within three historical periods. Within this context, I also explore the shifts in leadership and modes of learning, which I argue and based on my data analysis, were accompanied by broader shifts in the power relations in South Africa post 1994. I highlight three informal modes of learning that were dominant in the first historical period namely, experiential learning, popular education and situated learning which became eroded in the second and third historical periods and substituted by more formal learning processes. My study found that in the latter part of the third historical period there was a resurgence of more informal learning processes in line with an emergent and developing social movement that questioned the continued power imbalances in society. In conducting this study my research methodology was informed by an interpretive and qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews with the 6 NGO leaders employed as the primary means of data collection. Based on my findings, I discovered that the NGO sector has experienced a leadership discontinuity further exacerbated by a disruption of learning processes with serious implications for transfer of knowledge, skills and experiences In answering my main research question I found that effective leadership continuity to enhance sustainable organizations can best be facilitated through informal learning processes where, within a community of practice, these processes are more respected and valorised. I also found that formal learning processes will best be effective if it can be complementary to but not a substitute for these informal learning processes. I also found that the conflation of training with learning and the dualism between formal and informal learning are not very helpful in understanding leadership development and continuity in the NGO sector. Another important finding that this research study highlights is the importance of appreciating the dynamic interrelationship between the macro power alignments represented by the state and the economy and the micro power relationships represented by leadership and learning within a community of practice.