ABSTRACT
The concerns of adult education in the past have tended to be centred around the topics that have already been discussed, but without a great deal of explicit curriculum theory and this may have been because of its non-formal nature. Yet there has always been an implicit curriculum theory and also explicit statements of rationale for adult education. Some of these elements will be discussed in the first part of the chapter and, at the same time, the curriculum theory implicit in the ideas already raised will also become apparent. The second part will focus on the more explicit discussions about educational programmes that have emanated from the USA and will be constructed around the three types of programme described by Cervero and Wilson (1994).
