ABSTRACT

Since this paper is to be set in a comparative education context it seems appropriate to acknowledge the links and ruptures that bind and divorce community education in Scotland from its bigger cousins, adult education and youth and community work, across the border in England and Wales. It is perhaps revealing that 1986 saw the publication of the Unit for the Development of Adult Continuing Education (UDACE) report on developing educational guidance for adults in England and Wales which bears the title The Challenge of Change(1) since that too was the title of the report of the Alexander Committee, Adult Education: the Challenge of Change(2) published in Scotland in 1975, and which lies behind so many of the changes that have taken place in adult education in Scotland in the last ten years. Whether the 1986 use of the title reflects an ignorance of its decade of use in Scotland or is an acknowledgement of its merit must remain a matter of conjecture. However, whilst the two uses would appear to be directed to different foci at different times I would like to argue that both publications address an issue that is central to the consideration of community education in Scotland - that is the challenge of change not in society but with the education system and within community education itself.