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Barriers to participation in adult education as perceived by African-Americans and others

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Date Issued:
1995
Summary:
African-American adults have been often studied and categorized, historically, as having low educational achievement. Further, they have not been attending educational offerings available to them to the same extent as other U.S. ethnic groups. This exists despite their needs and not withstanding the fact that such participation stands to greatly increase and enhance their life styles and livelihoods. One reason minority adults (and the many other adults in the general population who do not participate in educational offerings) do not participate can be traced to their perceptions of barriers to attendance. Thomas G. Darkenwald and others conducted research on this concern through the development and use of an original deterrents-to-participation scale (DPS) that was later refined (DPS-G) to identify six barriers to general adult participation in education. DPS-G, as a scale, has been used successfully by many succeeding individuals and groups in similar studies. This study used Darkenwald and Valentine's ALQ instrument, which employed their DPS-G and added demographic questions, to survey a group of Orange County, Florida African-Americans and others. Data obtained supported and provided further verification of validity and reliability of the Darkenwald and Valentine identified factors and procedure. Six hypothesis are incorporated that address the attitudinal differences between African-American adults and others concerning the Darkenwald and Valentine factors. Results showed that the African-Americans expressed stronger concerns for each of the six factors, namely: (a) lack of confidence, (b) lack of course relevance, (c) time constraints, (d) low personal priority, (e) cost factor, and (f) low personal priority. Further, the study showed that African-Americans responded more cohesively and stronger on each and every factor category than did their fellow non-Black others. Study results can be used in further research about minorities' perception of barriers to participation in adult education. Resulting information can also be used in the planning and delivery of adult education programs that attempt to ameliorate or eliminate such barriers to participation in adult education.
Title: Barriers to participation in adult education as perceived by African-Americans and others.
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Name(s): Cummings, John Henry, Jr.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
MacKenzie, Donald G., Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1995
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 123 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: African-American adults have been often studied and categorized, historically, as having low educational achievement. Further, they have not been attending educational offerings available to them to the same extent as other U.S. ethnic groups. This exists despite their needs and not withstanding the fact that such participation stands to greatly increase and enhance their life styles and livelihoods. One reason minority adults (and the many other adults in the general population who do not participate in educational offerings) do not participate can be traced to their perceptions of barriers to attendance. Thomas G. Darkenwald and others conducted research on this concern through the development and use of an original deterrents-to-participation scale (DPS) that was later refined (DPS-G) to identify six barriers to general adult participation in education. DPS-G, as a scale, has been used successfully by many succeeding individuals and groups in similar studies. This study used Darkenwald and Valentine's ALQ instrument, which employed their DPS-G and added demographic questions, to survey a group of Orange County, Florida African-Americans and others. Data obtained supported and provided further verification of validity and reliability of the Darkenwald and Valentine identified factors and procedure. Six hypothesis are incorporated that address the attitudinal differences between African-American adults and others concerning the Darkenwald and Valentine factors. Results showed that the African-Americans expressed stronger concerns for each of the six factors, namely: (a) lack of confidence, (b) lack of course relevance, (c) time constraints, (d) low personal priority, (e) cost factor, and (f) low personal priority. Further, the study showed that African-Americans responded more cohesively and stronger on each and every factor category than did their fellow non-Black others. Study results can be used in further research about minorities' perception of barriers to participation in adult education. Resulting information can also be used in the planning and delivery of adult education programs that attempt to ameliorate or eliminate such barriers to participation in adult education.
Identifier: 12438 (digitool), FADT12438 (IID), fau:9333 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): College of Education
Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1995.
Subject(s): Adult learning
People with social disabilities--Education
African Americans--Education
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12438
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.