Through the Looking Glass - Adult Education through the Lens of the Australian Journal of Adult Learning over Fifty Years

Oct 15, 2026

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The paper reviews fifty years of articles published in the Australian Journal of Adult Learning, tracing how the journal has served adult education in Australia as a historical record, professional flagship, and reflection of national events and evolving disciplinary knowledge. Content analysis examines authorship patterns by gender, location, institutional affiliation, and author numbers, and identifies recurring themes. The study positions the journal as a primary source, helping clarify shifting research interests and future challenges for adult and community learning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages36

Reading Time1 h 31 min

AccessFree to download

Through the looking glass

Adult education need for a recognized voice

Journal persistence, naming changes, and editors

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 51, Special Edition, December 2011 Through the looking glass: adult education through the lens of the Australian Journal of Adult Learning over fifty years Roger Harris and Anne Morrison University of South Australia In this paper we review fifty years of articles published in Australian Journal ofAdult Learning in its various iterations. We examine the different roles of the journal: to illuminate the history and trends of adult education authors; to be the flagship of the adult education profession in Australia; to reflect on significant national events; and to mirror the changing knowledge base of the discipline. We analyse the authorship of the articles over fifty years, and determine patterns in contribution to the journal by gender, location, institutional affiliation and author numbers. We also examine key themes that have surfaced in the writings on adult education. The articles published in the journal are significant because they are primary sources of the day, unfettered by the perspectives, viewpoints and standards of later periods. Our paper serves as a useful looking glass through which we might be able to view more clearly the shifting research interests ofthe past and the challenges in the future for the adult and community learning sector. 18 Roger Harris and Anne Morrison Introduction Content analysis of publication activity can tell us much about a given field of study, as publications reflect the knowledge base of a discipline. The field of adult education in Australia has been well served by its national association,(now) Adult Learning Australia, and its two key ‘voices’: the annual national conferences and the journal. The five decades of the association have been succinctly summarised in volume 50(3) of the journal and, though this provides a contextual backdrop for this paper, the focus here is rather on the journal, currently entitled the Australian Journal ofAdult Learning. The journal has just witnessed fifty years of publication (it was first published in July 1961). It is one of the longest running journals on adult education in the world: we believe that it may be the third most durable, after the Indian Journal ofAdult Education starting in 1939 and Adult Education Quarterly in 1950. For example, Studies in the Education ofAdults (UK) began in 1969, Studies in Continuing Education (Australia) in 1978, while the Canadian Journal for the Study ofAdult Education and the International Journal of Lifelong Education (UK) both commenced only in 1981. The Australianjournal has, therefore, played a crucial and sustained role in the promotion of adult education in this country over a long period, and as such merits closer examination. What role has this journal played? Adult education in Australia has consistently been in desperate need of a voice. Hanna wrote in an early issue of the journal: Adult Education is regarded as a marginal activity stuck on to our education system somewhere between our leaving primary school and our going senile; we have to run it with meagre budgets, leftover facilities and other people’s spare time …Though the situation is improving slightly all the time adult education has not achieved a recognised standing in this country. (1965: 3) Through the looking glass 19 Hanna lamented the lack of recognition given to adult education in the Martin Committee report (1964) on tertiary education in Australia, and the lack of research to that time into adult education, methods of teaching adults and the adult learners themselves, despite the growth of adult education in the postwar period. Fast forward to the 1990s and there was a rosy glow of optimism following the Senate Inquiry of 1991, Come in Cinderella. This was the first national account of adult education since Duncan (1973 [1944]) and formally recognised ACE as the fourth sector of education. The Senate’s follow-up report, Beyond Cinderella: Towards a learnin

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the paper?

The paper reviews fifty years of articles in the Australian Journal of Adult Learning to examine the journal’s roles, authorship patterns, and emerging themes in adult education.

What does the authorship analysis focus on?

It analyzes contribution patterns by gender, location, institutional affiliation, and author numbers across the journal’s publication history.

Why does the paper treat the journal as significant primary source material?

Because the articles represent the perspectives and standards of their own time, allowing clearer insight into historical research interests and future challenges.

Oct 15, 2026

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