Lifelong Learning

The term ‘lifelong learning’ became widespread in the mid-1990s, when a number of intergovernmental organisations adopted a broad and all-encompassing view of learning as a process that takes place throughout the life-course and across all areas of life. Bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union argued that lifelong learning was a necessary response to the accelerating pace of economic, technological, social, and cultural change, which cumulatively made it impossible for individuals and communities to make do with a single injection of school and college in early life. Rather, learning should be understood as a cradle-to-grave process, which encompasses learning in formal settings such as schools and universities alongside informal learning in everyday life, whether at home, in ...