ABSTRACT
When this book was first written, there was considerable concern and interest in getting adult educators trained, and I discussed this within the framework of the professionalization of an occupation. However, there has been a vast change in adult education in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world, as has become apparent by the increasing number of degree courses and so on that are being mounted on the subject of continuing education, lifelong learning, and so on. To a considerable extent this has followed the introduction of lifelong learning into the world of policy, as we saw earlier in this text. In the United Kingdom, perhaps the biggest stimulus for increased training was the Dearing Report (1997). In the remainder of Europe there was a report from the Education council to the European council (European commission, 2001b), and during the Swedish presidency of the European Union three strategic goals were adopted for European education and training:
improving the quality and effectiveness of education and training systems in the European Union;
facilitating the access of all to education and training systems;
opening up education and training systems to the wider world.
(European commission, 2002:8)