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The aim of this paper is to examine how Korean society is being changed under the impact of migration and the kinds of learning domains that are evolving through participation in social interaction between migrant workers and local citizens in South Korea. Employing a qualitative case study, participants' changed learning areas were investigated. Major findings revealed that continuous engagements in social activities developed people's learning domains such as 'self efficacy and esteem', 'intercultural capability', 'knowledge and awareness on cultural diversity', and 'democratic attitude and civic virtue'. Although multicultural society is an irreversible social condition in contemporary Korea owing to the influence of magnified migration, findings demonstrate that migration itself is not enough to facilitate human learning continuously. Instead, social engagements between different agencies in informal learning settings enable people to reconstruct their life experiences. [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]

As more and more mature women return to vocational learning, the issues facing this group of learners are being acknowledged and attempts made to address these concerns. Many existing strategies, developed to address the needs of other groups of learners, are applied to mature women. These women are drawn into a formal learning environment in which their everyday lives and homeplace experiences are invisible or misunderstood. Based on research into the experiences of 12 mature-age women learners in Australia, this paper explores some issues for mature women returning to vocational education. I use the notion of women's virtual handbags to describe how, within the current framework of lifelong learning, women's homeplace experiences not only continue to be invisible, but can also be misconstrued to effectively create problems for women learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the relationship between authenticity and adult learning and prompted by some studies in which adult 'authentic learning' is a central concept. The implication revealed by them is that real-worldness of learning contexts, learning content and learning tasks is perceived as conferring authenticity on learning. Here, however, it is argued that: (i) authenticity is a way of being hence lies at the heart of understanding adult learning; (ii) authenticity is a way of being hence neither emerges from, nor is conferred by, learning contexts, learning content or learning tasks, regardless of how 'real world' they may be; (iii) Being and Having Attitudes, and Actuality and Possibility orientations, are inextricably bound up with authentic and inauthentic modes of being and must be also be accounted for in understanding authenticity in adult learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace learning is identified by UK and Scottish governments as an important means of achieving social mobility, and therefore producing a more equal society. However, there appears to be a patchwork of provision and funding arrangements, making it difficult for employers and employees to identify suitable routes. Analysis of large scale survey data at European and Scottish levels shows that existing inequalities are further entrenched by differential access to and participation in workplace learning, where those with existing high levels of qualification have far greater opportunities. This paper draws on data drawn from an EU Sixth Framework funded study of lifelong learning, focusing in particular on case studies of six Scottish SMEs which are used to identify some of the reasons underlying inequalities in access to workplace learning. Whilst all of the SMEs had a positive approach to employee development, they differed in the type of work they undertook and the composition of the workforce. Employees in knowledge intensive organisations were immersed in a culture where on-going learning was an expected part of working life, and was driven by both employers' and employees' expectations. By way of contrast, more traditional manufacturing and training organisations had a more restricted approach to learning, encouraging employees to undertake courses which would give them the skills to do their jobs more effectively, but with less focus on their wider growth and development. All firms treated lifelong learning with some degree of scepticism, ultimately prioritising company profitability over individual employee development and seeing the two as sometimes at variance. Given the Scottish government's desire to promote the demand side of skill development, the barriers posed by employers' attitudes need to be addressed, particularly in relation to lower-skilled workers in manufacturing firms, who might have less intrinsic motivation, but are also less likely to receive encouragement and support from their employer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents, discusses and assesses the findings of a research into lifelong learning through Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) in the region of Northern Aegean, Greece. In the first part, the paper introduces its readers to the theoretical framework of lifelong education, whereas in the second part it makes a brief historical overview of it in Greece. The third and largest part of the study presents, discusses and assesses the findings related to the trainees' opinions on a variety of aspects of their lifelong vocational training programmes in Northern Aegean, Greece. [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]

