New Challenges and Opportunities for Lifelong Learning in South Africa

The imperatives for lifelong learning in South Africa are driven by its reinsertion into the global economy and by the social and political necessities of equity and redress after the years of colonialism, segregation and apartheid. It is therefore not surprising to find the discourse of lifelong learning infused into new policy documents. Utilizing Belanger's framework, which argues that lifelong learning is not a norm to prescribe but an empirical reality to analyze and reconstruct, the contexts for lifelong learning in South Africa are surveyed by focusing in on the state of initial education, adult education, and the learning environments. The framework, which acknowledges the daily lived realities of women and men, is a helpful way of retaining an holistic and integrated vision of lifelong learning and its humanistic, democratic goals. For lifelong learning in South Africa to deepen for more than a small group of well-educated, mainly urban, formally employed people, the author concludes that initial education, adult education and the learning environments of all the people will have to be improved. If this does not happen, then at least two polarized 'lifelong educations' will result.     

全球化视野中“学习社会”与基础教育改革

处在一个人人都需要确立终身学习思想和观念的时代,教育的重要目标之一就是要使现代的人们都具有终身学习的意识,而我们的社会则应该为提供这样一种多样化和多元化的终身学习活动肩负起应有的责任和义务。那么,何谓“终身教育”?何谓“终身学习”?基础教育又应如何立足于终身教育和学习社会的理念来加以改革?全球化视野中“学习社会”的特征是什么?它对基础教育改革又将产生怎样的影响?这一系列问题的提出都具有十分重要的意义并有待于教育理论工作者去作深入的研究和探讨。     

Discovery learning of object-oriented modelling with exploration modules in secondary Informatics education

Discovery learning is very desirable not only in secondary education, because it prepares learners for life-long learning. Within secondary Informatics education in Germany, pupils often acquire many concepts by learning to program. To be able to model, to design and to evaluate own solutions, learners must acquire many details of a programming language and apply complex software development environments. So a lot of time gets lost for important topics, like the working principles of Informatics systems. The research presented here focuses on learning by exploration instead. The basic idea is that before developing own (typically small) solutions, learners explore medium size solutions by means of special learner-adequate Informatics systems, named exploration modules (EMs) here. In this paper, the author presents important aspects of the development methodology of such software, its application to the educational field of object-oriented modelling and shows how EM prototypes have successfully been included in different learning scenarios of secondary Informatics education, Informatics teacher education, and in-service Informatics teacher training within the academic years 2001 to 2004.     

Lifelong learning in South Africa: dreams and delusions

The new South Africa has formally embraced the concept of ‘lifelong learning’ in its education and training policies. But what is the concept of ‘lifelong learning’ that has informed these policies and what progress has there been in implementing them? Have these new policies brought significant changes to education and training for adults?     

Lifelong learning and the pursuit of a vision for sustainable development in Botswana

This paper analyses Botswana's commitment to lifelong learning policy and discusses how it can help the state achieve its vision for sustainable development. First, it argues that while Botswana is renowned for its economic success, it still fails to address positively such traditional challenges as poverty, unemployment and income inequality, which are increasing disproportionately, especially among the youth and non-literate adults. These structural problems can be attributable partly to the low quality of education, which does not enable learners to reduce their risks and vulnerabilities. The paper outlines the concepts of lifelong learning and sustainable development and work from there to analyse the national education policy. It is acknowledged that the state made commendable progress in delivering basic, extension and continuing education since adopting lifelong learning in 1994. However, the delivery failed to use education to transform people's lives. The education itself failed to balance quantity with quality effectively to inculcate a culture of democracy. These issues need to be critically addressed because they invariably hamper Botswana's efforts to deliver quality education and attain its vision for sustainable development. Finally, the paper suggests that the education system should incorporate lifelong learning principles, effectively involve learners in decision making and teach for empowerment.     

