bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Engaged Institution
Authors: Inman Patricia
Published: February 2013

This article discusses university efforts to institutionalise community engagement. A seminal study conducted by the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities expressed concern over the unresponsiveness of institutions of higher education to community issues. Land-grant institutions were established to educate individuals for democracy by increasing access to a university education. University resources provided support for local problem-solving. Over the years the mission diverged to one of careerism for students and competitive global research agendas. In 1999 the Kellogg Commission recommended that universities once again become engaged with citizens. Nothing short of culture change serves such an initiative. Tools to facilitate such engagement are discussed, including a methodology to define collaborative projects, a process to assess community and university strengths, and creative funding opportunities for these initiatives.
Enthusing and Empowering Learners
Authors: Longworth Norman
Published: February 2013

Large numbers of people are personally disenfranchised from learning, often because of poor and uninspired experiences in educational institutions. And yet, as the first learning principle of the Rover Learning Company says, ‘Learning is the most natural human instinct. ‘This paper discusses the need to learn and some of the tools and techniques that can help rekindle a lifelong participation in learning.
Interdependencies at Work: Reflection, Performance, Dialogue and Reward
Authors: Smith Ray , Billett Stephen
Published: February 2013

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate about the relationship between the social and the individual as it is enacted in personal learning and the remaking of cultural practices through work. It discusses progress in a two-year study of the work, working lives and learning of 12 individuals: four groups of three employees each. The concept of relational interdependence between individual and social agency is used to understand the progress of their participation, learning and remaking of cultural practices that comprises their work. In identifying and elaborating bases of these interdependencies and their consequences for changes to individuals' cognitive experience and sense of self and the remaking of cultural practices, four linked and overlapping bases for understanding the processes of interdependencies emerge: (i) reflection and review (ii) performance roles; (iii) prospects for dialogue and (iv) how conceptions of rewards and recognition are constructed. In different, but distinct, ways these four bases provide a means to elaborate interdependencies at work, thereby providing a platform to analyse processes of individual learning and the remaking of work practices and concepts throughout working life.
Learning to Change or Changing the Learning: Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland
Authors: Maclachlan Kathy , Tett Lynn
Published: February 2013

After decades of neglect adult literacy and numeracy (ALN) learning in Scotland has been accorded the prominence that it has always merited but seldom received. Understandings of the concept of literacies and what it means to be literate have similarly undergone significant change in the last few decades. This shift has entailed a recognition of literacies as diverse and complex social practices instead of merely the mechanical, functional skills of decoding and producing texts.

This paper examines the experiences of ALN learners in Scotland, where policy affirms a commitment to developing literacies learning that is founded on a social practices model of ALN. It draws from the voices of adult learners throughout the country who reflect upon their learning experiences, and it argues that whilst the policy context has created a real climate of change for literacies learning, and whilst the arrangements for learning have resulted in significant changes for individual learners, there is still much work to be done around the critical and collective aspects of ALN learning for a social practices model to be fully realised in practice.
From a Right to Education to the Obligation to Educate and Train
Authors: Ardouin Thierry , Gasse Stéphanie
Published: February 2013

The principle of lifelong training seems overtly prescriptive and risks damaging the concept of ongoing education and its humanist, cultural and social development objectives. In this paper, the authors firstly clarify and situate the principal concepts in question – lifelong education, ongoing education, initial professional education (all schooling before entry into the working world), professional training and continuing professional training – in order to bring out the similarities, but above all to show their particularities in relation to lifelong education and training. Secondly, after presenting their method of analysis, they reveal what seems to be an evolution of practice in France and question the notion of lifelong training within this evolution: is professional training still within the scope of lifelong education? In further analysis they examine several countries in the European Union. They seek to clarify how well the aims and purposes of professional training are being met and its relationship to the larger concept of education.
Why Some Students Refuse Additional Learning Support: Transition at a Further Education College
Authors: Smith Andrew
Published: February 2013

In a specialist further education college, it was recognised that students aged 16/17 transferring to vocational study after their compulsory schooling were refusing to take up their entitlement to additional learning support. This created a shortfall in the college's predicted units of funding; also, course managers reported that several of these students were finding it difficult to meet the academic content of their programmes of study. After investigation it was discovered that the reasons for refusing additional learning support were complex: a powerful mixture of issues relating to self-esteem, fear of discrimination and institutional pressure created by a need to maximise funding which had led to some poor practice in admissions and limited knowledge of differentiated learning and teaching strategies. The testimony of selected students gained through a process of formal interviews provided significant evidence which contributed to a change in additional support provision within the college.
Partnership Working VIA Community Consortia: A Higher Education Perspective
Authors: Saunders Danny , Payne Rob , Davies Lisa
Published: February 2013

The advantages and difficulties of partnership working for a new university at crisis point in the use of people, time and facilities for the development of widening participation initiatives. The focus is on local partnerships which bring together a wide range of organisations from public, private and voluntary sectors to increase participation in education and training in the South Wales valleys.

