Encouraging adults to take part in learning activities has become a unanimous principle in international policy discourse. Upgrading skills, adapting to new technological challenges and rapidly changing labour markets, and contributing to overall development are the main elements in the rationale of policy makers when arguing in favor of lifelong learning.

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Presenting psychology as an applied discipline that can help adult educators to be more effective in their work, this book analyses the cultural factors that influence the characteristics, behaviour and thinking of adult learners. It emphasises the collective orientation of African cultures and the view of the self in terms of interdependent relationships within a community. The chapters provide an introduction to the psychology of adult learning and address the following: characteristics of adult learning; life span development; human motivation and participation; learning styles;...

This book examines how adult education is influenced by and has an influence on the society in which it takes place. It presents a clear analysis of the development challenges and sociological realities of the adult education context, which is essential if educators are to help African countries and communities achieve their developmental goals. The ten chapters in this book address the following issues as they impact on adult education: development and social change; community; rate, ethnicity and religion; social class and gender; empowerment; democracy; health and HIV/AIDS; poverty and...

This book explores existing research paradigms, presents African counter-arguments and examples, and proposes methodologies more appropriate for African contexts. The emphasis is on African realities, values and ways of knowing. The chapters address contexts for adult education research in Africa; philosophical and theoretical perspectives and their implications for research; doing a literature review; getting started with a research proposal; quantitative research designs and carrying out surveys; analysing data; the nature of qualitative research; conducting qualitative studies;...

This reference guide details some of the institutions and delivery modes in the administration and coordination of adult learning policies and programmes. It represents a starting point for discussion on best practics future directions, challenges and achievements in adult learning in the Asian context.

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This publication aims to provide a gender perspective on HIV-preventative education. It reviews existing educational stategies and IEC materials from this perspective discussing how to develop empowering educational strategies and gender-senstivie IEC materials.

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In spite of the explosion of knowledge and new media, access to adult education documentation and information services remains a dream for many researchers, policy-makers, community groups, businesses, adult learners, educators of adults and others engaged in lifelong learning around the world. Since adult education documentation and information centres lack sufficient financial and human resources, they cannot adequately fulfil their tasks at a time of increasing demand for adult education and training.

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This publication reviews the findings of a study on the financing of adult learning in Europe. It presents the different patterns of public financial support to NGOs in Europe and exposes current policies for supporting financially the partcipation of indviduals in organized adult learning.

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This publication is the fruit of five years of empirical research conducted in 24 countries from every region of the world. The UNESCO Institute for Education worked with 24 national teams and researchers who took part in three research seminars organised by the authors. The two initial meetings, in May and October 1994, decided on the study framework and tools and a sampling plan for the policies to be studied. At the third seminar in 1996, national analyses were used to develop a preliminary transnational analysis.

One hundred and twenty-two policies (legislation, government...

It has always been assumed that education improves the lives of people and paves the way for more democratic communities. For women, several researches have demonstrated how access to education is correlated with a decline in birth rate or an improvement of children’s well-being. That two thirds of the world’s 800 million illiterates are women is also an indication of how millions of women, in this age of information superhighways, are still deprived of a basic human right. Such measurements, while necessary, present only a partial picture of a complex ideological, political and...