Australia
- Authors: Golding, Barry , Kimberley, Helen
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: International perspectives on older adult education Chapter 3 p. 25-34
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: In the later years of life in Australia, after commitment to paid work or family responsibilities declines as life’s primary motivating factors, learning occupies a different life space and purpose from learning in previous life stages. While learning to cope with the expected and unexpected events in later life is known from research elsewhere to be increasingly important (Cooper et al. 2010; Schuller and Watson 2009), the opportunities and places in Australia to learn formally and informally have been decreasing (Golding and Foley 2011). Our chapter argues that spaces for and purposes of older adult learning are less reflected upon, both by older adults themselves, by the wider Australian society and particularly by policy makers and governments in Australia. The prevailing discourse is more about costs of caring than opportunities during ageing. "From chapter"
Men learning through life
- Authors: Golding, Barry , Mark, Rob , Foley, Annette
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Men learning through life Chapter 1 p. 3-17
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This introductory chapter seeks, through a broad-brush analysis of a wide range of international research and data, to provide context for our book. It consists of four sections. The first sets the broad intentions and the main source of information for the two parts of our book that follow, including some limitations. The second section seeks to make explicit our interest in focusing mainly on men, particularly those men beyond paid work. The third section teases out some of our theoretical presuppositions about the process, purposes and value of learning that men experience. The fourth explains our reasons for overtly including and emphasising the seldom-theorised link between men’s learning and wellbeing. In its totality, this introductory chapter provides an outline of our equity and evidence-based case for acknowledging worldwide changes and trends that have made this book timely, particularly for men not in paid work, including a ‘big picture’ view of men learning through life in international settings. It begins to delineate a range of social and economic factors, including the global financial crisis and population ageing, that have led to an increase in the proportion of men not in paid work in most developed nations. This increase has been accompanied by a decrease in many nations in the proportion of young men completing post-school qualifications
Men's turn to learn? Discussion and Conclusion
- Authors: Golding, Barry , Mark, Rob , Foley, Annette
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Men Learning through life Chapter Sixteen p. 244-259
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Our intention in this final chapter is to argue a case for repositioning men’s learning at any age as a significant benefit not only for the men involved, but also for their families and the community, aside from the narrowly defined vocational benefits which lifelong learning policies often focus on. We seek to identify some generalisable conclusions based on the data and literature examined in the first part of this book and the national research policies and practices identified in the second part. The chapter consists of a discussion, comprising a number of important acknowledgments about the extensive theoretical and practical ground our book has covered. This is followed by a number of broad and over-arching conclusions
Learner voice in VET and ACE: What do stakeholders say
- Authors: Golding, Barry , Angus, Lawrence , Foley, Annette , Lavender, Peter
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at AVETRA 2012 15th Annual Conference Canberra p. 1-10
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Our paper presents some initial findings from research funded by the National VET Equity Advisory Council (NVEAC) and conducted in a range of VET and ACE organisations in three Australian states and the Northern Territory with a view to identifying the mechanisms and systems used to capture learner voice. The paper also draws upon recent research in the UK and Europe that has provided critical insights into the benefits to learners' experiences and successes that result from taking learner voice seriously in the Further Education (FE) setting.
- Description: 2003009274
Thinking inside the box: What can we learn from the men's shed movement?
- Authors: Golding, Barry
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Adults Learning Vol. 22, no. 8 (2011), p. 24-27
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The article discusses the possible knowledge that can be learned by British adult educators from the men's sheds movement. It provides a definition and history of the men's sheds movement and offers examples for it. It cites the information that can be gained by adult education providers from the movement including the significance of gender and benefits of workshop-type settings for men learners. It mentions the effectivity of informal learning for men when it is social and situated.
- Description: 2003009352
'They're funny bloody cattle': encouraging rural men to learn
- Authors: Vallance, Soapy , Golding, Barry
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 48, no. 2 (Jul 2008), p. 369-384
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Our paper examines and analyses the contexts and organisations in rural and regional communities that informally and effectively encourage men to learn. It is based on a combination of local, rural adult education practice and a suite of studies in Australia and elsewhere of learning in community contexts, most recently into community-based men's sheds. It is underpinned by both experience and research evidence that many rural men tend to have an aversion to formal learning. The intention of our paper and its specific, practical conclusions and recommendations is to focus on and share positive and practical ways, demonstrated through practice and validated through research, of encouraging rural men to learn.
- Description: C1
Houses and sheds in Australia : an exploration of the genesis and growth of neighbourhood houses and men's sheds in community settings
- Authors: Golding, Barry , Kimberley, Helen , Foley, Annette , Brown, Michael
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 48, no. 2 (Jul 2008), p. 237-262
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This article reviews research into the genesis and spread of both neighbourhood houses and learning centres in Victoria and community-based men's sheds in Australia to identify some similarities and differences. Our article asks questions about the gendered communities of practice that underpin houses for women on the one hand, and sheds for men on the other. Our particular interest is with the gender issues associated with the development of the relatively mature neighbourhood house 'sector', and those associated with the very recent and developing community-based men's sheds 'sector'. Our underpinning research question has to do with the desirability (or otherwise) in each of these sectors of political and strategic decisions being either gender specific or gender neutral. We identify a number of tantalising parallels between the rationale behind the establishment of both sectors,for women and men, albeit in very different circumstances, along with some obvious differences.