Patterns of development were analysed for four consortium-based partnerships. Membership profiles revealed a pronounced dominance by public sector representatives. It was noted that after an initial interest in community partnership operations employers and voluntary sector representatives gradually stopped attending. Meetings were linked with a growing level of administrative detail and local educational authority and school representatives addressed an agenda of education and training provision for 14–19-year-olds; it is suspected that this also explained to some extent the non-attendance of business and voluntary sector representatives because they perceived 14–19-year-old youth dominated agendas as peripheral to their core interests. By contrast, the working groups in the partnerships were characterised by more grassroots involvement from a variety of sectors.

The authors identify four possible strategies for meaningful engagement in numerous and concurrent local partnerships.
Unwitting Agents: The Role of Adult Learners' Attributions of Success in Shaping Language-Learning Behaviour
Authors: Golovatch Yelena , Vanderplank Robert
Published: February 2013

This article reports on an investigation into the attributions of success and perceived areas of strength and weakness of adult learners of English as a foreign language in the Department of Continuing Education at Minsk State Linguistic University, Belarus. The students attributed their limited progress in learning the foreign language mainly to the teacher's competence, the frequency and length of classes, the number of activities for listening and speaking, and consultations with the teacher. Little awareness was shown of the role played by their own learning skills. Comparisons with teachers' ratings of their performance and teachers' own attributions of student progress revealed significant divergences in attributions. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the development of learner responsibility, motivation and effective language teaching.
Older Employee Behaviour and Interest in Continuing Education
Authors: Schmidt Bernhard
Published: February 2013

The increasing older population actually sets the conditions for adult education and its potential for innovation in reception and support for older employees. Therefore it is important to keep in mind the needs older learners have, along with their educational interests and behaviour. This article presents the results of a national representative survey in Germany concerning the educational interests and behaviour of older learners, especially older employees. This survey shows the influence of income status, level of schooling and gender on educational behaviour and so explains the differences within the group of older adults concerning continuing education participation, expectations and barriers. Further modes of delivery of continuing education programs which are a central issue for older employees appear to be more important than the vocational usefulness of continuing education for this target group, and there is noticeable resignation concerning whether improved vocational opportunities can emerge from continuing participation in education.
Adult Learners, Tutors and the Challenge of Assessment at a Distance
Authors: Stephens Simon , O'Donnell David , McCusker Paul
Published: February 2013

This article explores the experiences of adult learners and tutors on a particular externally assessed distance-learning degree programme. On this programme, assignments are set, reviewed and graded independently of the on-site tutor by the external awarding body. An analysis of eight interviews with four tutors and four graduates from one such course suggests that the absence of a link between the on-site tutor and external assessment has a significant negative effect on the teaching and learning environment for both adult learners and tutors. Guided by Basil Bernstein's work on the classification and framing of educational rules and roles, it is argued that benefits will ensue if the on-site tutors are included in, or at a minimum be allowed to become more familiar with, the assessment process. Inclusive framing is the process of including all parties in the education process. Insights from the interviews support the view that distance learning is suitable for adult learners but that external assessment procedures which separate the on-site tutor from the external assessor actually increase anxiety levels among adult learners.
The Significance of Interpersonal Skills and Tutor Behaviour in Determining Quality of Teaching and Learning in Adult Education
Authors: Armstrong Liz
Published: February 2013

Over the last six years, the UK government has focused on inspection as a means to drive improvement in the adult education sector. This article examines how far the quality assumptions behind the Common Inspection Framework are adequate and whether it requires further development.

The purpose of this study is twofold: first to give a voice to adult education learners; and secondly, to examine whether the interpersonal skills and behaviour of the adult education tutor are a significant factor in determining the quality of teaching and learning, and therefore whether the effectiveness of the Common Inspection Framework as a quality improvement tool is limited by the omission of this factor.

