Adult Education [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION The aim of the 2011 Budapest conference was a meeting place for researchers and practitioners interested in adult education, its history and its relations to issues of citizenship, democracy and civil society. Hence, the aim was to "join forces" and discuss both historical and contemporary connections between adult education and citizenship, broadly defined. Different goals of adult education, evident in discourses from 19th century literature as well as today, are to: • provide knowledge and competences for economic development, both for the individual and for society as such; • include individuals in society and/or various social groups, also connecting to issues of empowerment, which has been at the core of education for adults; • support effective changes in people's lives and in society in general by means of education and training. The conference focused primarily, but not exclusively, on the second of the themes mentioned above. To be a citizen is to be included in a community of citizens, which brings certain rights and duties and possibly requires a certain civic competence. Providing such competence has often been a task of adult education and organizations involved in such activities. Citizenship has been intimately connected to the nation-state. However, globalization has challenged this link and opened up the debate of what citizenship is, should be and what entity/entities individuals today are citizens in. In this period of changes, it is of great importance to examine how adult education was/is invoked to assist, or impede, the inclusion into a community of citizens, in which people have roles such as family members, workers, neighbours, members of civil society organisations etc. The papers selected for this publication have been written and presented by the contributors of the hosting organization of the Conference and in certain cases, by their co-authors. The Editor