This study examined the need for, and interest in, preretirement preparation programs for educators (teachers and administrators) in Nakorn Nayok Province, Thailand. All educators were between 46 and 60 years of age and were working in elementary and secondary schools in Nakorn Nayok Province, Thailand. The sample consisted of 333 teachers and 101 administrators. Data were collected by questionnaire survey. Of the returned questionnaires, 81.33% were usable. The results were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Results of the study show that elementary and secondary school teachers and administrators in Nakorn Nayok Province, Thailand, would benefit from preretirement preparation programs, but that few programs exist for educators. With all things taken into consideration, individual Thai educators have to be responsible for their retirement preparation knowledge, because the Ministry of Education does not consider preretirement preparation programs important enough to require that they be provided for educators.

This study identified the number of learning projects undertaken by thirty-eight retired educators and examined the extent to which these experiences were associated with the body weight and the exercise patterns of the subjects. A list of 1091 names of retired educators was obtained and 400 names were randomly selected to receive a brief survey seeking responses to demographic, personal and miscellaneous questions relating to their efforts to continue to pursue learning. Interviews were arranged with thirty-eight subjects who met established criteria. The 19 8 3 Metropolitan Height and Weight Tables were used to estimate weight characteristics and a probe sheet was designed to identify the number of hours spent exercising in activities vigorous enough to increase heart beat. In-depth interviews were conducted by the investigator using the questions from Tough's Interview Schedule for Studying Some Basic Characteristics of Learning Projects, and the probe sheet designed by the investigator. The interviews focused on the efforts to continue learning during the past twelve months and on the participation in vigorous exercise during the past twelve months. Findings were analyzed by computing t-tests for independent means and the Pearson product moment method of correlation. Comparisons of the results from this study were …

This study examined the historical development of the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and its contributions to adult education both in Nigeria and in other African nations. This was aimed at providing up-to-date insight into the department's contributions to the development of adult education in Nigeria and in other African nations. Specifically, this study examined the department's founders and their goals, the department's management structure, its relationship with other adult education agencies in Nigeria and in Africa, its programs and services, and the participants in these. This study reveals that the department's founders were both British and Nigerian politicians, educators, and humanitarians. They were concerned with eradicating illiteracy, preparing adults for democratic roles, and improving the economic well-being of these adults. The department does not have a consistent pattern of management. The selection of its leadership is usually based on seniority and academic merits. The department initially relied on donations and on the revenues from the local, state, and federal governments of Nigeria to operate. It now relies on those from the profit from its services to the public and on those from Nigeria's state and federal governments. The department interacts with other departments of the university and with other …

This dissertation sought to determine the effects of a buddy system on a student's self-concept, academic achievement, attrition rate, and congruence levels. The buddy system treatment randomly paired two students for the purposes of sharing ideas, working on assignments, getting to know each other, and supporting one another. The study included three randomly selected sections of pre-college level, developmental writing classes from the Brookhaven College of the Dallas County Community College District. Three other classes served as the control group, and one instructor taught all six sections of the course. Three instruments were used as measures of change: the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS), designed by William H. Fitts, measured self-concept levels; the Personality and Educational Environment Scale (PEES), created by Roger Boshier, measured congruence levels; and a written paragraph measured achievement levels in English. Attrition percentages were based on the number of students enrolled during the second week of class who were not present during the sixteenth week of class. To test for significance, an analysis of covariance procedure was used on the TSCS, PEES, and written paragraph results, and a test for the difference between proportions for independent groups was used on the attrition percentages. The class sections were …

This study aims to increase the level of knowledge about the gerontological knowledge of a sample of registered nurses by creating a portable and concise continuing education seminar that is based upon the fundamental components of the normal aging process. The impact on the learning outcomes of an accredited continuing education seminar that was developed for this study was analyzed. The continuing education seminar focused on some of the major areas of social gerontology pertinent to nursing. Although other variables (age, gender, educational level, and previous gerontological training) were analyzed, none were found to have significant effect on the level of knowledge.

