Adult Education Quarterly

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.

This paper proposes basic epistemological, communicative and critically analytic criteria for the development of formal theory in adult education. Epistemological criteria focus on the ways in which the categories of knowledge comprising a theory are judged to be intellectually sound. Communicative criteria focus on the necessity for a theory to communicate its tenets clearly to practitioners. Critically analytic criteria refer to the manner in which a theoretical effort invites and exemplifies the critical scrutiny of its central propositions.

This study explored registered nurses' participation in baccalaureate nursing programs as a holistic phenomenon, focusing on eliciting their perspective of the process. Indepth unstructured interviews were conducted with 18 registered nurses who were at various points in their pursuit of the baccalaureate degree in nursing. Analysis revealed seven themes which were incorporated into a model describing registered nurses' participation in baccalaureate nursing programs. The themes define the primary tasks involved in participation and persistence, and describe factors which influence the achievement of these tasks. The findings identify a new variable involved in participation, increase our understanding of the role played by life transitions in participation, suggest a framework for examining relationships between school and nonschool variables in dropout, and have implications for several aspects of practice.

Despite modem and 1920s era assertions that the term "adult education" was practically unknown in the United States prior to 1924, American usage dates at least to the late nineteenth century. By 1899 at least four influential people had used the term. Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the book cataloging system, had even offered a typology of adult education in 1904. Other terms, such as continuation education, home education, popular education, university extension, and educational extension, all dealt with learning by adults. But Henry M. Leipziger's indefatigable advocacy of New York City's Free Lectures program as an "institute of adult education" offered a context in which liberal adult education prospered. More than any other, Leipziger is responsible for the early advocacy and diffusion of the new term.