During the affluent noughties it was sometimes said of government that it had "more visions than Mystic Meg and more pilots than British Airways". In 2011, the pilots, the pathfinders, the new initiatives are largely gone--implementation is the name of the game--but the visions remain. The latest one, as it affects adult learners, is in…

The authors argue that incidental learning--learning that is picked up through social interaction--is an important learning resource, though it is often not recognized as such by learners. Emphasis is on education for the unemployed. (Author/CH)

This working paper from the annual conference of the Indian Adult Education Association briefly describes the current state of adult education in India and outlines important steps that should be taken to make adult education an integral part of national development. (SK)

Gives a background on the various adult/non-formal education programs drawn up since Indian independence, and discusses the needs, aspirations, and problems supported by facts and figures. (Editor)

Examines the traditional liberal adult education thesis of educational externalism: that the role of the educator must be undertaken by a person other than the learner. Argues that this requirement is without defensible grounds in the management of the educational event or through singular contribution to its content. (Author/JOW)

Explores the concept of community and the difficulty of defining the term. Explains how adult education is a vital component of community structure. Suggests that community is best defined as a natural setting for formal, nonformal, and informal adult education, providing the basis for lifelong education. (SK)

Describes behavioral patterns and learning processes that illustrate the function and nature of learning during the inventive process. Presents a learning process that describes this adult learning project. (JOW)

In the Asia-Pacific region, innovations in nonformal adult education rarely become mainstream policy and practice. Effective adult education policy advocacy requires assertion of a lifelong view and a common position of advancing learning for the most marginal groups. (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…

Nonformal continuing education may be one of the major challenges of the decade. This points out the critical need for formal training for adult educators, requiring leadership from governments and national associations. (SK)

Concentrates on the work of Community Education through Radio (ECORA), a Bolivian organization that planned and implemented the nonformal education component of a project that included school construction, teacher training, bilingual education, and administrative reforms within the Ministry of Education and Culture. (JOW)

Radio broadcasting is used in Botswana to inform, teach, and persuade adults about issues in agriculture, health, wildlife, conservation, and other areas. However, open broadcasting is not an effective nonformal education tool. Active and guided group listening to radio enables discussion and feedback. (SK)

Describes and provides an orientation to nonformal vocational training (vestibule training, on-the-job training, apprenticeships, training for unemployed persons) and increases awareness of the potential and the legitimacy of out-of-school vocational training efforts. (JOW)

Argues that adult educators use "learning" when they mean "education" and that this confounds and demeans incidental and informal learning processes. Suggests that intended, purposeful planned learning should properly be termed education and that there is no such thing as a nonlearner. (SK)

The Cooperative Extension Service has a long history of providing community-based lifelong education. Current trends affecting extension programming include new telecommunications technologies, necessity for accountability, and demographic shifts. (SK)