教育的未来:为教育共建一份社会新契约北大核心CSSCI

半个世纪以来,联合国教科文组织发布了一系列重要的、里程碑式的教育文件。从学会生存、学习的四个支柱到共同利益、社会契约等理念的提出,既呈现了联合国教科文组织作为全球教育领导者的全球性思维和全球视野,也体现了其一贯坚持的人文主义传统,并在传承中创新。面对全纳教育危机、学习的贫穷、学习的非认知能力培养以及新冠肺炎疫情加剧的教育危机等,联合国教科文组织在2021年11月发布的《共同重新构想我们的未来:一种新的教育社会契约》报告中提出,要为教育构建一份新的社会契约,通过契约精神维护与践行"教育是一项共同利益"。     

终身教育视野下的成人教育新特征

自20世纪60年代中期,保罗·朗格朗提出终身教育思想以来,终身教育思想就在世界范围内得到认可和传播并逐渐成为一种教育思潮,人类社会逐步进入终身教育阶段。近年来,终身教育逐渐朝着终身学习的方向发展和演进,成人教育也随之呈现出一些新的特征。分析和把握终身教育视野下的成人教育新特征,是有针对性和方向性地对成人教育进行改革探索的前提,更是促进成人教育可持续发展、推动学习化社会有效形成的重要举措。     

哈佛大学走开放型继续教育与培训之路

哈佛大学以其悠久的历史和一流的教学科研闻名于世,在学习型社会和终身教育的背景下,哈佛大学的继续教育与培训工作也同样开展得有声有色。本文通过对哈佛大学继续教育与培训工作的调研发现,哈佛大学走出了一条开放型的继续教育之路,为满足学习型社会人们对终身教育的需求起到了重要作用。     

从数字化学习到泛在学习的转变——访国际知名教育技术专家金书轲教授

近年来,很多研究者开始关注泛在学习,并从实践层面进行了一些尝试。然而,到底什么是泛在学习,如何使泛在学习的理念成为现实,即如何根据学习者所处情境和学习者的学习风格等具体情况,激发学习者的学习动机,使学习真正发生,并让不同的学习者有着相适应的学习体验,这些都是值得我们在研究和实践中关注的话题。随着经济、社会和信息通信技术的发展,很多国家重视终身教育体系的构建和学习型社会的形成,让更多的民众更容易、更有趣、更深入地进行学习。作为未来终身学习的理想模式之一,泛在学习可以为学习者提供随时、随地、随意获取信息、开展交流和进行学习的理想环境。本期,金书轲(Kinshuk)教授以泛在学习在加拿大阿萨巴斯卡大学的研究和实践应用为例,介绍和分析了泛在学习的现状及未来发展。金书轲现为加拿大阿萨巴斯卡大学(Athabasca University)科学与技术学院全职教授、副院长,北京师范大学客座教授,NSERC/iCORE/Xerox/Markin自适应和个性化信息工业研究会主席。金书轲在英国德蒙福特大学(De Montfort University)获得博士学位,目前的研究兴趣包括学习技术、移动学习、泛在学习、移动和位置感知学习系统、认知分析以及交互技术等。金书轲教授在国际知名刊物、国际会议和书籍著作中发表了300多篇学术论文,经常被邀请作大会主题报告,且是多所大学的客座教授。2008年,金书轲教授被日本学术振兴会(JapanSociety for the Promotion of Science)授予杰出奖。在过去的五年中,他被邀请作为多家国际知名期刊之专刊的特邀编辑,还担任国际知名期刊的编委和国际会议的程序委员。目前,他还担任欧盟、奥地利、加拿大、中国香港、以色列、意大利、荷兰、卡塔尔、中国台湾和美国等许多国家或地区政府资助项目的评审专家。此外,金书轲是国际电气电子工程师协会(IEEE)学习技术专业委员会(Technical Committee on Learning Technologies)的创始人和主席,SSCI索引源期刊《教育技术与社会》(Educational Technology&Society Joumal,2010年影响因子为1.066)的创刊人和主编,美国计算机协会ACM SIG新西兰分会人机交互技术领域的创始人和主席,还曾经担任新西兰远程教育协会主席。     

