The rock ‘n’ roll generation has retired, and this raises questions about whether their educational needs differ from the generations before them. This paper presents a study of a course called ‘Graffiti for Seniors.’ The course had nine participants, all women, which constituted two groups: (A) people who are artists or artisans and (B) people who are curious about graffiti as an expression and culture in general. The methods used was participant observation and interviews. When the data had been gathered, Howard McClusky’s theory of educational needs guided the analysis, as this theory offers a diversity of alternative needs compared to later theories. The material was reviewed to find expressions related to the theory’s five dimensions. We conclude that the most prominent needs are coping needs and expressive needs. Coping needs address dealing with society’s ideas about aging, but also about gender, and challenging these norms. Expressive needs demonstrate the importance of engaging in activities that are performed for their own sake and allowing individuals to express themselves. A limitation of this study is that it is performed in a single context, and therefore, future studies in other contexts using the same theory for analysis would contribute to a fuller understanding of how different courses meet various educational needs among older adult learners. A practical implication of the study is the insight that older adults can benefit from educational arenas where they enjoy the freedom of expression and where they can challenge and explore norms connected to gender and age.

Policy discourses focus on (and set limits to) what is considered acceptable to say and to do. Within a discourse, a dominant idea can influence how the discourse unfolds. The present study examines the dominant idea that education should be an evidence-based practice. We explore how this dominant idea at the national level is translated into local practice by school superintendents at municipal education departments in a Swedish context. Sixty-five of Sweden’s 290 municipalities were chosen for this study based on their geographical location and size. We found 16 documents from nine authorities that explicitly mentioned evidence-based practice. A discourse analysis of these documents identified six themes that may indicate how school superintendents interpret and translate the dominant idea. The discourses are evidence-based practice in terms of (i) ‘mirroring’, (ii) ‘professional competence’, (iii) ‘collaboration’, (iv) ‘literature review’, (v) ‘method’, and (vi) ‘quality work’. Thus, there are a number of different ways in which the national policy is translated at the municipal level. What we observe in the discourses, however, expresses provisional attempts at defining <em>evidence-based practice</em>, thereby suggesting that, at the local level, education management teams are prepared to accommodate ideas from alternative areas instead of relying on and developing methods and ways of working that (historically) have been used in education. A critical insight for practice is that we should examine the grey areas between research and policy; specifically, where policy materials imitate research in an attempt to influence practice under the disguise of ‘evidence’.

The aim of the present study is to investigate how the concept of systematic quality work is perceived by school teachers. Eleven interviews were conducted and analysed according to the phenomenographical method, inspired by qualitative content analysis. Five qualitatively different descriptive categories were identified: (i) tools for implementation, (ii) tools for planning for quality assurance, (iii) tools for control, (iv) tools for indirect governance, and (v) tools for learning. These descriptive categories fall under two overarching themes: (i) operations directed towards efficiency and (ii) operations directed towards school development. The former is linked to rational terms such as achieving the school-system's learning outcomes, whilst the latter is linked to the school-system's more overarching relational- and democratic goals. The total sample space provides a picture of how teachers perceive "systematic quality work" primarily as a tool for different forms of governance and control of the school-system's pedagogic operations.

This paper proposes a new theory of Conditional Social Equality (CSE) which in some ways challenges the theory of cumulative advantage/disadvantage (CAD), which postulates that inequalities and social divisions necessarily increase over time. Using evidence from informal learning groups in Men’s Sheds in three countries, we conclude that some social divisions between homosocial groups, in this case groups of older men, may actually decrease – but only under certain conditions. Male-gendered learning groups that were relatively homogeneous by age helped erase class divisions and softened gender stereotypes. Our theory of conditional social equality (CSE) predicts the following: i) in-group homogeneity can enable the acceptance of some aspects of heterogeneity, ii) some other aspects of in-group heterogeneity may not be tolerated, thus maintaining in-group cohesion, and iii), in-group homogeneity and boundary setting towards out-groups may be prerequisites for the acceptance of (some) aspects of in-group heterogeneity. All of this has important implications for adult learning in both heterogeneous and homogenous groups.

This paper is inspired by an observation that challenges the theory of cumulative advantage/disadvantage (CAD). CAD says that not only are we born with unequal conditions, inequalities in any given characteristic, such as money, health, or status increase over time (Dannefer, 2003:327). People with educated parents tend to become well educated, and vice versa, and people with a higher level of education tend to engage in adult learning throughout their lives, while those with only compulsory school do not, which in turn effects their health, well-being and quality of life negatively. CAD is a somewhat deterministic theory, inviting ideas of what could be done to counteract such processes.

Observations to this effect were made in studies of Men’s Sheds. Men’s sheds are community-based workshops offering men beyond paid work “somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to” (Golding 2015). Starting in Australia in the 1990s, it is a growing social movement with over 2000 Sheds worldwide (http://mensshed.org). The target group is largely retired working-class men; a group disadvantaged in terms of education, health, income and social status. However, Sheds attract men from all walks of life; also some well-educated and professional men.

The Sheds have been found to benefit older men’s learning, health, well-being, and social integration. Traditional class divisions were erased, and participants were able to relinquish stereotypical “macho” male identities in favour of softer, caring identities (Cavanagh, Southcombe, & Bartram, 2014; Golding, Foley, & Brown, 2007; Golding, 2015; Haesler, 2015; Morgan, Hayes, Williamson, & Ford, 2007).

