The "1919 Report" of the British Ministry of Reconstruction's Adult Education Committee, produced as the First World War was ending, reflects the optimism of its committee about the possibilities for a more socially just and democratic society and its concern to find an alternative to economic deprivation and disenfranchisement. Its…

In this article we explore our collaborative practices, since 2020, in the design and facilitation of a distinctive form of research circle aimed at 'fostering community, democracy and dialogue', which has been informed by, but distinct from, those first developed by Swedish adult educators. We ask how our work and its particular form of…

Education-related responses to our current democratic crisis have largely been focused on schooling children and youth. This narrow focus has foreclosed or diverted our attention from other possibilities for democratic education, especially as it relates to adult citizens and the ways in which such education can -- and must -- extend beyond…

This article embodies a kind of backward travelling by revisiting the history of workers' education in a mining community as part of our contemporary struggle to reinvigorate notions of the common good and popular education. Its focus is the complexities of working-class history, disparaged in neoliberal condescension and oversimplified in some…

Democratic adult education (AE) promotes social change through active and pragmatic learning. This learning considers the impact of individual, community, organization, and broader cultural influences. Democratic civic engagement (DCE) in higher education institutions (HEIs) emphasizes inclusive participation and reciprocity. These values are…

This paper explores experience that is both misconstrued and under theorized in adult education. Human experience is expressed in the public sphere as the motivation for social and political change. The connections among experience, the public sphere, and democracy are identified. The allies in exploring the role of experience in education are…

Programme planning models found in the current body of literature provide some practical strategies for developing effective adult education programmes, but how political and economic systems of a country shape the nature and scope of planning is missing. This paper aims to fill this theoretical void by bringing political economy perspective into…

In this chapter, we provide a snapshot of critical theories with salience for adult education to illuminate their enduring efficacy within the discipline, including critical feminism, queer theory, and race-based critical theories. Critical theories seek to make individual change while dismantling the structures that suppress freedom and…

The article synthesizes ideas from the capability approach, the embeddedness approach, and Nancy Fraser's three-dimensional scale of justice and develops a theoretical framework for understanding subjective well-being (SWB) as a positive functioning. It also proposes an instrument for measuring SWB and its relationship with participation in…

Contemporary society is experiencing an epistemic crisis, evidenced by such "post-truth" phenomena as "alternative facts." Traditional notions related to knowledge and Truth have been under continual, partly justifiable, attack under the eclectic banner of postmodernism, and alternative epistemic foundations (essential for…

This essay introduces a juxtaposition of adult education, futures perspectives, transformative learning theory, and democratic engagement. Within adult education, the promise of education, and the possibilities of transformative learning (TL) are often linked to democracy and human freedoms, yet that democratic promise is often left unfulfilled or…

Many key concerns require engagement with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) knowledge. Consider the complexity and nuance of climate change, energy policy, health and medicine, and data security. Informed voting or decision-making on such issues is no easy task; effective participation in our society requires considerable…

Adult education has historically played a role in modern democracies in support of civic participation and democratic engagement. In the context of a relatively stable and unchanging society, learning "about" and participating "in" the democratic process allow for tweaking the mechanisms of democracy. In present times, taken…

The value of upholding individuals' rights in society especially in this post-COVID-19 era can never be over-emphasized. The economic, political, cultural, and social rights of citizens set the parameters of what is expected by citizens from the government as we exist and socialise in society. It is also what gives the legal backing to citizens…

This article presents part of a larger study on potential relations between democracy and numeracy and mathematics teaching for adults. This study is motivated by the many challenges to democratic institutions and democratic values at local, national and international levels that I have observed in recent years. In this article. I go back to the…