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It links “really useful research” to “really useful practice” and “really useful knowledge” to build critical consciousness and challenge inequality. It contests the neutrality of research, showing how it has been used instrumentally to serve neo-liberal agendas that privilege private gain, market-led solutions, and reduced state responsibility, threatening public well-being.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/really-useful-research-for-real-equality-and-justice-in-adult-and-community-education/588685/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/really-useful-research-for-real-equality-and-justice-in-adult-and-community-education/588685.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Rizky","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is “really useful research” in the article’s argument?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It is an emancipatory research approach meant to underpin adult and community education by promoting equality and justice and countering the use of research to maintain the status quo.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why does the article reject the idea that research is neutral?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It argues that feminist research demonstrates research can reinforce power relations and serve reductionist, instrumental purposes rather than public good.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the article connect neo-liberal policy agendas to adult education?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It claims policy shifts toward market-led privatisation and labour activation, with narrow learning outcomes that undermine broad social outcomes and threaten state-supported initiatives.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},588685,1792189075,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},962085564807,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","‘Really Useful Research’ for real equality and justice in adult and community education  \nbríd connolly, maynooth university  \nAbstract  \nIn recent decades, adult and community education has emerged asa distinctive discipline in its own right, based on scholarship in the quest for real equality and social justice. This distinctive discipline is already characterised by ‘really useful practice’, that is, critical, creative pedagogy, heavily influenced by women’s studies and women’s community education. Further, it draws on ‘really useful knowledge’, the cocreation of knowledge for critical consciousness. I make the case that we in the field need to develop a distinctive research approach to underpin the discipline, ‘really useful research’ that is dedicated to promoting emancipation, addressing inequality and inequity, in order to counter the ways in which research has been employed in maintaining the status quo. The article argues that research is not neutral, as feminist research approaches has demonstrated so clearly. And research has been used in a reductionist and instrumental manner, to implement global agendas for private gain rather than public good. Critical adult and community educators are dedicated to real equality and social justice, and ‘really useful research’ will provide the wherewithal to works towards that end.  \nKeywords: Emergence of the Discipline, Gender Equality, Social Justice,‘Really Useful Knowledge’,‘Really Useful Practice’, Emancipatory Research  \nIntroduction  \nWhen Thompson developed the notion of ‘really useful knowledge’ (1996) for the purpose of linking the practice of working with adults to the radical foundational ethos, she provided the kindling needed to develop the scholarly engagement with the field. At that time, in the mid-nineties in Ireland, there were comparatively few scholars in adult and community education, a mere handful at doctoral level with considerably more at masters level, while the field  \nitself was blossoming with ‘really useful practice’ (Connolly and Hussey, 2013) . While there was a deficit in scholarly engagement, the practice was vibrant, innovative and creative. And that field was – and still is – central in transforming people’s lives and developing their capacity to participate more fully and critically in society, as it emerges as a discipline in its own right, rather than a sub-set or safety net of formal education.  \nIn the intervening twenty years, the scholarly landscape has changed fundamentally. There is a distinct movement in scholarly reflection on that practice, theorising it and contributing to the development of the distinctive discipline of adult and community education. However, this is not without a bit of a tussle. We’re in the middle of a territorial struggle for the hearts and minds of learners. I maintain that a powerful research agenda has been used to influence social policy to quell critical development and education. This arguably aims to promote a specific economic and political agenda. This agenda bears all the hallmarks of the neo-liberal project, and its key objectives are market-led privatisation, individualism and freedom from oversight. The outcomes of this agenda are the diminution of the responsibility of the state towards the public good and wellbeing of the population. This means that state-sponsored or supported initiatives are under threat as an unnecessary draw on public finances, and simultaneously, the response to social needs are pushed towards market led solutions. Macrine holds that the incursion of private gain into the public good of education means that the focus has shifted from the well-being and development of humanity and society to a reduction of human worth to the economic value of labour of individuals in the neo-liberal context (Macrine, 2009) .  \nIn Ireland, Hurley finds that this prevails in the enactment of adult and community education, particularly as it finds itself trammelled into labour activation toge","cbCaia8O6PEMeafK","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaia8O6PEMeafK","pdf",96727,13,"English","# Introduction\n## Really Useful Knowledge: Emergence and Purpose\n## The Territorial Struggle in Research and Policy\n## Really Useful Research and Emancipation\n## Interrogation of Patriarchal Power","[{\"question\":\"What is “really useful research” in the article’s argument?\",\"answer\":\"It is an emancipatory research approach meant to underpin adult and community education by promoting equality and justice and countering the use of research to maintain the status quo.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the article reject the idea that research is neutral?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that feminist research demonstrates research can reinforce power relations and serve reductionist, instrumental purposes rather than public good.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article connect neo-liberal policy agendas to adult education?\",\"answer\":\"It claims policy shifts toward market-led privatisation and labour activation, with narrow learning outcomes that undermine broad social outcomes and threaten state-supported initiatives.\"}]","Really Useful Research for Real Equality and Justice in Adult and Community Education | PDF",1792065738,33]