Paul Bélanger Volgorde van de boeken

Adult Learning and Education The graduate student guide in adult education explores theories of adult learning and adult education participation. It provides a frame of reference for understanding the development of a rapidly evolving field and for enhancing knowledge and competencies in this professional domain. The publication is divided into two sections: a section on adult learning theories and a section on adult education participation theories. If Adult Learning and Education (ALE) is now a recognised professional field, the theoretical perspectives, underlying practices and policies draw on a variety of academic disciplines. Various theories of learning and of adult education participation shape the practice and the “engineering” of adult learning. In the first section, this study guide provides a review of the most important learning theories, including behaviourist, cognitive, and constructivist approaches, their modern development, as well as specific developments in adult education theory. The second section examines the psychological and sociological theoretical backgrounds of adult education participation in order to understand the factors at work in participation patterns along the adult life course and between different social contexts. Observing the relativity of social reproduction allows to identify the conditions and variables that need to be addressed in order to alter prevailing trends.

In post-industrial societies some workers will have stable, good jobs in knowledge and learning-intensive workplaces, while many others will be underemployed or locked into a series of precarious, low-skill jobs in the periphery of the economy. In such a society, inclusions and exclusions in economics and social life are bound to correspond closely to inclusions and exclusions in adult education and training. With the transition toward the post-industrial society increasingly complete, the challenge to reduce the exclusive tendencies in adult education and training, and to make learning a common, continuous and even universal experience is becoming more urgent than ever. The design of successful intervention strategies will depend crucially on the knowledge base of adult education, especially improved insights into the factors that are associated with participation and non-participation. By improving that knowledge base that this volume, which reports on a six-country comparative investigation of the patterns of adult education participation, seeks to make a contribution to policy and research.