"Sustainability" has a captivating but disingenuous simplicity: its meanings are complex, and have political and policy significance. Exploring the application of the term to adult education, this paper argues that a particular discourse of "sustainability" has become a common-sense, short-circuiting critical analysis and…

Outlines policy development in British colonial education; examines influences on post-war colonial education policy; looks at community education practice; examines how the work of adult educators was affected by the post-war world; and reflects on the lessons of the study. (JOW)