Comparing Adult Learning Systems: an emerging political economy

Adult learning systems have come to be dominated by the view that the essential role of adult learning is to generate the high levels of skills deemed necessary for competitiveness and growth in the globalised economy. This ‘education gospel’ is underpinned by human capital theory (HCT) and its contemporary conceptualisation in terms of the knowledge-based economy. Nevertheless, it remains the case that there are significant differences in the strategies of national governments towards adult learning and in patterns of engagement with the learning opportunities that are made available. This paper sets out to explore how this diversity in national systems of adult learning might be addressed analytically. Adult learning is embedded in characteristic regimes of economic and social institutions, which can be understood in terms of a systematic international political economy. In particular, adult learning systems are explored by reference to the models of capitalist organisation elaborated in the neo-institutionalist analysis of ‘varieties of capitalism’ (Hall and Soskice, 2001): the liberal market economy and the co-ordinated market economy. A major alternative is provided by Esping-Anderson's (1990; 1999) analysis of ‘welfare state regimes’. Moreover, Rubenson and Desjardins (2009) have used this theoretical framework as a means of analysing systematic variations between national adult learning systems. These analyses raise questions about the use of national states as the key unit of analysis. Significant divergences in institutional arrangements and access to opportunities for adult learning (by social group or locality, for example) may be obscured by this method of comparative analysis. Moreover, consideration of the micro-theoretical foundations of these approaches highlights the difficulties in moving beyond the economistic ‘rationality’ of HCT. The issue here is the extent to which norms of behaviour in relation to engaging in adult learning can be appropriately understood in terms of a relatively homogeneous, national social system, rather than in terms of a much more socially differentiated repertoire of norm-based orientations.     

Learning trajectories: travelling towards a learning society? 1

This paper uses the results of a large‐scale study of patterns of participation in post‐compulsory education and training over the past 50 years to identify some of the social determinants of adult participation in formal learning experiences. The patterns of participation are presented in the form of predictable lifelong ‘trajectories’, and the predictability of these patterns of participation is as important a finding as their determinants. The key predictors themselves can be discerned quite early in an individuals life since they comprise the period in which the person was born, their place of birth and subsequent migration patterns, their gender, their family background, their experience of initial schooling, and the interactions between them. The patterns of participation and their changes over time are used to reinforce doubts about the wisdom of seeing a Learning Society as simply a worthwhile future goal, towards the implementation of which current policy is directed, and towards which the UK is travelling in linear fashion by apparently increasing opportunities for, while removing barriers to, lifelong participation.

     

Adult learners’ perceptions of an undergraduate HRD degree completion programme: reasons for entering,attitudes towards programme and impact of programme

The purpose of the study was to evaluate an undergraduate distance education (DE) programme based upon adult learners’ perceptions. The study investigated the value of the Human Resource Development programme at the University of Arkansas by examining the students’ reasons for returning to college, their attitudes towards the programme and the impact that the programme has had upon their lives. The respondents viewed DE as the best opportunity for adult students to complete their degrees. Female participants had significantly more positive attitudes towards DE than male participants did. The respondents had positive attitudes towards the learning environment, the instructors in the programme, the cohort design of the programme and the content of the programme. However, there were mixed opinions concerning the economic benefit of participation in the programme.     

Does student engagement in self-assessment calibrate their judgement over time?

One of the implicit aims of higher education is to enable students to become better judges of their own work. This paper examines whether students who voluntarily engage in self-assessment improve in their capacity to make those judgements. The study utilises data from a web-based marking system that provides students with the opportunity to assess themselves on each criterion for each assessment task throughout a programme of study. Student marks were compared with those from tutors to plot changes over time. The findings suggest that overall students’ judgements do converge with those of tutors, but that there is considerable variation across achievement levels, with weaker students showing little improvement. Whilst the study is limited by the exigencies of voluntary participation and thus consequential gaps in the data set, it shows how judgement over time can be demonstrated and points to the potential for more systematic interventions to improve students’ judgements. It also illustrates the use of the web-based marking and feedback software (ReView) that has considerable utility in aiding self-assessment research.     

Practical Work in Earth Sciences Education: An experience with students in the context of a National Science Programme in Portugal

The programme Ciencia Viva of the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology aims to create a greater understanding of science and science education amongst scientists, teachers, school children and the general public, each of whom is encouraged to cooperate and interact through regular contacts. The purpose is to improve practical, experimental and other forms of investigative work. To accomplish such work in schools, an overview of the state of science education worldwide is presented in terms of old and new traditions of the teaching of the physical and historical sciences the latter including the teaching of fieldwork. Traditional practices are compared with those established recently in various parts of the world in which more carefully considered understanding of the nature of science and science education has been established. In illustration of good practice, an outline is offered of the nature and rationale of two sets of curricular materials. These were designed by a team comprising staff members of the University of Aveiro and secondary school teachers and were trialled in schools. These activities are concerned with the internal rock cycle and the internal energy of the Earth in relation to plate tectonic theory. They are also related to the processes of weathering, erosion, transportation and deposition of sedimentary rocks and structures (like wave and current ripple marks) which were formed as part of the external rock cycle driven by the Sun's energy. The account concludes with an outline of the sub programme 'Geology in Summer', a fieldwork programme which introduces a holistic understanding of the workings of the outer part of the Earth to the general public. Students' perspectives and teachers' views about these experiences are generally very positive and are presented at the end. The whole programme was evaluated by an international team of scientists and science educators.     

Information processing: a review of implications of Johnstone’s model for science education

The current review is concerned with an information processing model used in science education. The purpose is to summarise the current theoretical understanding, in published research, of a number of factors that are known to influence learning and achievement. These include field independence, working memory, long‐term memory, and the use of long‐term memory strategies. The implications of research for educational practice are discussed. It is recommended that educators consider models of information processing and adjust teaching practices accordingly.