e-Learning Ecologies MOOC’s Updates

lifelong learning and its issue for educational policy

Lifelong learning and lifewide learning describes the concept of learning in which individuals learn throughout the life-span from formal, non-formal, and informal sources. It is an issue for educational policy, labor market policy, and the workplace, as well as for civil society. Key issues in lifelong learning include the following: (1) lifelong learning "dissolves" the boundaries between policy sectors and increases communication between various walks of life; (2) lifelong learning challenges old ways of communicating and looks toward finding forms and infrastructure for cooperation and coordination; (3) lifelong and lifewide learning implies a shift in responsibility for education and learning from the public to the private and civil spheres; (4) lifelong learning also involves a shift from the state to the individual, with the individual being the center of the process; (5) government and society must create good conditions for lifelong and lifewide learning, especially by promoting educational equity; (6) lifelong and lifewide learning requires information and guidance and follow-up and evaluation.

  • Marianne Mathee