| Abstract: | The translation of this paper has been made possible with the financial help of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences) In this paper the authors criticise the growing tendency to conceive of adult education as a qualification oriented field of practice. Especially with respect to disadvantaged groups in society this orientation could have a stigmatizing effect. Various agents of education consider them as deficient and hence describe their identity in negative terms. Contrary to this, the authors develop a more positive orientation towards identity development and outline a new understanding of adult education. Their approach is inspired by insights developed in an area of cultural studies. |
