Asian lifelong learning in the context of a global knowledge economy: A task re-visited

This article revisits and reinterprets my previous paper. It is a snapshot of the lifelong learning system building in selected Asian countries, reflected in the mirror of the Asian Financial Crisis in the 1997s and the aftermath of that event. I reconsidered the arguments (1) the economic recession had delivered a global dimension of lifelong learning to the re-shaping of the local education system beyond local attributes; (2) and that the divergent tradition of adult education in this context was to meet the global market standards. Additionally, (3) I tried to further the discussion about the relationship between global forces and the lifelong learning system in the context of a knowledge economy, but with a number of different approaches. I argued that the lifelong learning system under the global forces of capitalism, as per the Asian experience in the 2000s, can be apart of a knowledge economy itself, not a tool of it, and in this sense, a knowledge economy sets the conditions of a lifelong learning system as an embryo of its attributes.     

Education industry unit in the framework of the learning city

In this paper the authors will describe the concept of educational industry as the heart of a learning city in the context of the Espoo case. The different players and their roles will be discussed as well as the possible business logics of this expanding sector of industry. The preliminary plans are to situate living facilities in the modern learning city for people of all ages, fulfilling the concept of lifelong learning. From nursery schools up to university units as well as spare-time activities, from culture to sports and different clubs to outdoor recreation areas, there are possibilities for working via IT connections from home or in the enterprises around and having innovative surroundings for meeting different people and networking. Transportation for people and data to other parts of the capital and to the globe is also essential. The heart of the city will be the educational industry unit, a development and test place for educational products and a one-hatch portal for keeping up one's knowledge throughout one's life. The portal will consist of services from analysing the needs of the customer to finding solutions for the individual cases. The different stages of the portal will use electronic tools as well as classical learning and methods. It will work as a broker for high-quality contents and for study providers in the globe. Included will also be the evaluation of the learning process as well as deeper studies and development of new learning concepts. This also is a challenge: how to make the concept so attractive and still realistic that partners will commit themselves to it at an early stage of this project.     

The politics of ‘lifelong learning’ in post‐1997 Hong Kong

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.     

Interaction for lifelong learning

The term ‘lifelong’, as applied to education or learning, has been in circulation for more than a quarter of a century. It has played an important role in policy discussions, as well as in studies of the sociology and economics of education. The relationship of this term to the rapidly changing world of information and educational technologies, and to the various conceptions of interaction that are central to these technologies, however, has been considered much less frequently. This paper seeks to shed light on the relationship between lifelong learning and the interactive technologies that have become associated specifically with the Semantic Web. It begins by presenting a fictional narrative to illustrate a lifelong learning scenario in the context of the services and resources that the Semantic Web will be capable of providing. It then proceeds to isolate a number of general characteristics of lifelong learning as they are manifest in this scenario and in recent literature on the subject. The paper then explores how emergent, interactive technologies of the Semantic Web have the general potential to address many of the characteristics of lifelong learning, and hold out the promise of satisfying a wide variety of lifelong learning needs. It will conclude by considering some of the outstanding challenges presented by lifelong learning contexts, and mention some of the limitations of advanced technologies used to address these needs.     

Lifelong learning: a national trade union strategy in a global economy

The paper considers the role of trade unions in lifelong learning, their strategic approach to lifelong learning, and the opportunities and limitations set by the current stage of globalized capitalist development. The paper has four sections, the first of which considers the relationship between ‘modernization’ as a trade union project and concepts such as reflexive modernity and risk society which have structured much debate in the social sciences in recent years. Secondly, there is a discussion of the exact nature of the role of trade unions in education and training. While it will be suggested that recent developments have greatly increased the scope of trade union involvement in education and training, the third section of the paper will argue that these developments do not represent a coherent strategy on the part of unions, but more a series of responses to the complexity of the contemporary workplace. Based on a theoretical interrogation of data from a number of empirical and policy document sources,¹ the paper will argue that there is a need for conceptual clarity in this field. In the final section, the context of globalization will move to the foreground, in the context of a discussion on the relationship between national trade union policies and global capitalist development.     

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.     

Perspectives of lifelong education in Portuguese higher education: a critical analysis of learning outcomes

ABSTRACT

Nurturing students’ continuous learning is a current trend in the higher education agenda. Curricula and academic contents should enable students to take part in stimulating learning experiences, as well as promoting both developing and training opportunities in the course of their lives and careers. Despite the relevance given to lifelong learning in the educational system, there are still some open questions: how this concept is understood and put into practice by higher education institutions? The paper aims to analyse the conceptions of lifelong learning as reflected on the learning outcomes proposed in a sample of study programs. A qualitative methodology and a data-driven approach are adopted to explore the content of the learning outcomes proposed in 10% of total study programs submitted to quality accreditation, since 2009. Generally, results reveal that higher education institutions are committed to the lifelong learning paradigm, particularly in master and PhD degrees. Students are expected to ‘invest in personal and professional development through life’, to ‘develop learning competences through life’, as well as to ‘foster lifelong learning’. This study provides a better understanding of the range of perspectives and the relevance given to lifelong learning as a valuable learning outcome.     

