50 Years of AONTAS - Developments in the Field of Adult Education in Ireland as Reflected in the Contents of The Adult Learner and its Antecedent Journals

Oct 15, 2026

A critical, independent analysis commissioned by AONTAS examines the content of The Adult Learner journal (ALJ) published in Ireland by the Adult Education Organisers’ Association and later with AONTAS between 1985 and 2017. It also analyses the antecedent journal A Review of Adult Education (1971, reissued 1979–80), identifying trends in content and authorship across 39 journals over nearly five decades, and revealing the establishment of AONTAS and its editorial leadership.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages36

Reading Time1 h 31 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The AONTAS brief

Research questions and study approach

50 YearsofAONTAS: Developmentsin the Field of Adult Education in Ireland as Reflected in the Contents of The Adult Learner and its Antecedent Journals barry golding, jack harvey Abstract Our article was commissioned by AONTAS, The National Adult Learning Organisation in Ireland. Using a critical and independent ‘outsider’perspective, we analyse and examine the contents of The Adult Learner journal (ALJ), published in Ireland by the Adult Education Organisers’ Association (AEOA) and later with AONTAS1 between 1985 and 2017. We also include an analysis of an antecedent journal, A Review of Adult Education, first published by AONTAS in 1971 and briefly reissued in 1979–80. As well as identifying trends in content and authorship in all 39 journals across almost five decades, our analysis also provides a window into the establishment of AONTAS, its journals, editors and editorial boards. Like the 50-year retrospective review of the Australian Journal of Adult Learning (Harris and Morrison, 2011) this review sought to identify evidence in the journal of recurrent and changing issues in adult education in the context of massive political, economic and social changes that have swept across the island of Ireland, and the increasingly interconnected and networked world during this period. It also sought to identify suggested methods of addressing these issues through policy and practice developments. Whilst we identify some things that are well known to AONTAS, journal readers and sectoral insiders, other less obvious trends emerge through our systematic, longitudinal, comparative and critical qualitative and quantitative analysis. Keywords: Adult Education Organisers’ Association (AEOA), AONTAS, The Adult Learner 1 ‘Aontas’ was not fully capitalised regularly before 1990 but is capitalised as AONTAS in its upper case, backronym form for consistency in this paper, other than when directly cited in its earlier form. Introduction This article for The Adult Learner journal (ALJ) was commissioned by AONTAS, the Irish, membership-based National Adult Education Organisation advocating for and promoting the rights of all adults to adult learning, as part of their celebration of 50 years since the organisation was formed in Ireland in 1968. Cherrstrom, Robbins and Bixby (2017, Abstract) in their 10-year content analysis of Adult Learning (an international adult education journal published in the US) noted that academic publications ‘provide insights into a discipline’s history, knowledge base, and research norms, and thus analysing publication activity provides learning about the field of study’. Cope and Kalantzis (2009) emphasised the importance of communities of practice, such as adult education, in which knowledge making takes place, joining the existing body of public knowledge and using the citation process to discuss, review, and verify. Within and through theALJ, authors, collaborators, reviewers and editors have written, reviewed, evaluated, revised, edited, published and communicated with and beyond their communities of practice. Lowe (2012) considered that academic journal editors play critical roles in this process, as facilitators and gatekeepers of knowledge, acting as ‘arbiters of academic taste and fashion who ultimately decide which approaches to particular historical problems thrive within the academy and which are squeezed out’ (Lowe, p. 105). For this reason, some insights from past editors have helped to inform, shape and sharpen the current review and narrative. The AONTAS brief AONTAS is the umbrella Irish adult education organization based in Dublin, Ireland. The word ‘aontas’ is Irish for ‘union’ but is also a backronym (AONTAS) for Aos Oideachais Náisiúnta Trí Aontú Saorálach, meaning ‘national adult education through voluntary unification’. The organisation formed in 1968 and adopted the then un-capitalised name ‘Aontas’ in 1969. This paper is mainly informed by evidence in the 35 The Adult Lea

FAQs

What journals are analyzed in the study?

The study analyzes The Adult Learner (ALJ) across 39 editions between 1985 and 2017, and also includes the antecedent journal A Review of Adult Education (1971; reissued 1979–80).

Who commissioned the article?

The article was commissioned by AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation in Ireland.

What does the analysis aim to identify?

It identifies trends in content and authorship over almost five decades and provides insight into the establishment of AONTAS, including its journals, editors, and editorial boards.

Oct 15, 2026

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