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JACE: Editorial

The field of adult and continuing education is wide-ranging, as the burgeoning number of books, journals, handbooks and encyclopaedia within the field demonstrates. The range of material in this issue of JACE adds to that reading, and offers a number of pieces that cross disciplinary boundaries, particularly into the field of management.

Stephanie Reissner presents three case-studies of work-based learning, from the UK, South Africa and Russia, placing it within the context of different organisational cultures. Her choice of locations is governed by various forms of economic transition that have occurred within these states. Her approach is of further interest methodologically in as much as it takes a narrative approach.

Håkan Sandberg draws on a different aspect of management, that of teamwork, applying methods developed within the public sector in Sweden to the analysis of university continuing education in Scotland. Not particularly well known currently for success at international level in what much of the country would view as its most important team activities (football and rugby), it will be interesting to see if Scotland's UCE fares any better.

Two of the articles in the issue are concerned with partnership and engagement, including ways in which relationships between sectors can be fostered, audited and measured. Patricia Inman reviews efforts of universities in the US to engage with external stakeholders, making reference to the Kellogg Commission's report on the future of the state and land-grant universities, and using some of its findings as a point of departure in exploring this topic. Norman Longworth's approach is broader, and he concerns himself with strategies that have been used to empower learners, describing a number of schemes from various parts of the world. From this data he proposes a number of tools and techniques that can help rekindle a lifelong participation in learning.

Thomas Deissinger and Silke Hellwig consider the issue of the supply of training opportunities in the German Vocational Education system. The dual system of combining work with apprenticeship training in the workplace in Germany is very well known internationally, but according to the authors has now been recognised as being in structural crisis. The reasons for this assessment are explored by Desissinger and Hellwig, and the potential of alternative pathways in Germany is analysed. The final paper in this issue concerns methodological matters. Brian Findsen and Lucila Carvalho present some initial findings from a research study of older adults in New Zealand. The use of qualitative participatory approaches in this context will no doubt be of interest to a number of readers, and further outcomes of the work are awaited with interest.

To conclude this issue I will make special mention of two previous contributors to JACE. Firstly, I wish to acknowledge the substantial contribution of Konrad Elsdon, who died earlier in the year, to the field of adult education. I really did not know him well, and only in his final years did we work together in publishing his historical paper on the Archbishop's Conference of 1944 (Elsdon, 2001). However, I got to know him well enough to realise that he was an exceptional man who was genuinely committed to adult education and to scholarship. He will be missed by all his friends and colleagues. I also wish to make reference to Maria San Segundo (see San Segundo and Valiente, 2002) and to offer her congratulations on being appointed Minister of Science and Technology in Spain. This will no doubt be a spur to others to contribute to JACE.

Elsdon, K. (2001) .The Archbishop's Conference: Missed opportunity or vain hope?., Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, vol. 7(2), pp 9-34.

Kellogg Commission (1999) Returning to Our Roots: The Engaged Institution, Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, Washington, DC: National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

San Segundo, M. and Valiente, A (2002) .Widening access to higher education in Spain: the unexpected effects of two policy changes., Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, vol. 8(1), pp 46-59.