Lifelong Learning (LLL) has become a pliable term in educational discourse running the risk of meaning both everything and nothing, making it necessary to look at how the notion of LLL has been taken up in different contexts, especially within the context of policy development. Because of the inconsistent ways LLL has been peppered throughout…

The Labour Party's manifesto aims to reform further and higher education by integrating business, training providers and unions within a governmental effort to ensure a highly trained workforce. Skills England will align training with labour market needs, empower local leaders and enhance support for job seekers. However, the focus on young people…

During CONFINTEA VII's Panel 4: "Preparing adults for the future of work" and throughout the conference, participants grappled with crafting a "transformative agenda," where adult learning and education (ALE) prepares adults for future workplaces, education is viewed as an individual right and a common good, and sustainable…

In the last two years, the nation's workforce development boards have focused on job training and placement in the face of many challenges related to the changing labor market, a global pandemic, and an economic shutdown. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) spoke with five workforce development board directors from across the…

The 47th annual conference of the Adult and Higher Education Alliance (AHEA) was held online and in person in March 2023. This year's conference theme is "Workforce Development: Micro-Credentials, Badges, and CEUs." The proceedings are comprised of the following papers: (1) Investing in Adult Learners and Creating Learning Environments…

This study investigates the work of second language teachers in two institutional settings responsible for integration training. By exploring teachers' accounts in Finland and Germany, we seek to deepen the understanding of the daily practice of second language education. Bridging conceptual and practical approaches, the aim is to contribute to…

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new urgency to chronic and interrelated educational challenges: the need to expand and equalize postsecondary access, reduce the sector's reliance on costly in-person instruction, and develop a cumulative science of adult learning. Current federal government college funding programs do not encourage schools to be…

Systematic policy analysis regarding the area of adult and workforce education (AWE) in the United States is limited in the literature. This article presents the results from a historical analysis of federal-level U.S. policy documents spanning the years 1914-2014. We performed a systematic content analysis utilizing a context justification…

The further education (FE) sector in the UK, or post-compulsory education as it is often referred to, has undergone some radical changes in recent years. Historically, FE is synonymous with vocational education and training, providing communities with courses that tended to be in practical, non-academic subjects. Many FE lecturers came from…

Higher education has immense power to support the transformation of K-12 teaching and learning because it incubates future educators and supplies opportunities for professional development. University presidents and deans of colleges of education can also use their influence to support systemic change to modernize the profession through a variety…

The guided pathways approach to community and technical college redesign has significant impacts for adult basic education (ABE). The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and Ability to Benefit provide federal support that complements the work being done in Guided Pathways. Washington state's approach to implementing guided pathways…

With nearly 2 million college-educated immigrants and refugees in the United States unable to fully utilize their professional skills, better understanding of the elements of successful programs and policies that reduce the waste of advanced education and skills can benefit immigrants, their families, and the U.S. economy more generally. This…

This article presents a perspective on the relationship between adult education and human resource development of the past two decades and the subsequent emergence of workforce development. The lesson taken from the article should be more than simply a recounting of events related to these fields of study. Instead, the more general lesson may be…

For the past 50 years, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes provided through state adult education systems have been the primary means of meeting English acquisition for immigrants and refugees, and, to a limited extent, their integration needs. Yet these systems meet only a fraction of the total need for all adult education…

The United States faces an increasing gap between the skills possessed by its workforce and those that are necessary to succeed in the 21st century economy. This gap poses a threat to the financial wellbeing of low-skilled American workers and their families and to the nation's long-term economic growth. Recognizing the threat posed by these…