This study was a comparison of the perceptions of directors of and participants in senior centers with regard to needs of the elderly and delivery of services to them. The sample consisted of a random selection of 200 of the 741 centers in the state of Texas. Responses were received from 111 center directors and 609 elderly participants. An instrument that used a Likert-type scale to measure the importance of needs and frequency of delivery of services was devised to survey needs in the areas of health, nutrition, recreation, education, and transportation. No statistically significant differences were found between perceptions of directors and participants with regard to needs, delivery of services, or the differences between needs and actual delivery of services at the centers. When participants were grouped on the basis of gender, age, and ethnicity, males and minority groups rated both needs and delivery higher than did females and the majority ethnic group. The sixty to seventy age group rated education needs significantly higher than did the older age groups.

The purpose of this study was to determine Bonaro Wilkinson Overstreet's significance and development as a leader in adult education. This study provided information on her life, her individual and collaborative contributions with Harry Overstreet in adult education, and her interest in poetry. Data were collected using online database searching; review of published, unpublished, and informal documents of Bonaro Overstreet; and correspondence and interviews with professional colleagues, employers, and personal acquaintances. Interviews were conducted with current authorities in the field of adult education for informational purposes. Bonaro Overstreet did not influence or alter the course of adult education as a field of study. Her strength was in her role of practitioner and contributor to research, theory, and professional development of the adult education field. She broadened the depth of adult education as an advocate of knowing oneself and acting responsibly in the context of democratic responsibility.

Many engineers perform managerial roles; however, their professional education in engineering usually does not include management education. Thus, this study examined the participation of the Nigerian licensed engineers in professional development activities in management. The study proposed (1) to determine if, in fact, Nigerian licensed engineers participate in management education and training; (2) to determine the management programs in which the engineers participated and whether participation was voluntary or required, or within Nigeria or overseas; (3) to test hypotheses dealing with these variables: age, management level, academic level, years of experience in a managerial role, and sector of employment; and (4) to identify the mean number of hours of participation. Also, the engineers were asked to judge the value of non-credit versus credit programs.

This study investigated the prevalence and characteristics of teacher retirement preparation programs in Texas public schools and determined how school personnel directors perceived selected aspects of such programs. A survey questionnaire was used to gather data about personnel directors' opinions of several aspects of retirement preparation programs, and about existing school district programs.

The problem of this study was the description of two year college instructional and vocational-technical administrators' expectations concerning the enrollment of adults over thirty years of age in two-year colleges and the colleges' need to respond to this population. Ninety of 125 Texas administrators eligible to participate and the Delphi process developed a consensus of opinion. The Delphi process consists of a series of three rounds of solicitation of opinion from panelists through responses to questionnaires and controlled feedback to the panelists of information relevant to the issue in the form of a group statistical response.

The problem of this study was to determine to what extent contemporary adult education theory has similarities to and origins in ancient Athenian ideas about education. The methodology used in the study combined hermeneutics and the critical theory of Jurgen Habermas. Primary sources incuded Aristotle, Plato, Aristophanes, and Diogenes Laertius; secondary sources included Jaeger, Marrou, Dover, and Kennedy. In the analysis of Athenian adult education, three groups of adult educators were identified—the poets the sophists, and the philosophers. The poets were the traditional educators of the Greek people; their shared interest or way of perceiving the world emphasized the importance of community cohesion and health. In Athens in the mid-fifth century B.C., a new group of educators, the sophists, arose to fill a demand of adults for higher and adult education in the skills necessary to participate in the assembly and courts. The sophists emphasized a pragmatic human interest and taught the skill of rhetoric. Socrates and Plato created a new school of educators, the philosophers, who became vigorous ideological opponents of both the poets and the sophists. The philosophers exhibited a transcendental interest or approach to knowledge; the purpose of life was to improve the soul, and the preferred …

This investigation concerns the extent and nature of corporate preretirement planning programs in Dallas to ascertain employee access to retirement information and planning at the place of employment. Seven variables and their relationship to the existence of these programs are also studied. This study indicates that Dallas employees have limited access to retirement information through their employer. Existing programs often come too late for financial planning. Forty-nine of the 85 corporations have fewer than 1,000 employees, usually considered too few for a program. This study found that corporations with 5,000 or more employees may not have a program due to the nature of their business which necessitates dispersal of employees or requires younger employees with training in new technologies. The cost of a program was a deterrent for one corporation. Twelve respondents believe such programs are not the responsibility of business.

