This volume explores the topics of adult learning and education through the specific lens of comparative research. The book is divided into four chapters each of which comprises an analytical essay followed by an anthology of readings from a selection of key texts. These are chosen to illustrate different conceptual and empirical approaches from varying perspectives in different countries. The book is the second of a series dedicated to adult learning and education and developed under the auspices of the ESRALE (European Studies and Research in Adult Learning and Education) project. Its companion books are: Vanna Boffo, Paolo Federighi, Ekkehard Nuissl, Empirical Research Methodology in Adult Learning and Education- Authors and Texts and Simona Sava, Petr Novotny (eds.), Researches in Adult Learning and Education: The European Dimension.

This volume gives theoretical and practical insights in international and comparative research in the field of adult and continuing education. The 16 contributions of this volume give three perspectives on international and comparative adult education. The first perspective focuses on the question how internationalisation and comparative adult and continuing education can be taught. The second perspective gives insights into the results of comparative research that has been conducted throughout a two-week Winter School that took place in February 2019 in Würzburg. The third perspective complements the two perspectives with insights into international projects and practices in adult and continuing education. The authors of this volume are contributing to the transnational Winter School International and comparative studies in adult and continuing education in Würzburg, Germany since 2014.

Comparative Education examines the common problems facing education systems around the world as the result of global economic, social, and cultural forces. Issues related to the governance, financing, provision, processes, and outcomes of education systems for differently situated social groups are described and analyzed in specific regional, national, and local contexts.

The volume presents research that emerges from the 9th international Adult Education Academy (2022), which brings together researchers, students and practitioners from around the world to share perspectives comparatively. More than 80 participants from almost 20 different countries have exchanged, compared and expanded their individual knowledge and experience on adult learning and education. This volume consisting of eight contributions (including one fundamental article beforehand) assumes that globalisation affects national, regional and local levels of adult learning and education. Transformational relations are observed and analysed through the lens of participation, sustainability and digitalisation. All contributions apply an international comparative research approach to empirically investigate these areas with their upcoming needs. This approach takes place under consideration of comparison as a research method which not only grounds on a long tradition and relies on a set of rules and techniques, but also on an inner attitude and sensitivity with which we look at the world and its global needs while trying to understand.

This book discusses the current state of the art in research on the education and learning of adults, and how such research has been transformed through contemporary policy and research practices. Gathering contributions from leading experts in the field, the book draws on previous research, as well as new findings in order to provide a map of this research field and its contemporary history. The chapters address a number of questions, including: What constitutes this research field? What theories and methodologies dominate within the field? What “invisible colleges” are active in shaping this academic field, in marking out its contours and in transforming its contemporary battle zones? Who is publishing in the field and who is deemed worth citing? What is the relationship between the shift in state policy on adult education and the research that is conducted on the education and learning of adults? How has the research field changed over time in various western countries? What do these meta-reflections of the field tell us about possible future research endeavours? Rather than speaking from within the field, this is a book about the research field. The diversity of the chapters provide a fascinating resource for anyone interested in research on the education and learning of adults.

Whether it is earning a GED, a particular skill, or technical topic for a career, taking classes of interest, or even returning to begin a degree program or completing it, adult learning encompasses those beyond the traditional university age seeking out education. This type of education could be considered non-traditional as it goes beyond the typical educational path and develops learners that are self-initiated and focused on personal development in the form of gaining some sort of education. Essentially, it is a voluntary choice of learning throughout life for personal and professional development. While there is often a large focus towards K-12 and higher education, it is important that research also focuses on the developing trends, technologies, and techniques for providing adult education along with understanding lifelong learners’ choices, developments, and needs. The Research Anthology on Adult Education and the Development of Lifelong Learners focuses specifically on adult education and the best practices, services, and educational environments and methods for both the teaching and learning of adults. This spans further into the understanding of what it means to be a lifelong learner and how to develop adults who want to voluntarily contribute to their own development by enhancing their education level or knowledge of certain topics. This book is essential for teachers and professors, course instructors, business professionals, school administrators, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the latest advancements in adult education and lifelong learning.

How do you tailor education to the learning needs of adults? Do they learn differently from children? How does their life experience inform their learning processes? These were the questions at the heart of Malcolm Knowles’ pioneering theory of andragogy which transformed education theory in the 1970s. The resulting principles of a self-directed, experiential, problem-centred approach to learning have been hugely influential and are still the basis of the learning practices we use today. Understanding these principles is the cornerstone of increasing motivation and enabling adult learners to achieve. The 9th edition of The Adult Learner has been revised to include: Updates to the book to reflect the very latest advancements in the field. The addition of two new chapters on diversity and inclusion in adult learning, and andragogy and the online adult learner. An updated supporting website. This website for the 9th edition of The Adult Learner will provide basic instructor aids including a PowerPoint presentation for each chapter. Revisions throughout to make it more readable and relevant to your practices. If you are a researcher, practitioner, or student in education, an adult learning practitioner, training manager, or involved in human resource development, this is the definitive book in adult learning you should not be without.

This multidisciplinary book represents an initial attempt to connect adult learning and knowledge management in theory and practice. It provides educators, learners and organizational development professionals with new strategies and resources for developing active and effective pedagogies, which in turn prepare learners and practitioners to manage knowledge in organizations and higher education. To do so, it gathers contributions and case studies from a diverse, global team of authors and provides a theoretical and practical outline of new strategies and methods for facilitating adult teaching and learning. It also provides a fresh reading of active learning methods, by adopting a knowledge management viewpoint that is broadly applicable, whether helping students master content in university courses, or helping organizations learn and change. The book is divided into three main sections: a) methods and theories for adult teaching and learning; b) knowledge management in education; and c) case studies and best practices that consider classroom learning, higher education change, and organization development.

Editors Robert F. Arnove and Carlos Alberto Torres, along with new coeditor Stephen Franz, have assembled the key scholars in comparative education, bringing a new edition of their groundbreaking book. To be used in graduate courses in comparative education, the new edition re...

This book investigates the ways in which the social purposes of adult education are (re)interpreted over time, and between the global south and global north. It brings together thirty-seven authors from fourteen countries with extensive experience as academics and/or practitioners in the field. The book is inspired by the work and life of Lalage Bown, a leading proponent of post-colonial and inclusive visions of education for all. Over her long life she worked tirelessly to promote access to basic and higher education for people of all ages and backgrounds: with a deep commitment to striving for greater equality for women. Following an Introduction, the book is structured around four main themes: Adult Education and Social Justice; Decolonisation, Post-Colonialism and Indigenous Knowledge; From Literacy to Lifelong Learning; and, Fostering Excellence, Policy Development and Supporting Future Generation of Adult Educators. The book concludes with reflections on Lalage Bown’s Enduring Legacy.