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President Obama positions community colleges as a linchpin of federal policy on education and training for citizens adversely affected by the recession. Chief among recommended reforms is the notion of career pathways that enable students, especially non-traditional age adults, to participate in postsecondary education directed at employment.

This paper reviews the literature on career pathway reforms to describe these programs and the students who enroll in them. It also presents evidence from two third-party evaluations of federal grants supporting career pathway implementation.

Results suggest career pathway programs are spreading throughout the United States through unprecedented levels of federal funding. Adult learners are a primary target group, but more data are needed to determine on a deeper level who these students are and whether they are being well served.

This paper offers new information to help readers consider whether President Obama’s agenda will achieve its goals and positively impact college completion and economic recovery.

Reports on the results of a survey with training officers addressing education training needs of Australia’s Adult and Community Education sector. The responses show that training officers believe that this sector is rapidly growing, is important to the economic wellbeing of Australia and will benefit from course provision at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Discusses issues of course content and delivery, stressing the need for maximum flexibility in modes of study, etc.

The concern in this article is that there is low interest in adult education and training (AET) programmes of the unemployed adults in developing countries. The purpose of the article is to determine the effects of social marketing efforts in motivating adult learners to acquire marketable skills for poverty reduction.

The study used the qualitative (semi-structured interviews) method for data collection from 12 adult learners and five managers of AET centres of South Africa. The qualitative method in the form of semi-structured interviews helped the researcher to present the data from the perspective of the centre managers and adult learners on how the AET centres used social marketing efforts in motivating to acquire and utilise skills in entrepreneurial ventures.

The findings reveal that the effects of social marketing efforts consisted of persuading adult learners to enrol for skills training programmes, to attract their engagement to acquire marketable skills and to form business groups or co-operatives as a means of transition from skills acquisition to entrepreneurial ventures. As elements of social marketing effort in the skills training delivery, the AET centres used teaching and learning approaches and motivated the adult learners to acquire skills.

From the social marketing perspective, the practical implication of the findings for the policy consists of demonstrating the importance of social marketing efforts in skills training programmes to reduce poverty amongst poor and unemployed adults. The findings demonstrate the need for coordinated campaign activities at AET centre regional levels to motivate the engagement of the unemployed adults; hence, they will become aware of the benefits of the skills training programmes to improve their lives.

The lack of motivation is still the main barrier for participation in adult skills programmes, although there is significant progress made in many countries. In addition, social marketing efforts point to a need to promote, encourage and recognise participation from private sector for joint stakeholder cooperation.

This article is unique because it provides empirical findings on how to mitigate the barriers blocking adult participation in skills training programmes by using the social marketing efforts in motivating them to acquire marketable skills. The article contributes to the body of knowledge by determining the effects of the social marketing efforts in motivating adult learners to acquire marketable skills for poverty reduction. The efforts entail developing and implementing campaigns to motivate adult learners in their communities and stakeholder cooperation.

The purpose of this research is to describe the teaching style of the faculty of a Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) organization in a Midwestern state and the degree and method of application of adult learning principles by the POST faculty. The move of law enforcement to community‐oriented policing (COP) requires that police officers develop communication and problem‐solving skills. The application of adult learning principles in law enforcement education can help prepare officers for their role in COP.

In this mixed method/descriptive study, 85 instructors completed the Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) and 21 instructors participated in in‐depth interviews.

Major findings in the study related to POST instructors' strong preference for a teacher‐centered style of teaching as measured by PALS and a disconnect between what instructors do in the classroom and what they feel is effective instruction.

Offers suggestions related to the nature of the field and for instructor development. Recommendations were made related to professional development and the application of adult learning principles to law enforcement education and training.

This research fills a void in the field by beginning to give a formal description of teaching style in law enforcement education and training. It also details the value of applying adult learning theory in law enforcement instruction and the implications for community‐oriented policing.

This report is the result of a five‐month survey of information provision in the London Borough of Islington. It looks at information on learning opportunities for adults and complements Brenda Neale's survey of adult learner needs which identified a lack of accessible information as a major barrier for adults in the Borough wishing to return to learning.

