Ebook: Adult Learning and Social Change in the UK: National and Local Perspectives

Through a number of case studies from England and Scotland, this book explores the complex relationship between adult learning and social change in the UK. Instead of the common focus on adult learning as kick-starting ‘development’, the authors consider how adult learning can emerge from and contribute to both wider and more local processes of social change. The first part features a study of the history of UK adult education from the 1919 Report and a chapter on the future after the failure of radical adult education in the UK. This is followed by analyses of the major social changes of our time, on health and well-being, on migration, on family literacy. The contributors then focus on responses – one with older adults, one with younger adults and citizenship, one with self-help learning groups (reading circles). The final chapters explore adult learning and COVID-19, and action learning in response to environmental issues. Throughout each chapter, the impact of the digital revolution is taken into account. A concluding chapter by the editors discusses some of the implications and omissions of the chapters and brings together some of the ideas which suggest ways forward for UK adult education and social change.