This is a qualitative research study using a case study from a local authority adult education service. The study concludes that a tutor's interpersonal skills and behaviour are significant to learners in determining quality and that the voice of learners can make a meaningful contribution towards quality improvement. It further concludes that, if quality is to improve significantly, the interpersonal skills and behaviour required need to be included in teacher-training programmes, classroom observations and the Common Inspection Framework.
Researching Men's Sheds in Community Contexts in Australia: What Does it Suggest about Adult Education for Older Men?
Authors: Golding Barry
Published: February 2013

This paper reports on research into community-based men's sheds in Australia, focusing on how regular activity in these sheds impacts on the informal learning experiences of the mainly older men who use them. It leads to an exploration and reflection on how men's learning experiences in such sheds might inform adult and vocational education in community contexts for older men in other national and cultural contexts. Shed-based activity in community settings is found to provide a critically important, positive and therapeutic, male-positive context that satisfies a wide range of needs not currently available to older men in more formal education settings or in typical adult learning providers. Men's sheds in community contexts provide an important and voluntary social and community outlet for older retired men, particularly for workin- class men who are less likely than other men and particularly women to participate in adult and community education. The research identifies the likely fruitfulness of more closely examining the role of informal learning in enhancing wellbeing through voluntary participation in community settings in other cultural and national contexts.
The Changing Roles of Adult and Continuing Education Practitioners in Hong Kong: Analysis from a Historical Perspective
Authors: Chan Benjamin Tak-Yuen
Published: February 2013

This article explores the role of adult and continuing education practitioners in Hong Kong as a function of contexts and conceptions of practice. A historical evolutionary approach is used to analyze how roles of practitioners differ in three periods – adult education, continuing education, and lifelong learning. It is revealed that practitioners have adopted different strategies of action in their pursuit of varied roles as educators, managers, and free marketeers. This has consequence for the values espoused in their practice.
The Reading Strategies of Proficient and Less Proficient Adult Readers
Authors: Majid Faizah Abdul , Azman Norzaini , Jelas Zalizan Mohd
Published: February 2013

This article reports on a study that examined the choice and use of academic reading strategies of adult learners who were identified as proficient and less proficient readers. The major objective was to explore the potential influence of their adult characteristics on their use of their academic reading strategies. Data were gathered using student diaries, participant observations, and think-aloud protocols. In addition, the take-home reading handouts were studied and retrospective interviews were conducted immediately after the think-aloud protocols. Data analysis was done at two levels: quantitative and qualitative. While the quantitative analysis yielded the variety and frequency count of the strategies used, the qualitative analysis provided the quality of and reasons for the choice and use of the strategies. Quantitative analysis resulted in the identification of 31 cognitive strategies, 20 metacognitive strategies, and 5 affective strategies amongst the proficient readers, and 26 cognitive strategies, 15 metacognitive strategies, and 6 affective strategies amongst the less proficient readers. The qualitative analysis revealed that the proficient readers were found to be able to manipulate their common characteristics as adult learners to the advantage of their academic reading, while the less proficient readers were found to be ignorant of the potentials of their common characteristics as adult learners. The findings of this study have direct implications on the teaching of academic reading to adult learners and the design of the academic reading curriculum in adult education.
Contextual Determinants of School Teaching Intensity in the Teaching of Adult Immigrant Students
Authors: Christophersen Knut-Andreas , Elstad Eyvind , Turmo Are
Published: February 2013

The integration policies in some Northern European countries display relatively poor outcomes of passed exam rates for immigrant language training, and several groups of immigrants have very low employment rates. These measures, in many countries, are strong incentives for host-country language acquisition in addition to the obligation to document acquisition in order to gain a permanent residence permit. Adult educators need to put more teaching intensity into the education of immigrants to raise the level of host-language achievement. This paper explores the antecedents of teaching intensity, induced by educators, in the teaching of adult immigrant students and estimates the relative strength of adult educators' work in order to understand significant factors within the schools. The methodology involved a cross-sectional survey of 764 adult educators from schools for immigrant training in Norway. Our study underlines the importance of relational trust between leaders and adult educators, as well as the significance of social exchange perceptions in adult educators' efforts to teach immigrant students. Clear leadership seems to play a more minor role in the instruction of the immigrant population.
Identifying a Common Set of Key Competences for Adult Learning Staff: An Inventory of European Practices
Authors: Buiskool Bert-Jan , Broek Simon
Published: February 2013

