This monograph aims to provide a brief but critical history of adult and community education in Aotearoa over the past fifty years. It draws on primary and secondary sources as well as a substantial body of previous research much of which has yet to be published. The focus of this work is on changing policy environments and their impact on adult and community education as well as on the ways in which ACE practitioners have responded to these changes. The intention is to follow this up with further work whichh will focus on changes in adult and community education programmes and practices over the period. In particular it provides a perspective on the policy environment that has impacted on Adult and Community Education in Aotearoa.