Can adult education and learning be understood without reference to community and people’s daily lives? The response to be found in the chapters of this volume say emphatically no, they cannot. Adult learning can be best understood if we look at the social life of people in communities, and this book is an attempt to recover this view. The chapters of this volume reflect ongoing research in the field of adult education and learning in and with communities. At the same time the work of the authors presented here offers a very vital reflection of the work of the ESREA research network Between Local and Global – Adult Learning and Communities. The chapters showcase the broad range of professional practice, the variety in both methodology and theoretical background, as well as the impressive scope of field research experience the authors bring to bear in their papers. The first section provides the broad view of research into adult learning and community development emphasising how social movements are at the heart of local and global change and that they are critically important sources of power. The second section focuses in on the practice of educators/mediators working in local and regional contexts in which the tensions of the wider policy and discourse environment impact on adult learners. The third section privileges the view at the close level of research inside local communities in the field. International researchers and practitioners, particularly young researchers, who are active in adult learning and in local/global communities will be interested in this book. The emphasis of the chapters is on participatory and emancipatory social research. Empowerment of women in rural communities, involvement of communities in social and environmental movements, power-sharing in community research projects and the exposure of hegemonic, globalising forces at work in ethnic communities are among the themes developed in this volume.

Adult Learning: A Design for Action: A Comprehensive International Survey contains the proceedings of the International Conference on Adult Education and Development held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in June 1976, under the auspices of the International Council for Adult Education. The papers explore ideas and actions for carrying out a design for development that recognizes the centrality of adult education and of the participation of the people in development decisions. This book consists of 29 chapters and begins with a discussion on the role of adult education in development as well as expanded concepts of development for action. Case studies of adult education in a number of countries are presented, including Guinea Bissau, Hungary, Indonesia, Mozambique, Vietnam, and member states of the Arab League. The following chapters focus on the role of short cycle and community colleges in development; workers' participation for development; distance teaching alternatives in education and for development; and the impact of agricultural extension on development. This monograph will be of interest to educators and policymakers.

Although there has recently been a relative abundance of material produced on adult education in rural areas outside the United States, little work has been done that focuses on the changing nature of rural adult learning and instruction in the States. Such neglect, however, does not suggest that rural issues and rural places lack relevance in contemporary U.S. society. This volume seeks to expand our concept of the rural United States as it explores the role that adult educators might play in this complex context. Indeed, complexity is the hallmark of this volume. Although rural areas are still composed of large expanses of open space, a continuing process of suburbanization is resulting in demographic, economic, and cultural changes that challenge those teaching and learning in rural places. This is the 117th volume in the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, an indispensable series that explores issues of common interest to instructors, administrators, counselors, and policymakers in a broad range of adult and continuing education settings, such as colleges and universities, extension programs, businesses, libraries, and museums.