AJAL Volume 57, Number 3, November 2017
Here is the latest issue of the Australian Journal of Adult Learning.
How the Men’s Shed idea travels to Scandinavia
Authors: Helene Ahl, Joel Hedegaard & Barry Golding
Australia has around 1,000 Men’s Sheds – informal community based workshops offering men beyond paid work somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to. They have proven to be of great benefit for older men’s learning, health and wellbeing, social integration, and for developing a positive male identity focusing on community responsibility and care. Read more …
Lifelong learning in policy and practice: The case of Sweden
Author: Ann-Kristin Boström
This paper describes the changes in lifelong learning policy that have taken place since the 1990s in Sweden. Policy documents regarding lifelong learning in Sweden have appeared since 1994. The first of these documents contains general recommendations with regard to lifelong learning, in both a lifelong and a lifewide perspective, concerning pre-school and compulsory school together with adult education and training. Read more…
Opportunities for generativity in later life for older men
Author: Lucia Carragher
The changing social and economic landscape across European Member States and beyond has had a disproportionate effect on older adults. Nowhere is this more keenly felt than among the “buffer generation” of men caught between the silent, strong, austere masculinity of their forefathers and contemporary society – progressive, open and individualistic. Read more…
The engagement of universities in older adult education in Aotearoa New Zealand
Author: Brian Findsen
This article investigates the engagement of universities in older adult education in the specific context of Aotearoa New Zealand. Initially, the broader context of the tertiary education system and the place of universities within it are explained. Not unexpectedly adult education, and particularly older adult education, exists only on the margins of the system. Significant achievements in the past in regard to universities’ contribution to older adult education are acknowledged before judging the effectiveness of current engagement, using Peterson’s (1976) definition of educational gerontology as a benchmark. Read more…
Constructing narratives in later life: Autoethnography beyond the academy
Authors: Barry Golding & Annette Foley
Learning through life experiences as distinct from learning through the academy and courses has become increasingly important themes in later life adult education research and practice. Whilst the dominant discourse for most younger people is still about education and training for students in standardised and accredited courses, there is increasing concern to find ways of giving voice to empower people otherwise excluded, disempowered or missing from mainstream education, learning, research and the community. Read more …
Intergenerational exchange of knowledge, skills, values and practices between self-organized active citizens in Maribor, Slovenia
Authors: Sabina Jelenc Krašovec & Marta Gregorcic
This paper deals with intergenerational informal learning developed by participatory democracy process in the Self-organized District Communities (SDC) in Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia. It is based on the assumption that SDC assemblies, being safe and trustworthy, are very powerful spaces for behavioural and values exchange between generations and for social and political engagement, having a capacity for critical, informed and caring citizenry of all ages. Read more …
Ageing and learning experiences: The perspective of a Polish senior immigrant in Sweden
Author: Małgorzata Malec Rawiński
The general aim of this paper is to present some insights into Polish senior immigrants in Sweden. In particular, it seeks to identify and illustrate the important contribution of previous generations of Polish senior immigrants in building on the diverse culture, traditions and values of the Polish community (Polonia) in Sweden. The paper considers what it means to be an older (age 65+ year) Polish immigrant in Sweden. Read more …
Fifty years of learning by older adults in Aotearoa New Zealand
Author: Robert Tobias
This paper reflects on the history of adult and community education (ACE) in Aotearoa New Zealand with special reference to older people’s learning. The paper adopts a critical framework and draws on both primary and secondary sources. Key economic, political, social, demographic and cultural forces are discussed along with the huge growth in tertiary education, the increasing pressures on people to continue their education in later life, and the impact of social movements on this expansion. Read more …
Learning for older adults in Portugal: Universities of the Third Age in a state of change
Author: Esmeraldina Costa Veloso
U3As have their origin in 1973 in Toulouse, France, with Professor Pierre Vellas. This French influence was also felt in Portugal and the first Portuguese U3A opened its doors also in the 1970s. However, from inception the Portuguese reality was very different from the French model, especially in regards to its promoters. However, both in France and Portugal, these original models have since undergone significant changes. Within this context, this study seeks to analyse this shift in the organisation of U3A, attempting to understand, amongst other factors, who are the social players behind the change, their goals, and how they are organised. Read more …
Learning to live with chronic illness in later life: Empowering myself
Author: Alexandra Withnall
Type 2 Diabetes is both an incurable illness and a hidden disability that has reached epidemic proportions on a global scale. It has obviously spawned a huge clinical literature, but no scholarly accounts of learning to live with the illness on a daily basis from a feminist perspective. As an older woman, I have made use of a somewhat controversial autoethnographical approach to explore how far I consider myself empowered to live with, and manage this condition for the rest of my life. Read more …
Occupational and educational biographies of older workers and their participation in further education in Germany
Authors: Bernhard Schmidt-Hertha & Margaretha Müller
The adult cohort of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) provides data from six sets of longitudinal data derived from 11,932 German adults. We used the NEPS data to look at the effects of formal education in adulthood and occupational changes on participation in further vocational education and training in order to gain a better understanding of learning activities of older workers. Read more …
Mā te ora ka mōhio / ‘Through life there is learning’
Authors: Brian Findsen, Barry Golding, Sabina Jelenc Krašovec & Bernhard Schmidt-Hertha
Australia has around 1,000 Men’s Sheds – informal community based workshops offering men beyond paid work somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to. They have proven to be of great benefit for older men’s learning, health and wellbeing, social integration, and for developing a positive male identity focusing on community responsibility and care. Read more …
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