This book provides educators and facilitators with a comprehensive overview of the historical underpinnings and philosophical orientations of adult education and adult learning while attending to the various roles individuals play both within and beyond the formal constraints of the classroom. Positioning learners’ and instructors’ educational narratives as central to the theories that inform adult education, Pathways of Adult Learning opens up a dialogue among students, educators, community members, scholars, and working professionals about the many possible avenues toward knowledge sharing.Employing a personal, accessible tone, Janet Groen and Colleen Kawalilak take up a relational approach that encourages readers to reflect upon their own experiences as learners within the broadening context of adult education. Conscious of the power imbalances that can emerge in both institutional and professional work and learning environments, this text explores specific teaching and facilitation strategies that effectively generate ideas and accommodate adult learners of varying gender orientations, socio-economic backgrounds, and ethnicities. Through their collaborative analysis of a diverse collection of first-person narratives, provided by both students and scholars working in the field, the authors construct a multi-faceted portrait of the status of adult learning today.Integrating a critical lens to explore how social, cultural, and economic factors influence and shape individual and collective pathways toward lifelong learning, this text is an indispensible guide for anyone studying or facilitating educational programming for adults in diverse work and learning contexts

Janet Groen is an associate professor in adult learning in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary. Her research focus on spirituality began with her doctoral dissertation, The Experiences and Practices of Adult Educators of Their Workplaces. She has published articles in the Journal of Transformative Education, The Canadian Journal for Studies in Adult Education, and Teaching in Higher Education.

Diana Coholic is an associate professor at Laurentian University. Her current research program investigates the effectiveness of holistic arts-based group methods for the improvement of resilience. She is the author of Arts Activities for Children and Young People in Need: Helping Children to Develop Mindfulness, Spiritual Awareness and Self-Esteem (2010).

John R. Graham is Murray Fraser Professor of Community Economic Development, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary. He is the author, with A. Al-Krenawi, of Helping Professional Practice with Indigenous Peoples: The Bedouin-Arab Case (2009) and editor, with J. Coates and B. Schwartzentruber, of Canadian Social Work and Spirituality: Current Readings and Approaches (2007).

Janet Groen's profile page

Colleen Kawalilak is Associate Professor and the Associate Dean International in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary.

Colleen Kawalilak's profile page

"Pathways provides close-up narrative stories to enhance the topic of each chapter. This gives the material a holistic, inter-relational presentation that emphasizes life-long learning, reflection, and self-actualization."— “Sharon Abbey, Director of the Centre for Adult, Education and Community Outreach, Brock University

"[This book offers] a well-written and coherent discussion of difficult topics ... The narrative approach provides an accessible introduction to the current theories of lifelong learning."— “Jim Sharpe, Associate Professor in Lifelong Learning, Mount Saint Vincent University