This paper, from historical and philosophical perspectives, presents Confucian education philosophy, a philosophy that is argued is a philosophy of lifelong learning. Examined and illustrated are the Confucian concepts of Sage, a Confucian ideal human model, and Jun Zi, a Confucian realistic educational result. Through Sage, Confucius presented us an ideal model of humanity, a model that uses lifelong learning as its method and processes. The Confucian model encourages becoming the undivided 'I' with the universe, the unity of 'I' with other human beings, and the wholeness of 'I' with 'self'. Through Jun Zi, understood as a realistic educational end, Confucius demonstrated that lifelong learning and lifelong education are necessary processes in enabling human beings to realize and practice their true nature—that is, living happily in and with the worlds of different kinds: universe, nature, society/other human beings, and self. The examination of Confucian multi-dimensional educational purposes and the practices of lifelong and life-wide learning denote that Confucius' educational philosophy rests upon a belief that the human beings are the ends, not the means, to being in the world. Therefore, Confucian educational philosophy presents us an alternative lens through which to view and ponder the limit of current practices of lifelong learning and lifelong education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the evolution of lifelong learning and the development of continuing education among higher education institutions in Macau. Future directions for development are also identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The philosophy and practice of lifelong learning has a long history in China, being traceable to Confucius's idea (circa 500 BC) of 'education for all'. However, very little research has been done on the development of the Confucian idea of lifelong learning in ancient China, or on its influence on current practices of lifelong learning within the wave of educational globalisation. This paper contains three parts that explore these topics. The first describes how Chinese people perceive and practise lifelong learning in the Confucian tradition. Apart from an updated review of Confucian ideas and practices, the development of Confucian tradition in selected dynasties is also examined. The second analyses characteristics of Confucian heritage learning cultures and their strong impact on present-day Chinese learners, including: pursuit of lifelong learning, teacher authority, collaborative learning, and the function of effort in successful study. The final part discusses negotiation and integration of Chinese and Western learning cultures in a globalising world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Korean lifelong learning in practice is gradually adapted by neo-liberals and the discourses of the economic market. Considering that the public foundation of Korean education is fragile to cope with the market challenge, the whole picture of Korean learning ecology is rapidly distorted towards the establishment of the learning market and the challenge it presents to public education. This paper attempts to grasp the evolution of the lifelong learning ecosystem in Korea and to explain the meaning of the learning market in this context. I am going to argue that (1) the emergence of the learning market changed the traditional learning ecosystem significantly; (2) the discourse of lifelong learning in this context also rapidly deconstructs the code of 'education' and replaces the learning system to fit to learning capitalism as a part of the knowledge economy; and (3) the Korean case clearly reveals the changes in the complex ecosystem of lifelong learning in this way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role and position of continuing education in the lifelong learning society of Hong Kong. The first section describes the basic components of Hong Kong's lifelong learning system, which is composed of two interconnected sub-systems—namely, conventional education and continuing education—integrated under a common qualifications framework. The second section illustrates the contribution of the Federation for Continuing Education in Tertiary Institutions, an organisational alliance formed among key continuing education providers to assure quality in the sector; enhance communication among government, industries and the professional bodies; map strategies for developing human capital; and widen access to higher education by providing high-quality continuing education programs. In the final section, the HKU SPACE case study highlights 'sharing of quality education resources with overseas collaborators', 'achieving self-financing status through economies of scale', and the 'provision of flexible, multiple-level, well articulated and quality education services' as key features of the Hong Kong model of continuing education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how adult learners on a professional development course learn and develop through online dialogue. The research uses Wenger's community of practice framework, and assesses whether the concept of 'legitimate peripheral participation' is useful in relation to this specific case study in which the students are practitioners and parents of individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). The study focuses on peer-to-peer learning and analyses a sample of asynchronous online discussions from three separate online tutorial groups. The first part of the study combines quantitative analysis of distribution patterns, with qualitative discourse analysis that measures central concepts associated with communities of practice. The second part of the study addresses whether the concept of 'legitimate peripheral participation' is useful in this context. The contribution of one key individual in each group is analysed in order to provide a narrative about how that person communicates with the others, shares values and repertoires with them and gradually becomes a central member of the community. The data supports the notion that these forms of interaction and approaches