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Cultural services and tourism are among the United Kingdom's fastest growing sectors in terms of employment and consumer demand. Cultural services and tourism bring the following elements to lifelong learning: active rather than passive learning; a means of interpreting the world around us; exposure to cultures other than one's own; confidence and interpersonal skills; innovative uses of new technology; team-building skills; an expanding sector that values training and development; an accessible and inclusive environment; buildings and spaces that cost nothing to enter; a powerful means of communicating ideas; the experience of risk in a controlled environment; an opportunity to test the body and the mind; introduction to the natural world and the world of our ancestors; flexibility; opportunities for independent learners; options for learners to determine their own level of engagement; and fun. The cultural services and tourism sectors should promote their contribution and be represented in Early Years and Learning Partnerships. The forthcoming Learning and Skills Council should seek to establish links with cultural services and tourism. The Best Value initiative and new duty to promote economic, social, and environmental well-being will present local authorities with opportunities to take a holistic approach to strategic planning in the areas of education, lifelong learning, culture, and tourism. (Seven case studies are included.) (MN)

This "think piece" on ways to increase demand for learning in the United Kingdom is designed to stimulate debate among policy makers and managers in the new learning and skills sector. Section 1, on context, addresses these issues: low skill levels; delivering skills to employers; low adult participation; and negative attitudes. Section 2 identifies groups educators need to focus on to stimulate demand: captive audiences; boys and young men; young people leaving care; prisoners; and those with basic skill needs. Section 3 looks at these strategies to attract new learners: starting points (what learners want, communities, interest groups, existing knowledge and skills, and people's habits and desires); joining up the present system; media; marketing; engaging employers (developing a better system of vocational education, overcoming employers' reluctance to commit to employees' learning, carrots and sticks, and small and medium-sized enterprises); engaging employees (employee development programs, trade unions, guarantees, study in paid time, corporate university); financing learning (transport, loans, fees, individual learning accounts, incidental costs of learning, saving to learn, funding following learners, learning from others, financial barriers, and course support); reforming the supply side (initial education, promoting vocational education, and dealing with jargon); qualifications; and quality of teaching and learning. Section 4 lists actions for stakeholders. Appendixes include a glossary and 36 references. (YLB)

The linguistic behavior of individuals and people in the official literature on lifelong learning (LL) was examined and interpreted in light of the theories of individualization in late modern culture and society, particularly the theories of Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens. The analysis was performed to shed light on that literature's ideological stance toward participants in the "learning society" and to demonstrate that the analysis of language is crucial to social and cultural inquiry. A 900,000-word corpus of recent government and academic publications on LL was used to perform a concordance-based analysis of the collocations of "individuals" as members of institutionalized collectives, agents, rational citizens, and consumers and to compare them with "people". The 1 million word British National Corpus was used as a reference corpus. The LL corpus contained 1,775 instances of forms of the word "individual" and 1,450 instances of "people," whereas the British National Corpus contained 22,264 instances of forms of the word "individual" and 123,427 instances of "people." By demonstrating that "individual" occurs more frequently with societal institutions in the LL discourse than in general usage, that individuals and people are different, and that people is a far more frequent word in the whole language than it is in policy-making, the researcher concluded that the different usage of "individuals" and "people" show that the discourse of LL has close affinities with contemporary sociocultural models of individualization, consumption, production, and the risk society. (The bibliography lists 41 references. A list of 30 documents in the lifelong learning corpus is appended.) (Author/MN)

