Museums: Using Keyworkers to Deliver Lifelong Learning

The article describes a major study of the activities of keyworkers (mediators between museums and their public) within the context of museums' contribution to lifelong learning and to overcoming cultural exclusion. Field studies were undertaken in the UK, Ireland and Sweden based upon live projects with keyworkers who were subsequently interviewed about their roles, professional development needs and attitudes. In the UK, the Victoria & Albert Museum's keyworkers comprised youth workers, in Sweden they were traffic wardens and taxi drivers, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art worked with a group of elderly adults. From these studies, the research was able to articulate key recommendations for developing museum policy on keyworkers to enhance adult learning in and through museums.     

Museums: Using Keyworkers to Deliver Lifelong Learning

The article describes a major study of the activities of keyworkers (mediators between museums and their public) within the context of museums' contribution to lifelong learning and to overcoming cultural exclusion. Field studies were undertaken in the UK, Ireland and Sweden based upon live projects with keyworkers who were subsequently interviewed about their roles, professional development needs and attitudes. In the UK, the Victoria & Albert Museum's keyworkers comprised youth workers, in Sweden they were traffic wardens and taxi drivers, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art worked with a group of elderly adults. From these studies, the research was able to articulate key recommendations for developing museum policy on keyworkers to enhance adult learning in and through museums.     

FOCUS ON PRACTICE: Inclusion and museums: developing inclusive practice

Recent policy on inclusion has had an impact on the development of museum galleries and related educational provision. Museums are used as learning organisations and, as such, need to consider how to create an inclusive environment. However, inclusive provision for people with learning difficulties in museums tends to be isolated and small scale, lacking the formal structure found within schools. While much can be learnt from the development and evaluation of practice in schools, there is little research or published literature that explores the inclusion of people with learning difficulties in museums. This article, by Hannah Shepherd, Exhibition Co‐ordinator at Freeman College in Sheffield, analyses an example of a specific exhibit within a gallery development. This example reflects an approach that uses guidance from the literature to create a more inclusive experience for visitors, particularly those with learning difficulties. A case is made for the use of consultation and partnership to develop inclusive museum provision.     

A plan to encourage home reading

Museums have the capacity to enhance social cohesion, which is the product of a trusting, connected community. History museums and historic sites, in particular, can serve communities by stimulating dialogue on difficult issues, accurately representing all the people of a nation, and creating forums for discussion among groups with disparate opinions. History museums promote social cohesion by solidifying the identities of their audiences—as members of communities, ethnic groups, nations, and the world. This article combines extensive research with firsthand experience in history museums to accurately portray the ways different museums affect social cohesion. It looks first at what social cohesion is, and the ways in which both civil society and educational organizations contribute to it. It makes the argument that museums share attributes of both civil society and educational organizations. This article then addresses the different ways museums contribute to defining identity, bridging community divides, and addressing society's most difficult issues. It does this with in-depth analysis of several Holocaust museums and the movement in Russia to memorialize sites of Stalinist terror.     

The new skills agenda: increased lifelong learning or new sites of inequality?

The last five years have seen a radical transformation in adult education in England with a concentrated emphasis on national basic skills provision. This was prompted initially by a government response to low levels of literacy in the British adult population, identified by an influential international survey, showing unfavourable comparisons with other European countries. The response to the disclosure that seven million adults in England were not functionally literate saw the creation in 2001 of a national basic skills strategy in England entitled Skills for Life. It is a far‐reaching strategy creating a new infrastructure to support adult basic skills learning opportunities over a seven‐year period. It also created the entitlement to free basic skills learning opportunities, as a cornerstone to creating national economic competitiveness and social cohesion. Such an entitlement could be interpreted as a commitment to providing wider access to foundation skills for adults who had previously missed out, as part of a lifelong learning agenda. However, a critical reading of the policy texts, and recent funding priorities, show the strategy rooted more in a response to what is perceived as the skills demands of a knowledge economy for global competitiveness than to issues of social inclusion and increased opportunities for lifelong learning. The result of this may well be the creation of new sites of inequality that affect older women and adult ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learners disproportionately, the very people that are identified as being needed to fill skill gaps in the economy.     