to learning can favour the construction of knowledge and help to develop reflective skills and a sense of 'togetherness' in the group through sharing stories with one another, developing identity through the discussions and through this enabling the development of community. The findings indicate that the learners are provided with opportunities to consider the strengths and weaknesses of ideas from multiple perspectives and that key students play a role in enabling other students to move from a position of legitimate peripheral participation to becoming full members of the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key feature of housing policy in the UK is the transfer of affordable housing stock owned by local authorities to not-for-profit registered social landlords. Such transfers involve local authority tenants to varying degrees in the development and implementation of the transfer proposals. Reporting the findings of a series of interviews with tenants involved in stock transfers, this paper argues that tenant involvement in housing stock transfers is in itself a site of critical pedagogy, characterised by experiential learning and active citizenship. It goes on to outline Freire's philosophy of emancipatory education, and analyses the interview data within a theoretical framework provided by Freire. It concludes that Freire provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding tenant involvement in housing stock transfers, and addresses some of the practical and policy implications for actors in the stock transfer process that flow from this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to growing population movements the UK Government has introduced a number of measures designed to facilitate the social inclusion and integration of refugees into UK society. This paper explores some of the lifelong learning issues for refugees and argues that the current discourse of social inclusion and exclusion gives rise to narrow and prescriptive learning opportunities which fail to address the barriers facing refugees in the UK. Using the concept of social capital as an explanatory framework, I will argue that for refugees to become integrated and useful members of society requires a shift away from the present focus on formal, individualised education provision to a greater recognition of informal and social learning opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last significant review of research about transformative learning was in 1998 and was mostly focused on unpublished dissertations. In response, this paper reviews an exhaustive body of research conducted since that time, involving 40 studies, published in peer-review journals with a lens of analysis of new findings and insights on transformative learning theory. The review finds less research less about identifying transformative experiences in different setting, and more about fostering transformative learning and the complex nature of critical reflection, relationships, the nature of a perspective transformation and the role of context. Furthermore, even though qualitative designs still dominate, they have become more sophisticated and creative, including longitudinal and mixed-method designs and the use of video and photography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, 'lifelong learning for all' figures prominently within the education and training policies of governments throughout the developed world and is presented as a powerful solution to a wide range of economic and social challenges. Norway is often regarded as a country that has perhaps made more progress towards this ideal than many others. Norway invests considerable resources in its education system and has already achieved a highly educated population by international standards. Its experience may be instructive therefore of the problems that more advanced countries confront in attempting to further progress the lifelong learning agenda even under relatively favourable conditions. Drawing upon a range of secondary material and interviews conducted with key stakeholders, this paper explores the main achievements, problems and challenges that Norway has faced in attempting to implement a recent reform of adult and continuing education and training, entitled the Competence Reform. To date, the reform would seem to have had only a relatively limited impact especially with regard to low-qualified workers in sectors with poor training records and relatively high concentrations of 'learning-deprived' jobs. In reflecting upon this experience, Norwegian policy makers appear to be reaching the end of a cycle of policy and academic thinking concerned mainly with boosting the supply of skills through the education system and are now embarking upon a new and challenging agenda aimed at increasing the utilisation and development of skills within the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The argument of this paper is that the learning society, as presented by the dominant discourse, has emphasised scientific rationality and work–life learning to the exclusion of both a comprehensive understanding of lifelong learning and also the breadth of human experience and knowledge. This is because global capitalism has emphasised scientific and technical knowledge and the competitive market; its other driving force has been information technology, which has, paradoxically, made us all aware of the extremes of global capitalism and evoked a moral sentiment that will lead to social change. The moral argument here is pragmatic but it also reflects but does not rely on Pitirim Sorokin’s theory of social change, in which we move from a sensate to an ideational society, and with the change the discourse on the learning society will necessarily change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lifelong education or learning theory is presented by