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This paper examined lifelong education and learning trajectories and issues of policy, ideology and practice that have underpinned the implementation of adult literacy and adult learning education strategies within a lifelong learning perspective in Ghana. Using documentary analysis, the paper noted that although the concept of lifelong education/learning has been used in some national development documents and educational policies, Ghana has no national policy on lifelong learning. The paper found that multilateral and bilateral organisations have influenced the direction and strategies captured in the national development documents and educational policies. The paper found that recommendations from International Conferences on Adult Education have often had very little influence on these national policy texts. For Ghana to be able to provide opportunities for lifelong learning for all there is the need for a vision of lifelong learning that is situated in the present and looks into the future. Ghana must work towards building a culture of lifelong learning. Policymakers need to understand that lifelong learning cannot be achieved when there are no clear-cut policies on adult literacy and adult learning and education, which are all critical components of lifelong learning. The learning needs of the youth and adults have to be given recognition in national development documents and educational policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores and analyses adult educators' professional development (PD) in Singapore at three levels: national, organisational (training providers) and individual and examines the gap between skills supply and demand of adult educators. Requirements for adult educators' competencies established by the government initiative SkillsFuture, views of training providers and adult educators themselves on skills requirements are included as the demand side. Individually self-reported skills proficiency of adult educators is considered as a supply. The results identified that there is a close match between skills demand from training providers and individual and supply. However, some targets in terms of skills required for adult educators set up by the government policies have not been viewed by training providers or adult educators as priorities for development. This paper argues that in planning for continuing PD for adult educators, particular attention should be given from a systematic perspective that takes into consideration the wider context where the adult educators work. It can serve as a reference point to inform localised PD programmes and policies in the broader landscape of adult education and lifelong learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of learning rooted in behavioural psychology has become dominant in the field of teaching and learning for several decades. Even though it has been widely used in formal education it is inadequate for informing lifelong learning policies and plans. In this paper, first I critique the psychological foundation of learning and in the second part, drawing on Habermasian conceptualisation of three structural components of the lifeworld (culture, society, and personality), I conceptualise the three components as the social foundations of learning: learning as cultural reproduction, learning as social integration and learning as socialisation. In the context of the UN's declaration of 'lifelong learning' as one of the Sustainable Development Goals, this paper will be useful for developing policies to address challenges faced by individual countries at cultural, societal and individual levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Quality' in education has become a global phenomenon, and is frequently discussed in transnational and national policy. In such discussions, 'quality' seems to be both worthwhile and demanded, but at the same time, the concept has also been criticised in previous research as it seems to have attained a 'common sense' status. In this context, the role of the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (SSI) is raised, as the SSI is commissioned by the Swedish Government to audit and review 'quality' in education. However, as the concept of 'quality' is left undefined in policy, the SSI has to enact national policy to review 'quality' in its quality audits. Hence, the SSI plays an active part in construing 'quality', as it makes it auditable through the indicators and systems it uses when conducting quality audits. Thus, this paper has critically scrutinised underlying assumptions and the discursive effects of how the SSI construes 'quality' in different policy proposals. To access and analyse such constructs, this article draws on Bacchi's (2009) post-structural, Foucault-influenced 'What's the problem represented to be?' (WPR) approach. The results indicate that 'quality' is presupposed to be both measurable and elusive at the same time. Hence, the SSI operates in a field of tension, targeting something more elusive than just figures and numbers when it comes to 'quality'. The discursive effects of these presuppositions have implications for what can be said and thought about 'quality' at both national and local levels, as well as for students and school staff who are involved in the educational system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precarious jobs and unemployment have become common issues for many young adults due to the unfavourable labour market situation in Portugal. Against this background, lifelong learning (LLL) policies have been called in to play a role in creating economic growth and supporting the social inclusion of young adults in vulnerable educational and economic circumstances. These policies are defined at the national level; however, their implementation depends on the action of local actors who face specific challenges. This paper explores disparities in the definition and implementation of LLL policies targeting young adults in two Portuguese regions. Specifically, we analyse professional courses in Vale do Ave (North) and adult education and training courses in Alentejo Litoral (South). These regions were selected due to their dissimilar economic structure. This study adopted a qualitative approach through interviews with LLL experts and policy roundtables with local