This special issue is oriented towards the future of adult education, within the wider landscape of lifelong learning. In looking ahead, we believe it is important to appreciate, and build upon, past developments as part of what might be called a “collective history”, or what anthropologists term our “collective memory” – giving due recognition to the importance of knowledge gained and passed on through oral and Indigenous traditions. A key question underpinning this special issue is how far the “collective memory” of the adult education movement might be of value, both in itself and potentially also for this decade, in relation to the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations (UN) with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN 2015). Any of today’s major global and national conferences on ALE and lifelong learning for sustainable development, with their reports and declarations, consider outcomes in terms of knowledge and civic education, professional competencies and skills. At best, they look at culture, attitudes and values. But where do these orientations come from, and are they viable as frameworks and perspectives for the future? Is it important to consider theories of cultural and collective memory in anthropology and history? What can we say about influences, relationships and causalities between education and development, and how do people remember their own experiences throughout their lives?