A time for learning: representations of time and the temporal dimensions of learning through the lifecourse

Based on findings from a large-scale longitudinal study into the learning biographies of adults, this paper focuses on the different representations of time in the interview data. The paper discusses three such representations: chronological time, narrative time, and generational time. The authors show how different notions of time operate within the construction of life stories. They also analyse the ways in which different representations of time impact upon and serve as resources for reflection on and learning from life, thus contributing to understanding the complex relationships between biography, life and time. (DIPF/Orig.)

Masters' courses in the education of adults in the UK

This is a paper from the Academic Papers Online series from ESCalate, written by John Field, Richard Dockrell, Peter Gray in 2005. Universities provide a range of advanced qualifications for professionals who support adult learners. Describing and evaluating this body of work, though, poses something of a challenge. The field of continuing education is a broad one, which has been widened further by current government policies promoting lifelong learning, as well as by increased concerns for quality improvement among providers in further and higher education. Qualifications are accordingly offered under a variety of different titles: many universities now offer taught postgraduate courses in areas such as lifelong learning, continuing education, post-compulsory education and training or adult education. This report examines the background against which these courses developed, and explores a number of curricular and organisational issues associated with them. It includes, as an appendix, a list of courses currently offered in British higher education institution

On the Production of Homeland Security Under True Uncertainty

Homeland security against possible terrorist attacks involves making decisions under true uncertainty. Not only are we ignorant of the form, place, and time of potential terrorist attacks, we are also largely ignorant of the likelihood of these attacks. In this paper, we conceptualize homeland security under true uncertainty as society’s immunity to unacceptable losses. We illustrate and analyze the consequences of this notion of security with a simple model of allocating a fixed budget for homeland security to defending the pathways through which a terrorist may launch an attack and to mitigating the damage from an attack that evades this defense. In this problem, immunity is the range of uncertainty about the likelihood of an attack within which the actual expected loss will not exceed some critical value. We analyze the allocation of a fixed homeland security budget to defensive and mitigative efforts to maximize immunity to alternative levels of expected loss. We show that the production of homeland security involves a fundamental trade-off between immunity and acceptable loss; that is, for fixed resources that are optimally allocated to defense and mitigation, increasing immunity requires accepting higher expected losses, and reducing acceptable expected losses requires lower immunity. Greater investments in homeland security allow society to increase its immunity to a particular expected loss, reduce the expected losses to which we are immune while holding the degree of immunity constant, or some combination of increased immunity to a lower critical expected loss.Homeland Security, Terrorism, True Uncertainty

Migration and workforce aging

This chapter reviews recent research on migration and workforce aging, and examines the relationship between policy and practice in this contested area. At present, most attention has focused on the extent to which migrant labour can replenish labour stocks in aging societies, and to a lesser extent on the impact of emigration on the countries that export significant proportions of their population. There has until recently been much less focus on the experiences of older migrants, though this now appears to be changing

Scotland the brainy: why are there so many graduates in Edinburgh and Glasgow?

First paragraph: A major factor shaping urban life is the quality of the workforce, particularly the presence of highly skilled and educated workers. Urban policymakers often argue that graduates are a driver of economic growth. Having a local university and making the city attractive to graduates are key instruments of urban renewal. Access this article on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/scotland-the-brainy-why-are-there-so-many-graduates-in-edinburgh-and-glasgow-2468

Well-being and happiness

The paper reviews research into the relationship between adult learning and well-being, and identifies a number of policy challenges for future action

Biography and generation

First paragraph: For several decades, Peter Alheit has been an influential advocate of biographical research. Typically, his writing is distinguished by a capacity for balancing the particularity of individual biography with a search for patterns and trends. This analytical balancing act rests on a foundation of sociological theory (developing concepts from the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Norbert Elias among others), an insistence on the importance of primary empirical data drawn from individual life stories, and a strong sense of the collective experience of far-reaching social and economic change as lived through everyday lives. While his work has had a particular impact in adult education, it is not surprising that his scholarly studies and influence have impacted on methodological debates, as well as touching on wider social science concerns for such concepts as social class and social milieu, as well as over attempts to operationalise the sometimes baroque complexities of Pierre Bourdieu's notions of habitus, capital and disposition