The study draws on life history, literacy studies, and ethnographic approaches to exploring social practices as a frame to explore the narratives of two UK adult literacy learners who provide a description of their engagement with a transformative curriculum and pedagogical approach. One of the learners reveals his frustration at the lack of…

This article examines the meaning and experience of retention and withdrawal in higher education from the perspective and voices of non-traditional adult students. It draws on UK biographical data from a European study on access, retention and withdrawal. Withdrawal is perceived negatively by higher education institutions and policymakers as it…

This paper investigates how the narratives Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCOs) tell can be framed as social, discursive practices and performances of identity by analysing accounts offered in focus groups and life history interviews. I explore how the narratives deployed demonstrate an engagement with a rhetoric about who works in…

Few men around the world work in daycare settings, nursery schools or kindergartens. Yet wherever they are found, men who are perceived to have crossed the gender boundary in their choice of profession are widely acclaimed as gifted educators and excellent caregivers. Policy makers who care about providing quality education for young children need…

Adult education in the United Kingdom is historically associated with working-class movements in the nineteenth century. In recent years, however, with the popularity of postmodernism, social class has become a neglected concept among sociologists and adult educators. Wider participation strategies have increased the number of adult students…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on the past, present, and future of human resource development (HRD). "Revisiting the New Deal: A Longitudinal Case Study" (Judy Pate, Graeme Martin, Jim McGoldrick) draws upon data from a longitudinal case study of the links between job security and HRD to examine the new…