its apologists as a universal normative ethic. That ethic may be understood as an aretaic ethic, embracing a number of ethical values or informed commitments and a teleology of optimising universal human flourishing through learning. In an effort to examine possible barriers to the universality of that ethic, this paper explores its limits to the tolerance of difference. While those limits are suggested here to be objective in nature, they exclude nothing a priori , but are matters of skilled judgement and action, which is situationally contingent and evidenced in context‐specific differences. The limits of tolerance across the informed commitments are interdependent and vary in relative important across contexts. They do, nevertheless, make a real and important difference. Compatibility with contemporarily influential moral philosophies – as an indication of possible barriers to the universality of a lifelong learning ethic – suggests important differences with utilitarianism, authoritarianism and situationism, but limited compatibility with deontological ethics, egoism, communitarianism and an ethic of care. Lifelong learning could be embraced by cultural realities strongly informed by the former moral philosophies only in an ethically impoverished form. Individuals who are committed or subject to such cultural realities will be excluded or marginalised from full participation in lifelong learning. [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]

It is clear that for many young people the balance between learning, work and leisure has shifted considerably over recent decades. Many students now work throughout the whole of their post‐compulsory education, entering the labour market well before any higher education applications have been made, and continue to work throughout their time at university. In part, this may be driven by: young people’s desires to maintain a particular ‘consumer lifestyles’; shifts towards flexible labour in many sectors of the economy that have provided more opportunities for student employment; as well as the increasing costs of studying for a degree. Within this context, many young people have become very practised at ‘juggling’ a job, an education and a social life. Drawing on a study of 30 graduates in their mid‐twenties, this paper explores whether the experience of combining education and employment may facilitate lifelong learning, through the ‘normalisation’ of these patterns or whether, conversely, the financial pressures that many young people experience during their post‐compulsory education act as a disincentive to pursue further learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussions of learning in practice and in workplaces have been carried out within the various theories of learning. More recent discussions have unveiled the complexity inherent in learning in workplaces by acknowledging the presence of power relations in practice. However, the discussions fall short of an analysis on another more paramount power relation in practice – the relationship and effects of organizational ownership on learning in workplaces. Using the global phenomenon of concentrated media ownership, this paper presents a literature review to show that ownership is another higher form of power relation that shapes what and how professionals learn in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we argue that interventions aimed at preventing social exclusion need to be informed by detailed analysis of the formation, disruption, reformation and support of trajectories of participation in the opportunities for action provided. We draw on evidence we gathered on the lives of two women who used an inner city drop-in centre to discuss how resilience and trajectories of inclusion are built slowly over time in relationship with others. Using concepts derived from sociocultural psychology and activity theory, we interrogate the evidence to first ask whether there is a pattern of changes in participation over time and to then explore how the identity shifts these changes represent are supported. The analysis reveals that there is a pattern, but it is a pattern of using and giving support which suggests that such trajectories are likely to be recursive. This using and giving of support we term relational agency and argue that a capacity for relational agency, as both the supported and the supporter, is a crucial factor in the development of purposive identities and the building of resilience. We also suggest that it is likely to be encouraged in settings which can foster trust and reciprocity as flexible and open learning zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the theoretical bases of leading models of learning styles and empirical evidence of their impact on achievement and motivation in post-16 education and training. We describe the review process, the development of an organizing framework to understand the field, presented in a continuum of families of learning styles, and a summary of our assessments of 13 influential models of learning styles. We conclude with a discussion of the place of learning styles within new frameworks for understanding thinking and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a critical feminist analysis, this paper delves into the way in which current discourses in lifelong learning are frequently delineated by a masculine and competitive framework of values, reflective of the impact of the global marketplace. To challenge these underlying assumptions of what constitutes important learning, the article focuses on the significance of the homeplace as an important site of living and learning. By examining how identity, relationships, and labour within the homeplace impact upon and shape learning experiences, insights may be gained into the particular challenges that women learners face. From this, attention can be focused