The final documents adopted at CONFINTEA V in 1997 set out a variety of issues and challenges for the future development of adult education worldwide. The forthcoming CONFINTEA VI conference, due in 2009, will mark another milestone and provide an opportunity for the stocktaking of success stories and unresolved challenges, and for the development…

This paper deals with specific characteristics of elders,1 bearing in mind both their cognitive and their non-cognitive aspects. Regarding their way of learning, the paper refers to basic principles for this group of people: active learning, situational analysis, their experience, awareness that they have--and need--specific time and rhythm for…

Beyond 3Rs to learning within political action to functional literacy to life skills, the discourse on adult literacy has primarily been defined by civil society organizations. This article presents thoughts on adult literacy programs coming from educators and advocates and the underlying dilemmas of autonomy and collaboration with government for…

Adult education programs in Latin America have been less than successful because they have been planned on too limited a basis. They must be given higher priority and more systematic planning. (MF)

Adult education by means of communication satellites is stressed as a key to reciprocal interdependence. The author states that technological advances such as communications satellites can be used effectively to diffuse knowledge and offer options for choice in evolving societies. (RR)

Class and age differences in type of leisure activity are disappearing; but level of participation increases with such programs as workers' education to encourage cultural involvement. (MF)

The Adult Education Council of Japan's Ministry of Education is preparing recommendations for further program innovations. Those already in effect include widespread use of educational broadcasting (particularly for foreign language instruction), expansion of audiovisual libraries, and improvement of methods in extension and vocational education.…

Improvements include an optical scanner to correct materials, and programmed comments for feedback to the students; student reactions are generally positive. (SP)

Describes a school which provides non-credit classes and correspondence study to increase Venezuela's skilled work force.'' (Editor)

The article describes Iran's attempts to eradicate illiteracy. (MF)

The program of Fircroft College, a one-year residential course in liberal education for adults who are already experienced in work and community leadership, is described. About one-quarter of the 50 students are foreign. Fircroft neither requires nor grants formal academic qualifications; it cultivates equally intellectual thought and experience…

An overview of the conference proceedings, the report looks at structures, functions, memberships, definitions, relationships, pressures, and the international dimension of adult education. Thirty-two countries were represented. A key issue was the relationship between national adult education organizations, government policy, and governmental…

The exploratory research raises questions regarding the learning environment of rural adults in Ghana and Sri Lanka and challenges assumptions regarding adult learners in developing countries. Utilizing an inductive approach, the study hopes to identify the overall principles of rural life-long learning. (MW)

Reporting on the second year of Sweden's experimental adult education program inititated in 1970, the article discusses the program's progress in reaching adults with inadequate education who, for geographic, economic, social, and psychological reasons, did not participate in adult education. (MW)