A landmark document, the out-of-print volume prepared for the first session of the UNESCO general conference, provides a preliminary outline of the proposed plan for fundamental education. Fundamental education is used to indicate a global field of activity that includes and goes beyond mass education, adult literacy, popular education, and primary education provision. Chapter 2 consists of first-hand accounts by educational specialists of efforts in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East as well as accomplishments in a single nation, the Soviet Union. It includes tentative statistics and reveals forces at work and the institutions and classes of persons concerned. Chapter 3 through articles and excerpts on major theoretical issues, reflects the tasks of fundamental education from a world-wide perspective of cultural values, social analysis, and fundamental assumptions (minimum standards of living, adult education principles, priorities). The fourth chapter outlines seven major issues of fundamental education policy and method: (1) scope, (2) content, (3) governmental and State role, (4) language problem, (5) provision of reading material, (6) mass communication, and (7) motivation for learning. A final chapter by the editorial committee recommends establishment of a panel of fundamental education and suggested action guidelines. (EA)