stakeholders and decision-makers in both regions. Data were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10. The study shows that the two regions have different cooperation networks between local stakeholders, and that these impact the opportunities to influence the regional skills formation system differently. Also, the study shows that LLL policies are not designed to address destandardised life courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The broad aim of this paper is to track the evolution of adult literacy policy in the UK across three decades, highlighting convergences between policy phases and the promotion of democratic learning spaces. It is anchored onto the argument that, although it is generally accepted that democratic learning spaces are perceived as beneficial to adult literacy learners, policy has often deterred its promotion and, therefore, implementation. The paper identifies three block phases of adult literacy development: the seventies to mid-eighties, the mid-eighties to mid-nineties and the mid-nineties to the Moser Committees. The features of each of these phases are highlighted to map out convergences and divergences to the ethos of democratic learning spaces. The paper argues that, with the evolution of policy in adult literacy, the ethos of democratic learning space continuously diminished, such that as policy evolved year on year, the principle of democratic learning space found itself at counterpoint to policy. We draw on two theoretical frameworks, the NLS view of literacy and Bourdieu's capital framework to explain these divergences and conclude that the dominant perception of literacy and the prioritised capital in the context of policy appear to limit the vestiges of democratic learning spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes up an existing discussion around critical perspectives on adult education, in particular how empowerment and emancipation have been understood. Previously in this journal, concern has been raised with traditional understandings of critical adult education. The problem is that these tend to assume that learners require assistance from experts, be they teachers or researchers, in order to gain understanding of how they are oppressed. The purpose of this paper is to present a deeper engagement with this concern through an examination of how both empowering and emancipatory adult education have been understood and practised. The demarcation is examined in the context of the historical development of critical understandings and practices associated with adult literacies learning, as a significant field of adult education where the idea of empowerment and emancipation has been theorised. The ideas and practices associated with empowering literacies are defended as ways for learners to gain positions from which to speak and be heard, as well as support participation in work, community and family life. Informed by the ideas of Jacques Rancière, there is also acknowledgement that societal inequalities are increasing, necessitating a need to consider how adult education might encourage political transformation and emancipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focus on how the Swedish population is shaped into desirable citizens as resources for the nation's prosperity. The aim is to analyse how health operates as a governing technique in discourses of lifelong learning. Within such current discourses the population is today described as generally well-educated and healthy, but not educated or healthy enough. When constructed as being in need of enhancement, measures of learning are suggested for regulating certain groups of the population into becoming what is regarded as desirable. Making use of Foucault's notions of governmentality and genealogy, white and green papers from the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs from 1930s and today (2017) are analysed. The analysis shows that although the population is described as having different problems originating from ignorance, the solutions that are suggested in the different time periods are basically the same. The relation between learning and health is described in different ways in the 1930s and the present. In the 1930s learning is explained merely as a means to achieve a healthy population while in the present health is described both as a prerequisite and as an effect of learning. Further, there is also a difference in how the governing is conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of whether the potential short-term advantages of vocational qualifications are offset by disadvantages in later life is an important issue for policy debates. This paper analyses how the choice of vocational or general upper-secondary education affects future prospects of participation in non-formal education (NFE). It presents a comparative analysis of European countries in different six types according to the skill specificity of the vocational education and training system, using the 2014 Labour Force Survey data. Our results confirm the trade-off between short- and long-term benefits of vocational education. In countries with higher specificity of vocational education, the difference in NFE participation between vocational and general upper-secondary education at the beginning of the work career is higher compared to countries where specificity is lower. However, the same difference also appears in countries where general upper-secondary education dominates. Unexpectedly, the differences between the two educational groups in training participation did not diminish over the life-course but increased for the 30–34 year olds. The results highlight that in countries where general upper-secondary education dominates (type 6) those with vocational education are more likely to participate in NFE than in countries where school-based systems exist (type 5). Abbreviations: NFE - non-formal education and training; VET - vocational education and training; ISCED - International Standard Classification of Education; EU LFS - the European Union Labour Force Survey [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile technologies are becoming ubiquitous in education, yet the wider implications of this phenomenon are not well understood. The paper discusses how mobile lifelong learning (mLLL) may be defined, and the challenges of forging a suitable