Creating a fertile space for debate and ideas in order to drive innovation in learning and skills is integral to LSN's (Learning and Skills Network's) mission. To achieve this LSN has pioneered a new approach to making learning work from classroom to boardroom--and created the Centre for Innovation in Learning. This new, independent think tank…

This article reports on a study that examines decisive factors for longer-term sustainability of cross-cultural teacher-training initiatives in China. It focuses on the Chinese project implementers' perspectives of a Sino-British adult education English-language teaching project based in central China. Semistructured individual interviews were…

In the context of changes brought about by Britain's Further and Higher Education Act, adult and community educators must share their best practices to bring about high quality adult learning. (SK)

The Open College Federation of the North West was initiated in 1975 as a result of an agreement between the University of Lancaster, Nelson and Colne Tertiary College, and the Lancashire Polytechnic. Its aims were to prepare adults for entry into higher education, create a range of intermediate-level courses for adults that were academic but that…

This collection of 13 articles contains the reflections of experienced course developers on a particular course that illustrates the process of constructing flagship distance education programs. "Educational Developers in Action--A Series of Tales from the Mud" (Michael Parer) is an introduction that discusses the technology of distance…

This document is the second in a series of four volumes presented under the title of "Learning Opportunities for Adults." Included in this volume are eight special studies which were commissioned to investigate the needs related to the national development of adult education. These needs are summarized as follows: the introduction of new…

This booklet gives smaller adult and community learning (ACL) providers and their partners a practical insight into how to adapt current approaches to quality improvement for their own institutions. The first sections set out how they can do the following: plan the process; collect, collate, and analyze data; make value judgements and act upon…

A study examined the practical issues involved in providing continuity/progression for students who had undertaken General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs) and National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) programs at key stage 4 of the British National Curriculum, and who were moving on to further study in post-16 colleges. Data were…

This document is designed to introduce practitioners in the United Kingdom's learning and skills sector to the principles and practice of benchmarking. The first section defines benchmarking and differentiates metric, diagnostic, and process benchmarking. The remainder of the booklet details the following steps of the benchmarking process: (1) get…

This combination literature review and annotated bibliography includes a summary of findings related to the following topics: the barriers to education and training faced by selected groups (women, ethnic minorities, refugees, individuals with special needs, individuals lacking basic skills, and exoffenders); innovations in open learning (open and…

This collection contains four surveys and studies examining cooperation between the media and adult education bodies throughout the world. In a paper entitled "The Media and Adult Education: Indian Experience," J. S. Yadava examines two case studies of sound and six case studies of television broadcasting in India that involve…

This book explores the expansion of higher education in the United Kingdom during the past 50 years and the coordination of university and further and distance education. The following 12 chapters are included: "Patterns of HE/FE [Higher Education/Further Education] Collaboration" (Tony Lewis, Rob Allen); "Student and Staff…

This book explores the role of networks in forming and delivering vocational education in the United Kingdom and in a single European market. In Part 1, the concepts surrounding networking are introduced and related to the environment of accelerating change in vocational education. Part 2 contains the following case studies and reflective articles…

A total of 29 representatives of government departments, financial organizations, career guidance organizations, and researchers and career and financial guidance, practitioners from across the United Kingdom discussed the similarities and differences between the fields of career guidance and financial guidance, and explored whether closer links…

This volume, the second of a two-volume publication, comprises 15 papers that present the work of individual European projects dealing with learning within organizations. These five chapters in Part 1, The Meaning of the Learning Organization, examine the conceptual frameworks and dilemmas at the heart of the notion of the learning organization:…