Lifelong education of adults as a principal strategic objective of British scientific educational discourse

The article analyzes methodological and terminological peculiarities of the phenomenon ‘adult lifelong education’. The author characterizes the key parameters of scientific and educational discourse, which have become the basis for the research of Routledge's publications in the category ‘Adult Education and Lifelong Learning’ issued between 1983 and 2012. The undertaken study allows one to see strategic significance of the phenomenon for contemporary British theory and practice of education.