Sharon Clancy – författare

This book identifies and celebrates the learning adult educators can gain from the numerous sites of community activism, learning, and social change that are currently taking place across the globe.While the relentless push of neoliberalism has struck at the heart of adult education provision in many countries, including that provided by universities, institutions of further education, international development agencies, NGOs, vocational training centres and the local government sector, what can adult educators learn and what is being learnt when we turn to sites of community activism as a mechanism for broader social change? Drawing on empirical research, as well as stories and blogs about social change and transformation from those participating in community activist struggles, this book features diverse contributions from adult education practitioners, theorists and activist-researchers who share community activist practices from around the world and provide insight into the ways these have contributed to social change and political transformation in different spaces and communities. Each chapter and blog in this collection relate to different dimensions of community, democracy and dialogue and how this space has become one in which delimiting factors must constantly be fought. In these contributions, questions of critical pedagogy and voice, and contested notions of power, place and voice, are lived, felt and troubled in different national and international contexts. This book was originally published as a special issue of Studies in the Education of Adults.

This book identifies and celebrates the learning adult educators can gain from the numerous sites of community activism, learning, and social change that are currently taking place across the globe.While the relentless push of neoliberalism has struck at the heart of adult education provision in many countries, including that provided by universities, institutions of further education, international development agencies, NGOs, vocational training centres and the local government sector, what can adult educators learn and what is being learnt when we turn to sites of community activism as a mechanism for broader social change? Drawing on empirical research, as well as stories and blogs about social change and transformation from those participating in community activist struggles, this book features diverse contributions from adult education practitioners, theorists and activist-researchers who share community activist practices from around the world and provide insight into the ways these have contributed to social change and political transformation in different spaces and communities. Each chapter and blog in this collection relate to different dimensions of community, democracy and dialogue and how this space has become one in which delimiting factors must constantly be fought. In these contributions, questions of critical pedagogy and voice, and contested notions of power, place and voice, are lived, felt and troubled in different national and international contexts. This book was originally published as a special issue of Studies in the Education of Adults.

This innovative Research Handbook rethinks current paradigms in adult education, providing a toolkit for responding to the challenges and opportunities for adult education and lifelong learning amidst a changing world. Contributing authors analyse key aspects of the field through the lenses of democracy, sustainability, and social justice.Adopting a non-traditional discourse approach, international practitioners and scholars collaboratively analyse relevant issues within the field, such as adult education for indigenous people, pedagogy, inclusion and the history of lifelong learning. They critically examine the global status quo of adult learning, reflecting on the purpose of education as well as the tensions that can arise in different contexts. Chapters present original research paired with empirical accounts of teaching initiatives from the Global North and South. Incorporating a range of theoretical and empirical perspectives, the Research Handbook engages with the diversity of adult learning and education, both formal and informal.The Research Handbook on Adult Learning and Education is a thought-provoking read for students and scholars of education, university management, education policy, curriculum and pedagogy. Its practical and inspiring insights also make it a crucial resource for adult learning practitioners and policymakers.

This open access book challenges international policy ‘groupthink’ about lifelong learning. Adult learning – too long a servant of business competitiveness – should be reimagined as central to democratic society. Young adults, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, engage more in education and training, and learn more day-to-day at work, if provision is democratically organised and based on enduring and inclusive institutional networks, and when jobs encourage and reward the acquisition of skills. Using innovative qualitative and quantitative methods, the contributors develop a critical perspective on dominant policies, investigating – across the European Union and Australia – how ‘vulnerable’ young adults experience programmes designed to improve their ‘employability’, and how ‘skills for jobs’ policies squeeze out wider – and wiser – ideas of what education and training should do. Chapters show why some provision works for those with poor educational backgrounds, why labour market and educational institutions matter so much, how adult education can empower and expand people’s agency, and the challenges of using artificial intelligence in lifelong learning policy-making. Several investigate the pivotal role of workplace learning in organisational life, and in learning during ‘emerging adulthood’. Important comparative studies of workplace learning in the metals, retail and adult education sectors show the role of management, trade unions and social movements in young adults’ learning.

This open access book challenges international policy ‘groupthink’ about lifelong learning. Adult learning – too long a servant of business competitiveness – should be reimagined as central to democratic society. Young adults, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, engage more in education and training, and learn more day-to-day at work, if provision is democratically organised and based on enduring and inclusive institutional networks, and when jobs encourage and reward the acquisition of skills. Using innovative qualitative and quantitative methods, the contributors develop a critical perspective on dominant policies, investigating – across the European Union and Australia – how ‘vulnerable’ young adults experience programmes designed to improve their ‘employability’, and how ‘skills for jobs’ policies squeeze out wider – and wiser – ideas of what education and training should do. Chapters show why some provision works for those with poor educational backgrounds, why labour market and educational institutions matter so much, how adult education can empower and expand people’s agency, and the challenges of using artificial intelligence in lifelong learning policy-making. Several investigate the pivotal role of workplace learning in organisational life, and in learning during ‘emerging adulthood’. Important comparative studies of workplace learning in the metals, retail and adult education sectors show the role of management, trade unions and social movements in young adults’ learning.

This book examines the development of British post-Second World War short-term residential adult education, through the lens of the Shropshire Adult Education College (1948-1976) and the tenure of Sir George Trevelyan as its first warden.