Lifelong learning and welfare reform

This is the second of two papers which explore the scope and limitations of lifelong learning as an object of policy. In the first (see Griffin 1999) the evolution of the social democratic perspective was described. According to this perspective, it was suggested, the attempt to render lifelong learning as an object of policy entailed a reductionist concept of learning, so that it stood for little more than the expansion of education and training provision. In the following paper, an alternative perspective on lifelong learning, also emerging from the policy literature, removes it from the possibility of traditional policy analysis, relocating it in culture, civil society and patterns of lifestyle, leisure and consumption. Analytic distinctions between education and learning, function and provision, policy and strategy, and markets and quasi-markets are employed to explore various policy models. It is suggested that this perspective on lifelong learning needs to be understood in relation to policies for welfare reform and the crisis of the welfare state. In effect, it amounts to the integration of education policy into wider policies for welfare reform.     

发展终身学习需要探讨的问题

随着终身学习在我国的兴起 ,国民对终身学习重要性的认识也在不断地深化 ,但是 ,仍有不少可能影响终身学习普及、推广和深化的理论与实践问题亟待解决。本文拟探讨一些发展终身学习的观念问题 ,以及属于终身学习范畴的成人远程学习的实践问题。一、发展终身学习的必要　　终身学习问题的日益突出 ,与我国社会改革开放的深入和科学技术水平的提高密切相关 ,因为它不仅是这二者发展的必然结果 ,而且还是推动二者进一步深入发展的必要条件 ,所以对终身学习的重要性怎样强调也不会过份。一般来说 ,在科学技术发展缓慢的条件下 ,传统的“一次学习…     

Action learning as invigoration

The present account of action learning describes its adoption for pragmatic reasons by the University of the Third Age (U3A). The reason for the existence of this movement is the education of retired people. The account seeks to explain why the action learning method spread from one local U3A to another and across it to other local U3As. The case is that the directness of action and its power to involve people brought action learning a following among persons so that they could carry out specific activities even though the persons concerned would never have heard of the term action learning. The successful use of the method fed through into the users' minds and brought about a mode of thought, one which unconsciously was capable of extension into an outlook that could be applied to a variety of situations. Thus two types of learning took place: that between U3As and that within U3As.     

Research and policy in lifelong learning

It has long been acknowledged that adult and lifelong educators have exercised little influence over national education policies. This article addresses the issue, with particular reference to the research elements of policy advocacy. Researchers and policy‐makers are distinguished and related as communities of practice and intellectual categories of social function. It is argued that the concept ‘policy‐maker’ is too ambiguous to be of either theoretical or practical use, especially since the focus has shifted over the years away from the advocacy of adult education to the implementation of lifelong learning. Also, the concepts of both ‘policy’ and ‘research’ have undergone significant shifts of meaning, so that traditional ideas of the relation between research and policy are now outdated. We live in an age of public scepticism about the political uses to which research is put, and this also needs to be taken into account in the case of lifelong learning. Thus, the relation between research and the policy process needs to be reconceptualised in a future beyond lifelong learning in order to be meaningful, with the focus much more upon process than outcome. Only in this way could adult and lifelong educators expect to have any influence upon national policies.     

Extending the constructs of active learning: implications for teachers' pedagogy and practice

Active learning is a pedagogical construct widely appealed to within the global discourse of lifelong learning. However, an examination of the literature reveals a lack of clarity and consensus as to its meaning. This article provides a critical analysis of a range of dimensions underpinning the concept of active learning including policy discourses, definitions, interpretation and enactments in educational settings, and resultant pedagogical implications. A more robust theoretical framework is presented to support educator understanding which synthesises and extends current constructs and which bridges the divide between active learning considered as either theory of learning or pedagogical strategy.     

Switching on the learning society? - questioning the role of technology in widening participation in lifelong learning

The creation of technologically-based ‘virtual education’ has been portrayed as a means of widening access to learning opportunities for those currently excluded from participation in lifelong education and training. Now in the UK these claims are being operationalized under the ‘University for Industry’ initiative and associated Virtual College programmes all of which aim to make real the concept of Britain as a ‘learning society’ for all with an emphasis on reaching those traditionally seen as non-participants in learning. This paper examines these claims in the light of current knowledge about the characteristics of non-participants in lifelong learning and the barriers that they face. It is suggested that the application of ‘technological fixes’ to underlying socio-economic determinants of participation will solve some problems, create others, and leave many unaffected. In this way the paper argues for independent research on the impact of the ‘virtual college’ movement, and begins to outline the form such research could take.     

