Men learning through life book recently released

Concerns about men’s attitudes to and involvement in lifelong and life-wide learning have recently emerged in many countries. There is a growing interest in finding ways to increase men’s participation and promote practices that will contribute to men’s learning and wellbeing, particularly in contexts and life stages for men beyond paid work.

Men Learning Through Life, the definitive text on this subject, showcases expert International contributions presenting and examining evidence from theory, research, policy and practice, illustrated with case studies. As an implicitly connected issue, the book also presents evidence and builds a case for the initial education of boys to receive particular attention, in order to break intergenerational cycles of aversion to learning for some men and some communities.

The book will inform national and international policies and practices related to the learning and wellbeing of men. This is of particular importance in the current context of rising men’s unemployment as an outcome of the recent and ongoing global financial crisis; population ageing; early withdrawal of predominantly working-class men from paid work; and concerns about men’s functional literacies, health and wellbeing in many developed nations.

The text will be of particular interest to higher education researchers and academics, teachers and tutors, education policy makers and managers, professionals in adult and community education, and professionals in fields connected to health and wellbeing.

A 280 page book, Men learning through life has recently been published by NIACE in the UK. It was launched first in Glasgow UK at the Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Strathclyde and CR&DALL at the University of Glasgow in late February 2014, and is due for launch in Australia 23/24 April.

It is also available in Australia and New Zealand via Footprint Books. The book is edited by Professor Barry Golding (Federation University Australia), Dr Rob Mark, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Dr Annette Foley (Federation University Australia) with contributed national chapters including eleven other researchers across eight world nations from Australia (Professor John Macdonald), Ireland (Dr Lucia Carragher, John Evoy & Dr Rob Mark), UK (Dr Rob Mark & Jim Soulsby), Portugal (Dr António Fragoso, Dr João Filipe Marques & Milene Lança), Greece  (Dr George K. Zarifis), China (Professor Tingyan Zhao, Dr Aijing Jin, Liang Hua) and New Zealand (Professor Brian Findsen).

Part 1, comprising the first half of the book (Chapters 1 to 8) introduces and critically analyses some of the international research evidence surrounding men’s learning. Part 2 includes seven chapters (Chapter 9 to 15), each focused on aspects of men’s learning across seven nations located in three continents: in Europe (UK, Ireland, Portugal, Greece), Australasia (Australia and New Zealand) and Asia (China). Each chapter, contributed or led by researchers based in those nations, is framed around recent research evidence that points towards practical initiatives and policies that can increase men’s level of engagement in learning in diverse national contexts.