ABSTRACT
Increasing popularity of lifelong learning as reflected by public attention to the topic, large enrolments of adults in learning activities and a growing population of professionally prepared educators of adults combine to challenge those who are concerned with the knowledge base of adult education. As there are a variety of ways by which humanity has attempted to create knowledge over the years understanding of a phenomenon is legitimized in diverse ways: authority, philosophy, experience, intuition, and science. Concern, here, is with a scientific basis of knowledge. We are interested in what is referred to as research: a practice that usually includes stating a question, making observations, collecting, analyzing and interpreting data and drawing conclusions. It is through this process that we have improved knowledge about adult learners and have arrived at some helpful conclusions as the following:
Educational achievement levels are associated with participation in lifelong learning activities.
Entitlements appear to be positively correlated with participation.
The ability to learn does not necessarily decline during the first six decades of life.
It is not possible to predict “motivation” for participation by knowing the content of a learning activity.
A large proportion of participants in 130lifelong learning activities seem to identify some life change with their enrolments in a learning activity. (Long, 1982)
