Adult Education at the Crossroads: Learning Our Way Out

This is a pithy assessment of where adult education now stands - the traditions out of which it came, its current problems, and possible futures. The authors are particularly concerned with how its longstanding commitment to deliver social change ran into difficulties in the less favourable circumstances of the 1980s and 1990s. They argue that its purposes now need to be reconceptualized in order for it to become, once again, a relevant and effective agent of change.

The authors remind adult educationists of their traditional commitment to social action by surveying the ideas of seminal adult education thinkers as they developed historically in Europe, North America and later the Third World. They show how today's very different context has eroded that original vision and purpose.

The book concludes by identifying four possible future scenarios; the challenges confronting an adult education still committed to social change; and the key features which they believe can contribute to 'learning our way out of' the current impasse.

Matthias Finger holds doctorates in both Political Science and Adult Education from the University of Geneva and was Associate Professor of Adult and Continuing Education at Columbia University, New York, in 1992-94. He is a Member of the Commision on Environmental Strategy and Planning of the IUCN (the World Conservation Union). He has published widely in English, French and German on social issues including ecology, development, management, adult education and the peace movement. For several years, he edited the magazine Eco-currents. His books include (with Pratap Chatterjee), The Earth Brokers: Power, Politics and Development (London, 1994) and (with Thomas Princen), Environmental NGOs in World Politics: Linking the Global and the Local (London, 1994). He is currently Professor of Management of Public Enterprises at the Graduate Institute of Public Administration (IDHEAP) in Lausanne.

Jose Manuel Asun is a Spanish adult educator who for many years (1984-92) was Director of the Ministry of Education's Adult Education Territorial Centre in Zaragoza. His original university education was at the Universities of Zaragoza, Salamanca and the Universidad Pontifica de Salamanca. In 1993 he went to the Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City where he spent the following three years. When writing this book, he was a research fellow at the University of Barcelona's Centre for Research on the Education of Adults. His professional experience has included a spell as a resident specialist at the UNESCO Institute of Education (Hamburg, Germany). He has also served as the Spanish Government's representative on the IFOMA Programme of UNESCO's regional bureau in Dakar, Senegal. He currently works for the Regional Ministry of Education of Aragon.