Product Description

This assessment of the state of adult education - its traditions, current problems, and possible futures, is written from a social action perspective. The authors demonstrate how adult education's commitment to deliver social change ran into difficulties in the 1980s and 1990s. They argue that it now needs to be reconceptualized to become, once again, a relevant and effective agent of change. The authors start by surveying the ideas and practice o many of the seminal thinkers in adult education as it developed in Europe, and later in North America and the south. They then set out the different social context that emerged in the early 1980s, laying emphasis on the sustainable process of economic growth and development that took root in most countries. This profound change in social direction eroded the purpose of adult education. The book identifies four possible scenarios for the future and on this basis defines the challenges confronting an adult education still committed to social change. the authors outline the key features of an adult education that can contribute to 'learning our way out of' the dead end of relentless industrial development, mounting inequality, mass immiseration and alienation.

Product Details

• Published on: 2001-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages