An examination of procedures for educational needs assessment of farmer education programs in the Department of Animal Production and Health in Sri Lanka reveals a lack of participation by adult learners in making decisions about needs, and is characterised by an experts' judgment approach. This study aims to examine the appropriateness of the Participatory Research approach for educational needs assessment in these farmer programs, and attempts to find a suitable way to implement it. The study found that the whole livestock extension system follows a "top-down" approach, and the existing farmers' educational needs assessment procedure of the Department of Animal Production and Health is not in accordance with adult education principles. Livestock educational programs which are conducted without the contribution of farmers' ideas to educational program planning, do not contribute to improving farmers' income and living standards.

Adult education plays an important role in the development of the labour force of every country and in raising the standard of life by providing adult learners with necessary skills and knowledge. It can be said that the effectiveness of an adult education system depends very much on the quality and quantity of its adult education teachers. To improve the effectiveness of a system, better training programs for adult educators are needed. The adult education system of Vietnam is not truly effective because adult educators are unable to meet the present requirement of administering and managing the adult education system including the teaching-learning process. There are many factors that affect the effectiveness of the adult education system and the lack of a formal training program at university level for adult educators is the most serious. This study examines the training of adult educators in Australia, especially the training program of the University of New England, focusing on the teaching-learning process, as well as the roles and competencies of adult educators, in order to make recommendations for Vietnam. The present situation of the training of adult educators in Vietnam is investigated through literature and the results of field work in Vietnam to arrive at a series of conclusions and recommendations for possible implementation in the near future. An outline for a short training program for adult educators in Vietnam is included as an appendix.

This study is an investigation of students' perceptions of their participation within the context of a joint educational development at Coffs Harbour Education Campus, which is a partnership between the North Coast Institute of TAFE, the Department of School Education (Senior College) and Southern Cross University. Joint developments are designed to provide potential benefits for students by sharing of joint facilities and access to a broader range of educational provision. The study shows, through a qualitative approach, how students perceive the Campus, rather than the planning and administration perspective of providers. It explores the major aspects of students' participation, and the framework is underpinned by what students themselves consider to be the significant issues. The aspects that emerge from the study relate to the physical presence of the campus, educational outcomes, social relationships and attitudes toward education. The potential benefits and concerns of students are discussed and whether this unique educational environment meets their needs. General recommendations and further research are suggested to assist planners in future joint development projects.

This study looks at critical issues connected with low farmer participation in agricultural extension in Sri Lanka. As an experienced agricultural extension worker, the author relies heavily on his personal experience and his colleagues' perceptions to explore the present situation of rural agricultural extension and research processes. The study attempts to generate new extension strategies to increase farmers' active participation in this regard. A review of the literature on participatory research and its applications in developing countries confirms the authors' perceptions. The theme of the study is 'participatory research' approaches to enable local people to share, enhance and analyse their knowledge of life experiences, to plan and to act for their own development. Case studies are used to investigate the applicability of the principles of participatory research to the Sri Lankan situation. The behaviour and attitudes of the agricultural extensionists and the researchers as facilitators, are crucial, in the satisfactory implementation of a participatory research approach. This research study reveals that there should be radical changes in the ways of approaching rural people in the processes of agricultural extension and research. Agricultural extension workers must facilitate humanist programs for rural farmers, involve them in design, delivery and decisions on rural agriculture development programs in Sri Lanka.

In this thesis I explore the writing practice I have been engaged in for a number of years. I conceptualise this practice as 'writing self and community'. A critical element of my interest in writing self and community is the political intention to work against hegemonic cultural constructions and create space for diverse and resistant voices and stories. The argument of my thesis is that taking up writing in this way engages both the politics and poetics of representation - both its discursive and semiotic dimensions. The first part of my discussion introduces my writing practice and locates it in the discursive and practical context of radical adult education and cultural activism. I draw on understandings of individuality and community in these contexts and show the relationship between politics and culture in the radical tradition. I suggest that the counter-hegemonic intention of cultural activism is to 'represent ourselves'. In the second part of my thesis I develop my discussion through examples of my practice and focus particularly on material from the Homefront women's community writing and publishing group which is, in a sense, the story of my thesis. I use both expository and evocative styles of writing and include voices other than my own, as well as my own in different registers. I also focus in more detail on the political and poetical dimensions of writing as a representational form. I suggest that the wider discursive contest for social meaning is played out in practices of textual representation as well as in discourses concerning these practices. I propose that a counter-hegemonic writing practice involves using imaginative writing strategies and conventions in unorthodox and transgressive ways, with a view to agentically re-writing the subordinate subject. The social relations of this practice and its intention are those of the inclusive, mutual making of community through alliances across different social positions.

This work explores and speaks experiences of embodied subjectivity/ies, using both the recorded talk of women and autobiographical material. As such it is a work in process, about process, a personal journey, and an intersubjective activity, one in which I consciously seek to include the reader. It is in conversation with two groups of women, and drawing on enabling aspects of feminist poststructuralist and postcolonialist theories, feminist readings of psychoanalytical and developmental theories, that I explore the terrain of relationship between language, body and subjectivity. I find the women's space of production to be located in the space between mothers and children, children and mothers and it is this which I make the focus of my analysis. I ask if we can speak the body differently, if there are ways of constructing alternative discourses to those which would discount, diminish, exclude corporeality's place in theories of experience, or which presume to set male bodies, masquerading as neutral, as a universal standard. And in exploring my own and other women's productions - of self, other, images, text and art, I consider a pivotal mediating role for the body in the spaces and dynamics of transformation.

This thesis examines the participatory process I undertook in partnership with the members of the Aboriginal Health Promotion team working within the Territory Health Services to develop a training program that would build on and develop the health promotion skills and knowledge of the Aboriginal Health Promotion Officers to enable them to support primary health providers and Aboriginal people incorporate health promotion principles into their own work and community activities. As researcher I explore the participatory process; analyse the key issues resulting from the process: and extract from the data a set of principles to guide our practice. The training process was guided by the principles and practice of adult education, participatory research, health promotion and primary health care; all of which place a high value on the priorities and culture of the learner, and necessitate mutual respect, ongoing dialogue, and reflection within the learning and work environments. During the training development process we moved through three key stages: building relationships; analysing skills; and formal recognition of skills. The data shows that before we could begin to develop a meaningful training process we needed time to develop strong relationships within the team and to clarify roles within the workplace and the community; and to provide a high level of support for the participants skill development and way of working. Finally the research provides a set of principles for providing support within the workplace and guidelines for developing working partnerships.