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1. Researching men's learning
through life
Professor Barry Golding
Faculty of Education and Arts, Federation University Australia,
President Adult Learning Australia, Patron, Australian Men’s Sheds Association
b.golding@federation.edu.au and www.barrygoanna.com
Department of Educational Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
28 October 2014

2. Sincere thanks
 for the warm welcome to Ljubljana, the
University and Slovenia
 participating (feel free to ask questions)
 to Assoc. Prof. Sabina Jelenc Krašovec
and Department of Educational
Sciences for organising this session.
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3. Researching men’s learning through life: Synopsis
Formal adult education approaches in many countries
have been relatively ineffective for many men, including
older men and men not in paid work. The difficulty is
that those men who need most learning as they age or
withdraw from paid work, are those who would benefit
most. Research into Men learning through life in seven
countries, published in 201, suggests some new and
exciting insights into less direct and less formal ways of
engaging men, with significant community benefits.
This includes the grassroots community ‘men's sheds’
movement, started a decade ago in Australia and
recently introduced to Ireland and the UK. It raises
questions about possible appropriate approaches to
reconnecting men to learning in Slovenia.
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4. Many countries in Europe …
 have very concerning male health and
wellbeing statistics.
 In Slovenia, life expectancy is 83 years for
women, 77 for men (close to Europe average)
 The gender differential is 10+ years in Estonia
and the Russian Federation.
 Only two countries have national male health
policies (Ireland & Australia).
 There is a particular case for addressing the
acute needs of many former combatants in
post-conflict countries.
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5. The challenge is to acknowledge:
 salutogenic (health-inhancing)
community places and spaces that are
inclusive of diverse adults of all ages;
 viable alternatives to narrow, market-driven
education agendas;
 the gendered dimensions in current
provision & services for older people;
 that functional literacy is age-related;
 effects of population ageing, changes
in family aged care and dementia.

6. Adult learners after Digital Britain Media Literacy Working Group
(2009, Table 2, p.18) in Schuller & Watson, p.172; italicized addition from Jarvis (1991)
Life stages Needs
Young people Developing educational potential
Developing social networks
Gaining new knowledge and networks
Adults Looking for and developing employment
Looking after families (health, education)
Older people Overcoming the risk of social isolation
Staying healthy
Remaining independent
Before death Making sense of and reconciling the life
one has lived

7. Expenditure on formal and informal learning across
four life stages (in UK, 2008: Schuller & Watson, 2009, p.102)
confirms that learning is not currently lifelong
 age 1-25 = 86%
 age 25-50 = 11%
 age 50-75 = 2.5%
 75+ = 0.5%
 How well are these age categories catered
for in Slovenian adult education & training?

8. Social Determinants of Health (WHO)
Suggest adult learning needs to be lifewide
Determinants Ways of addressing them for older adults
Social inclusion Social inclusion & community engagement
Unemployment Paid employment & productive voluntary work
Difficult Early lives Social inclusion in later life
Stress Recreation, exercise, relaxation, enjoyment
Inadequate food Regular, healthy, social meals
Substance abuse Information and support for addictions

9. A range of factors turn older adults away from
formal learning, keep them unwell & out of work,
and exacerbate inequality:
 previous negative experiences of schooling
 a dislike of formal learning, exams & literacies
 limited access to education, training & services that
match adults preferred ways of learning across
different ages
 limited access to computers & internet
 age discrimination in employment & training
 sickness, disability, caring & family roles.
 All of these factors need addressing in adult & community
education for older adults (particularly for older men).