This paper promotes the adoption of the lifetime learning targets that form part of National Education and Training Targets (NETTS) for Lifetime Learning in the United Kingdom. Section 1 defines NETTs as goals for levels of participation in education and training. Section 2 considers the characteristics and current profile of adult learners. Section 3 identifies challenges to be overcome if there is to be a greater commitment to education and training, if individuals are to undertake more learning, and if current nonparticipants are to be attracted into education and training during adulthood. Employment issues considered include the priority given to training and development, investment in training for older workers, core and peripheral workers, and the self-employed. Issues are identified that affect participation in education and training of significant groups presently underrepresented in programs. The section concludes by identifying structural challenges relating to the provision of education and training: curricular/sectoral boundaries, student support, access to guidance, the qualifications jungle, access to assessment, and appropriately skilled staff. Section 4 describes current initiatives that seek to overcome the educational concerns and other difficulties in expanding learning activity. Section 5 outlines 10 steps for achievement of NETTs. Section 6 refines the issues identified into a set of general recommendations and a set of key short-term actions which should be taken by particular players. Contains 69 references. (YLB)

Ways of expanding workplace learning in the United Kingdom by making better use of individual and organizational potential were examined. The analysis focused on the following issues: ways of fostering, improving, and increasing learning in the workplace; ways of enhancing access to and participation in workplace learning; ways of making workplace learning opportunities accessible to people who are currently outside paid employment; and ways of helping workplaces play a more central role in the United Kingdom's plans for greater participation in learning. A policy case for workplace learning was made, and an expansive approach to workplace learning was outlined. The issue of creating the institutional capacity for supporting the approach was discussed. The following are among the 12 recommendations offered to policymakers: (1) establish greater coherence between the responsibilities of the organizations currently charged with improving workplace learning; (2) restrict public funding for workplace learning to organizations that are prepared to commit to moving toward becoming expansive learning environments; (3) place equal focus on adults and young people; (4) establish learning champions within and outside the workplace; (5) provide incentives to organizations to increase training for managers to enable them to foster and maintain expansive learning environments; and (6) make the public sector set the standard and reward exemplary private sector organizations. (Contains 33 references.) (MN)

Past and present policies and practices in education and vocational training for offenders in the United Kingdom were examined. Changes in the content, delivery, and funding of education and vocational training for offenders over the past decade were reviewed. Special attention was paid to the following changes that took place in 2001: (1) transfer of responsibility for support of education and training in prisons from Education Services to the new Prisoners Learning and Skills Unit; (2) for the first time, education for prisoners received its own clearly allocated funding, and funding for prisoners was increased; and (3) inspection and evaluation of funding for prisoners were strengthened by adding inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education and from the Further Education Council's Funding Inspectorate to the team of prison inspectors. Forty-seven specific recommendations pertaining to areas such as the following were presented: (1) revision of the core curriculum to meet the needs of particular groups within the overall prison population; (2) procedures for awarding contracts for prisoner education; (3) development of an overall strategy for vocational training within the prison system and within individual establishments; (4) development of an information and computer technology strategy for prisons; and (5) universal application of screening to identify prisoners with learning difficulties and language and basic skill needs. (MN)

This paper attempts to raise awareness and stimulate debate about the family as a focus for developing learning in the United Kingdom (U.K.). The discussion focuses on the following aspects of the issue: the nature and scope of family learning; families as a place for learning; context; development of family learning; patterns of provision; provision for family learning in practice; partnerships in family learning; aims and objectives of family learning; principles for supporting family learning; policy and resourcing issues; and the future of family learning. The main recommendations stemming from the discussion are as follows: (1) wider opportunities for family learning, including parent education, should be available to all families; (2) coordination of policy and provision for families is in urgent need of improvement at the national and local levels; (3) television and other media should take a lead in raising the family's learning profile and participation in family learning programs; and (4) the U.K. government should aim to secure adequate funding for family learning so that everyone has access to affordable, appropriate, and effective support at each stage of life. Specific recommendations for 13 different U.K. agencies are also presented. The bibliography contains 11 references. A list of policy working group members concludes the paper. (MN)