Professional development and improvement in the quality of adult learning staff has been recognized as a priority at a European level. However, at European and national levels there is no clear view on the standard competences needed to fulfill the professional tasks in adult learning. In some European countries competence profiles and standards for adult learning staff have been developed and implemented, while in others standards are lacking. Overall, there is a need for more comprehensive research on this issue with a view to identifying competence needs for those working in the adult learning sector. This article is intended to bridge this gap and describe existing European practices in order to reach a deeper understanding of the conceptual elements as well as to identify a set of key competences for adult learning professionals. This article focuses on the use of a specific methodology for identifying these competences. It is partly based on the outcomes of a study carried out by an international research group in the period 2009–2010 under the guidance of Research voor Beleid under contract of the European Commission (DG Education and Culture).
Higher Education and Community Service: Developing the National University of Lesotho's Third Mission
Authors: Preece Julia
Published: February 2013

Universities have traditionally embraced three missions: teaching, research and community service. The latter usually receives lower status than the other two missions. There has, however, been a revival of interest in community service as a policy oriented exercise for universities and regional development, partly stimulated by international demands for relevance in higher education. This paper provides a background context to the revival of interest and then examines how one university in a ‘least developed country’ is interpreting the concept of community service in the face of internal resource challenges and international development targets. The paper reports on work in progress but makes tentative observations for future policy orientation in the light of preliminary findings from a university audit and stakeholder discussions. Reference to follow-up case studies is also made. The concluding argument is that universities in developing country contexts should embrace the community service mission in order to justify increased funding support.
Chwuech: Sustained Art Education among Luo Women of Western Kenya
Authors: Wadende Akinyi
Published: February 2013

This article presents the findings of a qualitative study on the Bang jomariek, a women's group in West Reru in Western Kenya who engage in the production of indigenous arts and crafts (pots, baskets, and architecture) to generate income and explore politics, medicine, and other matters that affect them and their community. The women shared their motivations for engaging in the production of these art forms and the characteristics of these educational processes and their environment. I highlight the transformative experience on their lives as a result of the arts and crafts-based adult education work. This article is significant to feminist and anti-colonial adult education as it stresses the importance of processes, potential, and goals of an African indigenous creative education amongst rural women.
You've Got the Power: Documentary Film as a Tool of Environmental Adult Education
Authors: Clover Darlene E.
Published: February 2013

Educators call for more creative means to combat the moribund narratives of contemporary environmentalism. Using visual methodology and environmental adult education theory, this article discusses how a documentary film titled You've Got the Power works to pose questions about complex environmental issues and develop critical thinking and cultural understandings. By juxtaposing narratives and images the film artfully, critically, and emotively exposes diverse ways of knowing and viewing the world, problematises concepts of citizenship and ecological justice and illuminates the complex contemporary politics of environmentalism. Perhaps most importantly, it challenges stereotypic notions of aboriginal peoples in Canada, by highlighting their critical environmental roles and actions and thereby provides a much needed source of inspiration and hope for change.
The Spoken Word as Arts-Based Adult Education
Authors: Merriweather Lisa R.
Published: February 2013

Arts-based adult education has been embraced by a growing number of adult educators. These educators have explored its potential in the workplace, in the community and in academia. This article contributes to this work by exploring the Spoken Word, an art form located within the genre of poetry, and its potential as a tool of arts-based adult education. Through engagement, imaginative learning, authenticity and embodying democratic ideals and practices, I explore how the Spoken Word's educational goals are consistent with core goals of adult education such as meaning-making, transformation and critical reflection which I believe makes it an important yet overlooked practice of adult learning.
What a Difference a Day Makes: The Positive Outcomes of Early Face-to-Face Opportunities to Establish a Student Identity in Distance Learning Students New to Higher Education
Authors: Dunworth Moira
Published: February 2013

Building on the success of a model of enhanced support for its access students, the Open University in Scotland offered a series of one-day events to ‘access' students across Scotland in 2008–2009. This work and its outcomes are examined within the context of the literature on student identity as a factor in student retention, starting with Tinto (1975) and his seminal work on retention of first-year college students. The students who attended one event were considerably more likely to complete and to pass their course than comparable students. This article suggests that attending a face-to-face event helped these students to establish their identity as a university student and that this aspect of the provision may help to explain the better than average academic outcomes. These outcomes are congruent with the research in this field and they offer an element of challenge to the trend towards concentrating educational provision on online materials and computer-mediated student support. To avoid the human and resource costs of student ‘departure’ (Tinto, 1975; 1993), perhaps we need to revisit what we know about student identity and how it can be fostered at the early stages of a student's career.
Business as Usual? A Review of Continuing Professional Education and Adult Learning
Authors: Wittnebel Leo
Published: February 2013