The keys to their success are:(i) Sheds offer men practical, gender-stereotypical activities,(ii) they are self-organized, so service providers are kept at arm’s length, and(iii) women are not present (Ahl, Hedegaard, & Golding, 2017).

A somewhat counter-intuitive conclusion is that when older men get to do gender stereotypical activities in gender segregated groups, they are able to relinquish class divisions and gender stereotypes. The research question is therefore: does learning in homogeneous groups challenge patterns of inequality, and if so, what patterns and how?

Based on participant observations and interviews with “shedders” in three countries we found support for the afore-mentioned observations. Working class men possessed the necessary practical skills to became the teachers of other men – their competence was valued, which erased class divisions. When no women were around to fuss with their health concerns, or with tasks such as cooking, they started to do this for themselves and their mates. However, we also noted that heterosexuality was taken for granted and received conceptions of ethnicity/race were reinforced. Homosexuals and immigrants (or people of the native population) were not acknowledged – they became the new “others” of the group. A new-formed fellowship required an outgroup for its definition. Our conclusion is that learning in homogeneous groups allows the erasure of some inequalities, but reproduces others, and the former appears conditional on the latter. We use these observations to formulate a theory of conditional social equality (CSE) which may provide a partial antidote to cumulative disadvantage.

The purpose of this article is to describe how education can serve as a changing and liberating process for adults with long-term mental illness. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 participants in Life-knowledge and Creative courses at a Swedish Folk High School. Five themes emerged in the interviews: (i) A meaningful social context – to undergo change with others; (ii) Self-awareness via non-violent communication – to change one’s self-image; (iii) Creating as rehabilitation – change through aesthetic learning processes; (iv) To function better in everyday life – to receive confirmation of change; (v) Opportunity horizons – to change hope for the future. The conclusion is that the Folk High School environment and the educational courses can contribute to an increased sense of well-being in the present. The liberating process primarily impacts the participants’ self-stigma positively as long as this takes place in environments where the participants have experience of not being exposed to social stigma, either at home or at the Folk High School. The participants do not entertain future life plans that extend beyond the context of Folk High School, but when examined in the light of their situation before they enrolled at Folk High School, the liberating process is still noticeable.

Syftet med den här forskningsrapporten är att beskriva hur folkhögskolans livskunskapskurser kan hjälpa deltagare med långvarig psykisk ohälsa till återhämtning, rehabilitering och habilitering. Studiens datainsamling omfattar nio dagars deltagande observation i kurserna på folkhögskolan kombinerat med tolv semistrukturerade livsvärldsintervjuer och fyra fokusgruppsamtal. Totalt ingår 22 deltagare, sex lärare och rektor på folkhögskolan. I resultatet beskrivs nio teman: (i) Varför är jag här?; (ii) Ett meningsfullt socialt sammanhang; (iii) Rutiner och struktur i tillvaron; (iv) Att fungera bättre i vardagen; (v) Självmedvetenhet genom kommunikationsmodeller; (vi) Skapande som rehabilitering; (vii) Vidgade möjlighetshorisonter; (viii) Saker som kan förbättras i utbildningarna enligt deltagarna; (ix) Lärarnas och rektors pedagogiska utgångspunkter.

Slutsatsen är att folkhögskolan bidrar till ett begripligt, hanterbart och meningsfullt socialt sammanhang och att livskunskapskurserna hjälper deltagarna att fungera bättre i vardagen och tillsammans med andra. Genom kursinslag, som tillexempel att lära sig själv medkänsla och Nonviolent communication – en kommunikationsmodell, beskriver deltagarna att de blir mer medvetna om sig själva och sin omgivning. Kursdeltagarna berättar att livskunskapskurserna har ökat deras välbefinnande i nuet och att de har fått ett framtidshopp. Vi kan se att deltagarnas negativa uppfattningar om sig själva minskar i folkhögskolans trygga miljö och i hemmet. Vad gäller att fungera i andra miljöer utanför folkhögskolan så beskriver deltagarna en avsaknad av möjligheter. Det finns en önskan hos deltagare att få möjlighet att till exempel arbetsträna eller arbeta med något projekt utanför folkhögskolan. Lärarna beskriver att det viktigaste i kurserna är att utgå ifrån deltagarnas individuella behov. Detta beskrivs vara ganska svårt eftersom det idag är betydligt vanligare att deltagare har flera olika svårigheter att hantera. Exempel på detta är att en stor andel av deltagarna har neuropsykiatriska diagnoser, social fobi, utmattningssyndrom och depressioner. Det viktigaste enligt lärarna initialt är att lyckas forma deltagargrupper där alla accepterar varandra och upplever sig trygga.

Sveriges Radio P4 Jönköpings webbplats:

• Var tredje elev som går på Allmän linje på folkhögskolor har någon form av diagnos och just folkhögskolor är bra för att fånga upp elever med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar, det slår forskning fast.
• Men nu kan elever som behöver extra stöd på Södra Vätterbygdens folkhögskola i Jönköping komma att förlora den hjälpen, då skolan inte har tillstånd för det.
• "Folkhögskolan är väldigt bra på att skapa en trygg miljö", säger forskare Joel Hedegaard på högskolan Jönköping.

Ingress: I den här studien undersöker forskare vid Högskolan i Jönköping hur folkhögskolan kan fungera som en stödjande miljö för deltagare med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar, främst högfungerande autism. Det undersöks utifrån deltagarnas, personalens och rektorernas perspektiv.