Originally published in 1983. Curriculum studies and curriculum theory have tended to be pursued almost exclusively in the context of the school. Developments in curriculum theory have therefore not found reflections in much theoretical work in adult education.

This book points to the necessity of a curriculum theory for adult and continuing education through discussion of both curriculum studies and the principles of adult education. The various ways in which systems of adult education are now developing are reviewed, in social, political and cultural terms, and recent advances in education theory are related to developments in post-school education.