upon developing supports for women learners. At the same time, the article raises questions about underlying value structures that need to be addressed to create a broader and more inclusive perspective of lifelong learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines New Zealand experiences and understandings of lifelong education and lifelong learning over the past 30 years or so. It investigates the place of lifelong education and lifelong learning discourses in shaping public policy in Aotearoa as well as questions about the similarities and differences between the discourse in New Zealand and in Europe and the UK. The aim of the paper is to throw light on the following questions: what effects, if any, have notions of lifelong education or lifelong learning had on public policy discourses on tertiary education and the education of adults? Is there evidence to suggest that notions of either 'lifelong education' or 'lifelong learning' have provided a vision or sense of purpose or set of guidelines in developing public policies? Have they served to justify or legitimate new initiatives or funding arrangements? And, if so, what is the nature of this influence? Finally, in the light of this discussion the article also examines the question whether notions of 'lifelong education' and 'lifelong learning' as they have featured in the academic and policy literature are predominantly located in a Euro-centred discourse and hence how they might be reconstituted to reflect more adequately discourses of learning and education in other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues against the dominant discourse of lifelong learning. It is primarily a mode of social control that acts as a new disciplinary technology to make people more compliant and adaptable for work in the era of flexible capitalism. Whilst the main reference point is trends in the UK, the argument has a wider resonance. Lifelong learning diminishes the public sphere, undermines educational activity, introduces new mechanisms of self-surveillance and reinforces the view that failure to succeed is a personal responsibility. It is ultimately a 'deficit discourse', which locates the responsibility of economic and political failure at the level of the individual, rather than at the level of systemic problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops work carried out under the aegis of a European Commission-funded university continuing education (UCE) network. It compares the ways in which UCE has developed in three countries within Northern Europe. The authors firstly review the developments of university education in general in Finland, the UK and Sweden, paying particular attention to the factors that historically have influenced UCE. They then focus on developments and policy imperatives of the last decade. A number of convergences and divergences in policy and practice in the three countries are pointed to. In both Finland and the UK, UCE is well defined by state or quasi-state agencies and is an activity that has been located within well-defined structural units in most institutions. Universities in these two countries have a diverse mission based on a national lifelong learning agenda. By contrast, in Sweden, whilst there is a longstanding international tradition of adult education rooted within democratic movements and a recognition of the importance of equality of access, the provision is to a large extent embedded in universities and not manifest as UCE. What provision that does exist as UCE is patchily distributed across the university sector and nonuniform in character. UCE provision within Finland and UK to varying degrees in becoming more diverse in its make-up. The presence of new providers in a 'CE market', an emphasis on UCE as an economic instrument, moves towards the accreditation of provision and the loss of a particular identity for UCE are amongst factors creating increasing heterogeneity of provision in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the events of September 11, 2001 through the learning optic. What lessons did an infuriated segment of the Arab world try to teach the West? Did the USA learn anything profound from these events? How should critical adult educators think about the connection between these events, mounting global anarchy and the US-UK invasion of Iraq in March 2003? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various conceptualizations of lifelong learning have been developed and various practices of lifelong learning have been identified. This paper introduces several recent conceptualizations of lifelong learning before considering the case for Japan, both in general and through examination of the state of lifelong learning in a rural prefecture and a case study of one lifelong learning programme in a rural city. While the case for the prefecture as a whole mirrors the literature on lifelong learning in Japan, the case study presents four specific characteristics that may direct future development of lifelong learning programmes as well as research: a clearly stated societal objective, a knowledge and skills curriculum, participant accountability, and social visibility and presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between education, learning and civic participation arising from 120 biographical interviews conducted with respondents in three areas of England. Through analysis of individual biographies, it is argued that the relationship between education, learning and the generation of 'bonding' social capital is largely unrealistic. Rather, there emerge three loose typologies of relationship between education and civic participation: atomistic, networking and altruistic. These relationships are shaped by individual biography, type of learning and structural considerations. Class, gender and ethnicity particularly influence relationships between