Changing Places? Flexibility, Lifelong Learning and a Learning Society.

This book examines different notions of a learning society and the changes in adult education theory and practice that will be required to create a learning society. Recent developments in the United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, in other countries are cited as evidence that creating a learning society will require new forms of thinking about the theory and practice of adult education. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's six chapters: the relationship between discourse, power, knowledge, and governmentality; poststructuralism and postmodernism; economic, cultural, technological, and demographic changes that have contributed to the growth in interest in the notions of a learning society and lifelong learning; implications of the recent shift from focus on inputs (adult education and its provision) to focus on outputs (learning and learners); ways provision of adult education has changed to support access and participation, open and distance learning, and assessment and accreditation of outcomes in an increasing number of learning settings; the adoption of neo- and post-Fordist models of organizational development and the role of the reflective practitioner as a model for professional development; and contemporary trends and differing notions of a learning society. The bibliography contains 431 references. (MN)