Educational provision for adults (including counseling) only makes sense when viewed from a developmental life setting. Counselors working with adults must be aware of the adult life cycle as a process of continuing change and development. They must also realize that each individual life is lived through an opportunity structure. In other words, because the social context of an individual's life heavily influences his or her expectations and aspirations, adult development must be examined in terms of an interaction between psychological and sociological factors. Adult educators do not need special training or the title of "counselor" to use the the methods and skills of counseling in their work. It may be argued that the teaching of adults in itself constitutes a form of counseling. Counseling at a distance is an important and growing area for a large number of persons working in the field of continuing education for adults. Guidance and counseling can be conceived as opposite ends of a continuum concerned with the nature of the relationship between helpers and those seeking or needing help. Counselors of adults are called upon to provide information and counseling in a variety of areas, including work, unemployment, and retirement. (MN)

Lifelong learning has become essential not only for professionals, but also for those they serve. Continuing professional education (CPE), an umbrella term used to describe the continuum of formal, nonformal, and informal learning opportunities that enable practicing professionals to continue to learn and to maintain professional competence across their careers, is the focus of this collection. The volume explores, analyzes, questions, and critiques CPE trends and issues across a variety of contexts, and it highlights new thinking and developments to assist providers and practitioners to re-envision their roles and set new directions in the field of CPE. This collection is inspired by the early seminal works of Cyril Houle who advocated that educational researchers and providers of CPE should listen to the experience of professionals as a basis for supporting their professional learning. This is the 151st volume of the Jossey Bass series New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. Noted for its depth of coverage, it explores issues of common interest to instructors, administrators, counselors, and policymakers in a broad range of education settings, such as colleges and universities, extension programs, businesses, libraries, and museums.