ABSTRACT
The debate over the proper place of disciplines in adult education is by now fairly well-trodden ground and any return to it can only be justified if a new and different perspective can be brought to bear. We would argue that such a perspective is urgently required as the practice of adult education evolves into a variety of forms, located in a multiplicity of sites and with a diversity of programmes, for example, those which emphasise competency-based and learner-centred approaches. These developments raise anew the place of disciplinary knowledge, whether such knowledge has a foundational place or, indeed, any place at all. In this chapter, we want to argue that for a rapidly changing practice such as that of contemporary adult education, disciplinary knowledge is problematic. However, we also want to suggest that it does not necessarily follow from this that disciplines can be forgotten or removed from the scene. Instead, what needs to be done is a reconsideration of their role and a reconfiguring of their place in the contemporary postmodern scene.