Like the rest of British life around them, Great Britain's universities of adult and continuing education are currently in the midst of a period of great change. There has been much debate surrounding the relative importance of instruction, research, and community service in the overall mission of adult and continuing education in universities. It appears clear that university adult education still has a significant contribution to make. Universities need the kind of experiences and approaches in the university adult education tradition to manage their new circumstances. Industrial partnerships, community and commercial consultations, and continuing education of professionals can and do enhance the life and work of universities. Universities need older students for two reasons: for their motivation to learn and for the financial gains continuing education programs bring universities. Besides being able to respond to changing community needs by providing a variety of course lengths and formats, continuing education can offer and revive a recurrent education market. Perhaps one job of universities from the standpoint of their continuing education programs is to help breathe new life into social movements as vehicles for learning that can, in turn, define and codefine what Great Britain in the nineties needs of its universities. (MN)

Development of a common credit accumulation and transfer (CAT) system for the post-16 learner has been proposed in Great Britain. The rationale for this system is to increase the participation and achievement of learners over age 16, to improve access to learning opportunities, and to facilitate the development of core knowledge and skills. The post-16 CAT framework should use the open system, in which users adopt a set of standards on a voluntary basis because it offers mutual benefits. Work on the development of a post-16 credit framework as an open system has established definitions and specifications of outcomes and units, a methodology for credit valuation of units, and an initial proposal about the number of levels that would be required. The qualifications within this framework would be based upon groups of outcomes, to be described as units. Credits are awarded for successful achievement of a set of outcomes combined into a unit, regardless of the actual time involved or the mode of learning. Units at the same level can be given different credit values dependent upon the extent of achievement they require, thus removing the necessity for an artificial and possibly damaging requirement for units to be of the same size. The post-16 CAT framework could be used as the basis of a range of developments in curriculum and qualifications. The Further Education Unit has identified key criteria to be met by a post-16 CAT framework. The proposed framework needs to be evaluated against these criteria. (YLB)

The Workers' Educational Association (WEA) is a national voluntary organization dedicated to giving adults in the United Kingdom access to organized learning. The International Federation of Workers' Educational Associations (IFWEA), which was founded in 1947 largely at the initiative of the WEA, is composed of more than 100 organizations in 54 countries that are active in promoting and delivering workers' education. The WEA and the IFWEA responded to the Department for International Development (DfID) paper "Strengthening DfID's Support for Civil Society" by presenting their views on the following topics: workers' education and civil society; international development and civil society in the United Kingdom and in the global civil society; civil society, government, and partnerships; civil society and the trade union movement; trade unions and development awareness; trade unions as agents of civil society; and international trade unions as strategic partners. It was concluded that engagement with workers' education organizations would enhance the British government's international development policies and that further DfID engagement with workers' education organizations would better contribute to elimination of world poverty. (Appended are the addresses of contact persons at the WEA and IFWEA and lists of organizations affiliated with the WEA and IFWEA.) (MN)

This document details the position of the Further Education Development Agency (FEDA) regarding 21 issues included in a recent initiative to introduce compulsory initial teaching qualifications into further education (FE) and the requirement that such qualifications should meet national standards. The following are among the positions taken by the FEDA on the 21 issues addressed: (1) FEDA is confident that the proposed skills required of FE teachers reflect those required for initial teacher training as seen by all key stakeholders; (2) teachers in postcompulsory education should themselves be able to demonstrate levels of key skills equivalent to those demanded of teachers in the compulsory sector; (3) all full-time FE teachers should be required to have a threshold qualification; (4) teachers should receive credit for existing qualifications; (5) 2 years seems an appropriate time in which new full-time teachers are expected to achieve a threshold qualification; (6) exemptions from the threshold requirement should be granted to existing unqualified full-time teachers under a narrow set of circumstances; (7) some distinction between the requirements for full-time and part-time teachers should be permitted; and (8) a professional body for FE established by the sector itself is the best means of implementing qualification requirements. (MN)

