Co-published with Colleges and universities are increasingly becoming significant sites for adult education scholarship -in large part due to demographic shifts. With fewer U.S. high school graduates ...on the horizon, higher education institutions will need to attract "non-traditional" (i.e., older) adult learners to remain viable, both financially and politically. There is a need to develop a better corpus of scholarship on topics as diverse as, what learning theories are useful for understanding adult learning? How are higher education institutions changing in response to the surge of adult students? What academic programs are providing better learning and employment outcomes for adults in college? Adult education scholars can offer much to the policy debates taking place in higher education. A main premise of this handbook is that adult and continuing education should not simply respond to rapidly changing social, economic, technological, and political environments across the globe, but should lead the way in preparing adults to become informed, globally-connected, critical citizens who are knowledgeable, skilled, and open and adaptive to change and uncertainty.The Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education provides rich information on the contemporary issues and trends that are of concern to adult and continuing education, of the programs and resources available to adult learners, and of opportunities to challenge and critique the structures embedded in the field that perpetuate inequity and social injustice. Adult education is a discipline that foresees a better tomorrow, and The Handbook is designed to engage and inspire readers to assist the field to seek new paths in uncertain and complex times, ask questions, and to help the field flourish.The Handbook is divided into five sections. The first, Foundations situates the field by describing the developments, core debates, perspectives, and key principles that form the basis of the field.The second, Understanding
As the incomes of affluent and poor families have diverged over the past three decades, so too has the educational performance of their children. But how exactly do the forces of rising inequality ...affect the educational attainment and life chances of low-income children? In "Whither Opportunity?" a distinguished team of economists, sociologists, and experts in social and education policy examines the corrosive effects of unequal family resources, disadvantaged neighborhoods, insecure labor markets, and worsening school conditions on K-12 education. This groundbreaking book illuminates the ways rising inequality is undermining one of the most important goals of public education--the ability of schools to provide children with an equal chance at academic and economic success. The most ambitious study of educational inequality to date, "Whither Opportunity?" analyzes how social and economic conditions surrounding schools affect school performance and children's educational achievement. The book shows that from earliest childhood, parental investments in children's learning affect reading, math, and other attainments later in life. This book contains six parts. Part I, Overview, contains: (1) Introduction: The American Dream, Then and Now (Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane). Part II, The Developing Child and Adolescent, contains: (2) Lessons from Neuroscience Research for Understanding Causal Links Between Family and Neighborhood Characteristics and Educational Outcomes (Charles A. Nelson III and Margaret A. Sheridan); (3) The Nature and Impact of Early Achievement Skills, Attention Skills, and Behavior Problems (Greg J. Duncan and Katherine Magnuson); (4) Middle and High School Skills, Behaviors, Attitudes, and Curriculum Enrollment, and Their Consequences (George Farkas); (5) The Widening Academic Achievement Gap Between the Rich and the Poor: New Evidence and Possible Explanations (Sean F. Reardon); (6) Inequality in Postsecondary Education (Martha J. Bailey and Susan M. Dynarski); and (7) Educational Expectations and Attainment (Brian A. Jacob and Tamara Wilder Linkow). Part III, The Family, contains: (8) Educational Mobility in the United States Since the 1930s (Michael Hout and Alexander Janus); (9) How Is Family Income Related to Investments in Children's Learning? (Neeraj Kaushal, Katherine Magnuson, and Jane Waldfogel); (10) Parenting, Time Use, and Disparities in Academic Outcomes (Meredith Phillips); and (11) Family-Structure Instability and Adolescent Educational Outcomes: A Focus on Families with Stepfathers (Megan M. Sweeney). Part IV, Neighborhoods, contains: (12) Converging Evidence for Neighborhood Effects on Children's Test Scores: An Experimental, Quasi-Experimental, and Observational Comparison (Julia Burdick-Will, Jens Ludwig, Stephen W. Raudenbush, Robert J. Sampson, Lisa Sanbonmatsu, and Patrick Sharkey); and (13) Unpacking Neighborhood Influences on Education Outcomes: Setting the Stage for Future Research (David Harding, Lisa Gennetian, Christopher Winship, Lisa Sanbonmatsu, and Jeffrey Kling). Part V, Labor Markets, contains: (14) The Effects of Local Employment Losses on Children's Educational Achievement (Elizabeth O. Ananat, Anna Gassman-Pines, and Christina M. Gibson-Davis); and (15) How Does Parental Unemployment Affect Children's Educational Performance? (Phillip B. Levine). Part VI, Schools, contains: (16) The Role of Family, School, and Community Characteristics in Inequality in Education and Labor-Market Outcomes (Joseph G. Altonji and Richard K. Mansfield); (17) Year-by-Year and Cumulative Impacts of Attending a High-Mobility Elementary School on Children's Mathematics Achievement in Chicago, 1995 to 2005 (Stephen W. Raudenbush, Marshall Jean, and Emily Art); (18) The Effect of School Neighborhoods on Teachers' Career Decisions (Don Boyd, Hamp Lankford, Susanna Loeb, Matthew Ronfeldt, and Jim Wyckoff); (19) Crime and the Production of Safe Schools (David S. Kirk and Robert J. Sampson); (20) Immigrants and Inequality in Public Schools (Amy Ellen Schwartz and Leanna Stiefel); (21) School Desegregation and the Black-White Test Score Gap (Jacob L. Vigdor); (22) The Challenges of Finding Causal Links Between Family Educational Practices and Schooling Outcomes (Frank F. Furstenberg); (23) It May Not Take a Village: Increasing Achievement Among the Poor (Vilsa E. Curto, Roland G. Fryer Jr., and Meghan L. Howard); (24) Understanding the Context for Existing Reform and Research Proposals (Harry Brighouse and Gina Schouten); and (25) Intervening to Improve the Educational Outcomes of Students in Poverty: Lessons from Recent Work in High-Poverty Schools (Brian Rowan). A foreword and an index is included.
