Education and training are our society’s most important public concerns today, with a special emphasis on vocational training and adult education. The attention of the general public is increasingly focused on educational questions in general and the conditions of education in particular. The topic of education has become a hot socio-political issue. All members of society are interested in the future of their own children; they want to know what educational institutions the young ones can enroll, what learning environments they will work in and, also, what teaching methods will be used by their teachers. The most decisive period of the learning process by now has shifted from childhood education to adult learning. Today the function of formal vocational schools is only to provide initial training and the first qualification. Adults, at different stages of their lives are to face the outdatedness of their formerly acquired knowledge and skills. As time passes the usefulness of formerly acquired knowledge in society has been rapidly diminishing. This is why the question of lifelong learning, continuing education and training and retraining programs has become of vital importance. It is worth being prepared for these changes, especially as it is a well known fact that education has become the most remunerative investment.

Today there is no need to argue for the usefulness of adult education. As it was stated earlier in this chapter, present-day learning is mostly related to adulthood. On the one hand, because the new generation cannot be taught everything they would need in their adult lives, and, on the other hand, because knowledge becomes outdated very rapidly. In order to have a career and advance in life; employee knowledge and competencies need to be updated and renewed all the time.

The system, the aim and the content of adult education undergo a rapid change under the influence of new educational policies and practical life. Its primary function also changes in accordance with economic and social changes. In the early 1990s for example, due to structural changes in Hungary’s economy, adult education was quantity-oriented. Today education is more concerned with quality and quality-based in-service training programs and competence-based training programs are dominant within the system. The changes in the social environment, economic growth and competitiveness are all based on knowledge and, due to these changes the significance of adult education increased during these last two decades. On the part of employees a constant upgrading of knowledge is needed. The aim, a multifocal adult education needs to reach is dual. On the one hand adult education is related to economy, on the other to society. One aim is to develop economy and to improve the competitiveness of knowledge. Adult education also aims at improving social cohesion by bridging the gap between various social groups and granting equal status to all groups in society. This is why adult education plays a key role in the fight against unemployment and social exclusion.

The system of adult education has to fulfil a variety of far-reaching functions, and, at the same time, it is to meet various social, economic, institutional and individual requirements. Consequently, adult education is to contribute to the knowledge needs of information-based society, the interpretation of the processes of European integration, the development of the democracy of public life and the improvement of the quality of people’s individual lives.

Farkas, Éva (2013): A láthatatlan szakma. Tények és tendenciák a felnőttképzés 25 évéről. (Invisible Profession. Facts and tendencies about 25 years of adult education.) Pécs, TypiArt Médiaműhely Kft.