A credit-based qualifications system within the framework proposed in the Dearing "Review of Qualifications for 16-19 Year Olds" could enhance the United Kingdom (UK) qualification system in the 21st century. The United Kingdom currently has over 14,000 qualifications and more than 100 awarding bodies, which makes it difficult to compare qualifications and address areas of overlap and duplication. The key steps in building a credit framework are as follows: (1) each qualification/award will consist of units, where each unit is an agreed set of learning outcomes; (2) all units will be assigned to one of four levels within the post-14 education system (and three levels for higher education and professional qualifications); and (3) the "credit value" of units will be formed by coordinating the notational learning time set for learners to achieve each unit's learning outcomes. The value and level of units achieved by learners will be indicated on a nationally recognized credit transcript that could serve as the front sheet of the new National Record of Achievement and be used by admissions tutors and employers. The proposed credit-based qualifications system will offer important benefits to learners, education and training providers, employers, and the United Kingdom as a whole. (MN)

To help in the exploration of developments in increasing learning flexibility in Great Britain's further education system, this paper suggests the development of learner flexibility profiles as devices for analyzing and recording the nature and extent of student choice or discretion. The introductory section reviews developments in open learning systems in Great Britain and current interest in learning situations which provide flexibility for students. The next section defines flexible learning as the creation of learning opportunities tailored to meet the needs of the learner and discusses the role of student choice and negotiation in flexible learning systems. The next sections focus on the methods of developing a profile of learner flexibility in terms of dimensions, such as the aims and content of learning, methods of assessment, modes of attendance, and pace of learning. Issues of measuring flexibility along curricular and administrative levels are discussed next, followed by an examination of the ways learner flexibility profiles can be used. Appendices provide examples of possible scalings against a range of dimensions; scales for the major dimensions of curriculum content, assessment, and learning methods; a breakdown of the learning methods dimension into lesson structure, learning resources, and tutorial support; and examples where central bodies allow flexibility but students are unable to take advantage of the full range of opportunities. (LAL)

Research to develop a fifth generation of computers is underway in several countries. These computers, which will be distinguished by the ability to provide knowledge information processing and respond to natural language commands, will have a profound impact on the labor market and hence on further education. Rather than being a separate curriculum area, computer studies should increasingly underlie the teaching and learning of each subject area, offering a knowledge-based approach to computer literacy. The role and form of face-to-face teaching must be reassessed, and institutional amalgamations may be necessary to meet the new perceived needs. Staff development must be focused both on using the expanded capabilities of the new computers and on addressing their social implications. Colleges should have information technology development units to develop pertinent curricula and materials, introduce artificial intelligence to teachers, and collaborate with subject specialist teachers in introducing the applications of advanced information technology into their subject areas. Company involvement in collaborative projects should also be encouraged. (Appendixes to this report include a glossary, selected quotations dealing with fifth generation computers and their likely impact, an introduction to micro-PROLOG and Augmented PROLOG for Expert Systems--APES--and an annotated bibliography.) (MN)

The United Kingdom must invest in a comprehensive system of post-18 education that is broadly inclusive and that offers a broad range of educational opportunities to meet the needs of both the increasing numbers of 16-year-olds choosing to pursue postsecondary education and the many older individuals needing additional education throughout their adult lives. Creating the required spectrum of post-18 learning will necessitate the following actions: (1) meeting the growing demand for employees capable of making their own creative responses to problems/assignments rather than relying on instructions; (2) shifting the balance of courses toward a broader education applying intellectual skills to practical issues; (3) allowing local colleges to make a greater contribution to the spectrum of post-18 learning through programs of applied learning designed in collaboration with local employers; (4) varying patterns of study to meet individual learners' circumstances and learning preferences; (5) developing policy, funding mechanisms, and quality assurance arrangements and criteria for advancement in universities that reinforce the standing of teaching and learning; (6) reflecting teaching's priority in a substantial program of research and development about modern learning; and (7) determining how the cost of higher education should be shared by government, employers, individuals, and their families. (MN)

