ABSTRACT
Summary: From the manpower angle, adult education is closely linked with vocational training in meeting people's employment learning needs. Helping adults learn requires more than providing courses in colleges. It involves managing a variety of situations in which adults are consciously helped to develop their own potential, whether this is initiated by their employers or whether it arises from the individual's desire to improve his or her employment prospects through study.
Account must be taken of employment prospects and the nature of labour markets. Such studies may indicate new opportunities for apt educational provision. Current learning opportunities are provided through a diversity of education and training institutions and by employers.
Effective co-ordination must be directed towards well-defined ends, to ensuring that the realistic requirements of people, employers and society are met. Problems arise from the plurality of responsibilities for education and training, from the difficulty many people have in gaining access to the tuition they require and from the cost of developing appropriate curricula.
The way forward is to build on the evident strengths of present institutions — the richness of variety, the adaptability of their staffs, and their many contacts with other sectors of society. At the same time there is a need to remedy certain weaknesses in the system by improving communications, especially at the local level, by helping individuals and institutions to adapt and change and to focus upon the needs of people.
