Until relatively recently, adult learning in the UK was largely recognised as being situated mainly within the LEA adult education centre, university extra-mural departments and the WEA. However, this picture has changed. The major change has been a shift from 'education' to 'learning' as the key organising concept. A greater range of settings are now recognised as sites producing learning, and alongside this has grown a debate about the purpose and form of study within adult learning. Thi...

The authors provide a variety of perspectives on the conceptualisation of adult learning, drawing on sociology, psychology, adult education and applied research into how adults experience learning. Bringing together a number of major contributions to current debates about what learning during adulthood is for, what motivates learning, and how best it might be developed, the authors address a range of significant issues: What should be the context of learning programmed for adults, and who ...

This Open University Reader examines the practices of learning and teaching which have been developed to support lifelong learning, and the understanding and assumptions which underpin them. The selection of texts trace the widening scope of academic understanding of learning and teaching, and considers the implications for those who develop programmes of learning. It examines in great depth those theories which have had the greatest impact in the field, theories of reflection and...