This publication is comprised of 43 papers on the topic of promoting lifelong learning. The papers in Part 1, Overcoming False Dichotomies, are "Lifelong Learning in the North, Education for All in the South" (Torres); "Practice of Lifelong Learning in Indigenous Africa" (Omolewa); "Gender and Information Societies" (Youngs); and "Lifelong Learning for a Modern Learning Society" (Somtrakool). Part 2, Scanning Developments in the Regions, consists of these papers: "Challenges of Lifelong Learning in Africa" (Tapsoba); "Promoting Community-Based Learning Centers in Asia-Pacific" (Oyasu); "European Union (EU) Memorandum on Lifelong Learning" (Smith); "Hungarian Response to the EU Memorandum on Lifelong Learning" (Istvan); "Regional Framework for Action for Adult and Youth Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (2001-10)" (Jauregui de Gainza); and "Lifelong Learning" (Essefi). Part 3, Promoting Democratization, contains these papers: "Learning in a Global Society" (Alexander); "Citizenship and Democracy in Socrates' and Grundtvig's Europe" (Ronai); "Education for Non-Discrimination" (Millan); "Lifelong Learning and Work in Developing Countries" (Pieck); "Globalization, Lifelong Learning, and Response of the Universities" (Peng); and "Combining the World of Work with the World of Education" (Romijn). The papers in Part 5, Making Lifelong Learning Work for Women, are "Gender Equality in Basic Education" (Messina); "Women as Lifelong Learners" (Benaicha); and "Lifelong Learning for Elimination of Violence Against Women" (Kuninobu). The papers in Part 6, Learning Across Generations, are "Achieving Youth Empowerment Through Peer Education" (Wissa); and "Role of Intergenerational Programs in Promoting Lifelong Learning for All Ages" (Ohsako). The papers in Part 7, Learning Across Cultures, are "Cultural Contexts of Learning: East Meets West" (Yang); "Building Community Through Study Circles" (Oliver); "Culturally-Based Adult Education" (Smith); and "Perspective of Lifelong Learning in South Asia" (Bordia). In Part 8, Laying Foundations and Sustaining Achievements Through Literacy and Nonformal Education, are "Literacy Linked Women Development Programs" (Usha); "Lifelong Learning Policy and Practices in the Laos People's Democratic Republic" (Mithong Souvanvixay); "Distance Learning and Adult Education" (Wilson, White); "Role of Partnerships in the Promotion of Lifelong Learning" (Lin); and "Toward the Eradication of Illiteracy Among Youth and Adults in China" (Guodong). Part 9, Creating Environments Conducive to Lifelong Learning, has these papers: "Learning Cities/Region in the Framework of Lifelong Learning" (Doukas); "Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Sweden" (Salin); "Promoting Lifelong Learning in Beijing for a Learning Society" (Shuping); and "Reorienting Teachers as Lifelong Learners" (Tiedao). (YLB)

This document contains four papers from a symposium on performance, productivity, and continuous improvement. "Investigating the Association between Productivity and Quality Performance in Two Manufacturing Settings" (Constantine Kontoghiorghes, Robert Gudgel) summarizes a study that identified the following quality management variables as the strongest predictors of productivity and performance: internal process satisfaction; external customer satisfaction; and consistent delivery of work output in a complete fashion. "Tri-Dimensional Social Support from Supervisor and Multilevel Performance in Government Units in Thailand" (Duchduen Bhanthumnavin) reports on a study of 355 supervisor-subordinate pairs working in health centers in Thailand. "Continuous Improvement through TQM (Total Quality Management) A Case Study in Rhetoric" (John Stuart Walton, Prabhjot Kaur Basra) discusses the relationship between TQM, organization- wide change initiatives, and continuous improvement at large organizations in the United Kingdom over a 15-year period. "An Analysis of Factors Associated with Research Productivity of Human Resource Development Faculty" (Heather A. Williams, James E. Bartlett III, Joe W. Kotrlik, Chadwick Higgins) reports on a study of the research productivity of HRD faculty that identified the following five variables as accounting for 50% of the variance in the faculty members' research productivity: teaching; research; service; administrative allocation; and amount of graduate assistant hours. All four papers contain substantial bibliographies. (MN)

