Social movements and adult education in the International Review of Education (IRE) and beyond

This article reviews all of the English- and Spanish-language articles on adult education and social movements published in the International Review of Education (IRE) from 1955 to 2023, documenting the shift from functionalist to more critical approaches. The authors highlight both the contributions and limits of these articles in shaping debates about adult education and social movements today. In addition, the authors offer their own analysis of social movement-led adult education praxis in diverse geographical contexts, arguing that, although adult education within social movements has been largely ignored in academic scholarship, it has been front and centre in education practice. Through this review of articles on adult education and social movements in IRE, the authors make the case that there is a need, now more than ever, to focus on the ways in which grassroots, popular movements have incorporated adult education in a variety of forms into their historical and contemporary struggles for economic, racial, ecological and social justice.