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…

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…

For about 30 years, the European Union has been politically active in the field of Education and Training with a broad set of aims, measures and tools. All member states were involved in these politics, creating a kind of European profile. Adult education was an important pillar. A number of adult educators involved in various organisations at…

The educational historian Brian Simon is well known for his portrayal of the social and political conflicts surrounding adult working-class education in 19th and early 20th-century England. However, the third and fourth volumes of his classic history of education in Britain, covering the period from 1920 to 1940 and 1940 to 1990 respectively,…

This article offers a comprehensive thematic literature review on labour education, exploring the major contributions as well as some of the limits of this scholarship and future directions for researchers. Based on an analysis of 180 English-language publications from the 1960s until today, we find several general trends that we analyse as four…

Adult literacy is an essential subject to examine given its impact on human development indicators. A significant gap exists as nation-states progress on these indices, especially in developing economies. National governments and international and bilateral development organizations seek to improve adult literacy metrics for the developing world…

Andragogy was the first adult learning model to identify adult learners' characteristics and provide a pragmatic framework for responding to them. It is still considered a foundational and significant contribution to understanding adult learners despite substantial critique over the last 50 years. Current research supports the notion that…

The term tertiary education has gained prominence in recent policy debates in the UK [Morgan (2023). "Labour 'would review whole landscape' of tertiary education." "Times Higher Education," 28 November. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/labour-would-review-whole-landscape-tertiary-education]. This paper presents…

The concept of the ideal student is one that has generated much research across many disciplines across the globe and continues to stimulate debate about teaching and learning within higher education. This paper explores the concept of the ideal student in relation to the experiences of mature female students enrolled onto a Foundation Programme…

This article provides an overview of adult learning theory, focusing on the theories covered in this issue of New Directions in Adult and Continuing Education. In offering a brief synopsis of each article and reflecting on the ways adult learning theories have evolved since the first update was published in 1993, this article explains several…

VET researchers and policy-makers have historically displayed a keen interest in the future. Two assumptions link VET to the future. The first is that there is a singular object called VET and, secondly, that it can influence a forthcoming state of reality. This relationship is investigated through a rarely utilised post-structuralist discourse…

Rooted in nearly five decades of scholarly research, transformative learning theory explores how individuals construct and reinterpret their experiences, leading to profound change. This chapter delves into the foundational principles of transformative learning within adult education, highlighting its significance and broad applications. It starts…

This article is written for educators and others interested in creating high-quality adult basic skills development systems in both developing countries and other nations. It presents case studies of two Indigenous-language adult literacy/numeracy projects in rural villages in The Gambia between 1976 and 1983. The first project was based at the…

Self-directed learning (SDL) has become increasingly important in today's fast-paced and ever-changing society. This paper explores SDL's historical evolution, theoretical foundations, and practical applications, particularly in online environments. SDL is defined as a personal attribute and a process that empowers learners to take the initiative…

Between 1916 and 1918, a group of Chinese intellectuals opened a school in Paris for Chinese workers who came to Europe in aid of the Allied cause. One of them, Cai Yuanpei, created a textbook based on lectures he gave at the school, which included chapters on moral and intellectual topics. This article focuses on two of these chapters -- History…