Over the last forty years, the International Journal of Lifelong Education has become a global leader in the field of research on adult education and lifelong learning. Drawing extensively on articles published in the journal, scholars from Africa, Asia, North and South America, Australasia and Europe reflect in two volumes on how the field has evolved over four decades, and on the strengths and weaknesses of its contributions to knowledge.

The second of two volumes, this book is based on a collective research project, carried out largely by members of the journal’s editorial advisory board, on what it has published over four decades. The introduction explains the origins development of the journal, the sometimes-passionate debates in the wider field, and the approach and concerns of those who conducted this research. Other chapters explore critical areas of debate (citizenship and its learning, learning and work, and widening participation and higher education); ‘political’ and ‘scientific’ dimensions in intergovernmental organisations’ policy work; inequality and lifelong education; opportunities and tensions created in universities by lifelong learning; and the development of studies of learning in later life since the 1980s. Two concluding chapters examine the influence of Paolo Freire and Jack Mezirow.

The two volumes will appeal to researchers, teachers and professionals in lifelong learning and adult education, as well as to those interested in the development of knowledge in fields of science and practice.

John Holford is Robert Peers Professor of Adult Education emeritus, University of Nottingham, UK. He was an editor of the International Journal of Lifelong Education 1998-2023. A sociologist by background, his research has explored European lifelong learning, trade union education, adult learning policy, and histories of adult education and labour.

Steven Hodge is Director of the Griffith Institute for Educational Research at Griffith University, Australia. His research focuses on curriculum across educational contexts, in particular how state-based curriculum impacts on teacher identity and professional practice. Steven is an editor of the International Journal of Lifelong Education.

Elizabeth Knight holds an honorary research role at the Mitchell Institute, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. A key area of interest is equity of access to and in tertiary education, the provision of institutional information and support for transition into post-school education. She has published widely on employability, higher and vocational education, qualifications reform, taking an explicit stance promoting equitable access to career information, education provision and outcomes. She is a disabled, settler researcher working on the Traditional Lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation in so-called Australia.

Marcella Milana is an Associate Professor at the University of Verona, Italy, and an Honorary Professor of Adult Education at the University of Nottingham, UK. She has been editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Lifelong Education since 2023. She researches the politics, policy and governance of adult education and learning.

Richard Waller is Professor of Education and Social Justice at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, where he has worked since 1995. His research interests, which tend to be in the post-compulsory education sectors, focus on education’s role in reinforcing or challenging existing social inequalities, and on education and identity, particularly social class and gender. He is a former editor of the International Journal of Lifelong Education.

Sue Webb is a Professor (adjunct) of Education at Monash University, Australia, Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Sheffield, UK, a member of the ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendations concerning Teaching Personnel (CEART), and a former editor of the International Journal of Lifelong Education. Her research encompasses equity and social justice.