《终身教育法》修正后韩国终身教育振兴政策的动向及特征

近10年来,从终身教育的立法到各项政策的推广实施,韩国终身教育领域出现了前所未有的变化。2007年修正的韩国《终身教育法》的公布不仅明确了终身教育的范围,而且也使中央与地方的职责与权限更加明确,并通过重组力图建构更加完善且有效率的终身教育行政与财政支援体制。为了振兴终身教育,韩国大力开展了相应的支援计划：终身学习城市支援计划;终身学习账户制度;终身学习中心大学培育计划;终身教育专业人员的培养及其能力提升计划等。呈现的特点：一是国家相关政策的制定与引导是推进终身教育的根本动力．足够的经费和人力资源支撑是必要条件。二是注重整合各类教育资源,特别是在建立多样的终身教育机构和设施等平台的同时,也注重发挥学校教育的作用。三是实施面向全员并开展全程的终身教育,特别注重增加弱势群体的教育机会。这次修正不仅促进了各自治团体终身教育基础设施的建设,提升了社区网络的发展水平,而且还建立了将学习成果运用于地方的循环体系,促进了国民对终身教育的理解及参与,推动了韩国社会的协调发展。     

终身学习目的论

在信息时代和终身教育的社会背景下，学习成为人类的生存之道，从而要求对学习的根本目的予以重新审视。终身学习应当超越学会认知、学会做事、学会共同生活、学会生存这些基本的目标，其终极目的应当致力于通过贯穿一生的学习来获得个体生存与发展的自由，包括认知的自由、行动的自由、做事的自由、生活的自由、做人的自由。在学得自由的同时，也要学会承担责任与义务，把学习作为生存的方式贯穿一生，并获取终身学习的自由。     

Universities,research impact and public engagement

Universities and graduate education are increasingly viewed as part of the emerging lifelong learning and education system and we see the evidence of this as the average age of graduate students increases. We are also seeing an increasing emphasis on education for employment in the lifelong learning and education literature, and this discourse is now infiltrating universities and graduate education; graduate education is increasingly referred to as graduate training and is being recast as vocational training. In this meditation I examine these changes in graduate education in light of the developmental needs of graduate students in the second half of life viewed through the lens of Jungian psychology, and discuss implications of the developmental needs of graduate students in the second half of life for graduate education. This is followed by examining the implications that changes in graduate programs have for graduate students in the second half of life.     

Lifelong learning policies in France

France has more than 30 years of experience with continuing education and training. Thanks to the 1971 law and subsequent reforms, enterprises are obliged to pay for education and training activities. What are the results after three decades? Did the law fulfil its initial objectives? As recently as this year, a new agreement has been signed between social partners. How significant is this agreement and what changes could be expected? Are there lessons for lifelong learning policies that might be applied in European member states and elsewhere?     

面向个人终身学习的数字化学习资源生态化发展模式研究

随着信息技术的迅猛发展,终身学习理念的不断深入,数字化学习资源作为终身学习的重要组成部分越来越受到研究者的普遍关注。终身学习环境下的数字化学习资源应具有丰富性、可共享、个性化、动态更新等特征,这与教育生态学理念不谋而合。因此,文章以终身学习为研究背景,提出了一套数字化学习资源生态化发展模式。该模式融合教育生态学与本体理论,将其应用到数字化学习资源的组织、生长,进化与演变各阶段中,实现数字化学习资源的有序化组织,自我生长,优胜劣汰的进化以及生命周期的演变,以满足终身学习者对数字化学习资源的需求。     

Development of a global lifelong learning index for future education

Since the transition from industrial society to a knowledge-based society, the source of national competitiveness is also changing. In this context, lifelong education has become a new competitive strategy for countries. This study broadly consists of three steps. Step I features a theoretical review of global lifelong learning indices and a comparison of the indices with existing ones. Step II introduces the process of development of indices based on the previous studies. Step III compares the rankings of countries in the area of lifelong learning based on the indices. Indices developed through this study will be used to evaluate the lifelong learning level of a specific country and to compare that with the lifelong learning levels of major countries around the world. In addition, the strengths and the weaknesses of the lifelong learning system of a specific country will be identified based on the indices, and the efforts that the country should make as a priority to improve the competitiveness of its lifelong learning system will be identified. To sum up, these indices will be able to be used as a reference when countries evaluate policies related to lifelong learning and make decisions that aim to improve the competitiveness of lifelong education.     

