the development of the field of adult education as a set of social practices and as a body of research about these practices is relatively recent. As a field of practice, it is quite common to agree that adult education begins where the initial training stops, that is to say, after the realisation of a continuous race on school benches, high school or even college/university. This means that adult education essentially concerns its people who have at least an initial social or professional experience and experience. As a research field, adult education has evolved naturally from the questions that are assigned to practitioners of structured training and at least two research traditions: first, research in understanding, e.g. on the single characteristics of adult learning (the difference with children/adolescents in the school system, etc.) and on the other hand, action research accompanying the definition of specific intervention methods with adults (do adult Pedagogy exist?). In recent decades, new international (OECD), European (Bologna, 2000) and national (2004 laws and 2009 in particular) directorates have qualified more prominently on the “necessary” contribution of training to better economic efficiency and incurred development of different training modalities: towards “tailor-made” races, towards improving articulation between work situations and training situations, towards individualisation and management of races, towards modularity of the training offer, towards remote training, etc. In connection with these intentions and new practices integrating therefrom, research in adult education attempts to identify on new objectives: extending the first work on, for example, adult learning and intervention methods, we see a growing interest, at the same time and probably in a complementary manner, in the understanding of the relationship between work, evolution of organisations and evolutions of forms of training, in the move from a training logic to a logic of Professionalisation, in cities between activity and experience, between knowledge and skills, and so on. This special issue of the RFP is specifically intended to sixteen these new research topics, which have appeared in adult education, but which span adult education and initial training, by pitting them against one another to address them in their multiple facets. The development of the field of adult learning both as a set of social practices and as a collection of research into these practices is relatively recent. As a field of practice, it is quite common to agree that adult education starts where initial training ends, i.e. after an uninterrupted pathway has been completed at school, college, high school or university. This means that adult education mainly concerns audiences who have at least a first social or professional experience and are recognised as having it. As a field of research, adult education has quite naturally developed on the basis of questions that have arisen to training practitioners, thus structuring at least two research traditions: on the one hand, understanding research on, for example, the particular characteristics of adults in training (unlike children/adolescents in the school system, etc.) and, on the other hand, research and intervention accompanying the definition of specific methods of intervention for adults (is there adult pedagogy?). In recent decades, new international (OECD), European (Bologna in 2000) and national guidelines (laws of 2004 and 2009 in particular) have put more emphasis on the ‘necessary’ contribution of training to greater economic efficiency and encourage the introduction of different training arrangements: tailor-made, more closely linked to work and training situations, individualisation and career management, modularisation of the training offer, distance learning, etc. In connection with these intentions and the new practices resulting from them, adult learning research has tended to focus on new objects: in addition to the initial work on, for example, adults in training and intervention methods, there is a growing interest both, and probably in a complementary manner, in understanding the relationship between changes in work, changes in organisations and changes in forms of training, in moving from training to professionalisation, in the relationship between activity and experience, between knowledge and skills. This ETR file is intended precisely to address these new research topics, which have emerged in adult education, but are largely cross-cutting to adult education and initial training, putting them in tension so as to address them in their many facets.