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Open research questions in Adult and Continuing Education Topics

57 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 2,927 Adult and Continuing Education Topics papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • The study identifies the challenge of creating a secured spatiotemporal cocoon for learners. The research highlights the need for educators to consider the spatiotemporal configuration of training.

    The pedagogical cocoon · 2026 · DOI

  • The digital divide and its impact on adult learners. The need for educators and policymakers to create effective and equitable learning environments. The challenge of integrating technological, pedagogical, and psychological factors in adult education.

    PEMBELAJARAN TRANSFORMATIF DEWASA DI ERA DIGITAL: REKONSTRUKSI IDENTITAS MELALUI PENGALAMAN BELAJAR VIRTUAL · 2026 · DOI

  • Second-career teachers face challenges in reconfiguring their professional identity. Teacher education programs need to support second-career teachers in their transition.

    Temporalities and rhythms of identity transitions amongst second-career teachers · 2026 · DOI

  • Temporal oppression due to compressed programs. International students' future-oriented uncertainty. The challenge of adopting a non-essentialist view of time.

    A non-essentialist view of temporality · 2026 · DOI

  • Standardisation in education - Limited engagement with students' perspectives, values, and self-authored goals - Incompatibility of fully paternalistic, top-down models of education with genuine dialogue

    Dialogic Coordination Through the Compassionate Impactful Communication Cycle: Towards Realising Matusov’s (2026) Uniqueness Model of Educational Justice · 2026 · DOI

  • The study faced challenges in terms of small sample size and limited generalizability. The study had to navigate the complexities of emotional discourse and perspective transformation.

    In the Dark, We Spoke: Emotional Discourse and Transformative Learning in South Africa · 2026 · DOI

  • The study had a small sample size of 14 students. The study was limited to a single study abroad program in South Africa. The study did not control for prior experiences or individual differences among participants.

    In the Dark, We Spoke: Emotional Discourse and Transformative Learning in South Africa · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should explore the application of the spatiotemporal perspective to other educational contexts. The study's findings can inform the development of novel training programmes for adult learners.

    The pedagogical cocoon · 2026 · DOI

  • The comprehensive understanding of the intellectual landscape of transformative learning in digital-era adult education psychology remains limited. There is a need to identify research trends and conceptual clusters in the field.

    PEMBELAJARAN TRANSFORMATIF DEWASA DI ERA DIGITAL: REKONSTRUKSI IDENTITAS MELALUI PENGALAMAN BELAJAR VIRTUAL · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research can explore the application of the Etievan Model in various educational contexts. It can investigate the impact of the model on student development and well-being. Further studies can examine the scalability and sustainability of the Etievan Model.

    “Como círculos concéntricos, de mi ser a la comunidad”: la formación de sí y la acción en el mundo mediante el Modelo Educativo Etievan · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in education research regarding the integration of mind, body, and emotion. It highlights the need for a more comprehensive approach to education that addresses the challenges of the Anthropocene.

    “Como círculos concéntricos, de mi ser a la comunidad”: la formación de sí y la acción en el mundo mediante el Modelo Educativo Etievan · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a need for greater understanding of the experiences of Latina/o/x learners in the US education system. The paper identifies a gap in the literature regarding the effects of the whitestream on these learners.

    Los Pulmones Tienen Una Capacidad Inherente Para Sanarse y Regenerar: Reflections from Almost Drowning in the Whitestream · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of understanding of how change management is practiced in adult education. The need for more research on the experiences of rectors and educational leaders in adult education.

    Endringsledelse i voksenopplæringen: En kvalitativ studie fra rektorers og undervisningslederes perspektiv · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper suggests that future research should explore the development of tools that support temporal awareness and reflexivity. The study highlights the need for further research on the concept of rhythmic intelligence and its implications for adult education.

    Timing transitions · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in understanding how individuals navigate moments of impasse and articulate their sense of agency. The study highlights the need for a deeper understanding of how individuals make sense of life-course transitions under uncertain and contested social change conditions.

    Timing transitions · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in research on professional transitions, particularly in the context of second-career teachers. The paper highlights the need to foreground temporality and rhythm as key analytical dimensions in understanding professional identity transitions.