Lifelong learning policies and discourses: critical reflections from Aotearoa,New Zealand

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.     

Creating systems for lifelong learning in asia

This paper investigates the formation and establishment of lifelong learning support systems in six Asian countries, including Korea, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong(SAR), Thailand, and the Philippines. The countries included in this research are quite diverse and unique in their basic characteristics. Despite the divergent values, systems, and social roles, since the 1990s, the basic ideas and trends have been toward a somewhat integrated model in which each component of the system was geared to function for serving the global knowledge economy. In this paper, the process of recent lifelong learning system development in the selected six Asian countries was traced in two ways: global aspects and local peculiarity. I argued in this paper that the cases in Asia mostly follows the ‘global trends’, especially with the ‘business mind’ of global capitalism. I also suggest that Asian experiences can provide several distinctive characteristics rarely observed elsewhere: new role in mitigating diploma-disease, building centralized supporting system between central and local governments, the impact of colonial legacy, unbalance between HRD and humane-orientations, and preservation of the emphasis of adult basic education.     

Lifelong learning and demographics: a Japanese perspective

This paper explores the social dimension of lifelong learning from the perspective of demographics, with particular focus on the issue of the birth of fewer children, which has become one of the most important current social issues in Japanese society. When considering the relationship between lifelong learning and demographics, the issues arising from an ageing population are usually the focus of policy‐makers. This perspective often overlooks crucial children’s issues, such as child development and the influence of the child’s daily environment. This paper suggests that it is necessary to analyse the issues arising from a society with fewer children independent of the concept of an aged society with fewer children in an attempt to emphasize these essential issues. The presented relationship between lifelong learning and the issues surrounding the birth of fewer children is based on two perspectives. The first perspective seeks to remove barriers such as the economic burden of educating children and the traditional stereotypical gender‐roles that have contributed to the birth of fewer children. The second perspective includes a response to the negative influences that the birth of fewer children has had on family’s experiences of child rearing and on children’s growth. Specifically, this paper develops the second perspective by focusing on three aspects: the development of children’s social skills; children’s growth as influenced by a high adult:child ratio; a decline in the quality of child rearing. Three issues are identified as necessary in order to build a Japanese society that fosters children: (1) embracing the concept of the ‘family‐friendly company’; (2)creating opportunities for mixed age groups to participate in learning programmes based on communities and schools; (3) reconsidering an intergenerational exchange programme.     

Strategies for developing a sustainable learning society: An analysis of lifelong learning in Thailand

Today’s world may be characterised as the dawn of the new millennium of the learning society, where knowledge is considered as a country’s most valued asset and primary source of power. In the increasingly intense competition among international communities, Thailand has been respected for advancing the concept of transforming communities, cities and regions into learning societies engaged in a sustainable development strategy which promotes the continual learning of individuals – the smallest unit of society. The learning society approach aims to balance economic, social, natural and environmental aspects and resources of society; and is transforming the Thai people into knowledge citizens and knowledge workers. The underlying legislation carries stipulations concerning lifelong learning, educational enhancement and global competitiveness aimed towards developing appropriate manpower to move the society towards sustainable happiness as compared and contrasted with maintaining the “status quo”. This article portrays the current situation of lifelong learning and education in Thailand; analyses and synthesises five best-practice learning society case studies and proposes guidelines for developing a sustainable learning society.     

Lifelong learning and second-order learning objects

Current cultural, social, and economic trends challenge traditional concepts of learning and lifelong learning. This paper draws on the twofold nature of learning in a knowledge society and explores options for technological support. The concept of Second‐Order Learning Objects is introduced as a potential means to foster generative learning. Generative learning goes beyond that what is already known and extends or transforms the socially shared knowledge including its artefacts and practices. According to the notion of individual and social learning as a process of reflective action, the role of strategies and media for reflection and inquiry is stressed. This paper outlines the use of schematically represented strategies for learning and reflection and sketches important features of a pursuant modelling approach.     

学习成就未来:习近平终身学习观研究

习近平终身学习观指的是习近平总书记在学习和工作中形成的与终身学习相关的系统的新思想与重要观点,是中国共产党人集体智慧的结晶,是马克思主义中国化的最新成果之一。习近平终身学习观以终身学习内涵、终身学习内容与终身学习路径为主线,阐明终身学习是一种时代责任、一种精神追求、一种生活方式,是文明传承之途、人生成长之梯、政党巩固之基、国家兴盛之要,并以其终身性与持续性、战略性与时代性等特性引领时代学习。强调应以思想引领性的科学理论、工作实务的科学知识和古今中外的历史文化为主要学习内容。要求坚定学习方向和终身学习理念,巧用方法与技巧,并在践行终身学习中持续提升,以学习成就未来。