Learning by older men in the contemporary adult education research field: some contexts, cases and implications

The paper explores some research methods, frameworks and results of research into older men’s learning in Australian community contexts. It reflects critically on research approaches appropriate for examining learning acquired informally through community organisations, effectively through informal communities of older men’s workshop practice, called Men’s Sheds. This field of research and the context of investigation is distinctive in that being grassroots and informal, it does not presuppose that highly effective learning needs to be structured, assessed and deliberate. Also, it contends that the outcomes, benefits and contributions of learning through men’s sheds can be measured by its contribution to the community in addition to any individual benefit. Some implications for future research in this field, including the use of autoethnographies, are included in the conclusions