Adult education policy and the European Union: theoretical and methodological perspectives

This book is a contribution to scholarship about policy in adult education. Its origins lie in our belief that researchers have given too little attention to the important role of the European Union (EU) in the shaping of adult education policy. The EU’s influence is felt in various ways not only within Europe, but across the world; we know too little about how its policies are made, and where – and by whom – their effects are felt. Our rationale is explained in more detail in the Introduction. Here we wish chiefly to acknowledge the important part played by discussions within the European Society for Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA), and in particular its Network on Policy Studies in Adult Education, in shaping this view.