This paper reviews changing government policy on adult education in England over the past 20 years and the funding regimes affecting adult and community learning and union-led learning, which play a major role in learning opportunities for socially excluded adults.

A review and analysis of extant literature, informed by previous involvement in the sector and ongoing collaborations.

Two decades ago, adult education in England provided a variety of learning opportunities for people who either had limited qualifications or who needed to reskill for whatever reason. Access to those opportunities has been reduced just when it is most needed.

This is a review and viewpoint paper based on experience in England, the limitations of which are discussed in the concluding section. Notwithstanding the institutional specificities of adult education in England, many of the implications are generic and have wider relevance beyond this country context.

Economic recovery post-coronavirus (COVID) and Brexit will require more access to adult education so people can prepare for labour market re-integration. The practical implication of extending provision in adult education to support labour market integration of vulnerable workers is relevant to most countries.

This paper takes a holistic view of adult education, with particular attention to adult and community learning and union-led learning.

This chapter explores the work of a library adult literacy programme working closely with other education providers in Risdon Prison in Australia. The Literacy Service operates as a form of outreach to the prison population who have low literacy levels and are not yet engaged in education or using the prison library. In this context, it is a form of radical inclusion, creating opportunities for those most disadvantaged to access learning. The library services help to create a literate environment for prisoners and provide opportunities for prisoners to increase their engagement in lifelong learning and everyday literacy practices, giving them a better chance of developing their literacy skills. Strategies explored for engaging this cohort include a range of creative projects, small group work and one to one tutoring. The Literacy Service has developed best practice approaches to deliver effective literacy support using strategies and approaches that align with research and these are adapted for work in the prison context. The Literacy Service approach is aligned with the wider prison goals of rehabilitation and reintegration and the chapter explores a theory of change to identify how prison education may be most effective in supporting rehabilitation (Szifris, Fox, & Bradbury, 2018). The library Literacy Service offers safe spaces, opportunities to create social bonds, reshape identity, engage in informal learning and set new goals – key elements found to be critical in rehabilitation. The Prison Library Impact Framework, developed by Finlay and Bates (2018), connects these elements with the theory of change model to propose a tool that may be useful to evaluate prison library services in the future.

This monograph is on developments and trends in vocational education and training in Europe. An overview is given of what is being planned in Western Europe. This is illustrated by a detailed description of the educational systems of a selection of EC and non‐EC countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden and Switzerland), followed by discussion of the current provision for vocational education and training within those systems and also in commerce and industry. Also provided are additional information on the work of CEDEFOP and of the European Commission, further reading, useful addresses and a glossary of some European language vocational education terms.

This paper presents recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering various library types, study populations and research contexts.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2020.

The paper provides a brief description of all 440 sources and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians, researchers and anyone interested in a quick and comprehensive reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the way the adult non-formal education and training (NFET) centres motivated and empowered graduates to start their own micro-enterprises as individuals or as a group. The specific objectives are as follows: to find out the transforming factors fostering the utilisation of acquired skills into self-employment in micro-enterprises; to investigate challenges encountered in starting and managing micro-enterprises and to investigate short-term impact of the NFET programmes and micro-enterprises on living conditions of graduates.

The research design was multiple case studies. Semi-structured interviews and field observations were used for data collection in the qualitative study. In the context of non-probability sampling, the study used the purposive sampling method to select five out of 20 self-employed graduates for one-on-one interviews. Case studies also comprised some observations of activities in their small businesses.

The main findings reveal that “learning by doing” training approach and forming groups of entrepreneurs while being on the programme were major factors fostering the translation of acquired skills into micro-enterprises.

The adult NFET is a tool to enable poor disadvantaged people to improve their well-being. However, this can be achieved if the livelihood skills training is combined with the creation of conducive environments to allow adult trainees become micro-entrepreneurs and self-reliant.

The study contributes to the knowledge of effective entrepreneurial training programmes by demonstrating the importance of involving stakeholders from the local communities and designing post-training support mechanisms for self-employment prior to the training delivery. The centre managers should also motivate trainees to start micro-enterprises in groups or co-operatives while still on the training programmes.