In 2010, fifty years after the establishment of the association now called Adult Learning Australia (ALA), the association still faces the dilemma about how to sell its message that adult learning matters. The dilemma is one of philosophy: in the nineteenth century, it was liberalism versus utilitarianism; in the mid-twentieth, the instrumental…

This article presents contributions that present recollections on the Australian Association of Adult Education (AAAE) over five decades. In these contributions, the authors talk about the association in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

It is the author's experience that some of the most perplexing and time-consuming problems that face the chief executive of a National Association in Adult Education, arise out of international contacts. He thinks it is very wise that the Australian Association should give attention to the matter early in its existence. By so doing, the author…

Looking back fifty years is a salutary experience. There is a sense that everything changes, and everything stays the same. Whilst people now have a global non-government organisation to support national bodies in the field of adult learning, most of the national members have a fragile financial base, and the International Council for Adult…

This article presents the author's response to "An Experiment in Method" by J.L.J. Wilson. In 1960-61 Wilson was invited to give lectures on "modern techniques in adult education" as part of a training school for those involved in the work of developing "Co-operatives for Aborigines" which were sponsored by the…