definition in an ever-shifting technological and socio-economic landscape. mLLL appears as a ubiquitous concept that puts together mobile learning, essentially an ensemble of didactic practices based on the use of mobile technologies, and lifelong learning, a general vision of education in the knowledge society. Starting from the results of an EU-funded project, MOTILL, the paper situates mLLL within the more complex framework of the network society. This illuminates the difficulties in formulating a comprehensive definition, but also the relevance of this concept in the future of learning. We conclude that the future of mLLL can be understood only as a 360 degree vision that is able to take into account a range of pedagogical, managerial, political and ethical issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper compares access to full-time undergraduate higher education (HE) by members of less advantaged social classes and ethnic minorities across the four ‘home countries’ of the UK. It uses data on applicants to HE in selected years from 1996 to 2010. In all home countries students from intermediate and working-class backgrounds retained a broadly level share of a rising total participation in HE, while ethnic minorities increased their share. Intermediate- and working-class students were more likely to study within their own home country, as were ethnic-minority students in England, but minority students from Northern Ireland and Scotland were much more likely than white students to study elsewhere (usually England). Some aspects of the admissions process appear to have been ‘unfair’ to lower class applicants; this was the same across the UK although the relative success of applications from colleges and independent schools, which might accentuate or mitigate inequalities, varied across the home countries. In England and Wales, ethnic-minority applicants were less likely to be offered a place but they compensated (only partially in the case of older universities) by gaining entry through clearing; in Scotland they were as likely to be offered a place but less likely to enter HE. The paper discusses the potential of such comparisons for benchmarking and for policy learning. It concludes that the similarities between the home countries are more substantial than their differences, and that administrative and political devolution in the 1990s has had little impact on inequalities in HE. There is no evidence of a significant impact of the divergence between market policies in England and the more social-democratic policies of the devolved administrations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Governments across Europe have been encouraged by the European Union (EU) to take measures to upskill their workforce to ensure growth and social inclusion. Low-skilled workers are particular targets and learning providers and employers are expected to provide learning opportunities for them. However, research shows that those with low skills often lack confidence and require support to engage in learning. This paper examines an European Structural Funds (ESF)-funded course aimed at developing soft skills in low-skilled employees through a course developed by a Scottish college. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with learners from two cohorts of the course to examine their experiences and gains from the course. Learners’ accounts demonstrate benefits from the course but workplace culture impacted on the level of gains. The paper questions the ability of one-off courses to deliver the aims of policy and suggests more coordinated and sustained effort is required. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the extent to which civic education is achieving its goals of teaching democracy and producing responsible democratic citizenship in Lesotho. This is done by analysing the conceptions of civic education, democracy, public participation, human rights, freedoms and responsibilities that appear in Lesotho’s documents that are used to teach people about democracy through formal, non-formal and informal education. I therefore argue that in the current Lesotho’s political history, these conceptions do not provide enough conditions for the cultivation of active democratic citizenship. Instead the materials dwell too much on teaching citizens about the systems and structures of government, preoccupied with inconsistent definitions and characteristics of democracy and with informing citizens of the importance of knowing how to vote and abide by the laws of the country; without showing how democracy should operate in a democratic country. The findings reveal that civic education for adults in Lesotho is offered informally, through the civil society organisations and politicians that are largely based in urban parts of Lesotho. This suggest that civic education should be tailored for the rural and urban citizens in a context of democratic transition in a country that still embraces strong traditional ties to communitarian living. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses a study that explored the impact of the Lesotho Government pension scheme on the learning attitudes of pensioners. The recent introduction of the pension scheme means that old people have regained their status as breadwinners. They are no longer dependents but have become very resourceful members of the community. As a result they are more involved in family and community activities. This has necessitated a new look at their lifelong learning needs in relation to their responsibilities, among others, of educating their grandchildren, updating themselves in relation to new farming techniques and health issues. In this research, a case study design was employed to investigate two constituencies in Maseru, in peri-urban and rural settings. An interview guide was used to collect data employing a snowballing sampling technique. Data were qualitatively analysed. The results of the study indicate that these pensioners identified many new activities where they had the opportunity for lifelong learning, but the idea of targeted learning that could enhance these activities needs to be nurtured. The study recommends establishment of functional learning centres in constituencies to encourage organised learning for the elderly, families and communities. Such centres would be a place where they could