Educating and training out of poverty? Adult provision and the informal sector in fishing communities,South Africa

This paper looks at access to adult education and vocational education and training (VET) provision in fishing communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. Fishing communities are being disadvantaged due to geographical and socio-political marginalisation, and the predominance of informal sector employment in the context of worldwide marine resource depletion. Neither public nor private provision is adequately serving rural areas or the informal sector in this context. Using the sustainable livelihoods approach as a tool of analysis, this paper argues that a more cross-sectoral approach is needed to tackle equity and poverty concerns in adult education and training provision.     

Non‐profit education providers vis‐à‐vis the private sector: comparative analysis of non‐governmental organizations and traditional voluntary organizations in Pakistan

Under the New Policy Agenda, international development institutions have promoted non‐profit organizations (NPOs) in developing countries, on a dual logic: firstly, they deliver social services more efficiently than the state; secondly, they mitigate equity concerns around privatization of basic social services by reaching out to the poor. Based on a survey of twenty prominent non‐profit education providers in Pakistan, this paper illustrates that the NPO sector is not monolithic: non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the education sector under the patronage of international donors follow markedly different models of education provision to those of Traditional Voluntary Organizations (TVOs) reliant on domestic donations. While the social service ethos of the TVOs makes them distinct from the private sector, it is not the case with the NGOs: their model of education provision, rather than meeting the education needs of the poor, ends up cultivating markets for the private sector among poor communities.     

An assessment of Rev. Professor Timothy J. Corcoran's major works in the field of Irish educational historiography

Abstract

The initial and inservice education and training of adult tutors has been described as “the biggest challenge facing the field of adult education” (UNESCO 1985). Studies and reports from many countries suggest that although the importance of, and the necessity for such preservice education is clearly recognised, few substantive efforts to meet this challenge have been made.

This paper attempts to unravel the factors contributing to inadequacies in the preparation and training of professionals in the field of adult education. In Ireland, as in other countries, a host of organisations and agencies make provision for the education of adults. However, adult education is virtually “invisible” in contrast to other sectors of education. The situation is due, mainly, to the lack of status ascribed to, or achieved by adult education. The structural location, the content and the process of adult education have been identified as the major contributory factors responsible for this low‐status. Inadequate provision for the preparation, training and retraining of adult educators is one of the causes of the low status of adult education and also the effect of such status.

The “patternless mosaic” of agencies providing courses and their attempts to offer professional training to their personnel are examined and some remedies to up‐grade both the status of the adult educator and the totality of adult education are suggested.     

A comparison of developments in university continuing education in Finland,the UK and Sweden

This paper develops work carried out under the aegis of a European Commission‐funded university continuing education (UCE) network. It compares the ways in which UCE has developed in three countries within Northern Europe. The authors firstly review the developments of university education in general in Finland, the UK and Sweden, paying particular attention to the factors that historically have influenced UCE. They then focus on developments and policy imperatives of the last decade. A number of convergences and divergences in policy and practice in the three countries are pointed to. In both Finland and the UK, UCE is well defined by state or quasi‐state agencies and is an activity that has been located within well‐defined structural units in most institutions. Universities in these two countries have a diverse mission based on a national lifelong learning agenda. By contrast, in Sweden, whilst there is a longstanding international tradition of adult education rooted within democratic movements and a recognition of the importance of equality of access, the provision is to a large extent embedded in universities and not manifest as UCE. What provision that does exist as UCE is patchily distributed across the university sector and nonuniform in character. UCE provision within Finland and UK to varying degrees in becoming more diverse in its make‐up. The presence of new providers in a ‘CE market’, an emphasis on UCE as an economic instrument, moves towards the accreditation of provision and the loss of a particular identity for UCE are amongst factors creating increasing heterogeneity of provision in these countries.     

Changing concepts in adult education

This paper cautions against uncritically enthusiastic calls for comprehensive national surveys of adult education provision and participation in Australia. It is argued that the socially essential characteristics of adult education–its diversity, flexibility and responsiveness–are threatened by such surveys. To adequately plan, implement and report a comprehensive national survey, adult education must be highly standardised and categorised. This structuring of the field may conflict with the maintenance of that flexibility and responsiveness which allows adult education to fulfil its social mission in a liberal and pluralistic representative democracy (such as that in Australia). A comprehensive national survey, if successful, may be expected to exert formalising and conservative (of regressive) influences on the field. Under such influences, the field of adult education may become increasingly socially dysfunctional. This could lead in time to the creation of alternative forms of education outside the defined realm of adult education.     