Measuring Lifelong Learning for the New Economy

The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the challenges that research and statistical systems are faced with in the education sector as a consequence of the decision taken by the economically advanced countries to adopt a lifelong learning framework and strategy in response to the move towards the new global economy. Market failures currently stand in the way of realising lifelong learning for all. Implementing lifelong learning is widely seen as one element of a policy strategy aimed at facilitating the transition to the new economy, while easing some of the pressure this transition is expected to bring for individual citizens and communities. Lack of information of various kinds is the root cause of market failure. Governments therefore have an interest in improving the knowledge base of education, training and learning, so that better investment and training choices can be made. The assessment and validation of skills acquired outside of the school setting are elements of a strategy to improve the quality of information supply. Much work has already been done on the conceptualisation and measurement of skills and competencies during the last decade. But so far the progress has been insufficient to satisfy the requirements. Research work on the assessment of different adult skills therefore needs to be given strong support. Given the scope and volume of the learning activities that occur in sectors where the education authorities normally exercise little control or responsibility for management, it is clear that the information infrastructure for lifelong learning needs to be diverse, yet inclusive. Because of this inclusive perspective, a variety of avenues to data collection must be followed. Multiple indicators organised in a multilevel framework are required for the monitoring of progress towards the implementation of lifelong learning for all. But given the current state of play of the social sciences, and in particular of survey practice and indicator measurement, the time when a holistic and comprehensive framework of lifelong learning indicators can be proposed lies far in the future.     

Japan’s new lifelong learning policy: exploring lessons from the European knowledge economy

The concept of ‘lifelong learning’ or shōgai gakushū 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.     

试论学校教育发展的新视野

学校教育发展需要更高、更宽的视野。本文从以下方面作了探讨：从学校教育向终身教育的跨越;从终身教育向终身学习的主体位移;创新组织管理文化,创建学习型组织;建设学习型社会,推进教育一社会一体化发展;教育发展的终极目的——促进人的全面、充分、自由的发展。     

Education Revised for a World in Transformation

The concept of lifelong learning, now a topic of world-wide urgency, has evolved markedly over time according to its historical, social and technological context. Today's requirement of repeated response to headlong technological innovation and global challenges of other kinds has transformed 'lifelong learning' from its old status as an optional extra for older people to a new role as an essential perspective in every phase of education. The pivot of that reorientation is to be found in a fresh concept of 'young adult' education, with repercussions throughout every educational system.     

Busting the myth of low-skilled workers – destabilizing EU LLL policies through the life stories of Danes in low-skilled jobs

In the EU, ambitious objectives have been set for education and training since the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda in 2000. The policies aim among other things to empower the individual through participation in lifelong learning which is seen as both a right and a duty: ‘People need to want and to be able to take their lives into their own hands – to become in short, active citizens’ (CEC, 2000, p. 7). However, not all citizens are taking part in lifelong learning and consequently the EU and its member states have set up policies with a ‘particular focus on active and preventative measures for the unemployed and inactive persons’ (CEC, 2006, p.1). ‘Inactive’ persons comprise different groups which are marginalised in terms of participation in lifelong learning, among others ‘low-skilled’ who have a lower participation rate in education and training activities (Cedefop, 2013). In this article, the aim is to destabilize the political discourse on ‘low-skilled’ through individual narratives of being in low-skilled jobs. Whereas the problem of being low-skilled from a political perspective is represented as psycho-social problems of the individual, the narratives point to the complexity of people in low-skilled jobs and the role of structure to ‘low-skilledness’. The narratives open up issues of power and the historical arbitrary distinctions between skilled and unskilled in the Danish labour market. It opens up for how the educational structures produce ‘low-skilled’ people, especially in the transition from basic vocational education and training into an apprenticeship. The article points to the narrow focus of policies on the ‘supply’ side of lifelong learning and less on the ‘demand’ side of a ‘needy’ global labour market in which precarious jobs are no longer limited to low-skilled. The article draws on Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be?’ (1999, 2009) and narrative inquiry.