{"title":"Enrollment at Adult High Schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: An Exploration of Motivation, Age, and Gender Using Boshier's EPS A-Form","authors":"Mousa Alfaifi","doi":"10.1177/07417136241239328","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Motivation plays a crucial role in adult learners’ decisions to enroll in educational programs. This study aimed to evaluate the motivations for adult learners who enrolled at adult high schools in Riyadh as well as the potential gender and age differences for their motivations. The Education Participation Scale (EPS) A-Form was administered to adult learners, and 221 valid responses were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank, Mann–Whitney U, and Kruskal–Wallis H tests. The results indicated that professional advancement, cognitive interest, and educational preparation were the primary motivations, while social contact was the least influential motivator. Furthermore, female respondents reported higher levels of motivation for educational preparation than male respondents, but no significant differences were observed for motivational orientations across age groups. To enhance participation in adult high-school programs, the General Department of Continuing Education should tailor its enrollment strategies that they appeal to the three main motivations for various groups.","PeriodicalId":47287,"journal":{"name":"Adult Education Quarterly","volume":"486 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Adult Education Quarterly","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/07417136241239328","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Motivation plays a crucial role in adult learners’ decisions to enroll in educational programs. This study aimed to evaluate the motivations for adult learners who enrolled at adult high schools in Riyadh as well as the potential gender and age differences for their motivations. The Education Participation Scale (EPS) A-Form was administered to adult learners, and 221 valid responses were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank, Mann–Whitney U, and Kruskal–Wallis H tests. The results indicated that professional advancement, cognitive interest, and educational preparation were the primary motivations, while social contact was the least influential motivator. Furthermore, female respondents reported higher levels of motivation for educational preparation than male respondents, but no significant differences were observed for motivational orientations across age groups. To enhance participation in adult high-school programs, the General Department of Continuing Education should tailor its enrollment strategies that they appeal to the three main motivations for various groups.
期刊介绍:
The Adult Education Quarterly (AEQ) is a scholarly refereed journal committed to advancing the understanding and practice of adult and continuing education. The journal strives to be inclusive in scope, addressing topics and issues of significance to scholars and practitioners concerned with diverse aspects of adult and continuing education. AEQ publishes research employing a variety of methods and approaches, including (but not limited to) survey research, experimental designs, case studies, ethnographic observations and interviews, grounded theory, phenomenology, historical investigations, and narrative inquiry as well as articles that address theoretical and philosophical issues pertinent to adult and continuing education.