Organisational perspectives on the local management of schools: Papua New Guinean case studies

Associated with the economic adjustments of recent years, there is a trend in many countries for governments to devolve responsibility for logistical support to schools. This paper is a study of factors that can influence the local management necessary for the provision of this support. Drawing from two, largely rural, studies in Papua New Guinea (a national survey and a detailed analysis of community management of 13 schools in a single area), the paper describes the school, its Board of Management and the community as a trio of organisations with theoretically complementary objectives. It points to the inadequacy of general cultural explanations for Board inability to sustain operations over time. It claims that Board members, people in the communities they represent and teachers all have private expectations of their association with schools, which if not met, will undermine commitment. Ensuring these are met, with secondary regulatory action, can reduce the frequency of organisational troughs of apathy. As it is, in Papua New Guinea and elsewhere, the prospect of expectation fulfilment associated with socio-economic advantage means that those with least to gain may refuse to become involved with education systems.     

国际成人能力评估项目的述评——基于OECD首次成人技能调查结果的分析

国际成人能力评估项目（PIAAC）是世界经济合作与发展组织（OECD）2013年第一次在24个国家和地区开展的针对成人能力问题而进行的较大规模调查。其目的是了解当今各国成人能力（技能）的现状,成人能力之间的相互影响;工作、生活中成人能力的运用情况以及成人能力与经济、劳动力市场和社会的关系,从而为各国制定教育及经济政策提供依据。这项调查以经济全球化为背景,以信息通信技术为主线,提出了成人关键信息处理能力,即读写能力、计算能力、问题解决能力;通用能力,如合作能力、自我管理能力等,调查了这些能力的现状及分布情况,以及在工作中成人能力应用的状况。这项调查还从社会人口学的视角,研究了教育程度、性别、移民与成人能力的相互关系,探讨了成人能力与社会效益的问题。PIAAC不仅为我们提供了大量、翔实的调查数据和分析,也为国际成人教育研究提供了科学研究成人能力的量表。PIAAC的贡献对于国际成人能力研究具有奠基和里程碑式的作用。     

Non-vocational Adult Education and its Professionals in the United Kingdom

In this overview of non-vocational adult education and the training of its professionals we seek to provide a map of existing provision through secondary analysis of existing data. The territory is a complex one with a range of providers and considerable blurring of the vocational and non-vocational divide. Further, because of devolution within the four countries of the UK, there are certain relatively minor differences in the four administrations. Where these are of some significance, they are noted, but in general the specific focus is on England. Our analysis is based on data gathered as part of the Europe-wide ALPINE survey. Our secondary data are augmented by personal interviews with key informants representing different parts of the adult education sector.     

Blindness,Art and Exclusion in Museums and Galleries

Drawing on interviews with blind people, this paper examines both their exclusion from museums and galleries and their responses to the art educational provision that is specifically designed to remedy that marginalisation. Blind visitors’ responses to these educational projects were polarised; respondents were either highly critical or very enthusiastic. This paper begins by outlining the interviewees’ criticisms which included; education officers’ misconception of how touch facilitates learning and aesthetic response, a lack of educational progression and blind people's exclusion from mainstream events. I then ask why, given these problems, did other respondents reply so favourably, suggest that these high levels of satisfaction had little to do with museum provision but were in fact the result of social interaction and of rare inclusion within the sighted community. I argue that, ironically, this sense of inclusion is premised on blind visitors’ structural exclusion from art institutions. Finally, the article examines those visitors who, illicitly or otherwise, already experience some aspects of the museum in multisensory terms, but maintain that until museums’ and galleries’ ocularcentric orientation is reconfigured, there will be little possibility for these rogue visitors to develop their knowledge of art. Likewise, without institutional change, educational events for the blind will continue to be an inadequate supplement to a structure that is and remains inequitable.     

