The most famous educators throughout history have had influence far and beyond the teaching of children. Advancements in universal areas including philosophy and politics have been shaped by great teachers, whilst more specific parts of learning such as how adult education can be successfully implemented, or how a curriculum is designed today, have also been influenced by their ideas and methods. What follows is a list of educators who have had a significant influence on adult education today.

Aristotle. To disregard the influence the Ancient Greeks had on adult education is ignorance in its most blatant form. Aristotle, who was himself taught by Plato, taught and wrote about a wide range of subjects and was pioneering in his exploration of such subjects as: Physics, Philosophy, Poetry, Theatre, Music, and is considered the first to formally study Logic. In his writings on Ethics and Politics, he identified the difference between the notions of the individual and society, i.e. 'that man must have a function uncommon to anything else...a happiness or joy that pervades a good life' but together, politically, we are 'like an organism'.

John Locke. A 17th Century philosopher from Somerset in England, Locke's teachings of epistemology (the theory of knowledge) and politics are reflected in liberalism across the western world and even the writings of The American Declaration of Independence. Additionally, his postulations on identity, the mind, and the notion that humans are not born with innate ideas completely unlearned prior to birth, were also groundbreaking in terms of opposing dominant Christian ideals and beliefs.

Rudolph Steiner. At the turn of the 20th Century, Steiner from Austria built on the groundwork of epistemology laid by Locke and the Greeks beforehand, and founded Anthroposophy, 'Anthroposophists are those who experience, as an essential need of life, certain questions on the nature of the human being and the universe, just as one experiences hunger and thirst.' It was in 1923, after the Anthroposophical Society had been established, that Steiner established a School of Spiritual Science, an open university that still remains active. There are also in excess of 1000 Steiner-influenced Waldorf schools around the world today.

Jean Piaget. 'Only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual.' These, Piaget's, words were spoken as recently as 1934, and hence were integral in more recent developments in epistemology and the importance of education or knowledge for adults. His establishment of Genetic Epistemology explores the study of the genesis or origins of knowledge - and thus, the importance of acknowledging the difference between the greater validity of one's knowledge gained from direct experience, as opposed to the knowledge one gains indirectly.

Sarah Maple writes about adult education http://www.kaplanopenlearning.org.uk/online-education.html and home learning http://www.kaplanopenlearning.org.uk/home-learning-degree.html