The Workers' Educational Association (WEA) is a national voluntary organization dedicated to giving adults in the United Kingdom access to organized learning. In a response to the British government green paper "The Learning Age," the WEA outlined its positions regarding lifelong learning and its recommendations regarding increasing the following groups' access to organized learning: educationally disadvantaged adults; unemployed people; parents/caregivers of young children; residents of socially deprived urban and rural areas; members of ethnic communities; frail elderly; adults with learning difficulties/disabilities; prisoners; adults with physical disabilities; adults recovering from mental illness; caregivers of adults with physical or mental disabilities; refugees; trade unionists; and members of community-based organizations. The following issues were emphasized: ensuring equality of opportunity of access to provision; providing appropriate educational guidance; valuing quality of learning through identification of learning outcomes; and developing progression routes and learning pathways. Six case studies were presented to illustrate the following strategies for improving access to organized learning: strong base in local communities; effective partnerships with other community-based agencies; effective links with statutory bodies; flexible and innovative approaches to learning, evaluation of learning, and assessment; recognition of all types and levels of learning; and increased use of new technologies in education. (MN)

To address the skills shortages stemming from the transition to a more technological and skills-intensive economy, Congress established a program whereby funds from H-1B visa fees would provide seed funds for private companies, labor, and government to join together in creating training alliances focused on skills in short supply. Unfortunately, the program has failed to live up to expectations. It has therefore been recommended that Congress create a National Skills Corporation (NSC) and fund it in part by transferring the Department of Labor's (DOL's) H-1B training funds to the corporation. Modeled after the Universal Service Administrative Company, which administers universal telephone service funds, the NSC would serve as a nonprofit corporation governed by a board consisting of leaders from business, organized labor, higher education, and government. The NSC's mission and operation could be modeled by the United Kingdom's new Sectoral Skills Development Agency, which is a non-departmental public body designed to fund the new United Kingdom-wide network of employer-led sectoral skills councils. The NSC would make grants to support industry- and/or union-led skills alliances. Alliances would need to provide at least one-to-one matching funds. The corporation would be funded with the funds currently allocated for DOL's H-1B program and additional Congressional allocations. (MN)

Despite calls by consumer advocates for Australia's governments and financial services institutions to provide consumers with resources to help them understand how the financial services sector operates, financial education remains something that most Australians gain by default. Research conducted in the United Kingdom and United States, has identified the social and economic factors that have necessitated financial literacy, documented the problems faced by disadvantaged and illiterate consumers in dealing with the financial services sector, and provided information for the debate about consumer education and financial literacy. Australia's deliberate government policy of deregulation and economic rationalism, poor educational resources, and lack of concern on the part of the financial services sector have all been key factors in generating the conditions necessary to create social exclusion and alienation. The following groups are particularly susceptible to the financial exclusion that stems from illiteracy and lack of financial literacy: low-income consumers; older consumers; consumers from non English speaking backgrounds; consumers with disabilities; consumers with literacy difficulties; and indigenous consumers. Given all the reasons for financial exclusion in Australia, a protracted effort must be instituted whereby Australian government, industry, and communities will learn to recognize the central role that access to literacy plays in the communities' and individuals' well-being. (69 references) (MN)

This document consists of a two-part report that was developed as part of a project to develop a national workforce development (WfD) system to ensure that people in the United Kingdom develop the basic, intermediate, and other skills needed in the 21st century. The first report sets out proposals for a more demand-led system that places skill development firmly in the context of wider business needs and gives employers and employees a central role in determining the nature of provision. The report examines the following topics: the importance of WfD; factors impeding WfD; raising demand; meeting demand with high-quality WfD provision; developing a government framework to support WfD; and implementing the framework. The first report includes 55 figures/boxes and 12 appendixes, including a description of the methodology used to develop the policy statement and action plan, list of organizations and people consulted, glossary, 70-item bibliography, performance targets, and 312 suggestions for further reading. The second report presents a comprehensive action plan for WfD in England to 2010 that details the steps England's government will take in the following areas: raising informed demand; improving supply; and developing the right government framework. The following items are appended to the second report: the action plan; a glossary; an 18-item bibliography; and a discussion of sources of further information. (MN)

