Remaking the Study of Adult Education: The Relevance of Recent Developments in the Netherlands to the Search for Disciplinary Identity

Abstract

Conflicting positions continue to dominate the debate about whether adult education is a field of study or a field of practice. Drawing on recent developments in the reorganization of departments of adult education at universities in the Netherlands, it is argued that traditional formulations of the debate are not very fruitful and that the current task to be addressed is the disciplinary basis of research into adult education phenomena. The relevance of Dutch experience to developments beyond the boundaries of the Netherlands is discussed with reference to two key issues. First, the disciplinary basis of the study of adult education is addressed. The notion of a distinct discipline of adult education with its own distinctive theory is rejected and an argument is made for a pluralistic but rigorous use of theories from other social sciences. Second, attention is devoted to the development of research traditions in the study of adult educational institutions and practices. It is argued that discipline-based, fundamental research can contribute more to the development of a body of reliable knowledge than practice-based or decision-based research.