What adult education is and which areas it is responsible for as a system is shaped by various positions and often answered in a normative-conceptual manner. Starting from the premise that professional self-description makes an important contribution to the professionalization of adult education, Christine Hartig addresses the perspective of the educators themselves in expert interviews. She demonstrates how adult educators articulate their professional self-description and position themselves within the tension between necessary self-formation and arbitrariness, functional integration and subordination, as well as connectivity and self-marginalization. It becomes clear where the potential for a stronger representation of their own interests and professionalization exists, as well as which structures pose challenges to professionalization.