convene and participate in various formal, non-formal and informal/indigenous learning activities. This paper provides some background information to how the pension scheme was introduced in Lesotho and the questions it raised regarding how pensioners were subsequently using their time. The paper then provides a conceptual framework in relation to adult learning, followed by the methodology, findings and conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advocates for policy recognition of lifelong learning by institutions of higher learning and governments in Eastern Africa. Lifelong learning and lifelong education are two concepts that aim at widening access to and the participation of adult learners in the acquisition of new knowledge, skills, values and attitudes. There are many reasons for advocating for lifelong learning and education in higher institutions of learning in Eastern Africa. Firstly, the demand for higher education in Eastern Africa has increased phenomenally. Secondly, the need to cope with this fast-changing world calls for a continuous acquisition of new knowledge, skills and attitude. This paper looks at the concepts of lifelong learning (LLL) and lifelong education (LLE) in relation to the changes that are affecting the provision of university-based learning opportunities for non-traditional students in Eastern Africa, with examples from Makerere University Institute of Adult and Continuing Education in Uganda. In looking at the concepts of LLL and LLE, other concepts of lifewide learning and the learning society are also discussed. Adult learning and adult education are discussed as concepts that are used by adult educators in Eastern Africa with very limited understanding of what they really mean. The confusion in the use of these emerging and popular concepts in Eastern Africa is discussed. The paper presents some recommendations for higher institutions of learning in Eastern Africa to develop a clear understanding of and embrace lifelong learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that while the Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning that was commissioned by NIACE makes some helpful recommendations for broadening the scope of lifelong learning to include considerations around well-being and happiness, the reports do not provide a sufficiently critical or philosophical analysis of the challenges facing the field of lifelong learning today. Perhaps because it is intended to inform policy makers and the general public, the Inquiry reports are written in language that seems to be carefully designed not to offend or alarm anyone, appealing to the reason and good sense of readers who might be swayed by persuasive argument to be supportive of wider notions of lifelong learning. Despite its critique of viewing education only in economic terms, financial concerns are used consistently as justification for recommendations with the report. The main difference is that economic issues are presented within a broader social context. While the report makes some beneficial recommendations, the contributors have not taken this opportunity to assert the importance of critical adult education taking the lead in informing the future direction of lifelong learning in the UK. This paper focuses particularly on the theme of well-being and happiness, using a critical feminist analysis, to point out ways in which this argument could be developed to provide a deeper analysis of some the concerns raised in the Inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to answer two questions 'Given the policy settings for lifelong learning for adults in Europe and much of the western world, what are the policy settings and experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand?' and 'Will the future of adult lifelong education there be neoliberal or cosmopolitan?' The article first examines some of the roots of post-compulsory education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand over the last 30 years. In particular it considers trends in philosophies and practices about educating adults as well as some of the varied policy discourses prevailing over this period. Next it reviews the ever-changing policy landscape, in particular unresolved tensions between social and economic goals, the acquisition of skills for learning for living and dialogic social purpose learning, and attainment of social cohesion and recognition of diversity. Finally the paper attempts to preview how these tensions may play out in an uncertain future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of 'lifelong learning' or shōgai gakushu has rapidly become one of the topmost priorities in Japan's education policy agenda. This was considerably evident in December 2006 when the term 'lifelong learning' was added to Japan's educational charter, the Fundamental Law of Education. This paper explores, as a means to develop Japan's new lifelong learning policy, the lessons that can be learnt through an examination of the European countries' efforts to build a knowledge economy, where lifelong learning is regarded as the key solution in overcoming several important social and economic concerns. In this paper, I first examine the current situation of lifelong learning in Japan, employing the ethnographic data that I have collected since 2001. Second, I provide a brief review of the European lifelong learning policy, which is one of the priority guidelines in the European Union. Under the Lisbon Strategy, for example, the argument on European lifelong learning theoretically centres on developing human capital in order to survive in the global knowledge economy. Lastly, referring to the European experience over the past decade, I propose to directly connect Japan's latest policy development regarding lifelong learning with the trend of building human capital through lifelong learning in order to enhance its competitiveness in the era of globalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a five-year study which explored the engagement of a group of long-term mentally ill adults in community provision in which they learned basic, expressive literacy. The research mapped points in the learning, writing and auto/biographic engagement where set identities were being troubled, and frisson created in the challenge of the new. This was not always sustained or managed comfortably, raising