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The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences and responses of ten adult literacy organisers (ALOs) from Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare to the growing influence of neoliberalism and the commodification of adult literacy as a skill and function of the economy. The research argues for a greater focus on literacy as a social practice concerned with equality and social justice, rooted in emancipatory and transformative adult education.

A qualitative research methodology using in-depth unstructured interviews, underpinned by critical realism.

While the ALOs sampled have developed strategies to resist the impact of neoliberalism, they are also struggling to sustain their resistance and nurture access to emancipatory and transformative adult literacy practices.

The research is limited in size, being a small sample study of ten ALOs.

The research will inform policy discussions in advance of the new further education and training strategy, where adult literacy policy is situated.

The paper gives unique and independent access to the voices of ALOs in Ireland and provides a small example of empirical evidence of the commodification and marketisation of adult literacy under neoliberalism.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for analyzing the social responsibility (SR) of financial institutions (FIs) in developing countries (DCs), especially in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA), with regard to their contribution to development.

The connection between finance and economic development can be studied at the macro or general level of “financial systems” or at the micro or institutional (organizational) level of “financial institutions”. This paper will focus on the micro level of FIs. The author used the work of Sen as a reference to approach the concept of development, and Sherraden's “Asset‐building policies” combined with Cabraal et al.'s “microfinance ideals” as a strategy to implement the broad developmental agenda proposed by Sen in the field of SR of FI.

The study identified seven indicators for the social responsibility of financial institutions: low interest on loans; small loans; micro‐savings; income equality; marketing equality; geographical equality; and unbiased financial education. These groups of indicators reflect the different areas that are relevant for assessing the SR of FIs.

Since this is a conceptual article, it lacks the empirical data to support theoretical conclusions. Through further research, operationalizing this model and testing it through surveys and in‐depth interviews can overcome these limitations.

With this framework, SR strategies of FIs operating in DCs and specifically in SSA may require a broader vision in their contribution to development. This is by viewing SR in development not only as a tool for economic growth but also as a tool for promoting equality and freedom through economic inclusion and consequently social inclusion.

The paper suggests how Sen's theory of development, Sherraden's theory of asset building and Cabraal et al.'s microfinance ideals can be merged in a framework to analyze the SR of FIs in DCs.

This study aims to explore gender equality in school textbooks in Georgia.

The research had the following questions: To what extent are women and men visible and represented equally in school textbooks? How do school textbooks promote gender socialization of boys and girls to be treated equally in terms of power and privileges, superiority and inferiority? Do school textbooks promote critical thinking and analysis of gender issues and problems? The content analysis of the qualitative research method was used to answer the research questions.

The research revealed that males remain more visible in school textbooks; however, the authors mainly attempt to balance the gender representation in textbooks quantitatively. The textbooks do not socialize girls and boys as equals in power, privileges, superiority and inferiority. The textbooks do not provide room for discussing gender and social justice issues.

The study is an original work. The study contributes to the development of the field of multicultural education, as it develops the three levels model of gender socialization based on the empirical research data. The first, detection level, implies the visibility of both boys and girls equally in school textbooks. The second, the recognition level of gender socialization, acknowledges gender equality in occupations, activities and power and privileges. The third, the affirmation level, develops a critical understanding of gender issues and gender equality in society.

Quality education can be provided to underprivileged section in developing economies by the collaborative effort of private-paid schools. The purpose of this paper is to explore and highlight the model which can be adopted by a private school in imparting education to girls coming from lower income strata. It also highlights how synergies could be attained by sharing of resources in terms of infrastructure and utilities.

Data are gathered through multiple sources via literature and interviews with variety of people including CEO, principal and students. Data on profile of students were provided by the school.

Achieving quality education for girls of low-income strata is possible by efficiently utilizing the resources of a private-paid school. The school operates in second shift when the infrastructure is lying idle without any use. The mammoth cost of building a school can be saved and funds can be diverted for running it. Successful experiments like Prerna shows very distinctively how well-defined intervention strategies and innovation to methodologies using existing infrastructure can provide meaningful access to education not only to girls but to all.

Can the model be adopted by government of developing economies by making it compulsory for every private-paid school.

Findings confirm that quality education to underprivileged girls is a reality at a minimum possible cost.

A learned and well-informed girl is in a better position to take life decisions. In a country like India, where cost act as a deterrent to girl child education this model provides a solution to an extent, bringing relevance of education in their lives by right empowerment approach through focused discussions in the form of critical dialogues on sensitive issues related to marriage, sexual abuse, domestic violence, health and others.

This paper provides case-based evidence of how a successful private-paid school can participate in bringing a paradigm shift in providing quality education to underprivileged girls. It helps in understanding dynamics of sustaining such project.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the importance of impact/outcome research in libraries.

The paper gives an overview of purposes and methods used in impact research and illustrates this through project experiences.

Various projects worldwide are trying to prove that use of library services can positively influence skills and competences, attitudes and behaviour of users. The benefits that users experience by using library services can be assessed in terms of knowledge gained, higher information literacy, higher academic or professional success, social inclusion, and increase in individual well‐being.

