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This chapter analyses the current situation and perceptions of quality assurance (QA) in adult education (AE) in Latvia. In the Latvian context, QA in AE is a challenge. According to recent studies, QA should have a formative character in order to facilitate targeted benefits for adult learners, whereas in practice AE in Latvia is more focussed on the institutional perspective rather than the individual’s needs and wishes. This is in contrast with the humanistic approach to adult learning and andragogy principles, which emphasise learner-centred education. The aim of the chapter is to research opportunities for improving the QA process in AE in Latvia in order to increase personal benefits for an individual. The systematic review of scholarly papers, monographs, scientific reports on QA in AE conducted in Latvia in the twenty-first century indicated a contradiction between the theoretical concepts applied to AE in Latvia and the implementation of the QA process in practice. This chapter contributes to the overall understanding of the terminology used in AE in the country, analyses the prevailing concepts and elaborates conclusions for QA improvements based on humanistic pedagogy principles.

This chapter discusses findings from a multiple case study of language learning programmes offered to adult migrant learners in Cyprus, Scotland, Malta and Estonia. First, using a cross-comparative policy analysis, the discussion synthesizes indicators of integration embedded in education policies and provisions for adult migrant learners. This analysis brings to light an overall inclusive approach: providers and programmes emerged as comparable in terms of type of programmes (formal, informal and nonformal; academic, vocational and interest-based); options available (academic, vocational and interest-based) and providers (state and civil society). However, policy analysis also illuminates restrictive indicators, such as traits of monocultural, generalizing policymaking that lacks consideration of sociodemographic differences between adult migrant learners. Secondly, the discussion validates the synthesized indicators by means of an analysis of qualitative data concerning the language programmes and related micro classroom-based practices, retrieved using qualitative research with adult migrant learners, their educators and related policy executives. Validated indicators include an inclusive approach to learners' entitlement to educational provision, as testified by educators' and policy executives' values and pedagogical approaches. Indeed, despite traits of monoculturalism and generalizing or homogenizing approaches identified at policy level, micro context data illuminated stakeholders' critical acknowledgement of the need of differentiated teaching and learning. Research-based recommendations include increased cooperation between state entities (e.g., inter-ministerial collaboration) and between state and civil societies, as well as professional development for adult educators that elicits their agency in proactively resisting and changing restrictive aspects of existent policies and practices.

There are well established studies on how adult learners need to be treated differently by instructors. In this chapter, the authors add to the literature by suggesting that instructor competency needs to include a high emotional quotient. In other words, teachers would need to demonstrate caring and helpfulness to adult learners who come to the class with multiple (often rich) experiences. The skilful instructor is expected to make an open display of emotions to establish rapport, while raising the group emotional intelligence of themselves and the class. Furthermore, managing emotional experiences in the classroom can be aided by qualitative research methods such as collaborative autoethnography (CAE). Overall, this chapter provides guidelines for instructors to get a good sense of how to work effectively with adult learners.

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is one of many approaches that enhance the quality of education by moving away from teacher-centered instructional methods and toward more student-directed approaches. This chapter describes the adult-centered program delivered by The College of New Rochelle, School of New Resources – a northeastern, liberal arts institution that is a pioneer in educating adult learners. A model program for educating today’s adult learner is introduced with particular emphasis on faculty implementation of IBL in the classroom and student’s responses to the Life Arts Project (LAP), which is incorporated in each six credit course seminar. Through the LAP, adult learners investigate course content through exploration and discovery, participate in critical inquiry, investigate various research methodologies, and experience project-based learning.

In this paper, we review the literature on learner control and discuss the implications that increased control may have for training in e-learning environments. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the learner control literature, focusing on adults and workplace training. We begin by reviewing the literature on learner control, focusing on the positive and negative effects associated with providing adult learners with control in e-learning environments. We organize our review into instructional design factors that have been manipulated to provide learners with control and person issues that moderate the relation between learner control and outcomes. Then, we summarize developments in training research and in adult learning that relate to learner control in order to provide a theoretical context for understanding learner control in adult workplace e-learning.

Decolonizing involves dismantling deeply entrenched colonial systems of knowledge and power by disrupting colonial patterns of thought, questioning how teaching and learning occurs, and critiquing the colonial practices that are merged into the fabric of higher and adult education. Within this process, scholars and practitioners engage in interrogating teaching and learning approaches and developing a critical consciousness regarding what knowledge is valued and how this value is acquired. Within higher and adult education, limited research has explicitly considered the ways in which conceptions of andragogy and its accompanying instructional approaches might be deconstructed within the context of decolonization. The purpose of this chapter is to deconstruct and decolonize foundational higher and adult learning conceptual and theoretical frameworks that are routinely embedded within courses and programs. The conceptual and theoretical frameworks selected and analyzed include self-directed learning, transformative learning, and action learning as conventional examples of individual and collective instructional approaches employed within higher and adult learning settings. Maōri scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith's (2012) nine characteristics of theory that contribute to colonizing discourses and 25 Indigenous projects/principles are employed as the lenses that frame this analysis. These lenses include social science and methodological approaches and strategies that decolonize populations and promote Indigenous epistemologies.

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.

A holistic approach has been applied to teaching the whole student, yet rarely emphasized in faculty development in higher education. Similarly, learner-centered instruction has become more prevalent in higher education as a way of teaching students, but less so as a concept for faculty pedagogy. This chapter examines the psychological underpinnings of holistic, learner-centered instruction and describes strategies and materials for applying these principles to faculty development so that higher education environments are humanized for culturally diverse faculty and students. Conceptual frameworks underlying the approaches emphasize humanistic theories and the needs of adult learners. Topics addressed include: motivation, cooperative learning, culturally responsive teaching, active learning, metacognition, teaching for transfer, nonverbal communication and instructional technology. Faculty development efforts described include both interdisciplinary activities and a special project with the School of Engineering. While modeling holistic, learner-centered teaching in faculty development, university instructors are engaged in their own learning of effective pedagogy and their experiences and knowledge can be used subsequently to enhance student success in their courses.

A holistic, learner-centered approach enables higher education faculty to create stimulating, nurturing, safe and respectful classroom environments which promote student engagement, content mastery, cognitive skill development, intrinsic motivation and attitudes which foster thinking and learning. Consequently, this chapter provides faculty, administrators and policymakers with tools that can be used to help students, especially at graduate and post-graduate levels, learn academic material and become enlightened global citizens with enhanced thinking abilities and affect to meet current and future personal, professional and societal needs.

Increasing student readiness for higher education is an objective and goal for many college-level preparation programs. Within the college-level programs, there is a group of students who will need additional preparation and support to make the successful transition into higher education. Adult English language (AEL) learners have the task of learning the target language with all of the rules and exceptions to the rules, while applying the language in a meaningful, memorable, and useful manner. When AEL learners are engaged in hands-on project-based learning (PBL) activities, the English language becomes more applicable for everyday use inside and outside the classroom. Learners also have the opportunity to develop additional skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, information gathering, synthesizing, evaluating, and collaborating with a team. All of these skills are critical for success in higher education and transferrable with AEL learners who are completing their college-level preparatory programs.

This chapter discusses the in-class approach of implementing a high-quality PBL activity that integrates English language learning in an authentic real-world manner. Practitioners of AEL programs can draw on their in-class practices and the theories of adult education to utilize PBL in their classroom as a means to facilitate the language acquisition process. Through the PBL process, practitioners become facilitators who help learners meet the challenges of learning English, developing their understanding of American classrooms and improving their readiness for transition into higher education.

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.