questions about the containing function of such community learning provision. The study took a critical ethnographic approach in which biographic narrative interviews with learners played a major part. The Lacanian concept of point de capiton is used here, in order to illustrate the extent to which the mentally ill learner of basic literacy is prescribed in and through current educational policy and practice. Given these constraints, the longitudinal data did, however, appear to reveal instances of both agency and defiance, with individuals making a stand regarding their learning. The paper suggests that the anxious regimes of adult learning, ironically, despite their 'discourses of certainty', appeared to replicate symptoms many individuals were suffering from as part of their long-term illness. It asks whether this model of education, in which prescription, observation and quasi-diagnosis prevail, is the most appropriate given the saturated experiences of the mentally ill, of being prescribed to, observed and diagnosed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with the politics of lifelong learning policy in post-1997 Hong Kong (HK). The paper is in four parts. Continuing Education, recast as 'lifelong learning', is to be the cornerstone of the post-Handover education reform agenda. The lineaments of a familiar discourse are evident in the Education Commission policy documents. However, to view recent HK education policy just in terms of an apparent convergence with global trends would be to neglect the ways in which the discourse of lifelong learning has been tactically deployed to serve local political agendas. In the second part of this paper, I outline what Scott has called HK's 'disarticulated' political system following its retrocession to China and attempts by an executive-led administration to demonstrate 'performance legitimacy'--through major policy reforms--in the absence of (democratic) political legitimacy. Beijing's designation of HK as a (depoliticized) 'economic' city within greater China must also be taken into account. It is against this political background that the strategic deployment of a 'lifelong learning' discourse needs to be seen. In the third section of this paper, I examine three recent policy episodes to illustrate how lifelong learning discourse has been adopted and has evolved to meet changing circumstances in HK. Finally, I look at the issue of public consultation. The politics of education policy in HK may be seen to mirror at a micro-level, the current macro-level contested interpretations of HK's future polity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper’s starting point is to consider adult education as embedded in the political, social, cultural and economic processes of society. The writers believe that it is necessary to develop an understanding of these contexts in order to understand the role of adult education in Southern Africa in the last 20 years. The paper then looks at adult education in the Southern African context in terms of three themes. These are: adult education for survival; for economic development and for political and cultural development. Finally the paper considers the shift from adult education to lifelong learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As lifelong learning becomes a greater focus for policy at local, national and supranational levels, a question emerges as to how to engage in policy analysis. This is a debate, which is already taking place in relation to policy analysis in other sectors of education. However, this has had little influence on policy studies in lifelong learning. This paper reviews the wider debates and argues for the productiveness of a discursive approach to policy analysis. In particular, it argues that the notion of metaphor can be deployed in such analysis to good effect. This is illustrated through an initial analysis of the UK government's 1998 Green Paper, The Learning Age: a Renaissance for a New Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents preliminary findings of an extensive socio-legal research project, currently in progress, concerning the implementation of the European Union and the Greek institutional framework on lifelong learning (LLL) and exploring the social effectiveness of LLL policy. The main outcomes, based on testing two research hypotheses through quantitative and qualitative content analysis, are presented. Firstly, there are significant differences in the ranking of four LLL objectives (employability/adaptability takes priority over social inclusion, personal fulfilment and active citizenship) as between legal documents of different origin (EU or national) and binding force (hard or soft law). Secondly, the key role of the global recession of 2008 in reinforcing the economic dimension of EU policy in the field is revealed. These data, considered from a socio-legal perspective, provide a basis for further discussion regarding national alignment to the EU’s LLL policy and argue for new ‘policy syntheses’ informed by the views of social actors concerned with policy implementation, in line with a broad humanistic notion of LLL. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the past two decades regional agreements have become more significant in educational and training. This paper situates and analyses the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the Bologna Process and the Lisbon Strategy and explores their influence on the integration of higher education systems in Mercosur (the Southern Common Market of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela). Mercosur is still a customs union, and the project of integrating higher education is at an early stage. Lacking organically established regional bodies, coordination of integration in Mercosur has focused on summits and meetings of officials. However, in a context of unequal maturity in regional integration, there is emerging evidence that the EHEA project is influencing the reforms of national systems of higher education and even Mercosur’s model for a regional area of higher education. A nascent Europeanization of higher education systems in the Mercosur region is emerging, by-passing Mercosur’s regional structures. The formulation of policies has been permeated by policy transfer from Europe to national territories within