This open access book is the first account of the whole diversity of teacher education in the Nordic region: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the Åland Islands ...and Sápmi (where the Sámi people live). Today, large parts of the world are looking to the Nordic model of social organization, and interest in the Nordic comprehensive school system and teacher education arrangements is no exception. A good education is a key to prosperity and well-being. And the quality of students’ education is undoubtedly linked to the quality of their teachers’ education. While teacher education in the Nordic region is globally admired, it also faces new challenges. The leading scholars writing in this volume discuss the challenges and opportunities that professional environments are facing. By providing solid portraits of each area as well as analyses across the region, this book will be a great resource to students, academics in teacher education and schooling as well as social scientists and policy-makers inside and outside the Nordic region. This is an open access book.
How are older learners faring in today’s digital society? Are they being excluded or left behind? The author explores this question and investigates strategies needed to assist older learners who ...want to continue learning into their golden years. Canada’s demographics are shifting, with more seniors living longer and leading more productive lives, notably through their participation in education. Incorporating adult education theory and practice with gerontological statistics and literature, the author considers the situations of older learners, who are faced with both barriers and opportunities. Technology should not be an obstacle to older learners; when potential opportunities arise—and with assistance from family and friends—education can help set older learners on a fulfilling path that enhances their lives.How are older learners faring in today’s digital society? Are they being excluded or left behind? The author explores this question and investigates strategies needed to assist older learners who want to continue learning into their golden years. Canada’s demographics are shifting, with more seniors living longer and leading more productive lives, notably through their participation in education. Incorporating adult education theory and practice with gerontological statistics and literature, the author considers the situations of older learners, who are faced with both barriers and opportunities. Technology should not be an obstacle to older learners; when potential opportunities arise—and with assistance from family and friends—education can help set older learners on a fulfilling path that enhances their lives.
This pioneering book reveals how the music classroom can draw upon the world of popular musicians' informal learning practices, so as to recognize and foster a range of musical skills and knowledge ...that have long been overlooked within music education. It investigates how far informal learning practices are possible and desirable in a classroom context; how they can affect young teenagers' musical skill and knowledge acquisition; and how they can change the ways students listen to, understand and appreciate music as critical listeners, not only in relation to what they already know, but beyond. It examines students' motivations towards music education, their autonomy as learners, and their capacity to work co-operatively in groups without instructional guidance from teachers. It suggests how we can awaken students' awareness of their own musicality, particularly those who might not otherwise be reached by music education, putting the potential for musical development and participation into their own hands. Bringing informal learning practices into a school environment is challenging for teachers. It can appear to conflict with their views of professionalism, and may at times seem to run against official educational discourses, pedagogic methods and curricular requirements. But any conflict is more apparent than real, for this book shows how informal learning practices can introduce fresh, constructive ways for music teachers to understand and approach their work. It offers a critical pedagogy for music, not as mere theory, but as an analytical account of practices which have fundamentally influenced the perspectives of the teachers involved. Through its grounded examples and discussions of alternative approaches to classroom work and classroom relations, the book reaches out beyond music to other curriculum subjects, and wider debates about pedagogy and curriculum.
Contents: Introduction; The project's pedagogy and curriculum content; Making music; Listening and appreciation; Enjoyment: making music and having autonomy; Group cooperation, ability and inclusion; Informal learning with classical music; Afterword; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.
Lucy Green is Professor of Music Education in The Institute of Education, University of London, UK.
