Abstract
This chapter summarises the reasons why adult education has not been able to hold its ground as a field of practice: its historical marginalisation; its diversion into debates around professionalism; and adult educators’ reluctance to engage with theoretical and political questions. The chapter calls for the reinvigoration of a theoretically informed and critical analysis of how adult education is employed to sustain unequal economic and power relations. It argues for the importance of challenging neoliberal conceptions of adult education and suggests some of the strategies which might be adopted by those committed to education as a public and social good, and as a part of wider movements for equality and democracy.
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Bowl, M. (2017). Lessons for Neoliberal Times. In: Adult Education in Neoliberal Times. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50883-2_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50883-2_10
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