10. Research shows the importance to learning
and wellbeing of creating safe spaces that:
1. tend not to patronize older participants from deficit
models, as clients, customers, students or
patients
2. do not describe, prescribe or limit the activity or
the learning
3. encourage shared, hands-on activity in community
settings beyond home for older people to exercise
agency over the activity as well as over their lives.
4. promote holistic learning without the need for
teachers, curriculum & assessment.
5. are inclusive of all older participants
6. may be gendered.
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11. Research shows we get a different
response in adult education if men are:
 not patronized from deficit or ageist models;
 active, co-participants in an activity;
 not treated as the problem;
 not treated clients, customers, patients or
students;
 valued for what they can and do bring (not
what they can’t do);
 able to attract the support of women
(professionally and personally).
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12. First ‘How to’ ageing challenge
 1. ‘… to ensure the greatest number of
[older] people maintain the best possible
mental capital, and so preserve their
independence and wellbeing, both for
their own benefit, and also to minimise
their need for support.’
(Kirkwood, Bond May et al. ‘Mental capital and wellbeing through
life’, in Cooper et al. 2010, Mental capital and wellbeing, p.7.
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13. Second ‘How to’ ageing challenge:
 2. ‘… to ensure that the considerable
resource which [older] people offer … is
recognised and valued by society, and
that they have the opportunity to realise
the maximum benefit from that, both for
themselves and society.’
Kirkwood, Bond, May et al. ‘Mental capital and wellbeing through
life’, in Cooper et al. 2010, Mental capital and wellbeing, p.8.
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14. It is unhelpful
 arguing for an essential ‘gender order’
on the basis of false gender difference
 directly comparing men and women’s
experiences
 blaming or problematising all men (or
all women)
 suggesting quick & easy answers.
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15. It is useful to go beyond ideas of men’s
absences (from work, health services, family,
fathering) as either exclusion or election:
 to identify ‘third places and spaces’ where men can
participate through sharing, connection with and
practising diverse aspects of being a man, beyond
home and paid work, which are neither negative nor
totally controlling (hegemonic).
 These are likely not pubs, betting shops (or
McDonald’s) …
 Women may encourage men to go there
 They may include a men’s shed.
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16. There is a case for
 repositioning men’s lifelong and lifewide
learning at any age, aside from its
narrowly defined vocational benefits
 acknowledging the links to men’s health
and wellbeing (via the WHO Social Determinants of
Health)
 recognising the intergenerational links
to boy’s learning.
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17. Globally
 Why has this field of research and practice
been so slow to get traction internationally?
 How do we get beyond the idea of education
and training as a subsidy to the individual
and employee to service the economy?
 Why is adult and basic education a low and
diminishing priority for many governments?
 Why are known, highly gendered health and
wellbeing differentials not addressed by
research, policy & practice?
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18. It is in no country’s best interest
Men learning through life, Chapter 16
 ‘… to have a generation of bitter, angry,
poorly educated, unemployed or under-employed
men unable to comprehend
what has changed, and turning
irrationally, physically and aggressively
on fellow human beings (migrants,
women, refugees gay men …) as is
occurring across most nations in
Europe.’
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19. As paid work slows, other
changes quicken:
 in relation to health and wellbeing
status, income, social networks and
attachments to paid work
 In the Fourth Age, there is decreased
mobility and physical dependence, and
radically narrowed opportunities: over
where men ‘… live, relationships with
peers, partners, family and the
community.’ 19

20. In essence …
 Despite a growing concern about men’s
health, fatherhood, lifelong and lifewide
learning, the opportunities for some men
to participate and take control are quite
limited (and reduce with age).
 Partly, this is about a narrowing of national
policies that focus only on entry & re-entry
to paid work.
 For some men beyond work (for any
reason), there is nowhere to go.
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21. Three key concerns:
 Certain forms of education turn some
men (& boys) away from learning for life.
 There are ways this can be addressed by
valuing and facilitating learning through
life.
 The biggest and most debilitating effects
of not learning to change are
experienced by some men not in paid
work (for whatever reason).
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22. The timeliness of community
men’s sheds:
 Connect older individuals with a lifetime of skills through the
creation of social networks.
 Encourage men’s agency, to transform themselves, other men
and the community.
 Tick most of the WHO Social Determinants of Health.
 Create a ‘third place’ beyond the discourse of work and
productivity
 Link the need for lifelong and lifewide learning and wellbeing
beyond paid work
 Address widespread population aging through grassroots action
at the level of community.
See Golding, B. ‘Men’s Sheds: A new movement for change’, Chapter 8 in Men
learning through life, NIACE (2014)
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Community men’s sheds developed in
Australia the past 15 years from:
 backyard, house & garden sheds
 fire brigade, football and rugby sheds
 woodworker’s/turner’s workshops
 Vietnam & war veterans organisations
 places & organisations where workers want to keep
trade skills, traditions, tools & engines alive.
 ideas in the media & books
 men’s health, learning & wellbeing workers,
organisations, researchers, activists & gerontologists.
 Shed ‘pioneers’ & innovators in four nations
 Now 1,000+ worldwide, 4 national Associations.

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What are community men’s sheds
 A new ‘movement’ of shed-based community organisations,
mainly for and by men.
 The largest community association in Australia, Ireland and
New Zealand and UK focused on the needs, health, wellbeing
& interests of men.
 Provide safe, regular, social spaces, for informal, voluntary
activity & programs with many other possibilities & outcomes.
 Unlike ‘backyard’ sheds, available to groups of men,
organised independently or through other community
organisations.
 Usually (but not always) with a group workshop space, tools
and equipment a public, shed-type setting.
 As diverse as the men and communities they spring from.
 Salutogenic (‘health giving, but health is not fore grounded).
 Men bring and build on what they can do, not what they can’t.

