Category: Non-refereed article

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An assessment of the status of teachers and the teaching profession in Nigeria

Authors: A U Osunde and F E O Omoruyi, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria

Edition: Volume 45, Number 3, November 2005

Summary: The study attempted to obtain empirical evidence on the status of teachers and the teaching profession in Nigeria. To undertake this study, 400 post-primary school teachers were randomly drawn from 40 post-primary schools in Midwestern Nigeria. The teacher’s status questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. Results of the study indicated, among others, that teachers are not well financially remunerated and that they are looked down upon because of delay in payment of salaries and allowances, thereby having a loss of sense of belonging. This situation has resulted in the low esteem and status of the teachers and the teaching profession in the society. Findings also revealed that poor conditions of service, wider negative influences and teachers’ negative personal and professional behaviour are critical factors responsible for teachers’ low status. Some recommendations to enhance the image and status of the Nigerian teachers and the teaching profession were made.

Keywords: post-primary, questionnaire, belonging, conditions of service

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Basic concepts of the educational science sub-discipline of adult education

Author: Kaethe Schneider, Frederch-Schiller University, Jena, Thuringia, Germany

Edition: Volume 45, Number 3, November 2005

Summary: In this study, a conceptual system is outlined for the educational science sub-discipline of adult education. Adults’ attending instruction or not attending instruction is conceptually specified. Focusing as it does on a cardinal event of adult education, this represents a first step toward a system for the educational science sub-discipline of adult education. Attending instruction is mainly understood as action, and non-attending instruction as behavior. Instruction is a system of educational actions in which the teacher orients a subject to the educand in order to change his or her psychic dispositions.

Keywords: adult education, action, behavior

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And now it’s time to say goodbye – a decade of learning and development in rural and remote health

Author: Ross Hartley, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Health, University of New England; Hunter New England Health

Edition: Volume 45, Number 3, November 2005

Summary: The halcyon days of learning and development in New England Area Health Service ended with the 2005 NSW Health restructure. The previous decade had been one of creativity, innovation, risk-taking and major reform. The new order’s focus is workforce capability and learning, touting strategic development rather than learning and development per se. What changes are effected remains to be seen. This paper takes a collage approach to the context and issues that drove innovation and reform in learning in the bush. Apart from providing a single repository for these, the attempt is made to reflect on the worth and value of the journey undertaken. Given the major difference in our approach to learning, compared with that from the other (then) seventeen area health services, the question is asked of our efficacy in transforming the learning culture.

Keywords: NEAHS, L&D, workforce capability, strategic development

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A tale of two towns: learning community initiatives in Bega and Thuringowa

Author: Peter Kearns, Visiting Research Fellow, Adult Learning Australia

Edition: Volume 45, Number 3, November 2005

Summary: Current learning community initiatives in Bega Valley and Thuringowa illustrate trends that are likely to become more significant in communities across Australia. In both cases, local government councils have supported the projects with the council library taking a leading entrepreneurial role in the initiative. This role reflects the growing interest of libraries in lifelong learning, and in their role as community learning centres. These initiatives are discussed against the background of wider issues in the development of learning communities in Australia.

Keywords: local government, library, lifelong learning,

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The public sale of funds for Indigenous education: a perspective from Tranby Aboriginal College

Author: Kate Munro, Tranby Aboriginal College

Edition: Volume 45, Number 2, July 2005

Summary:  The discussion begins with an overview of the historical struggle for independence in Indigenous education and highlights the success in the provision of quality education by the community-controlled sector, and more specifically, Tranby. The right to self determination is then contextualised against a backdrop of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody (RCIADIC) and within a framework of international legal authority. Finally the diminution of funding for Indigenous education is discussed with reference to the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2005, and its potential impact on Tranby and the community-controlled sector.

