The article looks into the trends and changes that have applied to participation in adult education programmes in Finland over the past two decades. It also presents a brief review of the central changes that have taken place in the various adult education channels. The presentation is based mainly on a recent adult education study conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Education in 1990. The growth in adult education that focuses on all its forms has been particularly vigorous in the vocational sector. Another aspect has been that participation in adult education has accumulated in the well-off section of the population. The author considers it likely that in the future communality, ethical life values and copin...