No undergraduate or postgraduate programmes currently exist for the professional education of informal educators. The authors outline the development of previous programmes and consider the emergence of informal education as a discrete concept. The article then highlights some key failings in the professional education of informal educators and…

During the affluent noughties it was sometimes said of government that it had "more visions than Mystic Meg and more pilots than British Airways". In 2011, the pilots, the pathfinders, the new initiatives are largely gone--implementation is the name of the game--but the visions remain. The latest one, as it affects adult learners, is in…

By the end of 2010 over 15 million euros will have been allocated in the UK through the Grundtvig adult learning programme. Over 900 organisations and thousands of staff, individuals and learners involved in adult education have benefitted. Grundtvig has helped to enhance the quality of learning provision; widen perspectives; increase motivation;…

This article proposes lifelong learning as a socio-personal process and a personal fact. As such, it is conceptually distinct from an educational provision, which constitutes one kind of institutional fact. In making this distinction, this article seeks to elaborate a major flaw in the precepts for conceptualisation and enactment of the report…

Examples of marginalized nonformal learning in Britain that is driven by a search for alternative value systems include initiatives among Kurdish refugees, Blacks seeking identity through black studies, women sharing their stories, the resurgence of Irish culture, and the green movement. (SK)

Includes "Take Your Partners for Adult Learning" (Carlton); "Museums Must Recognize Needs of All Users" (Anderson); "Charts, Ships, Models and the History of Time" (Coben, Lincoln); "Alternative Ways of Learning" (Sullivan); "Older Adults and Family Learning" (Reynolds); "Multiculturalism,…

This paper describes a case study in which one woman in a focus group of 11 women recounted her use of numerical and mathematical tools in her personal and work life. According to the researcher, the subject's experiences engendered strong feelings and revealed that aspects of her self-identity were bound up with her use of tools and feelings…

Current practice in accreditation of prior and informal learning in the United Kingdom was examined through a review of literature on how the accreditation of prior and informal learning is being used to gain access to higher education or toward certification of a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) or Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ).…

This report examines access to lifelong learning opportunities on Canada's information highway. The report begins with a glossary and a learner-centered model in which the information highway links learners with learning opportunities provided through educational institutions, community organizations, government, and business and industry.…

This book contains 19 papers on 20th century thinkers in adult and continuing education. The book is arranged in four parts as follows: early 20th century English thinkers; early 20th century American thinkers; theorists of adult and continuing education; and theorists of adult education and social change. The following papers are included:…

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…

The following are among the 104 papers included: "Vocational Education and Training Partnerships in Remote Aboriginal Communities" (Arnott, Dembski); "Participation in Adult Education" (Benn); "Learning Organisations" (Bierema); "A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Institutional Dynamics Involved in a…

This document contains 43 papers from a conference on researching inclusion. The following are among the papers included: "Include Me Out: Critique and Contradiction in Thinking about Social Exclusion and Lifelong Learning" (Paul Armstrong); "The Linking of Work and Education To Enable Social Inclusion" (Dave Beck);…