The commodification of education in all forms has created a lucrative trade, particularly within the realm of continuing professional education. Mandated across a wide spectrum of industries, and particularly salient in healthcare due to rapid advances in medicine and technology, professional education is said to be the vehicle that keeps practitioners informed of the latest developments in their respective fields. While outwardly noble in intent, the lack of application of sound adult educational paradigms and the stranglehold on quality and content criteria held by programme accrediting bodies has largely fostered an environment ripe with top-down passive material transmission. Proprietors of professional education have used its compulsory nature primarily as a means of increasing revenues and have missed the opportunity to overhaul a broken system characterised as valuing quantity over quality. A review of research in the healthcare continuing educational system in the United States as viewed through the lens of andragogical theory reveals a landscape absent of educational accountability, governed by stakeholder agencies more interested in enforcing the maintenance of a programme roster or transcript than creating legitimate learning experiences.
One in Three? The Incidence and Outcomes Associated with the Late Attainment of Qualifications in the United Kingdom
Authors: Conlon Gavan
Published: February 2013

Successive governments in the United Kingdom have consistently attempted to increase the skills base by encouraging younger members of society to remain in education, increasing access to higher and further education and by removing barriers to learning later in life.

Although there are estimates of the incidence of educational participation2 and the economic rewards achieved by those in possession of formally recognised qualifications, either in terms of labour market outcomes or earnings, little is known about the personal or family characteristics associated with those engaged in learning later in life. There is no formal definition of what exactly late learning refers to, insufficient quantitative information3 relating to the incidence of adult learning, the associated costs and benefits or even whether the type of qualification or the method by which the qualification is undertaken is important. This article makes a provisional attempt to answer some of these questions. The conclusions are not intended to be definitive, but should be seen as a basis for other possible research work. However, some conclusions are clear and unambiguous. Learning undertaken later in life is widespread. Approximately one in three of the hours of education and training received by working-age individuals in the United Kingdom are attributable to those above the age of 25.

This figure is substantially higher than the received wisdom in the academic arena. The costs and benefits associated with learning later in life remain difficult to compute due to the data limitations; however, it is illustrated that there is a sizeable penalty in terms of hourly wages and hours worked for late learners. Additional work must be undertaken as superior sources of data become available, as this area of work is currently under-researched. Rather than being at the periphery of education and training policy in the United Kingdom, late learning should continue to be seen as an important pillar within the general attempt to build the knowledge base within the United Kingdom.
Widening Access to Higher Education in Spain: The Unexpected Effects of Two Policy Changes
Authors: Segundo María Jesús San
Published: February 2013

This article describes two policy changes in Spain, which were not designed as part of an access policy: regional decentralisation (following the approval of the Spanish Constitution in 1978) and the reform of university curricula that has taken place since 1989. It is shown that these policy changes have had some unexpected effects on access to higher education by different groups of individuals. The analysis pays special attention to the rates of participation of students in different regions, as well as to the probability of access according to socio-economic origin. Economic determinants of educational investments are emphasised. The article shows that the Spanish university system does not offer many opportunities for mature students to access and finance higher education.
Retaining and Supporting Mature Students in Higher Education
Authors: Bolam Helen , Dodgson Richard
Published: February 2013

An increasing proportion of the United Kingdom's (UK) full-time undergraduate student population is mature. However, the reasons as to why these students leave higher education early are under-researched. Based upon research conducted in the North East of England, this article contributes to the closure of this gap as it highlights a number of issues that impact upon the retention of mature students. These issues include finance, a lack of preparedness for higher education and timetabling. The North East's six universities have responded to these issues by introducing systems of support that span the student lifecycle.
Widening Access to Higher Education – An Australian Case Study
Authors: Postle Glen , Sturman Andrew
Published: February 2013

In this paper the authors trace the development of equity within the Australian higher education context over the latter part of the last century. In particular they focus on the ways different perspectives (liberalist-individualist and social democratic) have shaped what has been a dramatic increase in the number and diversity of students accessing higher education in Australia. The adoption of a specific perspective has influenced the formation of policies concerning equity and consequently the way universities have responded to the pressures to accept more and different students. These responses are captured under two main headings – ‘restructuring the entry into higher education’ and ‘changing the curriculum within higher education’. Several examples of current programs and procedures based upon these are explained.

