Adult Learning and Ageing Populations. Adult Learning and Groups with Special Needs. A Series of 29 Booklets Documenting Workshops Held at the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (Hamburg, Germany, July 14-18, 1997).

This booklet presents an overview of the growing demands for adult education, as well as other social services, because education is seen to play a vital role in enabling the growing population of older people to remain independent and lead more fulfilling lives. It reports on the following issues: the educational needs and demands of older people, the current education policies for older people in various countries and regions, and the planning of future approaches and activities at the regional and international levels. The booklet concludes that older adults have wisdom that should be valued and that efforts need to be directed towards overcoming an image of the elderly as distinct and different from the rest of society. It recommends that governments make adult education for the elderly a priority and that older people be given the right to make decisions about their own learning. (KC)