Adult Education and Learning in a Precarious Age: The Hamburg Declaration Revisited: New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, Number 138

UNESCO’s 1997 CONFINTEA V conference in Hamburg has been described as the high-water mark of international adult education policy-making. It produced one of the most utopian statements about adult education and learning of the past 25 years: the Hamburg Declaration on Adult Learning and Agenda for the Future.

Adult education was declared key to the twenty-first century in order to build “a world in which violent conflict is replaced by dialogue, a culture of peace based on justice . . . and the creation of a learning society committed to social justice and general well-being.” However, the Declaration also recognized that there were many practical challenges to its implementation as profound changes were occurring in social, economic, environmental, and political spheres.

In this volume, North American and international scholars critically assess how far the visionary statements of the Hamburg Declaration have been advanced and implemented. They:

• Review the recent development of the 10 themes of the Agenda for the Future
• Explore their local and global achievements through considering the results of the 2009 CONFINTEA VI conference and other related policy developments
• Outline what is still necessary to realize the Declaration’s goals.

This is 138th volume of this quarterly report series. Noted for its depth of coverage, it explores issues of common interest to instructors, administrators, counselors, and policymakers in a broad range of adult and continuing education settings, such as colleges and universities, extension programs, businesses, libraries, and museums.