Keywords: Indigenous education, self determination, RCIADIC, custody, legal, community

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In the same breath: Learning, adults with an intellectual disability and the Partner Assisted Learning System

Author: Judy Buckingham, Doctoral candidate, Deakin University

Edition: Volume 45, Number 2, July 2005

Summary:  Since adults with an intellectual disability are accessing not only adult education but the workforce and recreation centres as part of government policies towards greater inclusion, it should be in the interest of educators and workplace trainers to understand more about this particular impairment and its impact on learning. This article considers both intellectual disability, and learning and then describes how these concepts were used to develop the Partner Assisted Learning System – this being the end product of a three year research and development project instigated by Deakin University and Gawith Villa Inc to look for ways to incorporate participatory learning into the everyday experiences of people with an intellectual disability in adult education, recreation and the workplace.

Keywords: intellectual disability, inclusion, impact, learning, Gawith Villa, participatory

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Farmers’ perception of agricultural extension agents’ characteristics as factors for enhancing adult learning in Mezam division of Northwest Province of Cameroon

Author: Oladele O. Idowu, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Edition: Volume 45, Number 2, July 2005

Summary:  The education of farmers would be result oriented if among other things the learning enhancement situations are created. Farmers’ receptivity to training largely depends on the use of several educational methods by extension agents to reach farmers in Mezam division of Northwest province of Cameroon. Data were collected from May to August 2000 using Kerlinger’s n >= 30 sampling technique in the division since no definite sampling frame could be obtained. The result indicates that majority are males (62.5%); less than 40 years of age (68.6%), had formal education (81.3%), and can speak and write English language (56.3%). Farm visit is the most used teaching method (37.5%), while office calls (12.5%), group meetings (12.5%), and field days (6.3%) recorded low scores in the study area. The factor that was rated  as the most important in enhancing learning of the farmers was that extension agents should be knowledgeable in farming (87.5%). The agent being a farmer and educated (56.3% each) follows this, language came fourth on the importance list (50%).

Keywords: receptivity, education, teaching method, extension

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Learning in a bicultural context: A biographical case study

Author: Dorothy Hoy, Graduate, University of Technology, Sydney

Edition: Volume 45, Number 2, July 2005

Summary:  This article reports on a study focussed on the identity formation of a second generation male Australian Chinese. Learning was a major part of his adult life: from poor beginnings he studied repeatedly to achieve his goals. It was posited that education was the potent force throughout the individual’s development. The study, a life story, was underpinned by two theories: (i) Psychological impact of biculturalism: evidence and theory by La Fromboise et al. (1993) and (ii) The seasons of a man’s life by Levinson et al. (1978). The factors explored were family and attachment, gender, ethnicity and religion.

Keywords: second generation, Chinese, development, poor, potent,

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Identifying and addressing the needs of adult students in higher education

Author: Karen L. Milheim, Doctoral Student, Penn State University, Harrisburg

Edition: Volume 45, Number 1, April 2005

Summary:  As the number of adult students enrolled within higher education programs increases, educational institutions must respond by addressing their needs on a continual basis. Adult learners possess a wide variety of characteristics which are not common to a traditional student, including personal life barriers, financial responsibilities and different learning styles. This article identifies some of these characteristics, and discusses ways for administrators and educators within higher education to address them in order to cultivate a positive learning experience for the adult student.

Keywords: adult student, learner, higher education, barrier,

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Millar’s story: The dynamic experience of an older adult computer learner

Authors: Helen Russell, Institute of Technology, Sydney

Edition: Volume 45, Number 1, April 2005

Summary:  The participation of older adults in computer learning environments is a recent phenomenon. Older adults of the twenty-first century have not grown up with information and communication technologies and are not likely to have used computers in their working lives. They may even feel alien in the world of technology. The purpose of this paper is to present a narrative description, and tentative analysis, of one person’s learning journey in this world. The interpretative analysis is guided by the principles of qualitative research, using case studies, and focusing on the individual experience of the learner. This article represents current findings in the early stage of a PhD thesis.

Keywords: older adult, technology, learner,

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