- Description: C1
A profile of men's sheds in Australia: Patterns, purposes, profiles and experiences of participants: Some implications for ACE and VET about engaging older men
- Authors: Golding, Barry
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at Global VET: Challenges at the global, national and local levels Conference 2006, Wollongong, New South Wales : 19th April, 2006
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper uses literature and survey results to explore several issues associated with the emergence and development of community-based men’s sheds in Australia and their relationship to both community and further education and the training system. It develops a series of questions about these developments and their relationship to the development of men as learners as well as the nature of education and voluntary organisations. The confirms for the first time, using compelling and rigorously collected survey data from participants, the critical value of men’s sheds in community settings in Australia to older men’s well being: particularly to their health, social enjoyment, ongoing learning capacity and ability to contribute to the community. The sheds, relatively recently created, now provide a valuable and critically important place for a wide range of mainly older men within safe, supervised settings in where approximately 150 such sheds are now found in southern Australia. They allow men to regularly meet and happily socialise, mainly with other men with tools, in a safe, familiar, shared workspace in a wide range of communities, situations and organisational types. The men who use men’s sheds respond positively to environments that allow them to feel at home and learn by doing, in practical, group situations with other men. This paper confirms the high potential of men’s sheds, if carefully configured and managed, to include and support men experiencing issues associated with retirement, health, social isolation, aging and significant change.
- Description: E1
- Description: 2003002043
Listening to men learning
- Authors: Golding, Barry
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: The international journal of learning Vol. 12, no. 9 (2006), p. 265-272
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper reports on the results of a study of the learning preferences of adult males in small, rural Australian towns. The researcher employed a survey of men in each of ten towns in 2004 to explore and compare their learning experiences and preferences-in adult and community education (ACE) programs on one hand, and in community-based volunteer organisations (fire services, landcare senior citizens and football clubs) on the other. The research confirms the considerable importance for men of regular learning experienced in less formal learning contexts as community volunteers, and highlights the barriers ICT poses for older men.
- Description: 2003002093
Men's learning in small remote towns in Australia
- Authors: Golding, Barry
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Lifelong Learning, Participation and Equity Chapter 16 p. 175-203
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: B1
- Description: 2003007641
- Description: 2003002084
About Face : Implications of research into men's learning preferences in rural towns
- Authors: Golding, Barry
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at Emerging Futures 2005: recent, responsive and relevant research Conference, Brisbane : 13th -15th April, 2005
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: E1
- Description: 2003001327
Not exactly rocket science : Replicating good practice in meeting diverse client needs
- Authors: Golding, Barry
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Book
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: A1
- Description: 2003001325
The applicability of networks in Australian adult and vocational learning research
- Authors: Golding, Barry
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at Learns and Practitioners: The Heart of the Matter, Canberra : 17th March, 2004
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Networks have increasingly been recognised by educators as important in adult and vocational learning contexts, in that they have the capacity to help potential learners engage and become better connected with a wide range of learning organisations through their families, jobs and communities and also with opportunities for future learning and work. The importance of ‘being connected’, including through networks to and between learning organisations, has come into higher relief with a recent increase in theorising about aspects of social capital including learning networks, the growth of lifelong learning and an identification of the particular penalties associated with several forms of disengagement from learning for people of all ages. This paper begins with a scan of research literature on networks in adult and vocational learning. The paper identifies some new techniques involving networks, found by experience to assist in the process of adult and vocational learning research: particularly for identifying potential research interviewees within learning organisations and communities, strengthening relationships between learning organisations and identifying opportunities for future collaboration. It also provides some insights from new data on organisational networks derived from a number of recent research studies about learning networks in TAFE, adult and community education and public safety organisations in small and remote towns. The paper finally provides a number of tentative, general findings about the broader applicability of network theory to research and theories about learning in such contexts.
- Description: E1
- Description: 2003000774
Who's doing the hunting and gathering? An exploration of gender segmentation of adult learning in small remote communities
- Authors: Golding, Barry
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Equity in Vocational Education and Training: Research reading Chapter 17 p. 225-241
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Adults in Australia have tended to return relatively recently to learning in patterns that are significantly different by gender. These patterns of gender segmentation for adults are particularly noticeable in the findings of recent research by the author into adult, community and vocational learning in small and remote towns in Victoria. The issues associated with such patterns form the basis of this exploratory paper.
- Description: B1
- Description: 2003000772
Who's doing the hunting and gathering? : An exploration of gender segmentation in adult learning in small and remote Australian communities
- Authors: Golding, Barry
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 2003 AVETRA Conference, Sydney : 10th -11th April, 2003
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Adults in Australia have tended to return relatively recently to learning in patterns that are significantly different by gender. These patterns of gender segmentation for adults are particularly noticeable in the findings of recent research by the author into adult, community and vocational learning in small and remote towns in Victoria. The issues associated with such patterns form the basis of this exploratory paper.
- Description: E1
- Description: 2003000498