- Title
- Older Men as Learners: Irish Men's Sheds as an Intervention
- Creator
- Carragher, Lucia; Golding, Barry
- Date
- 2015
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/76933
- Identifier
- vital:7620
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713615570894
- Identifier
- ISSN:0741-7136
- Abstract
- To date, little attention has been placed on older men (aged 50+ years) as learners, with much of the literature on adult learning concerned with younger age-groups and issues around gender equity directed mainly at women. This article examines the impact of community-based men's sheds on informal and nonformal learning by older men in Ireland. It considers older men's attitudes to learning, learning behavior, and the noncognitive attributes-motivation, perseverance, and beliefs about capabilities-that underpin learning behavior. This descriptive study used a mixed-methods approach, involving questionnaires and focus groups, with all sheds registered with the Irish Men's Sheds Association invited to participate. It is concluded that men's sheds provide space for hands-on learning activities that add value to the lives and experiences of men beyond work, fostering a yearning to carry on learning. Crucially, shed-based conversations have an important role in helping older men with difficult life transitions and are an important site for future studies of masculinity in later life. © The Author(s) 2015.
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications Ltd
- Relation
- Adult Education Quarterly Vol. 65, no. 2 (2015), p. 152-168
- Rights
- Copyright © The Author(s) 2015
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- 1301 Education Systems; Informal learning; Men's sheds; Older men
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