Mercosur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper addresses the issue of the impact of expansion and differentiation on widening access to higher education. In particular, it considers the impact of the growing importance of full-time short-cycle higher education in Scotland’s colleges of further and higher education, the progression pathways which have now been established from these programmes to bachelor degrees in the Scottish universities and the policy initiatives to strengthen these pathways. It concludes that while these developments have helped promote inclusion, they have also resulted in some outcomes which can best be understood as diversion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Public higher education has a long history, with its growth associated with mass higher education and the extension of a social right to education from secondary schooling to university education. Following the rise in student numbers since the 1970s, the aspiration to higher education has been universalized, although opportunities remain structured by social background. This paper looks at changing policies for higher education in the UK and the emergence of a neoliberal knowledge regime. This subordinates higher education to the market and shifts the burden of paying for degree courses onto students. It seeks to stratify institutions and extend the role of for-profit providers. From a role in the amelioration of social inequality, universities are now asked to participate actively in the widening inequalities associated with a neoliberal global market order. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this era of globalisation, the present perception of lifelong learning (LLL) in the Indian policy domain has been going through major changes in an attempt to make it nationally realistic yet globally viable. In this process, all facets of the concept of LLL are constantly metamorphosing, and this in many ways outperforms the older perception of LLL in India. The main objective of the paper is to gain a better insight into this metamorphosis in three consecutive stages; from recommendations, to policies and finally to guidelines. It uses Peter Jarvis’s theoretical framework to analyse the tensions in reshaping the dimensions of LLL in a certain context, yet gives flexibility for new analytical inputs. Based on the analysis, it is possible to generalise two major perspectives of LLL in Indian policies; a competitive and skill-oriented one, which is more global in nature. The other possesses a traditional nature and addresses basic educational needs. The process of metamorphosis is going through a major transition phase while facing resistance from several levels. This encourages further research on the complexities of LLL at different levels and contexts to gain better insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the lifelong learning policy of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has had a unique impact on international discussions over the last four decades, little historical research has revealed the ideological influences at work within UNESCO's lifelong learning policy texts. With this in mind, this paper exposes the authoritative and marginal ideological influences within UNESCO's lifelong learning policy during the period between the 1990s and the early 2000s. Specifically, this research's analysis reveals that while social democratic liberalism as a dominant ideology was continuously reaffirmed in UNESCO's lifelong learning policy texts during the period, neoliberal stances were also subtly accommodated and radical social democrats' ideas missing in its recent lifelong learning policy texts. Furthermore, UNESCO's lifelong learning was fallaciously critiqued as being opposed to another global development agendum, education for all (EFA). Implications for realising good policy and global justice in conditions dominated by neoliberal capitalism are discussed in depth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the continuities and discontinuities in the international problematisation of education across the lifespan as an education policy, currently conceptualised as lifelong learning. Through the critical examination of international organisations' policy documents, this paper demonstrates that while on the one hand there is a pattern in the way the problematisaton has been carried out (the continuities), on the other hand the translation of the problematisaton into policy has been punctuated by major discontinuities. Lifelong learning as a policy concept has introduced strong discontinuities that have ensured its acceptance worldwide: a policy with a small degree of political operationalisation that simultaneous discursively combines different political orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of lifelong learning has become a mantra within educational policies. However these have been strongly critiqued for reflecting an understanding of learning that privileges the economic benefits of participation in formal education. In UK contexts, the importance attached to widening participation in higher education is one manifestation of these policy discourses, which can be interrogated as a form of governmentality. This paper draws upon a recent small-scale mixed-method study of different vocational learners' transition from Level 3 courses to consider how these policy discourses are being mediated by 'learners' who were qualified to enter higher education, but decided instead on alternative life courses. The analysis suggests that policy constructions of participation in higher education sit at a disjuncture with respondents' longer-term experiences of institutionalised education processes. In other ways, lifelong learning seemed to be willingly embraced in respondents' different commitments to learning and self-development, although higher education institutions were not often seen as a source of this learning. The article aims all the same to allow this interpretation of respondents' voices to speak back and disrupt policy mantras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The (un)reality of open/porous borders is starkly represented/manifested in the experiences of immigrant women in lifelong learning contexts. While globalization effectively destroys some borders, it simultaneously creates new ones. State institutions respond to global