25. National Men’s Sheds Associations
 Australian Men’s Shed Association
www.mensshed.org
 Irish Men’s Sheds Association
www.menssheds.ie
 New Zealand Menz Sheds Association
www.menzshed.org.nz
 UK Men’s Sheds Association
www.menssheds.org.uk
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26. Men’s sheds in community settings …
Golding 2012, p.129
1. tend not to patronize participants as clients,
customers, students or patients
2. do not describe the activity or the participants in the
shed (other than being men). They provide places
for men to exercise agency over the shed activity as
well as their lives.
3. are radical in that they promote holistic learning
(without the need for teachers, curriculum, teaching
& assessment) and health (without health workers).
4. are safe, health and wellbeing-promoting spaces
deliberately inclusive of all men.
5. are particularly appealing for older men not in paid
work (median age of Australian shedders 70 years)26

27. The important basics:
 Sheds work because men enjoy gathering socially,
regularly, voluntarily, happily, safely and do hand-on
stuff together.
 They work best when it’s grassroots, local, by, for
and about the local men and for the community.
 Shedders are active and equal participants: not
students, patients, clients or customers.
 They are not patronizing: men are not assumed to
have ‘a deficit’ or be seen as the problem.
 They should be inclusive and welcoming of all men.
 Not naming the shed activity provides freedom to do
& talk about important other stuff (including health).
 The outcomes are typically diverse and powerful. 27

28. Sheds work for (and are supported by some
governments & professionals) because they:
 attract men who are otherwise missing (who
won’t access services that patronize them)
 provide places to embed programs and meet
men, ‘at home’, on their terms
 operate and are responsive to diverse men’s
diverse needs at a local level
 tick most of the Social Determinants of Health
 provide some services free, cheaper or more
effectively than govt. (This one needs watching …)
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29. 29
Men’s sheds have tended to thrive in:
 Post-industrial suburban areas
 Rural and regional areas (where farmers have
moved to town or where ex-tradesmen are concentrated)
 Areas and men hit by crisis & change (with
fire, drought, flood, earthquake, recent war, low SES)
 Areas where the proportion of older men
‘beyond paid work’ (unemployed, out of the workforce,
retired) is higher than average.
 These are the areas and men service
providers and governments have difficulty
reaching.

30. Men’s sheds must be for all men
 An important reflection on four men who
have suggested otherwise …
 Racism, homophobia, discrimination on
the basis of religion or disability is not
acceptable in sport (and is unlawful).
 A brief reflection on the role and status
of women …
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31. Women have actively assisted the spread
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 Men with female partners typically participate with
their strong support (& encouragement).
 Women have played major roles in developing &
championing many sheds, the movement, plus
national & state associations.
 Almost all major media stories about sheds have
been researched and reported by women.
 Women have been behind many shed start ups &
the procurement of funds.
 Some sheds have a female coordinator.
 Sheds make a local decision to include women as
participants (or not).
 Men sometimes shift the stuff they don’t want to
deal with to women (e.g. paperwork, budgeting, accountability).

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What do men learn in sheds?
 Hands-on skills through practical, productive
activity.
 The positive value of leisure activity &
friendships with other men.
 Importance of health, fitness, relationships,
identities as men & emotional well being.
 Coping with changes associated with
unemployment, separation, ageing, disability
& retirement.
 To develop, share & enjoy lives & identities
beyond work & home.

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Men learn new ways to:
 break social isolation & ‘underfoot syndrome’
 regularly share workshop-based, hands-on,
trade skills with men & sometimes boys
 give back to their communities
 model positive and diverse ways of being a
man (particularly beyond work)
 regularly participate & socialise in
community settings with other men
 learn, that does not involve shame
 contribute to the community at any age.

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Why do sheds work?
 They positively accommodate men with an
aversion to formal education & service
provision.
 They encourage mentoring & sharing of
leisure, trade, craft, health & safety skills.
 They match the specific learning needs of the
men that use them & make men ‘feel at
home’, valued and valuable.
 The focus is on the needs of men as equal
and joint participants in the activity.
 They help men stay healthy and productively
age.

35. Shed practice informs health educators by
identifying factors that ‘put men off’ formal services
even if they are unwell & out of work:
 previous negative experiences of schooling &
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service provision (sometimes gendered)
 a dislike of formal learning & literacies
 limited access to education, training & health
services that match men’s preferred ways of
learning
 limited access to computers & internet
 age discrimination in employment & training
 sickness, disability, caring & family roles.

36. Events for men: the basics
 Men-friendly venue
 Literature targeted to men
 Catchy title
 A suitable time
 Involving men in the local area
 Organised with the men.
 Promoted through ‘men’s places’
 Social and with attractive food
 Cover the formalities (insurance, disability access)36

37. Fatherhood
 Fully encourage & involve men as
fathers & grandfathers
 Fix public policy and practice where
they discriminate against this active
involvement.
 Acknowledge and address men’s
experiences and roles as parents post-separation.
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38. Men’s health
 Acknowledge and address the known
gender differentials (life expectancy,
causes of death, experiences of health
services).
 Address the social, economic,
environmental & cultural determinants
of men’s health.
 Encourage men’s agency over their
own health.
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39. For all adults …
 When will governments learn the social (&
economic) value of grassroots wellbeing
through community organisations rather than
just measuring the cost?
 How can other services including health be
transformed in similar way ways that value
participants over clients?
 What appropriate role might the governments
play in all of this?
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