Adult learners undertaking a coursework masters are understandably nervous about undertaking research projects. However if done well, such projects represent a way to encourage the quantity and quality of practitioner research, which is important in all management disciplines, not only the emerging discipline of coaching. This paper offers an…

This paper elaborates on a number of key criticisms of Mezirow's transformative learning theory as well as providing arguments that validate it. Our paper exemplifies how Mezirow's theory can help adult educators and prospective school teachers understand that social structures and belief systems can influence student learning, that learners make…

This paper documents and analyses a range of literature and policy statements that identifies issues and looks at the role which adult education plays in building communities and peace in post-conflict states. This paper explores and documents these developments in countries in close proximity to Australia which have been viewed by the former…

This article presents the author's response to to W.G.K. Duncan's 1961 paper, "Agenda for a national association", in the first number of the "Australian Journal of Adult Education," the journal of the newly established Australian Association of Adult Education (AAAE). The brief has been interpreted in this way. Duncan viewed…

The recently completed review of visual education, "First" we see, makes recommendations that contrast sharply with most traditional forms of art teaching in Australian schools. Although the review implicitly stands against a narrow conception of a visual education founded on artistic and aesthetic concerns, I argue that the concept of…

The paper provides a review of some of the terminologies and definitions of applied theatre, critiques the "transformative principle" argued for by some applied researchers, and extends this to a discussion on the complex relationship between donor agendas and the politics of intention that contribute to the shaping of applied discourse…

This essay begins by outlining Emmanuel Levinas's radical conception of ethics. Levinas invokes/declares an absolute and primary obligation of responsibility to the human Other, whom he figures hyperbolically as invoked by the epiphany of the encounter with "the face of the Other." This encounter with alterity founds not only ethics, but…

A first glance at almost any policy document generated by a bilateral or multilateral donor agency reveals a familiar rhetoric of participation, partnership, community, good governance, growth and strong democracy as key ingredients for a successful development program. While some critics of this rhetoric argue that this is merely a recasting of…

In his book entitled "Teaching Defiance: Stories and strategies for activist educators," this author asserted that, although his book was not a discussion of the Iraq war, it was concerned with the way the war has been "waged" in the countries of the three invaders: the USA, the UK and Australia. For him, the fact that each…

This article examines the increased incidence of work-related qualifications for women in areas of work served by the vocational education and training (VET) system in Australia. Until 20 years ago, qualifications were generally available only for areas of work usually undertaken by men, apart from a few specific "women's occupations"…

The South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE), introduced in 1992-93, is a credential and formal qualification within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). SACE was recently subjected to a review that led to a series of significant recommendations. These recommendations came out of a process that began with the Review Panel…

The National Reporting System (NRS) was developed to report the outcomes of English language, literacy and numeracy provision in Australia's vocational education and training and adult and community education sectors, and in labour market programs. Since its introduction, however, the NRS has been used as more than a reporting tool. It has also…