Global Perspectives on Adult Education and Learning Policy

Most observers regard both adult and higher education as key for citizenship and democracy yet the worldwide contexts, appearance and expression of adult education and lifelong learning have changed significantly during the past 20 years. Focusing on ten countries (Scotland, Czech Republic, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Botswana, Ghana, Palestine, South Korea and India) and five international organisations, this book explores recent changes in their overall contexts and policies about adult education, how such policies intersect with developments in higher education and how they may contribute to debates on citizenship and democracy. It highlights several significant shifts: increased awareness of the role of adult education/lifelong learning in enhancing economic growth and social cohesion and mobility, challenging economic and social exclusion and inequality, and developing human and social capital; increased involvement of transnational bodies; pressure for increased global and national co-operation and competition between educational sectors and institutions; and demand for more integrated, accessible, relevant and accountable educational systems and processes.

Marcella Milana is Associate Professor at Aarhus University in Copenhagen, Denmark. A joint Editor of the International Journal of Lifelong Education, her work deals with the politics of adult education in a globalised world. She is co-editor (with John Holford) of Adult Education Policy and the European Union.

Tom Nesbit recently retired from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada where he was Associate Dean of Lifelong Learning. A former editor of the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, his most recent books is Building on Critical Traditions: Adult Education and Learning in Canada (co-edited with S. Brigham, N. Taber & T. Gibb).

Preface; Tom Nesbit and Marcella Milana

1. Introduction: Global Outlook on Adult Education and Learning Policies; Marcella Milana

PART I

2. Policies for Adult Learning in Scotland; John Field

3. Adult Education and Learning Policy in the Czech Republic; Martin Kopecký and Michal Šerák

4. Adult and Continuing Education Policy in the United States of America; Marcella Milana and Lesley McBain

5. Adult Education and Cultural Diversity in Brazil: National Policies and Contributions of Higher Education; Ana Canen

6. Analysis of Policies in Education of Young People and Adults (YAE) in Mexico; Raúl Valdez-Cotera

PART II

7. The State of Adult Education in Botswana in the Twenty-First Century; Idowu Biao and Tonic Maruatona

8. Changing Trends in Adult Education in Ghana: Issues of Policies, Ideology and Learning; Michael Ayitey Tagoe

9. Adult Education in Palestine after the Oslo Accords and Operation Protective Edge; Keith P Hammond

10. Towards a Learning Society: An Analysis of Adult Education Policies and Systems in South Korea; In Tak Kwon

11. Learning the World? - Changing Dimensions of Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in India; Sayantan Mandal

PART III

12. Lifelong Learning for All Adults? A New Concept for UNESCO - Limits and Opportunities for a Changing Inter-Governmental Organisation; Balázs Németh

13. Framing the Adult Learning and Education Policy Discourse: The Role of the OECD; Kjell Rubenson

14. Adult Education at the World Bank: Poor Cousin or Key Stakeholder; Peter Easton and Malaika Samples

15. Towards 'Utilitarian' Adult Education Perspectives? A Critical Review of the European Union Adult Education Policy; Eugenia A Panitsides

16. The International Council for Adult Education and Adult Learning Policy: Addressing the Gap Between Rhetoric and Practice; Alan Tuckett

17. Conclusion: Global Developments in Adult Education Policy; Tom Nesbit