Poor literacy skills can result in exclusion and reduce people's capacity to participate in political, social, cultural and economic life. This is important for migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) who seek to live and work in a dignified, safe and fair environment and to be engaged members of their new communities. The…

This article explores the role of school staff in the accessibility of education with a focus on professional discretion and its relation with institutions and contexts. Drawing on the street-level bureaucracy approach it looks into different types of discretionary practices and asks how their legitimacy influences their success. The analysis is…

The students from three universities (Groningen, Oldenburg and the University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht) were surveyed on the experience of hearing and listening in their studies. Included in the online survey were established questionnaires on hearing loss, tinnitus, hyperacusis, a subscale on psychosocial strain resulting from impaired…

International businesses face a difficult task when trying to decide where to place or expand a business that could be located anywhere in the world. Each country is a complex system of human capabilities, technical systems, [infrastructure bases, laws, cultures and economic systems. How can a company know which country is best for it today, and…

Drawing from quantitative and qualitative data collected by the European research project GOETE in eight European countries, the article focuses on the experiences of so-called "disadvantaged students" at the end of lower secondary and analyzes how access to higher education is negotiated in the interaction of structural/institutional…

Despite all intentions in the course of the Bologna Process and decades of investment into improving the social dimension, results in many national and international studies show that inequity remains stubbornly persistent, and that inequity based on socio-economic status, parental education, gender, country-of-origin, rural background and more…

This article focuses on different ways in which socially disadvantaged parents engage with their children's educational experiences, and provides evidence of the role they play in opening or narrowing their children's access to education. Disadvantaged parents are usually associated with weak or difficult educational trajectories for their…

The main goal of this study was to gain a better insight into efforts made to provide optimum education to juveniles in young offender institutions and in secure youth care institutions, and into barriers with which educators are confronted in this process. Results show that for a substantial number of juveniles insufficient information is…

Public-private partnerships in education (ePPP) are acquiring increasing centrality in the agendas of international organizations and development agencies dealing with educational affairs. They are designed as an opportunity to correct inefficiencies in the public delivery of education and to mobilize new resources to increase the access to and…

Distance higher education for adults, media selection, and country profiles are considered in conference papers. Titles and authors are as follows: "Distance Education, Trends Worldwide" (Lord Perry of Walton); "Adults in Higher Education: Lowering the Barriers by Teaching and Learning at a Distance" (Hans G. Schutze);…

A European conference studied the implications from the learner's point of view for adult education and training guidance in an expanded Europe. The two main questions addressed were: How can adult learners make informed choices about education and training in the changing economic and demographic context? and How can the requirements of adult…

Given the difficulties and uncertainties of education reform, asking "what works" may be making simple and commonplace what is nearly always a messy and unfinished business. But the work of the International Youth Foundation's partners in 49 countries does reveal a common message of successful reform efforts: put young people at the…

European case studies on strategies for adult education are presented as representative or exemplary approaches to universal access. Each is described within a historical and social context: the British Community Colleges and the Open University; the Swedish Study Circles; the Evening Folk High School in Germany; the social-cultural animation…

This book contains 19 papers examining innovation in open and distance learning through development of online and World Wide Web-based learning. The following papers are included: "Innovation in Distributed Learning: Creating the Environment" (Fred Lockwood); "Innovation in Open and Distance Learning: Some Lessons from Experience…

Strategies for overcoming exclusion through adult learning were identified through case studies of 19 initiatives in the following countries: Belgium; Mexico; the Netherlands; Norway; Portugal; and the United Kingdom. The study programs involved a diverse array of formal, nonformal, and informal public sector, community, and enterprise-based…