    Temporalities and rhythms of identity transitions amongst second-career teachers · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a need to understand the rhythmic and temporal aspects of adult education. The paper highlights the importance of considering the social construction of transitions.

    Editorial: Rhythms, spaces, and times of transitional processes in adult education · 2026 · DOI

  • Transitions are among the critical issues to be considered in adult learning and education. First, the praxis of adult education is intended to help people navigate transitions that may require learning to be managed or regulated. Second, adult learning and education are also expected to trigger changes that span different times and spaces in one’s life (e.g., promoting continuing education to foster social mobility). Thus, adult education plays a critical role in helping people navigate transitions, whether they involve adapting to a new environment (e.g., following social, political, cultural, technological or ecological changes), dealing with personal changes (e.g., migration, parenting, entering the workforce, changing career, retiring), or coping with embodied changes (e.g., illness, ageing). Transitions are often experienced as stressful periods (Miller, 2010), sometimes linked to crises, characterised by events or perturbations that entail significant uncertainty. Although such ordeals (Slowik et al., 2019) are experienced differently by everyone, their meaning is always socially constructed. Therefore, between stability and change, transitions reveal and contribute to people’s personal and professional development (Crafter et al., 2019), as much as they express discursive, institutional and social dynamics that inform their understanding and shape how transitions occur throughout the lifespan (Bernhard et al., 2026; Stauber et al., 2022). Accordingly, critical conceptualisations of transitions emphasise multiple, relational dynamics characterised by a continuous, iterative process of ‘becoming and unbecoming’, thereby challenging dominant linear frameworks (Colley, 2007). Transitions should therefore neither be essentialised nor read as linear passages, but rather as complex, interrelated processes shaped by temporal, spatial, and rhythmic dimensions. Transitions associated with learning are often linked to specific purposes and conceived as processual (biographically, embedded in everyday life), temporal (cf. Schwarz et al., 2025), part of institutional, organisational, and societal contexts and, ultimately, ‘a matter of positionality and subjectivity’ (Bernhard et al., 2026, p. 41). Whilst it is impossible to arrive at a single definition of transition, it is predominantly understood as a process of change over time — whether the change is conceptualised as occurring in contexts of learning or in learners’ identities (or both), or whether it takes place over a short or long timespan, and whatever the causes and consequences of that change may be. (Colley, 2007, p.

    Editorial: Rhythms, spaces, and times of transitional processes in adult education · 2026 · DOI

  • The traditional approach to FYE design may not lead to meaningful learning and transformation. There is a need for a new approach to FYE design, one that emphasizes the importance of embracing uncertainty and friction.

    The Uncontrollability of the First-year Experience: Balancing Chaos and Control in Students Transition to HE · 2026 · DOI

  • Little research has examined international students' temporal experiences. The gap in understanding international students' affective responses to time.

    A non-essentialist view of temporality · 2026 · DOI

  • Continuing to support authors and reviewers through webinars and workshops. Exploring new learning opportunities and strengthening the journal's commitment to diversity of voice and form.

    Born Through Us: SoTL and the Changing Landscapes of Inquiry · 2026 · DOI

  • The need for more research on the impact of SoTL on education. The importance of exploring new contexts, new ideas, and new ways of knowing in SoTL.

    Born Through Us: SoTL and the Changing Landscapes of Inquiry · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in the literature on VET in South Africa, particularly in relation to the potential for repoliticisation through dialogical praxis and student agency. The research highlights the need for more studies on the role of student voice and agency in VET.

    Beyond academisation: Freirean praxis and the repoliticisation of VET in South Africa · 2026 · DOI

  • Standardisation in education can marginalise students' perspectives, values, and self-authored goals. The Uniqueness Model of Educational Justice has limitations in addressing standardisation.

    Dialogic Coordination Through the Compassionate Impactful Communication Cycle: Towards Realising Matusov’s (2026) Uniqueness Model of Educational Justice · 2026 · DOI

  • Dominant student engagement frameworks overlook the inventive spatial, temporal, and relational practices of first-generation students. The study identifies a gap in understanding the spatial and temporal infrastructures that shape student engagement.

    Rhythms of mobility and transformation: First-generation commuter students’ educational engagement in Cape Town · 2026 · DOI

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57 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 2,927 Adult and Continuing Education Topics papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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