The purpose of this study was to survey the educational activities offered for persons age sixty and over in Southern Baptist churches in a five-state area (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas) and to determine if there are significant differences (1) in the preferences shown by older persons between church-sponsored instrumental and expressive learning activities and (2) between the number of church-sponsored instrumental and expressive learning activities. The population for the study consisted of 114 Southern Baptist churches in ten selected metropolitan areas identified as providing educational activities, other than Bible study, for adults age sixty and over. Data were collected by a questionnaire mailed to these 114 churches. The data from the responses were tabulated, compared, and summarized, using descriptive statistical procedures.

The purpose of the investigation was two-fold: (1) to develop an educational design for consciousness-raising in social justice education using Paulo Freire's literacy method, and (2) to investigate its effect on the Incarnate Word sisters' attitude toward the economically poor, Workshop sessions examined social justice concepts of the economically poor as stated in the Acts of the Congregation's General Chapter and applied Freire's method of consciousness-raising outlined in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed and his Education for Critical Consciousness.

The problem of this study was a test of a specific videotape designed to influence the actions of tour guides for older adult groups. The purposes of the study were to observe guide performances and older adult responses before and after training in techniques for sharing information with older adults in public spaces. The hypotheses were tested. 1) Guides after training would exhibit significant differences in behaviors of pointing, repeating, pausing, questioning, conversing, facing art when talking, talking inaudibly, pacing rapidly. 2) Older adult drop-outs would decrease on tours with especially trained guides.

In a three stage investigation the relationship between personality type and the use of learning as a coping device during the life transitions of adults was studied. Based on the assumption that a paper and pencil device could be constructed to achieve the same or nearly the same results that have been achieved through interviews with adult learners, the first two stages of this investigation involved the construction and validation of an instrument, the Adult Development Learning Inventory (ADLI), to measure the use of learning during life transitions of adults. The inventory has five subsections: a demographic profile, Life Events, Coping Strategies, Learning Activities, and Adulthood Tasks. Content validity of the ADLI was established through both the theory based in adult learning and developmental psychology and the panel of experts. Construct validation tools included principal component factor analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA with age as the variable of discrimination. The instrument was capable of differentiating among age groups' perception of the tasks in the adult life cycle. For internal consistency, reliability estimates ranged from .83 to .94 for the subsections of the ADLI. Stage III of the investigation explored the relationship between the ADLI and personality as measured by the …

This study examined the relationship between the continuing professional education practices of Southern Baptist pastors and their tenure in their pastoral positions. A survey questionnaire was designed to collect data about the pastors' continuing education and pastoral tenure. A stratified sample of 500 pastors was selected from the 36,235 Southern Baptist churches according to church membership. A total of 217 (43 percent) of the questionnaires was returned and used in the data analysis. Thirty percent of the pastors reported spending no days in continuing education during the past year. Sixty-two percent spent five days or more in continuing professional education. Tenure was not significantly linked to continuing education among the pastors. A personal perception of ministerial competency was positively related to continuing education. The majority of pastors felt accountable to God and themselves in terms of their competency. They strongly resisted any move toward certification or accreditation. The majority of the pastors did not view mobility as an alternative to becoming involved in continuing education. However, the reasons reported for mobility could be interpreted as needs assessment addressed by professional growth. A majority of the pastors strongly agreed that a basic seminary education did not alone prepare a minister for …

This study proposed to determine the reasons given by registered nurses for participation or nonparticipation in programs leading to a baccalaureate or higher degree. The purpose of this study was the following: identify the factors influencing registered nurses to return or not return to school for an advanced degree and to compare the needs (met or unmet) of the participants with the anticipated needs (met and unmet) of the nonparticipants.

This study describes the learning projects of a sample of engineers between the ages of 25 and 35 employed by a single employer in Port Worth, Texas. The problem of this study was the nature and extent of the continuing education programs of young engineers and the implications of these programs to their job requirements and possible employer assistance. The purposes of this study were to determine the number and types of learning projects undertaken each year by engineers with degrees, the number of hours spent by the subjects, the problems experienced, the resources used, the amount of job-related learning projects undertaken, the locations used to pursue learning projects, and whether the learning projects were amenable to assistance from employers.