Comparative Studies in Adult and Lifelong Education

Abstract

This chapter summarizes comparative studies in adult and lifelong education. The chapter discusses the development, purposes, topics of study, problems, and issues of comparative adult education are considered, together with the added dimensions of lifelong and recurrent education. A number of nongovernmental organizations have been formed. These include the Asian and South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE), the African Adult Education Association (AAEA), and the European Bureau of Adult Education (EBAE) and, since 1973, a world association, the International Council of Adult Education (ICAE), all a product of interest in international development and all stimulating it through their meetings and publications. Comparative education concerns itself for the most part with a narrower field than its name implies, concentrating its attention on school and higher education systems; comparative adult education, it is therefore argued, does not cast a spotlight on one part within comparative education, but it shines it on a new part of the field.