Adult and continuing education in the arts can and does play a role in the development of cultural identity. Dimensions of culture include ethnicity, location, age, social class, and time. This definition of culture leads to the conclusion that cultures are generally small and are dynamic rather than static. Research shows that individuals in what are perceived to be declining cultures learn about their culture from family and peers rather than educational establishments. They are often ambivalent about the value of their culture. Members of small cultural units take pride in their culture but are often frustrated by it and undervalue it. Adult education providers could do more to reinforce cultural identity. Many cultures see their future only in terms of preserving the past. Adult education must provide opportunities for cultural development through more creative studies that take traditional forms of expression but reinvent them for the twenty-first century. Preserving cultural identity is not about living in the past but about developing a new living cultural identity. Adult and continuing education can have a unique role in persuading ordinary people to learn about, value, and develop their own cultural identities outside of the value systems of the international art market. (YLB)

In the United Kingdom, these two perspectives on lifelong learning sit uneasily together: emphasis on adults in employment and a focus on diversity and widening participation in adult education. A recent emphasis on accreditation with implications for funding has affected diversity and participation objectives because involving assessment, certification, or accreditation tends to discourage participation. The major question for adult educators is how accreditation can be used appropriately to recognize achievement while still promoting learning for the most disadvantaged and disenfranchised portion of the population. Higher and further education institutions, local authority adult education departments, voluntary organizations, and training programs for women were surveyed to determine how accreditation affects provision designed specifically for women. Findings indicated a need to reconsider threshold or entry provision for women in groups that have previously been under- or un-represented in adult education and training. A longitudinal case study of how required accreditation was implemented by a women's training scheme in a rural mining area found that some valued outcomes such as personal development and growth were difficult to quantify and assess. Despite being recognized as an example of good practice in developing the potential of women and providing quality training, the local authority decided the program was not cost effective and training opportunities for other disadvantaged groups had to be given priority, an outcome indicative of the tensions of implementing lifelong learning. (Contains 34 references.) (YLB)

The arguments for deschooling expressed by Ivan Illich a quarter of a century ago have relevance today. We are in danger of losing their most salient insights; perhaps because the critique was phrased in this oversimplified binary form, excessive institutionalization should be countered by deinstitutionalization, professionalism by deprofessionalization. Experimentation and challenges to the formal system have resulted, but they have not had a substantial impact on the formal system's character or growth. If such binarism were replaced by a focus on the character and quality of relationships between institutions and between individuals, more positive lines forward might be seen in theory and in policy. The argument can be pursued by reference to social capital. Three scholars dominate the debate. Expositions of James Coleman and Pierre Bourdieu are especially relevant to education and human capital; Robert Putnam's work acts as a more general reference point. The key merit of social capital is its focus on qualities of relationships rather than on individual achievements and attributes. The relationships can be at the individual or collective level. Social capital is relevant to debates on lifelong learning. It encourages a look at education and learning systems in terms of networks rather than hierarchies and builds into the analysis an emphasis on the informal side of learning, as compared with a preoccupation with institutional learning. (Contains 13 references.) (YLB)

Adult guidance in community settings offers a holistic, personal development approach to individuals wishing to change their work or learning situations. Adult guidance in community settings can include some or all of the following: offering initial information and advice; signposting to other agencies; and providing guidance through group or individual activities. Guidance delivered through community settings must be client centered, relaxed and informal, totally voluntary, and familiar (and hence unthreatening) venues. Emphasis on individual personal development and a holistic approach to problem solving and decision making are major elements of guidance delivered through community settings. All evidence indicates that access to information and guidance is a bigger problem than availability of information and guidance. Because barriers to participation in learning are often perpetuated by the education and training system itself, it is especially important to make provisions to reach those groups that have been traditionally been underrepresented in postschool education and training. Strategic approaches to adult guidance should do the following: (1) fully acknowledge the critical part adult guidance plays in supporting adults in the process of self-determination with regard to their learning and work options and (2) recognize the need for different types and levels of guidance provision. (MN)