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The purpose of this study was to examine participants' perspectives on how a volunteer-based adult literacy class supports the learning of adults with developmental/intellectual disabilities. Interviews were conducted with four tutors, three adult learners, and two coordinators and observations of the class occurred over a six-month period during which the author was a tutor. The focus during this time period was on health and mathematics. Three major categories were identified: class organization (goals and structure), teaching strategies and behaviours, and class activities. Based on these findings, several recommendations are presented including the need for further integration of adult learners' out-of-school literacy activities into the class and for increased tutor knowledge of the adult learners' disability.

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After more than a year of living with the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic, much experience has been accumulated by countries around the world. There have been many failures, and there have been some things that have gone well. Adult learning and education in some form has played a significant role in public health since, without the ongoing continuing educational interventions mainly via the mass media, the number of doctors and hospital beds would likely have been insufficient. In this paper we focus on the role of group behaviours in relation to the risk of contagion and we argue that any attempts to define a strategy to combat the pandemic must include a strong commitment to information dissemination and to the training of the populations in order to encourage behaviour change necessary to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Against the backdrop of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, this article argues for commitment by governments to use adult learning and education as a tool for health prevention and health awareness and to prepare populations for whatever pandemics and national disasters that might emerge in the twenty-first century, the 'century of pandemics'. We therefore argue that populations must have at least a basic level of literacy and numeracy as foundational skills essential for enabling citizens to receive and act on vital information during a pandemic or disaster in order to engender greater resilience.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the objectives of roadside mechanic apprenticeship programs in mid-western Nigeria. Seven statements of objectives were derived for the study and respondents were required to score each of the seven statements between '1' and '7' in their order of importance and representative of the objectives. The instrument was administered to 150 master craft trainers and 750 apprentices. Four out of the seven statements were rated the most important and most representative of the objectives of the roadside mechanic apprenticeship program in mid-western Nigeria: (a) to acquire technical skills; (b) to provide pre-employment opportunity for youths; (c) to instil discipline among youths; and (d) to provide opportunity for interpersonal relationships.

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This article reflects on adult offenders' perceptions of rehabilitation programs in Africa. It also evaluates whether offenders are consulted when planning rehabilitation programs. Adult education principles were used as a lens to understand offenders' perceptions of rehabilitation programs. Using an interpretive paradigm and qualitative approach, individual interviews, observations and focus group meetings were held with offenders and other participants who were chosen through purposive and snowball sampling. Qualitative data analysis was used to generate the themes from the data. The findings revealed that rehabilitation programs are ineffective and imposed on offenders. Furthermore the data revealed that offenders see themselves as hard-labour while participating in rehabilitation programs. This has an implication for offenders' rehabilitation and reintegration into their societies as transformed citizens.

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Ecoliteracy is essential for adult educators/activists en route to creating ecoliterate populations. Working cooperatively with other networks in the spirit of a 'solidarity economy', a group within the [Friends of Pascal International Association] PIMA network has run a climate justice education programme through a series of webinars. We describe and analyse a case story of an emergent climate justice curriculum in action. We use an ecofeminist analysis to understand the relational entanglement of ecological breakdown, capitalism, colonialism, racism and patriarchy which in part undergird the breaching of planetary boundaries. We identify five inquiry-based themes which are suggestive as coordinates for orientating curricula for adult educators/activists learning climate justice. One of these is the importance of building ecoliterate alliances through collaborative action as we face the 'socio-ecological hurricane' which is bearing down.

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This paper examines the status of women in the pre- and post-independent era in Nigeria and in contemporary society. It explores the introduction of western general forms of dichotomies, discriminations and apathy that general education has caused in their life, and brought about patriarchal knowledge and man’s domination and control of all spheres of knowledge, work, religion, laws, processes and which have engendered societal disempowerment of women. The paper thus advances adult and non-formal education and counselling programs as tools for empowering women. It also reviews the problems faced by women in society and proffers adult and non-formal education and counselling education strategies as solutions capable of propelling them to contribute their quota to the socio-economic and political development of the nation.

