Working the Planning Table: Negotiating Democratically for Adult, Continuing and Workplace Education

In Working the Planning Table, Ronald M. Cervero and Arthur L. Wilson offer a theory that accounts for planners’ lived experience and provides a guide for developing effective educational programs for adults.  The book presents three planning case studies that illustrate how power, interests, ethical commitment, and negotiation are central to planners’ everyday work.  These stories offer guidance on how to respond to the realities of practice and clearly point out that the technical work of planning is always political. Working the Planning Table reveals how people work to negotiate educational and political outcomes for multiple stakeholders.

Ronald M. Cervero is professor of adult education and head of the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy at the University of Georgia. He is coauthor of Planning Responsibly for Adult Education, coeditor of Power In Practice (both with Arthur L. Wilson), and coeditor of Global Issues and Adult Education (with Sharan B. Merriam and Bradley C. Courtenay) all from Jossey-Bass, and author of numerous articles on the politics of adult education, program planning, and continuing education for the professions.

Arthur L. Wilson is professor of adult education and Program Leader of Adult and Extension Education in the Department of Education at Cornell University.  He is coauthor of Planning Responsibly for Adult Education, coeditor of Power in Practice (both with Ronald M. Cervero), coeditor of the Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education (with Elisabeth R. Hayes), and author of numerous articles on the politics of adult education, program planning, and historical and philosophical foundations of adult education.