The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), launched by the United Nations in 2015, established ambitious targets to be achieved by 2030, including in education. SDG 4, which focuses on ensuring "inclusive and equitable quality education and promot[ing] lifelong learning opportunities for all", attracted attention from the adult education…

This reflection is a narrative autoethnography that explores the transformative multicultural learning experiences of an international Chinese graduate student. The experiences encompass the journey from a master's to a doctoral degree, spanning approximately six years of study in both English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries. The…

This review of the literature offers an analysis of ways in which the theory and pedagogical concepts of cosmopolitanism have been employed across research in adult education contexts. Twenty-nine research articles and dissertations on cosmopolitanism and adult education, conducted in various geographical locations and adult education contexts,…

State policies regarding workers' education and the education and training of adults and communities have been hugely influenced by the political and ideological perspectives and approaches that have informed such policies from the onset of the post-apartheid period. These approaches have had pervasively negative effects on especially workers'…

This article considers how neoliberalism has created a reductionist view of lifelong learning in the UK focused on upskilling workers for the labour market. This critical policy analysis uses Marx's theory of labour-power, as conceptualised by Glenn Rikowski, to examine the Skills and Post-16 Education Act, 2022 and to identify its ideological…

Besides other theoretical perspectives, the understanding of present adult education and learning policy discourse also demands contributions from social enquiry originated in the broader field of permanent education. The works of Paulo Freire and Ettore Gelpi, two of the most important authors who developed a critical perspective of permanent…

In the context of devolution, this paper argues that there is a distinctively Welsh flavour to FE and Skills policy, but that its nature and formation needs to be understood both intrinsically and relationally, especially in terms of its relationship to parallel policy developments in England. Consideration is given to structural aspects and…

This paper engages in a critical analysis of the educational theory of Paulo Freire. It is based on qualitative research which explores Irish adult literacy practice. The research harnesses the ontological aspects of Freire's theory; his interpretation of how human reality is constructed. Using this as the theoretical foundation for inquiry,…

'Quality' in education has become a global phenomenon, and is frequently discussed in transnational and national policy. In such discussions, 'quality' seems to be both worthwhile and demanded, but at the same time, the concept has also been criticised in previous research as it seems to have attained a 'common sense' status. In this context, the…

This paper examines and critiques existentialist interpretations of being within Paulo Freire's educational theory. The principle supposition of the paper is that through engaging in adult education, the adult learner can heighten their understanding of their lives, metaphysically. The paper also posits that adult education can develop the will;…

This paper considers how governors in the English "Further Education and Skills" (FE) sector examined their practice as ethnographers. The paper locates both FE governance and ethnography within the challenges of the performative and Panoptic environments facing English education. In doing so, the paper explores how the informants'…

The European Union (EU) has significantly influenced the formation of European adult education policy in the last decade. By raising the importance and visibility of adult education, the EU has become an influential actor in the norm and standard setting for adult education and lifelong learning. However, as previous research has shown, the EU…

Purpose: This study reviews China's labor education theories and policies to reveal the main objectives, contents, and methods of the new era, as well as analyzes future development in labor education. Design/Approach/Methods: In addition to reviewing the relevant labor education theories, this study examines China's labor education policies using…

In this article, we seek to assess the extent to which adult and lifelong learning policies and practices in Asia have distinctiveness by comparison to those found in western societies, through an analysis of inter-governmental, national and regional policies in the field. We also inform our study through the analysis of the work of organisations…

This article analyses the role of the cooperation with and the influence of the Nordic countries on the development of a democratic society in Lithuania through adult education since the reinstatement of its independence from Soviet regime in March 1990 to the present. The authors focus on three main areas: (1) the training of Lithuanian adult…