AAACE: Where are we going and where have we been? The Future of AAACE in light of its Past

Abstract

The American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE)--the umbrella organization for the diverse field of adult and continuing education--is undergoing a transformation, and with it comes the opportunity and the challenges to define itself and its purpose for the twenty-first century. As we, the board of AAACE, contemplate our future, we share with you a critical reflection on our past in order to shed light on fundamental issues, as well as the pitfalls to avoid and promises to embrace. We hope this will encourage your participation in the ongoing and dynamic process of growing and refreshing the association. Formative and Early Years AAACE is the latest incarnation of adult education associations dating back to 1921 when the National Education Association (NEA) formed its Department of Immigrant Education. In 1924, this became the Department of Adult Education. Originally, as the name suggests, this group served the teachers of immigrants; however, it was soon expanded to include teachers of adults within school-based programs (Knowles, 1994). In 1926, the American Association for Adult Education (AAAE) was established through funding by the Carnegie Association. This Association was founded to advance a particular vision of adult education, one that was community-based not school-based, and that was also non-vocational and non-utilitarian. However, this vision was never entirely clear, and it was subsequently undermined, first by the Great Depression and later by World War II (Rose, 1989). By 1941, the AAAE was withering, with its activities curtailed. In 1949, a new burst of activity led to the merger of the two groups and the formation of the Adult Education Association of the USA commonly referred to as AEA. However, this marriage was not an easy one, and in 1952 the National Association for Public School Adult Educators (NAPSAE) was founded. As with its earlier incarnation, its mission was to work with teachers in school settings. The name was changed in to the National Association of Public and Continuing Adult Educators (NAPCAE) in 1972. In 1982, the two organizations merged (again!) forming the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE). At the time, AEA was a broad umbrella group of adult educators while NAPSAE was made up primarily of Adult Basic Education (ABE) and General Educational Development (GED) educators and administrators. This merger worked well for almost twenty years, bringing together two groups with intersecting histories (and some animosity). The ABE/GED teachers maintained a separate identity (and conference) through the Commission for Adult Basic Education (COABE). However in 2000, COABE broke away from AAACE to become an independent organization. Recent Past Since 2000, AAACE has gone through profound changes. These changes were not entirely due to the departure of COABE, but rather by the financial problems that precipitated COABE's exit. Membership dropped from over 5,000 to under 300 and the staff of the Association was reduced significantly. When the two groups split, COABE continued separately, and AAACE was left to reconsider its central purpose. With a much reduced membership, the principal issue was survival. The Association's activities were reduced to running the conference and publishing two journals, Adult Learning and Adult Education Quarterly (AEQ). While AEQ continued publication without problem, Adult Learning, lost its staff editor. This led to problems with publication that plague us still, although great improvements have been made in recent years. Another problem revolved around the conference itself. With reduced membership, there was a smaller pool of individuals interested in attending. The mainstays of the conference were the Commission of Professors of Adult Education (CPAE), the Commission on Military Education and Training (CMET) and the Commission on International Adult Education (CIAE). …