The discourse on adult education

• Kjell Rubenson Linköpings universitet

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33336/aik.96553

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to briefly describe and analyze the development of adult education research and discuss some of the issues within this field of study.
There are two opposing views in the present controversy surrounding adult education research. There are those that deny andragogy has any scientific status whatsoever and those that see it as the only way to develop a comprehensive concept of adult education.
The dilemma facing adult education is that despite strong emphasis on adult education as a "practical discipline" there are criticism from two directions. The graduate programmes are threatened by the academic establishment for lack of scholarly sophistication while at the same lime the practitioners are somewhat doubtful of usefulness of the research.
To respond to the double dilemma is a challenge for adult education research. The criticism from the practitioners about lack of relevance has partly to do with false or misleading expectations of what can be achieved through research, that is the link between research and practice. The basis of the problem lies in the "scientification" of traditional practitioner vocations.
The criticism for lack of traditional! scholarship poses a threat for specialized centres of adult education. The dilemma for specialized departments is that they are created for the dissemination of knowledge not the generation of knowledge. Accepting the necessity for professional programmes and recognizing the limited attention to intradisciplinary concerns, one solution could be to consciously develop adult education as an interdisciplinary area of study.