reconfigurations of borders at local levels by establishing policies that exclude women from working in their fields unless they participate in re-education programs. At the same time the global competition among states within the discourses of the knowledge economy for attracting 'the best and the brightest' entice women to leave (or the effects of Western imperialism force them to flee) their homes with the promise of economic wellbeing or physical safety. Within this environment, lifelong learning can (dangerously) serve to privilege some forms of learning, knowledge and citizenship while devaluing others. This paper draws on research conducted between 2004 and 2006 in two immigrant service organizations. We explore possibilities for developing policies and practices that redress symbolic and cultural injustices with respect to immigrant women in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problems faced by a postmodern European Union, due to internationalisation of the economy, loss of competitiveness, rise in unemployment and negative demographic outcomes, call for transformations able to promote excellence in knowledge, technology and economic effectiveness, which also promote social cohesion. Thus, investment in human capital emerged as a core priority for European Union policies at the Lisbon European Council of 23 and 24 March 2000, providing for strategic goals to strengthen employment, economic reform and social cohesion. Within this framework, a new period of enhanced collaboration in education and training has been initiated among member states, committing them to a consistent strategy, with clear concrete objectives that accentuate aspects of openness and accessibility to adult education systems. This is expected to promote equal opportunities for all European citizens enabling them to participate in a 'knowledge-led society'. Hence, novel priorities have emerged for Greek educational policy. These have given prominence to lifelong learning and initiated the implementation of adult education centres in 2003 to meet the Lisbon goals. The present paper reports the findings of three case studies, relating to the promotion of openness and accessibility to learning opportunities throughout life. The research was launched in three adult education centres in northern Greece. The study attempted to assess strengths and weaknesses in their efforts to deliver educational services or activities to both citizens of urban and rural areas and to promote adult learning in a broader sense, in the light of the Lisbon mandate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article brings into question the issue of regional network strategies aiming at implementing structures of lifelong learning in the local context, the so-called learning communities. Facing a broad diversity in their implementation all over Europe, one can observe on the other hand much less effort to discuss conceptual frameworks that deal explicitly with this subject as a whole. Yet it seems essential to categorise these colourful patterns of practice and to identify key issues—notably with regards to the aspect of lifelong learning—to develop the discourse further and to render it adaptive to international debate. For this purpose the paper draws attention to three instrumental case studies of learning communities (a Norwegian one, an English one and a German one) that were conducted within an exploratory research strategy. Designed as a between-method triangulation, the case studies represent a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach by means of an anonymous questionnaire and half-standardised interviews. The members of the network and its key stakeholders from the meta-level were investigated just as the local framework itself. Hence, the study intends not only to demonstrate exemplarily the European variety of learning communities, their origins and leading structures, but also to propose a further structuring of the topic by introducing a typology of learning communities. This eventually opens up controversial issues about lifelong learning strategies in general; for example the question, if these strategies will possibly rather widen already existing structures of inequality and exclusion than raising participation in lifelong learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the development of policies and practices related to lifelong learning in the last 10 years in China. It gives a brief introduction of the vital societal changes and offers a review on outstanding achievements in school education, which can be regarded as the context and infrastructure of lifelong learning enterprise. It analyses in depth the relevant national strategies adopted by the central government, which have been the fundamental guidelines for the practice of lifelong learning. After exploring the flourishing lifelong learning activities promoted by the government, industry and other nongovernmental agencies, it finally discusses the state-led promoting model of lifelong learning in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is evidence of parental participation in school governance in South Africa, the question of how these parents manage their participation in these affairs is largely unanswered. This question represents one of the major exclusions in the existing reflections on the school governance debate in the country. Using a qualitative approach, this study investigated the underlying dynamics of social identity as a factor in parents' engagement in school governance in 10 schools in the Eastern Cape. It provides evidence of the fragmented and dynamic nature of social identity and how it shaped behaviours among the parents. While challenging many contemporary social theories, the paper suggests several implications for policy re-formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educating older adults (in the so-called third age) is becoming an increasingly important activity for the elderly, above all because it empowers them, while at the same time reducing their social exclusion. The aim of this paper is to closely examine the actual state of affairs and the education possibilities for older adults in Slovenia. The article deals with a secondary analysis of data that was collected in three Slovene researches dealing with the participation of adults in the education process in 1987, 1998 