非国有博物馆实现中小学教育功能刍论

如何发挥非国有博物馆的教育功能,是一个值得研究的重要课题。文章结合柳州地区的实践,对非国有博物馆发挥中小学教育功能进行探索。要成立专业指导机构,建立工作平台;提升非国有博物馆教育能力;举办各种展览,发挥博物馆教育功能;打造馆校合作品牌,讲好博物馆故事。同时,还要着力解决实践中遇到的困难和问题。     

Early Intervention in the South Pacific: Issues in Program Development

Generalizations about the differences between more developed and less developed countries in terms of service provision for people with disabilities sometimes tend to obscure the differences that exist between and within countries. Intervention is a relatively new concern for many countries in the Pacific region but one of the most notable features is the variation in approaches taken to meet the needs of young children with a disability and their families. Diverse cultural patterns and geographical problems of isolated communities require a flexible approach to the delivery of services. Initiatives which arise out of existing frameworks require support with careful consideration being given to extending the services until they reach all sections of the population. Ensuring sustainability is a high priority where resources and Government involvement in service provision are limited.     

博物馆吸引观众的域外实践与启示——基于美国部分博物馆的分析

当今世界各国、各地区的博物馆都在想方设法吸引观众,以履行博物馆的社会职能,实现其传承文明和创造新知的使命担当。作为博物馆事业发达的国家之一,美国部分博物馆吸引观众的做法,不仅成效显著,而且其做法具有可鉴之处。本文基于美国部分博物馆吸引观众的具体实践活动与方法,探究其中的经验智慧,以期对我国博物馆在吸引观众方面有所助益。     

Transition planning and the needs of young people and their carers: the alumni project

Melanie Smart is a research associate at Sunfield School, Worcestershire, and a trainee clinical psychologist. In this article, she reports the results of a small-scale survey which looked at the views of 17 parents whose children with severe and/or complex learning difficulties had made the transition from a residential special school to an adult placement. Pa rents were asked their retrospective views on the transition planning process; their own involvement; and how the adult placement met the needs of their children.
Melanie Smart's findings indicate that the majority of parents were very much involved in the planning process, although they reported struggling to get consistency of approach and basic information. The young people themselves were found to be marginalised in the planning process, with very few being involved in any decision making. Most parents were happy with the eventual placement, but those who had concerns were still pushing for basic services and care. Of those who had suffered placement breakdowns, the major factor was lack of consistency of approach and failure to use prior information about the child.
This survey shows that parents and their learning disabled children experience difficulties in the transition process. There seems to be a distinct lack of person-centred planning, particularly with this user group, by both child and adult services. Parents are vital to this type of planning approach, particularly when the young people themselves cannot voice their needs or advocate their own rights to quality service provision. Melanie Smart argues that parents need access to better quality information and reassurance that their children will receive the services they deserve as young adults. The various agencies, she asserts, need to work together to ensure that the transition process is effective.     

Address at the Funeral of Peter Jarvis : Methodist Church,Thatcham, England, 12th December 2018

This paper explores the discourses of power in adult literacy and numeracy (ALN) teaching and learning that were highlighted through the processes of accessing and gaining the views of ALN learners for a research project on the quality of learning and teaching. It details the problems encountered in gaining access to this group of learners and discusses how they are rooted within the discourses of power and deficit that permeate ALN teaching and learning. It also argues that the pedagogical structures of 1:1 learning that characterise sections of ALN provision reinforce the suppression of collective voice by individualising the ‘problem’ and its solution. It suggests that whilst ALN learning aims to effect change in individuals and in society, the structures and power relationships within it militate against such change. The paper shows that in learning communities where power and meaning are mutually negotiated learners do begin to recognise their personal worth and power and its impact in the wider world. However, it argues that critical, radical adult learning extends beyond the parameters of individual change. It is a collective process whereby people who begin to see themselves differently as individuals also question together the asymmetrical power relationships that have marginalised them and their practices, and act to change them. The learners’ comments show that, although they had changed through participating in learning, the change process was essentially individualised, and almost entirely devoid of these critical elements.     

Increasing Access and Participation of Pastoralist Communities in Primary Education in Kenya

This study shows how the provision of educational facilities in Kenya since the colonial era has been skewed in favour of densely populated agricultural communities. It analyses interventions to redress the resultant imbalances, such as the school-fees waiver, free primary education, the construction of boarding schools, and school feeding programmes. These measures are shown to have had little impact on increasing access and participation of pastoralist communities in primary education; for they have usually been introduced without serious consideration of the prevailing socio-economic conditions. It is proposed here that for their future development, the government needs to articulate clearer policies and involve such communities in planning as well as incorporate elements of their existing traditional education institutions.