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Power engineering certification in Canada comprises a hierarchical, graduated system available to both young and adult learners. This paper offers insight into the knowledge gap regarding factors influencing Canadian power engineers' decision to pursue advanced certification in the Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, with implications for adult learning in the power engineering sector of Canada. Comprehension of factors that influence intentions for power engineering certification may illuminate barriers and enablers to adult learning and provide evidentiary knowledge to support a format that facilitates advancement of certification. The research methodology was quantitative correlational design in which linear and logistic regressions employing a modified Bonferroni equivalent alpha were utilised. An original survey was developed for the study and pilot tested for validity and reliability. The sample comprised 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Class power engineers in British Columbia and Alberta. The dependent variable (DV) was the power engineers' advancement intention. In the context of this paper, advancement intention is an influence leading to the inclination or reluctance to pursue promotion, succession, or advancement in employment. The independent variables (IVs) were time commitment, educational support, locus of control, time elapsed since previous certification, responsibility, and peer appraisal. Revealed in the results were positive, statistically significant relationships between the DV of advancement intention and three of the six IVs. Time commitment, responsibility, and elapsed time exert statistically significant effects on advancement intention (DV). The three remaining IVs that did not exhibit significant relationships with the DV were educational support, locus of control, and peer appraisal. This indicated that the IVs of educational support, locus of control, and peer appraisal did not significantly influence the DV when compared to the significant influences of time commitment, responsibility, and elapsed time on the DV. Comprehension of the influential factors regarding the intention of Canadian power engineers to pursue advanced certification may assist industry and academia with insight into the barriers and enablers to higher certification, and the correlation of decision factors with advancement intention.

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One of the major challenges facing Africa today is ensuring that extension practitioners are well trained to enable them [to] function effectively as facilitators of change at the farmers' level. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a mid-career [Bachelor of Science] B.Sc. agricultural extension curriculum in meeting the education needs of mid-career extension agents. The study was descriptive and used a validated questionnaire to collect data from 30 purposively selected graduates of the program. The study revealed that 66.7 per cent were aged between 40-49 years, and 93.3 per cent had at least 10 years of working experience before entering the program. The graduates considered their competencies at the start of the program to be below average in all but six of the 25 courses offered under the program. After going through the program, all the graduates had competencies that were rated from high to very high. Improvement in academic status, knowledge and skills in the human relations as well as technical areas in agriculture, and attitude to work, were perceived as the major benefits of the program. The effectiveness of the program in meeting the needs of the graduates was attributed to the availability of appropriate facilities and the conducive environment for the teaching-learning process, availability of adequate and competent lecturers, committed and supportive administrative staff, balanced curriculum and a well-planned and supervised field component of the program know as the supervised enterprise projects (SEPs).

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The Leventis Foundation (Nigeria) Agricultural Schools (LFNAS) are schools established to train youths to develop their state and their nation in the area of food production. This study sought to assess the trainability of enrollees in the three operating LFNAS. Five research questions were posed. The CIPP [context, input, process, product] evaluation model was adopted. The population and sample for the study consisted of a total of 247 enrollees. Questionnaires, structured interviews and observational techniques were used to gather information, while using simple descriptive statistics to analyse the data. Many of the enrollees were found to be within the required age range. A substantive number had minimum basic educational qualifications; however, a sizeable number in two of the schools had no basic education, and could not even be engaged in communication. Most of the enrollees had been engaged in different occupations before enrolment and many did not really have the sincere interest in farming as expected, though a majority of them aspired to become modern farmers on completion.

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The delivery of post-secondary education in Aboriginal communities requires both academics and learners to cross borders and to come together respectfully in new spaces. This paper suggests some criteria essential to the delivery of community-based, post-secondary education in partnership with Aboriginal communities. It draws on the experiences garnered from an intensive three-year collaborative case study in a northern Cree community in Manitoba, Canada. The study involved personal interviews with students, Aboriginal community, and university administrators and faculty. The paper concludes with an operational model for the delivery of post-secondary education in First Nations communities. This model is described as community-controlled education, which is developed from the negotiated interface between two very different world views, that of a North American university and that of a northern Cree community.

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