Research on the education and learning of adults was argued early on not to be a
separate discipline, but rather a practical field of knowledge (cf. Hirst, 1974). This
raised a question about the relation between theory as knowledge of the field and the
status of adult education and learning. How best might it be conceived? If a discipline,
adult education would define its own research objects and develop its own theories (cf.
Bron, 2006).