A systematic review of the studies of leadership, continuous learning and adult education in the period from 2018 to 2022, documented in the Saudi Digital Library

Abstract

The study aimed to reveal the volume of  research that dealt with leadership, continuous learning, adult education, the most targeted groups, the most prominent research methods used, and the most prominent trends in terms of the topics it addressed and the results it reached. Finally, presenting some future directions related to the subject of the current study. To achieve these goals, a survey of Arab and foreign research on leadership, continuous learning and adult education was conducted in the Saudi Digital Library in the period (2018-2022) according to inclusion criteria (studies published as full text in specialized academic journals) and exclusion criteria (studies incomplete text, published studies In conferences and scientific theses), and to analyze the information, both quantitative and qualitative analysis were used, and the study concluded that the volume of research on leadership, continuous learning and adult education amounted to (13) studies (3 studies conducted in the Arab world; and 10 studies conducted in the Western world), and it was The year 2020 is the largest in terms of the number of published studies, with an average of (5) studies. While the years 2018 and 2021 are the lowest in the number of studies published in the field of the current study, as the number was one study published for each. The results also showed the diversity of the target groups for studies. The number of studies that dealt with categories (administrative leaders at the university; youth; students of adult education and literacy programs; experts in adult education leaders) was equal to two studies for each category. The categories (teaching staff and leaders in higher education and pre-university education; leaders of adult education schools; emerging leaders in adult education; administrators in adult education; health care managers) were equalized, at the rate of one study for each category; The descriptive approach with all its types was the prevailing approach, followed by the experimental approach, and then the qualitative approach. The researcher also presented the most prominent trends in the studies in terms of the topics covered and the results she reached. Accordingly, some future directions for studies of leadership, continuous learning and adult education were proposed.