The rise of neo-nationalism is having a profound and troubling impact on leading national universities and the societies they serve. This is the first comparative study of how today's right-wing ...populist movements and authoritarian governments are threatening higher education.Universities have long been at the forefront of both national development and global integration. But the political and policy world in which they operate is undergoing a transition, one that is reflective of a significant change in domestic politics and international relations: a populist turn inward among a key group of nation-states, often led by demagogues, that includes China and Hong Kong, Turkey, Hungary, Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In many parts of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for populists and autocrats to further consolidate their power. Within right-wing political ecosystems, universities, in effect, offer the proverbial canary in the coal mine—a clear window into the extent of civil liberties and the political environment and trajectory of nation-states.In Neo-nationalism and Universities, John Aubrey Douglass provides the first significant examination of the rise of neo-nationalism and its impact on the missions, activities, behaviors, and productivity of leading national universities. Douglass presents a major comparative exploration of the role of national politics and norms in shaping the role of universities in nation-states—and vice versa. He also explores when universities are societal leaders or followers: When they are agents of social and economic change, or simply agents reinforcing and supporting an existing social and political order.In a series of case studies, Douglass and contributors examine troubling trends that threaten the societal role of universities, including attacks on civil liberties, free speech, and the validity of science; the firing and jailing of academics; anti-immigrant rhetoric; and restrictions on visas with consequences for the mobility of academic talent. The book also offers recommendations to preserve the autonomy and academic freedom of universities and their constituents. Neo-nationalism and Universities is written for a broad public readership interested and concerned about the rise of nationalist movements, illiberal democracies, and autocratic leaders.Contributors: José Augusto Guilhon Albuquerque, Elizabeth Balbachevsky, Thomas Brunotte, Igor Chirikov, Igor Fedyukin, Karin Fischer, Wilhelm Krull, Brendan O'Malley, Bryan E. Penprase, Marijk van der Wende
Is religion a source of political stability and social continuity, or an agent of radical change? This question, so central to contemporary conversations about religion and extremism, has generated ...varied responses over the last century. Taking Jewish and Islamic education as its objects of inquiry, Mandatory Separation sheds light on the contours of this debate in Palestine during the formative period of British rule, detailing how colonial, Zionist, and Palestinian-Muslim leaders developed competing views of the form and function of religious education in an age of mass politics. Drawing from archival records, school syllabi, textbooks, newspapers, and personal narratives, Suzanne Schneider argues that the British Mandatory government supported religious education as a supposed antidote to nationalist passions at the precise moment when the administrative, pedagogic, and curricular transformation of religious schooling rendered it a vital tool for Zionist and Palestinian leaders. This study of their policies and practices illuminates the tensions, similarities, and differences among these diverse educational and political philosophies, revealing the lasting significance of these debates for thinking about religion and political identity in the modern Middle East.
This Handbook provides a wide-ranging frame of reference for researching adult and lifelong education and learning. With contributions from scores of established and newer scholars from six ...continents, the volume covers a diverse range of geopolitical and social territories across the world. Drawing on the multiple heritages that underpin research on education and learning in adulthood, this Handbook addresses the inner tensions between adult education, adult learning, lifelong education, and lifelong learning, by using current research and theorizations from disciplinary backgrounds, including philosophy, psychology, biology and neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, history, political science, and economics. It provides an explicit discussion of the differences and tensions between adult and lifelong education and learning, and locates these in different policy and historical contexts, theories and practices. It explores a variety of discipline-based theoretical perspectives, and highlights how these have influenced, and been influenced by, research in the education and learning of adults. The Handbook also explores the inevitable frictions and dilemmas these present, and carefully examines the role of the international dimension in researching education and learning in formal, non-formal and informal contexts, beyond traditional schooling. This state-of-the-art, comprehensive Handbook is the first of its kind to explore adult education, lifelong education and lifelong learning fully as distinct activities on an international scale. It will be an indispensable reference resource for students of education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and for academic researchers, professionals and policy-makers concerned with adult and community education, further and vocational education, or work-based training and human resource development.
The relative deficiencies of U.S. public schools are a serious concern to parents and policymakers. But they should be of concern to all Americans, as a globalizing world introduces new competition ...for talent, markets, capital, and opportunity. In "Endangering Prosperity," a trio of experts on international education policy compares the performance of American schools against that of other nations. The net result is a mixed but largely disappointing picture that clearly shows where improvement is most needed. The authors' objective is not to explain the deep causes of past failures but to document how dramatically the U.S. school system has failed its students and its citizens. "Endangering Prosperity" is a wake-up call for structural reform. To move forward to a different and better future requires that we understand just how serious a situation America faces today. The following appendices are included: (1) Methodology for Comparing U.S. and International Performance; and (2) Two Measures of Reading Proficiency. Foreword by Lawrence H. Summers.
