When it comes to education, some of the first associations that come to mind are young students sitting in their school desks, a couple of textbooks and a teacher teaching from a blackboard. However, an individual’s need for personal development and society’s demand for capable workers go beyond these limits and require greater knowledge than the one offered by compulsory formal education. Adult education seeks to respond to the need for responsible workers and conscientious citizens who would contribute towards building their own character, knowledge and skills and consequently a better society. This thesis seeks to answer the question of how to use didactic models and teaching strategies in learning and teaching adult students in favor of the full development of all of their abilities and their preparation for a useful role in society and life in general. The paper begins by considering adult education through the prism of lifelong learning, i.e. a concise overview of the development of the idea of lifelong learning, present from ancient times up until the emergence of the educational-political construct of lifelong learning in the 1960s, under the auspices of the education policy of international organizations. What follows is the operationalization of the very concept of adult education and its purpose. It describes the regulations and strategies that administer adult education in the Republic of Croatia and the ways in which it is implemented. The second chapter explains the characteristics, educational needs and capacities of adults that distinguish them from younger students. This section seeks to answer the questions of who is considered an adult learner, in what ways do they learn, what are their cognitive capabilities compared to younger students and whether they decline over time, what motivates an adult to engage in some form of education and learning and what are the implications of all these features on the learning and teaching of adult learners. The third chapter of this paper deals with didactic models and teaching strategies in teaching aimed at adult learners, and how they affect the success of educational work in the andragogical context. In the last chapter it is concluded that teaching for adults should be shaped according to their specific characteristics, it should respect their interests and personal experience and encourage them to take an active role in the learning process.