This book explores why those involved in educating post-school young people and adults have quietly abandoned the term 'education' in favour of 'learning', and reveals key features of the policy environment around adult education. It addresses the developments that have occurred in the area; asks whether increased state awareness actually helps give a voice to the grass-roots needs of local communities, or whether it creates patterns of dependency; and looks at the growing culture of monitoring and testing by governments and research institutes, and how this information can be used and abused. This book was originally published as a special issue of Globalisation, Societies and Education.