education and participation but not in a rigidly deterministic fashion, and may additionally be generators of creative tension. It is concluded that although policy makers would be naïve to expect investment in education and learning to automatically generate virtuous cycles of social capital, the role of education in generating benefits in what can be called the 'ecology' of community is both unexpected and illuminating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses upon the learning of two young people in the UK during a critical and transformatory period of their lives, in a time of widespread social, economic and other global change. The analysis centres on processes of identity transformation including work identification, and raises a number of questions about relationships between these and the learning opportunities made available to young people, particularly through formal education. Consideration is given to the implications for work preparation as well as for the broader lifelong learning agenda. It is concluded that the technical-rational basis of compulsory and post-compulsory education in the UK ensures its failure to articulate with the needs of learners in search of themselves and, as such, provides an inadequate basis for prevocational, vocational and lifelong learning. Finally, a reconstruction of curricula is called for, whether pre-vocational or any other, around principles that allow it to be conceived as a practice in which the agency of the learner is a central driving force, rather than as something which is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates the social determinants of lifelong learning histories as uncovered in a largescale survey and interview analysis carried out as part of the ESRC Learning Society Programme, and previously reported in this journal. The statistical 'determinants' of adult participation in learning as described there, such as family background or gender, are examined here in terms of individual stories as well as theoretical models derived from earlier phases of this project. The two forms of data and their analyses appear to accord, suggesting perhaps that concepts of structure (determinants) and agency (choice) are not mutually incompatible in explaining patterns of adult learning. Choices are anyway made within subjective opportunity structures (which include notions of what is 'appropriate' for each person). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning with the recognition that every learning theory rests on particular assumptions about the nature and capacities of the learners, this study provides an examination of the implicit premises upon which several of the more prominent learning theories – behaviourism, cognitivism, situated learning, and social cognitivism – have been built. Even as each theory is found to propose a slightly distinct conceptualization of human nature, none are found to accommodate acknowledgement of the role of the soul, the spiritual dimension, in determining individuals’ ability to learn. Expanding on Habermas’s and Mezirow’s ideas of learning domains as popularized by Cranton (1994), this paper shows that ultimately, the learning transaction hinges upon the phenomena of perceptions, and perceptions are realized through the realms of physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual input. This reconceptualization of learning to include the soul as a key determinant concludes with a concrete explanation of how acknowledgement of humans’ spiritual dimension holds significant potential for enhancing teaching-learning situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to identify and discussthe inter-relationships between the phenomenon called articulation of curricula and transfer of credits and lifelong learning. Examples feature discussions contained in the recently published APEC-HURDIT book, Lifelong Learning: Policies, Practices and Programs. As described by a number of authors in that book, three futures are predictable for short-cycle higher education systems: institutions essentially non-universities now in planning or developing stages worldwide are likely to modify courses and strengthen distance learning and prior learning delivery techniques for growing numbers of adult re-entry students; industry will become increasingly involved in the delivery of postsecondary education; and technology will expedite non-traditional and non-sponsored education. (Kintzer 1997: 69). Responses to major questions and final comments deal primarily with the three futures in the order mentioned. Illustrative material and interpretations related to experiences in the United States on short-cycle (community) colleges are also interspersed throughout the text. The three predictable futures discussed with particular reference to Pacific Rim countries may also be transferrable in policy planning and action to other nations where a symbiotic relationship between articulation and transfer, and lifelong learning is emerging. Other investigations are therefore strongly recommended. For example, continuing studies of relationships between Universities and the developing Colleges of Further Education in the UK would be very appropriate. In addition, major questions under discussion throughout Europe are: Should the German fachhochschulen- the postsecondary technical institutions so abundant in the former West Germany- become a pattern for other countries in Central and Eastern Europe? How should such short-cycle institutions be related to national universities in credit transfer and lifelong learning opportunities? Similar questions are being asked in Kenya where the well-established 'Harambee' technical institutes are gaining momentum. Testing and evaluation of the three futures discussed in this article should be continuous processes worldwide. [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.