The concept of learning outcomes is at the heart of many research programmes and policy responses. International surveys (from the International Adult Literacy Survey, back in the mid-nineties, to the forthcoming Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes two OECD surveys), National Qualifications Frameworks or the European Qualifications…

This paper explores the occurrence of geographical inquiry in the Australian curriculum since Geography became a high school subject in 1911. In this historical overview, I reflect upon my own experiences of undertaking geographical inquiry during the 1970s and 1980s. Primary school geographical inquiry experiences can be virtually non-existent…

Social exclusion can be defined in different ways, but a prominent definition--in relation to young people in particular--is exclusion from formal learning and paid employment. This ignores the role of informal learning and the informal economies. In England, career guidance services were remodelled to deal with the issue of social exclusion by…

The field of the learning sciences appears to favor cognitive and social approaches to the study of human learning. In this article, the author proposes that a deep cognizance of cultural influences on learning is vital if formal and informal learning are to make vital connections to learners' lives and their personal need for meaning making in…

This publication is the outcome of the international conference organized by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), in collaboration with the Centre for Validation of Prior Learning at Inholland University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, and in partnership with the French National Commission for UNESCO that was held in Hamburg in…

This article provides an overview and analysis of a relatively new phenomenon: congregational schools that have altered the conventional grammar of schooling, either through their structural arrangements or through their curricular approaches. Five pre-bar/bat mitzvah models are discussed: family schools, schools as communities,…

Digital games can be powerful learning environments because they encourage active learning and participation within "affinity groups" (Gee, 2004). However, the use of games in formal educational environments is not always successful (O'Neil et al., 2005). There is a need to update existing theories of motivation and engagement in order…

Our feminist cross-national comparative study explored the informal and nonformal education and learning of women politicians in Canada and India. Using individual interviews, focus groups, surveys and observations of training sessions we compared and contrasted socio-cultural contexts, challenges, education and learning philosophies, and diverse…

The production of culture is today a matter of 'user generated content' and young people are vital participants as 'prosumers', i.e. both producers and consumers, of cultural products. Among other things, they are busy creating fan works (stories, pictures, films) based on already published material. Using the genre fan fiction as a point of…

As youths spend more time engaged in social media and informal learning experiences online, they interact with the public pedagogy of technological spaces. The public pedagogy of technological spaces, specifically Facebook, functions to create a "habitus" for the way youths act and respond in digital discourses and digital culture. This article…

The advent of Web 2.0, also called the Social Web, has changed the way people interact with the Web. Assisted by the technologies associated with this new trend, users now play a much more active role as content providers. This Web paradigm shift has also changed how companies operate and interact with their employees, partners and customers. The…

In recent years there has been a marked increase in the number of virtual worlds aimed at populations between the ages of 6 to14 years. This article examines the content and design of one such site, Webkinz World, as a sociocultural context for informal learning. Focusing on the design and activities of this site sheds light on the ways in which…

Using a prosopographical methodology this study examines common leadership influences that might have existed among Genghis Khan, George Washington, and Nelson Mandela. Shoup (2005) suggests that the following seven influences have contributed to nurturing the leadership of 12 renowned individuals: involved parents, happy childhood, formal,…

This study defines a blog as a contemporary web-based environment that can make a difference in adult informal learning practice. An online survey with 70 adult bloggers in Korea was undertaken to understand the nature of adults' blogging and its meanings in terms of learning. This study investigates (a) adults' blogging experiences related to…

In an environment of rapid technological change, countries in the developed and developing worlds need to improve the population's skills and competences. Since 1992, education reforms and various education sector documents and policy frameworks have been implemented to improve quality of education by getting more children into school through the…