What's the point of lifelong learning if lifelong learning has no point? On the democratic deficit of policies for lifelong learning.

Autor/in	Biesta, Gert
Titel	What's the point of lifelong learning if lifelong learning has no point? On the democratic deficit of policies for lifelong learning.
Quelle	In: European educational research journal, 5 (2006) 3/4, S. 169-180Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Beigaben	grafische Darstellungen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1474-9041
DOI	10.2304/eerj.2006.5.3.169
Schlagwörter	Bildungspolitik; Bildungsmarkt; Demokratisierung; Globalisierung; Wettbewerb; Lebenslanges Lernen; Welt; Internationale Organisation; OECD (Organisation für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung); Europäische Union; UNESCO (Organisation der Vereinten Nationen für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Kultur und Kommunikation); Europa
Abstract	This article provides an analysis of shifts that have taken place in policy discourses on lifelong learning by organisations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union. The article documents the shifts in these discourses over time, analyses the changes in content of these discourses (both in terms of what is included and what is excluded in the discussion), and explores the intended and unintended consequences that follow from these ways of thinking about (policy for) lifelong learning. The article documents a shift towards understanding the point and purpose of lifelong learning primarily in economic terms and far less in relation to the personal and the democratic function of lifelong learning. It is argued that under the conditions of the learning economy lifelong learning itself has become understood as an individual task rather than as a collective project and that this has transformed lifelong learning from a right to a duty. This raises important questions about who has the democratic right to set the agenda for lifelong learning. It also raises important issues about the motivation for lifelong learning and points particularly towards the predicament of the lifelong learner who has to engage in forms of learning without being able to control his or her own 'agenda' for learning. The rise of the learning economy has also put a stress on the democratic potential of lifelong learning, which is one of the most worrying consequences of the rise of the discourse of the learning economy. Since transnational policy documents have a strong 'agenda-setting' function for the development of national policies and practices, it is important at a national level to be aware of the assumptions, implications and intended and unintended consequences of such policy discourses. (DIPF/Orig.).
Erfasst von	DIPF \| Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation, Frankfurt am Main
Update	2010/4