Trends and Issues in Canadian Adult Education Research: An Introduction to the Topic

Abstract

The 41st volume of the International Yearbook of Adult Education is dedicated to Canadian Adult Education Research and is edited by Tom Sork as a guest editor and Michael Schemmann. The decision to focus on this topic goes back to the editor's last year's visit as a guest scientist at the University of British Columbia which allowed for several discussions about the current state of Adult Education Research in Canada and Germany. As a consequence, this volume is conceptualized to display the ongoing research of Canadian Adult Education in order to present a folio on which Adult Education Research in other countries can be reflected. As such this volume is meant to exhibit current topics and theoretical and methodological approaches as well as empirical findings which are highly relevant in Canadian Adult Education Research. However, before presenting the concept of this year's volume, we want to give an overview of basic infrastructures and fora of Canadian Adult Education and in that way start off by mapping the field. We will begin with a brief historical overview of the development of Adult Education Research before taking a look at trends and issues over the time. To get an idea of the genesis of research topics over time, we will analyze both the themes of the annual conferences of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education (CASAE) and the topics of the volumes of the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education (CJSAE). Following that step, we will introduce the concept of this volume and give an overview of the contributions before concluding with some remarks by the editor on changes concerning the International Yearbook of Adult Education.