The main problem of impact research is, that influences on an individual are manifold and that therefore it is difficult to trace changes and improvements back to the library. The paper shows methods that are tested and used at the present. More investigation is needed to identify methods that could be used to show a library's overall impact or to develop measures that would permit benchmarking between institutions.

The paper shows practical examples of impact assessment, covering “soft” methods like surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation and quantitative methods like tests, analysis of publications, or usage data.

The paper acquaints libraries with a topic that is not yet well known and, by showing practical examples, demonstrates how libraries can attempt to assess their impact.

This empirical investigation examines the causal relationship between public libraries, literacy level, and economic productivity measured by gross domestic product per capita using path analysis. It is hypothesized that public libraries along with school libraries contribute to countries' literacy levels which in turn contribute to economic productivity. Cross‐country data were gathered from a number of sources including the Statistical Abstract of the World and Unesco's Statistical Yearbook. The results show that the path coefficients of public libraries and literacy levels are statistically significant at the 0.05 and 0.0001 levels respectively, strongly confirming the hypothesis. This study demonstrates that public libraries contribute to economic productivity through their various literacy programs and argues that cutting financial support for public libraries as practiced by many municipal governments is a short‐sighted policy and will adversely affect economic productivity of countries in the long run.

The purpose of this paper is to add to the small but growing body of research examining the influence of founder gender on new venture access to venture development programs.

Hypotheses were tested utilizing a sample of 482 nascent technology ventures which applied for admittance into a venture development organization headquartered in the southern region of the United States from March 2004 through February 2016.

Findings suggest that female-founded applicant ventures experience a higher likelihood of acceptance into venture development programs than male-founded applicant ventures. Results further suggest that social attention to gender equality reduces this effect for female-founded applicant ventures. Findings extend the understanding of the gendered nature of high-technology venturing and venture development organizations.

The findings of this study may not generalize to new ventures operating in other contexts (e.g., non-U.S., low-tech, and other venture development programs). Additionally, this study's design and data limitations do not allow for the establishment of causality or address founder motivations to apply for acceptance into venture development programs.

This study adds to empirical findings regarding the influence of founder gender on new venture acceptance into venture development programs by developing and testing competing hypotheses. This study also extends extant research by examining the moderating effect of social attention to gender equality on the hypothesized relationships between founder gender and acceptance into venture development programs.

The purpose was to address the role of libraries in the worst-case scenario, with specific reference of developing countries like Pakistan.

The paper is based on the author's observations, readings, and personal communications with colleagues

The paper provides a viewpoint on how a developing country like Pakistan has been dealing with the situation and highlights the opportunities provided by this unusual situation. It highlights that various stakeholders have realized the need to bridge the digital divide in order to meet future challenges.

The paper is limited generally to developing countries and specifically to Pakistan. It establishes the dire need for innovative approaches in library services to meet the seen and unforeseen challenges. If suggestions are considered, then the libraries may be in a better position to serve under challenging circumstances.

This is an original work written to address the worst-case scenario of a developing country.

Introduction Relativism of all shades and kinds is in fashion. For some decades, it has been trying to enter the very bastion of the academic heartland by questioning the prevailing cognitive realism in the philosophy of science (Kuhn, Feyerabend). More recently a somewhat different and stronger version of relativism has made some extraordinary advances in literary criticism (the movement of “deconstruction”) and spawned some controversy in the field of law (critical legal studies). The same tendencies have now emerged in architecture (Jencks). More alarmingly, perhaps, in the social sciences we observe a brand new interest in so‐ called “post‐modern” perspectives: post‐modern ethnography in anthropology (Tylor), new voices in sociology (Lash and Urri), and, of course, also the novel ideas representing economics as discourse with a distinctly post‐modern flavor (Amariglio; Rossetti; Milberg; Ruccio).

The purpose of this paper is to explore data from the University and College Union (UCU) Further Education in England: Transforming Lives and Communities research project and through this the paper develops a distinctive, theorised conceptualisation of transformative teaching and learning (TTL).

The research used an approach grounded in critical pedagogy utilising digital methods, including video interviews, to collect narratives from learners, teachers, family members and their communities from colleges across Britain.

Within a context in which there are structural pressures militating in favour of instrumentalising students in further education, TTL offers a way of theorising it as a transformative critical space that restores students’ hope and agency. The research provides evidence of how further education offers this “differential space” (Lefebvre, 1991) and subverts the prescriptive, linear spaces of compulsory education. While productivist approaches to vocational education and training support ideologies that legitimate prescribed knowledge, reproducing inequality and injustice through the practices employed (Ade-Ojo and Duckworth, 2017; Duckworth and Smith, 2017b), TTL shifts to a more holistic approach, achieving a different level of engagement with students.

The findings suggest that the TTL lens is a way of focusing on the dignity, needs and agency of further education students. The lens allows us also to identify how the existing structures associated with funding and marketisation can undermine the potential of TTL to activate students’ agency through education.

Extending on existing literature around transformative learning, and drawing on a range of theoretical frameworks, the paper formulates a new, contextually specific conceptualisation of TTL.