This paper explores the impact of technological advances and digital transformations, with a particular focus on the "future of work" and its implications for lifelong learning and adult working learners. We emphasize the pressing need for human-centric solutions to address complex human challenges that technology alone cannot resolve,…

Adult literacy skills are critical assets of individuals as well as societies in terms of economic (e.g., human capital) and social well-being. Thus, it is important to monitor the long-term trends and sources of skill gain/loss. Yet, temporal sources of adult literacy skill variation are understudied. The current study analyzed three comparable,…

This paper contributes to debates that shaped a special issue of "Discourse" in 2017 by taking the debate about "responsibilisation" in education into the realm of Foundations Skills in Australia. The difficulties that many Australian adults experience with low levels of language, literacy and numeracy skills (Foundation…

This dissertation consists of three chapters that study individual investment in human capital and the incidence of economic shocks. I use administrative data to answer these questions, developing and applying structural methods to analyze individual choices in combination with a careful consideration of research design. Chapter 1 studies the…

Students, parents, and government leaders continue to question the value of higher education in general and of a liberal arts education in particular (Council of Independent Colleges, 2015; Fischer, 2022; Strauss, 2019). With students enrolling in liberal arts programs in significant numbers, and with the majority of those students now reflecting…

Ten years on from the formation of SOLAS (An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaig agus Scileanna) and the Education and Training Boards (ETBs) in Ireland, it is appropriate to reflect on where adult education lies in the new Further Education and Training (FET) sector. This paper uses Denis O'Sullivan's schematisation of policy paradigms (2005) as an…

In the field of education, the "non-formal education approach" to fostering human proficiency in a wide range of skills is credited with having engendered the broadening of educational practice beyond formal schooling through the emergence of methods and techniques of basic education, administrative training and management science. In…

Personal observations suggest that science lecturers in higher education do not always feel comfortable engaging with the support offered through academic development initiatives. At a research-intensive university in the UK, research was conducted using a mixed-methods approach to establish how science lecturers engaged with continual…

This qualitative research explores the impact of university lifelong learning programs on the participants' perceived employability by examining six training programs implemented by the Lifelong Learning Center of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The grounded theory approach was used throughout the research. After a set of data were gathered…

African American grandmothers have long held the roles of religious leaders and educators among family members and the wider community, though the provision of religious education and informal learning from grandparent caregivers have not been well documented in the literature. Based upon the gaps in the literature, we examined the informal…

This paper undertakes a critical analysis of the various hegemonic educational discourses applied to schemes for a minimum income and the social effects that they cause in the field of education and training for groups at social risk. Through consideration of these discourses, it will be determined what role education plays within them,…

With the U.S. adult education system providing education services to millions of immigrants annually, understanding the unique skills and assets among adult immigrant learners is important. Using data from the U.S. Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, this study used data on immigrants (n = 1,873) to identify latent…

Understanding the role of higher education in a system of high participation is becoming more important to providers and policymakers internationally. In this system, whereby increasingly higher education is taking place in vocational institutions, there has been renewed focus on the distinct nature of this provision, and the benefits it may hold…

This paper argues that a shift in discourse about the nature and purpose of Further Education is under way in England. A recent White Paper, 'Skills for jobs: lifelong learning for opportunity and growth', issued by the UK government, is couched in terms which suggest that a prior reliance on the ideology of neoliberalism is now moving towards the…

This book examines access, lifelong learning and education for all, which have been policy preoccupations in all countries for more than half a century, but have been overlaid and pushed aside by the development of mass higher education. The authors examine what has been achieved, what lessons have been learnt and what still remains to be done,…