The paper concludes with the identification of three ‘dilemmas' which have emerged as a result of the development and implementation of equity processes and procedures in higher education in Australia. These are: (a) While there has been an increase in the number and range of students accessing higher education, this has been accompanied by a financial cost to the more disadvantaged students, a cost which has the potential to exacerbate equity principles. (b) For one of the first times in the history of higher education, a focus is being placed on its teaching and learning functions, as opposed to its research functions. The problem is that those universities that have been obliged to broaden their base radically have also been obliged to review their teaching and learning practices without any budgetary compensation. (c) A third consequence of these changes relates to the life of a traditional academic. Universities that have been at the forefront of ‘changing their curriculum’ to cope with more diverse student groups (open and distance learning) have seen the loss of ‘lecturer autonomy’ as they work more as members of teams and less as individuals.
Towards the Second Chance University? Polity, Politics and Policy in the Greek Case
Authors: Papadakis Nikos
Published: February 2013

The present study, based on a methodological strategy constituted from a contextualisation process and a policy impact analysis circle, begins with a short critical interpretation of the international status quo regarding lifelong education projects and the second chance university, and focuses on definitional and epistemological issues. It provides a historical review of the Greek case. The study mainly focuses on the relationship between the main state policies, the official (and less official) discourses and texts and the actions towards the establishment of a lifelong education network and a ‘second chance university’ in the context of the Greek educational system during the past decade. It attempts to reveal and interpret the ‘politics’, the legitimating strategies, the reactions and the counteractions, the real priorities and the social and economical dimensions of these efforts. It also inquires into the way emerging educational practices and trends (such as consumerist control of education and choice-driven systems, ‘regional experimentalism’, multidisciplinary versus unidisciplinary higher education institutions, total quality management and PCDA circles in educational policy, human resource development) and new prevailing significances and theories (employability, profitability, accountability, efficiency, excellence, public choice, managerial culture, positive discrimination, competitiveness, self-interest survival strategies, individual finalism) affect the existing lifelong education projects and the form/type of the ‘second chance university’ being legislated for. Finally, the study examines the relationship of the above-mentioned planned projects to specific forms of pro-, in- and out-service training and on-the-job training projects, existing in Greek educational, social and economic life.
Globalisation, Lifelong Learning and Their Impacts on Adult Education of Central East-European Countries
Authors: Németh Balàzs
Published: February 2013

The challenges of the new millennium are turning everything upside down. Modernisation, globalisation, and a change of paradigm since 1989 have altered our perspectives of the mechanisms by which the societies of Central and Eastern European countries operate. Life expectancy has increased throughout the world, overpopulation has stopped in Europe, and integration movements have exerted increasing influence, constraining societies by outlining and reshaping not only the ‘map of the future’, but also of sub-systems and groups of societies of Central and Eastern Europe. It is evident that, in future societies, the real wealth generated from natural and social resources will depend upon the quality and wealth of human resources. This article scrutinises this issue within the context of lfelong learning.
Scotland's High Road to Lifelong Learning: A Foreigner's Observations
Authors: Moodie Gavin
Published: February 2013

The final report on lifelong learning of the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee is distinctive in being one of the few national lifelong learning policies of such breadth, which apparently express a deep and long-term national commitment to lifelong learning. The Committee's core proposal to make a standard basic entitlement to lifelong learning available to every citizen may have its greatest effect in increasing the demand for post-compulsory education from under-represented groups, since as the Committee observes, one of the challenges in redressing the relatively low participation of under-represented groups is to increase their aspiration to study at the highest level. However, the Committee qualifies its recommendation that part-time learners be entitled to the same fee and loan arrangements as full-time learners, thus undermining one of the main points of a lifelong learning policy to encourage a seamless transition between, if not integration of, study and family, work and civic engagement. The breadth and ambition of the Committee's proposals is also its main challenge, and the development of priorities and measures to assess progress will be crucial to the policy's success.
Opening the Open: The Experience of Evaluating the Finnish Open University
Authors: Seppälä Kari
Published: February 2013

‘Opening the Open’ is a description of the National Open University Evaluation that the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council carried out in 2001–02. At the millennium, the Open Universities were facing fundamental changes in quantity, quality and context. The increase in the number of young people in the Open University brought its student composition closer to that of the ‘traditional’ university.

The approach of the peer review was tailored to the working culture of the Open University. After the self-study, the universities carried out a limited benchmarking exercise. Instead of traditional site-visits to individual universities, national hearings were organised, where the different universities and their stakeholders shared their views.

The expert panel reported that there is a need to sharpen the Open University profile of each university. Prerequisites for participation do not and should not exist, but open access has been more important than educational equality in the working practices of the Open University structure. Academic quality is assured by curriculum approval systems and extensive development work.

The panel recommended that the universities should devise a national strategy and network their activities into a Finnish Open University. While the universities should organise themselves in favour of the adult student, enhancing equality should direct all the activities. Opportunities to take a degree after Open University studies should be widened. Quality enhancement should be systematic and networked, and the funding system should support quality and concentrations of expertise.

