Community education is now a worldwide phenomenon.

It may have as its operational focus a school or community centre; or it may have no specific location but be an activity of a village or neighbourhood. It may be primarily concerned with learning, or with community development or with community action. Inevitably and properly, its form derives from the social and historical context of each country and from the needs of its people.

The editors of this volume have a wide experience of international community education, both through their work for the International Community Education Association and their personal links with many of the countries represented here.