Adult Learners' Week--which is supported by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the European Social Fund, amongst a raft of other organisations--is all about raising demand for learning. At its core, the campaign is about encouraging under-represented groups--including low-skilled, unemployed and low-paid adults and those with few or no qualifications--to participate in, and spread positive motivational messages about, learning. The week also challenges providers to engage the most isolated and excluded adults--prisoners and residents of other secure settings; people with health problems, disabilities and/or learning difficulties; refugees and survivors of torture; adults who are homeless or vulnerably housed; minority ethnic communities; older people--in activities which develop social and employment skills, confidence and ambition. The original funding proposal for Adult Learners' Week pointed up the need to challenge the indifference to education of many British adults. Eighteen years on, campaigns such as Adult Learners' Week still have a critical role to play in engaging more and different adults.