The project was a mixture of tailoring, communication and embedding. The methods were adapted to the particular context of the Finnish Open University system. The project challenged the principle of independence and made practical use of practitioners. The evaluation project was closely linked to the strategic processes of the university system.

After the evaluation, a national strategy process utilised the results of the project. Also, the Rectors' Council nominated a working group to deal with the questions of adult education in the universities. The Ministry of Education decided to incorporate a quality factor in the resource allocation.
Residential Archaeology and Local History in British University Adult Education c.1940–1980
Authors: Speight Sarah
Published: February 2013

Residential provision has usually been seen as a peripheral aspect of university adult education, meriting little comment in annual reports and articles. Yet, the existence of a developing philosophy of residential work reveals it to be a format capable of its own momentum both within and without the university system. This article places the residential experience centre-stage and examines it as a medium for the teaching of archaeology and local history – two subject areas whose interest communities began to be served by formal university provision from the mid-1940s. The long-term residential colleges are referred to only for their contribution to a philosophy of residence.
Documents of Performance
Authors: Gardner Viv
Published: February 2013

Our document section will offer objects and texts which, individually, throw light on theatrical and/or filmic processes or the cultural circumstances in which performance events have taken place. As with any other document, this document and those which follow are open to other readings and further or different interpretations. Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film's documents are those which, in many circumstances, are less likely to be encountered in the course of research. We invite readers to nominate and explicate documents for future issues. We also invite readers to contest identifications or otherwise comment upon the documents which appear in this journal.
Touring between War and Peace
Authors: Badenoch Alexander
Published: February 2013

Why shouldn't we already get used to the idea that Laplanders will spend their summer vacations on the Nile and Ghandi's followers will put snow-chains on their tyres and participate in the yearly rallies to Nordkap… . Much too much the notion reigns in this world that the automobile is a national means of transport, while already whole continents may be crossed quickly, comfortably and reliably by car and intercontinental travel is only a matter of [a few] years away.
Phase 2 study of subcutaneous omacetaxine mepesuccinate for chronic‐phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients resistant to or intolerant of tyrosine kinase inhibitors
Authors: Cortes J. , Digumarti R. , Parikh P.M. , Wetzler M. , Lipton J.H. , Hochhaus A. , Craig A.R. , Benichou A.‐C. , Nicolini F.E. , Kantarjian H.M. ,   the Omacetaxine 203 Study Group
Published: February 2013

Omacetaxine mepesuccinate (omacetaxine) is a first‐in‐class cephalotaxine with a unique mode of action, independent of BCR‐ABL, that has shown promising activity in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). This multicenter, noncomparative, open‐label phase 2 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous omacetaxine in CML patients with resistance or intolerance to two or more tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs); results in patients in chronic phase are reported here. Patients received subcutaneous omacetaxine 1.25 mg/m2 twice daily days 1–14 every 28 days until hematologic response (up to a maximum of six cycles), then days 1–7 every 28 days as maintenance. Primary endpoints were rates of hematologic response lasting >8 weeks and major cytogenetic response (MCyR). Forty‐six patients were enrolled: all had received imatinib, 83% had received dasatinib, and 57% nilotinib. A median 4.5 cycles of omacetaxine were administered (range, 1–36). Hematologic response was achieved or maintained in 31 patients (67%); median response duration was 7.0 months. Ten patients (22%) achieved MCyR, including 2 (4%) complete cytogenetic responses. Median progression‐free survival was 7.0 months [95% confidence interval (CI), 5.9–8.9 months], and overall survival was 30.1 months (95% CI, 20.3 months—not reached). Grade 3/4 hematologic toxicity included thrombocytopenia (54%), neutropenia (48%), and anemia (33%). Nonhematologic adverse events were predominantly grade 1/2 and included diarrhea (44%), nausea (30%), fatigue (24%), pyrexia (20%), headache (20%), and asthenia (20%). Subcutaneous omacetaxine may offer clinical benefit to patients with chronic‐phase CML with resistance or intolerance to multiple TKI therapies. Am. J. Hematol. 88:350–354, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Perinatal and early infantile symptoms in congenital disorders of glycosylation
Authors: Funke Simone , Gardeitchik Thatjana , Kouwenberg Dorus , Mohamed Miski , Wortmann Saskia B. , Korsch Eckhard , Adamowicz Maciej , Al‐Gazali Lihadh , Wevers Ron A. , Horvath Adrienne , Lefeber Dirk J. , Morava Éva
Published: February 2013

Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are a rapidly growing family of inborn errors. Screening for CDG in suspected cases is usually performed in the first year of life by serum transferrin isoelectric focusing or mass spectrometry. Based on the transferrin analysis patients can be biochemically diagnosed with a type 1 or type 2 transferrin pattern, and labeled as CDG‐I, or CDG‐II. The diagnosis of CDG is frequently delayed due to the highly variable phenotype, some cases showing single organ involvement and others mimicking syndromes, like skeletal dysplasia, cutis laxa syndrome, or congenital muscle dystrophy. The aim of our study was to evaluate perinatal abnormalities and early discriminative symptoms in 58 patients consecutively diagnosed with diverse CDG‐subtypes. Neonatal findings and clinical features in the first months of life were studied in 36 children with CDG‐I and 22 with CDG‐II. Maternal complications were found in five, small for gestational age in nine patients. Five children had abnormal neonatal screening results for hypothyroidism. Congenital microcephaly and neonatal seizures were common in CDG‐II. Inverted nipples were uncommon with 5 out of 58 children. Dysmorphic features were mostly nonspecific, except for cutis laxa. Early complications included feeding problems, cardiomyopathy, thrombosis, and bleeding. Cases presenting in the neonatal period had the highest mortality rate. Survival in CDG patients is highly dependent on early intervention therapy. We recommend low threshold screening for glycosylation disorders in infants with neurologic symptoms, even in the absence of abnormal fat distribution. Growth retardation and neonatal bleeding increase suspicion for CDG. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Vertical transmission of a frontonasal phenotype caused by a novel ALX4 mutation
Authors: Bertola Débora R , Rodrigues Melina G. , Quaio Caio R.D.C. , Kim Chong A. , Passos‐Bueno Maria Rita
Published: February 2013

Frontonasal dysplasias (FND) comprise a spectrum of disorders caused by abnormal median facial development. Its etiology is still poorly understood but recently frontonasal dysplasia phenotypes were linked to loss‐of‐function mutations in the ALX homeobox gene family, which comprises the ALX1, ALX3, and ALX4 genes. All ALX‐related frontonasal phenotypes till date had been compatible with an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. In contrast, heterozygous loss‐of‐function mutations in ALX4 had been only associated with isolated symmetrical parietal ossification defects at the intersection of the sagittal and lambdoid sutures, known as enlarged parietal foramina. We report a family with vertical transmission from mother to son of mild frontonasal dysplasia phenotype caused by a novel ALX4 gene mutation (c.1080‐1089_delGACCCGGTGCinsCTAAGATCTCAACAGAGATGGCAACT, p.Asp326fsX21).This is the first report of a frontonasal phenotype related to a heterozygous mutation in ALX4. This mutation is predicted to cause the loss of the aristaless domain in the C‐terminal region of the protein and preserves the homeodomain. We speculate that a different mechanism, a dominant‐negative effect, is responsible for the distinct phenotype in this family. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Clinical consequences in truncating mutations in exon 34 of NOTCH2: Report of six patients with Hajdu–Cheney syndrome and a patient with serpentine fibula polycystic kidney syndrome
Authors: Narumi Yoko , Min Byung‐Joo , Shimizu Kenji , Kazukawa Itsuro , Sameshima Kiyoko , Nakamura Koichi , Kosho Tomoki , Rhee Yumie , Chung Yoon‐Sok , Kim Ok‐Hwa , Fukushima Yoshimitsu , Park Woong‐Yang , Nishimura Gen
Published: February 2013

It is debatable whether Hajdu–Cheney syndrome (HCS) and serpentine fibula‐polycystic kidney syndrome (SFPKS) represent a single clinical entity with a variable degree of expression or two different entities, because both disorders share common clinical and radiological manifestations, including similar craniofacial characteristics, and defective bone mineralization. Since it was shown that heterozygous truncating mutations in NOTCH2 are responsible for both HCS and SFPKS, 37 patients with HCS and four patients with SFPKS are reported. To elucidate the clinical consequences of NOTCH2 mutations, we present detailed clinical information for seven patients with truncating mutations in exon 34 of NOTCH2, six with HCS and one with SFPKS. In addition, we review all the reported patients whose clinical manifestations are available. We found 13 manifestations including craniofacial features, acroosteolysis, Wormian bones, and osteoporosis in >75% of NOTCH2‐positive patients. Acroosteolysis was observed in two patients with SFPKS and bowing fibulae were found in two patients with HCS. These clinical and molecular data would support the notion that HCS and SFPKS are a single disorder. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.