and 2004. The purpose of the analysis is to examine te changes in the participation of the older adults, their motivation for education and barriers that have dissuaded them from education. Special attention is devoted to the development of the offer of educational programmes for older adults in Slovenia. The authors state that the offer of education for older adults has improved between 1987 and 2004, while the participation has declined. The older adults mentioned a number of various barriers that represent the reasons for the decline in their participation, however the major obstacle is the low educational level of older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Foucault’s conception of governmentality provides a powerful tool for understanding learning and education and links the organisation of learning to both politics and economics in developed Western societies. What is offered by Foucault’s conception, I will argue, is a new version of superstructural sociology, which provides a means of understanding how educational and economic practices mutually condition and adapt to each other while avoiding the excesses that plagued Marxist analyses in the later 20th century, which represented such processes as the outcome of a necessary determination. Lifelong learning will be identified as a specifically neoliberal form of state reason in terms of its conception, emergence and development. Although it has manifested a uniformly consistent – albeit not exclusive – concern of serving dominant economic interests, the prospects for moving beyond it depend, I argue, on whether the structures of learning created can be harnessed for other ends; that is, whether embryonic within the discursive programme of lifelong learning is the possibility of linking the discourse to a progressive emancipatory project based upon egalitarian politics and social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an account of the extent to which the concept of lifelong learning has been incorporated into the education policies of the Australian Commonwealth and State Governments and the Catholic and Independent schooling sectors, taking particular note of the application of lifelong learning to policies pertaining to teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Japan the use of the term lifelong education has become widespread throughout the 1990s and is central to educational policies, which actively tackle crucial subjects that take place in a wide area of education in a drastically changing contemporary society. This paper examines in detail the present situation of the development of lifelong education, in particular concerning adults, relating to the traditional ideas and systems on education called a highly school-centred society. These traditional ideas and systems, even today in Japan, have still functioned to greatly value school credentials and disturb the widening of the participation of adults in lifelong education, nevertheless adults have stood in need of continuously studying up-to-date knowledge and skills in a wide range of areas and at a different level throughout their working lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares and contrasts the views of educational policy makers and consumers within Lincolnshire, an English rural county, using Bourdieu's notion of 'habitus' as a vehicle for analysis. The article focuses on the relative importance of education as cultural capital in determining the motivational factors affecting participation in lifelong learning. The article considers lifelong learning in the context of 'continuing education'. If lifelong learning is characterized into three discrete yet connected phases: the first, 'full-time education' from the age of 5 until leaving full-time education at age 16, 18 or 21; the second, the 'transitional phase' between school and work at age 16-21; the third, 'continuing education' beyond the age of 21; it is the policies and attitudes to this third phase described in this paper. Education for adults rather than simply the education of adults. Interviews with small groups of learners and an experienced manager of lifelong learning policies in Lincolnshire are used to illuminate clear differences between the continuing education providers' expectations of lifelong learning and those of the learners. The conclusions reaffirm the importance of community and cultural tradition in education and highlight the importance of family learning within the rural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global phenomenon called globalization frequently offers justifications for socio-economic and political actions aimed at bringing rapidly into fruition the 'Global Village' which Marshall McLuhan had anticipated decades ago. Both the 1972 UNESCO sponsored Commission Report chaired by Edgar Faure and that of 1996 chaired by Jacques Delors produced important documents which, as at other times, reviewed issues and priorities in education worldwide, in spite of the obvious extreme diversity in socio-economic, political and educational situations, conceptions and structures. As always, UNESCO had been concerned about the numerous and vibrant challenges the future holds in store for everyone. In doing so, lifelong education has been identified as one of the indispensable assets available to us in the pursuits which regularly bring into the fore the concern for equality, equity and, indeed, human reasonableness. As the world pursues the ideals and objectives of globalization, the need arises for a timely reassessment of positions especially in the context of consequences and challenges that are inherent. This paper seeks to examine globalization in the context of some of the major challenges it poses for Africa. In particular, it proposes how lifelong education might be structured to assist Africans in comprehending, evaluating and possibly, participating comparatively effectively in the relations implied in globalization rather than standing aloof and becoming hapless objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the emerging concerns over the threats to oversimplify the complexity of lifelong learning. Indications of how government policies in the European Union reflect the simplistic views to lifelong education; Instances in research papers that illustrate how lifelong learning is over-simplified by many scholars.