This chapter describes the changing nature of adult education theory and practice in the face of complex, disruptive change and explores theories that are suited to tectonic shifts in a period of what we describe as "liquid modernity" in the midst of complex sociocultural-economic-political change in a global environment.

The political and economic changes that followed the adoption of the "Strategy for the Development of Education in Serbia 2020" essentially betrayed the basic ideas and intentions of the strategy, creating a systematic threat to education and its role in the development of Serbia. This created an almost experimental situation for…

The body of literature on adult learning and education for and about the environment has grown over the decades since 1970, the year of the first Earth Day. However, more than 40 years later, the question must be posed: "Are we really making the momentous progress that is essential for an ecosustainable future?" At least a partial answer may lie…

An educated populace is vital to economic growth. Throughout the history of education in America, society has found it necessary to call upon education to address its economic challenges. During the twentieth century, the call for education to address technological advances, economic inequities, and to rescue free enterprise was dire. The U.S.…

A new Labour government was elected in May 1997 and wasted no time in signalling its enthusiasm for the education of adults. Secretary of State for Education and Employment David Blunkett gave his first speech in office at the launch of Adult Learners' Week 1997 and announced the creation of a National Advisory Group for Continuing Education and…

This paper explores the use of "learning circles" as one form of knowledge production in social action research. It reports on a project that used learning circles as a setting within which to increase the engagement of people living with low income in developing strategies for the reduction and elimination of poverty in Canada. It…

Nowadays we are experiencing profound economic and social changes, which cause new and different migratory fluxes in the search for better living conditions. In this manner, the human tissue that composes societies is getting diverse. Therefore we can now find new minorities originating from immigration, whose members possess ethnic, religious,…

National policy stresses the key role of adult learning and skills in securing economic recovery. This close linking of adult learning policy to the recession agenda raises important questions. How has the recession impacted on the implementation of adult learning policy? What has it meant for service delivery? And what have been the consequences…

With skills such as flexibility and originality increasingly required by an economy struggling to adapt to sudden and seismic change, there is renewed interest in what engagement in culture and creativity can offer. This author discovered that the difference such engagement can make to people's lives has long been recognised at Morley College.…

The United States economic recession is now in its third year and continues to have a serious impact on the American higher education system, including Illinois' public community colleges. Illinois community colleges are seeing increases in enrollments while at the same time seeing significant decreases in state funding. The purpose of this…

The authors of this report analyzed the most recent data to illustrate the impact of literacy skills on both the micro- and macro-economic levels. The report explores whether there is a case to be made for direct links between literacy skill and income level. Data relating to the ability to get a job, job retention and promotion, risk of job loss,…

Critical adult education is inspired by Paulo Freire's educational writings. For him, the aim of the pedagogy of the oppressed is to emancipate people from social and economic repression. Critical adult education is intellectual work that aims to make the world more just. One might ask what exactly justice and injustice mean here, however. Is the…

Challenges of globalization for adult education are exposing the economic core, confronting the governance structures, assessing liberal democracy, affirming the importance of the local, and caring for the cultural environment. Their common thread is citizenship. (SK)

Argues that economic restructuring is a myth that masks capitalist reorganization. Demonstrates how adult education is implicated in the processes of capitalist domination and reorganization. (SK)

This article revisits and reinterprets my previous paper. It is a snapshot of the lifelong learning system building in selected Asian countries, reflected in the mirror of the Asian Financial Crisis in the 1997s and the aftermath of that event. I reconsidered the arguments (1) the economic recession had delivered a global dimension of lifelong…