Chapter 5 - Lifelong Learning

Summary

The notion of lifelong learning can break down barriers and expectations about age-related categories, such as child and adult, that designate when learning happens. Breaking down these barriers can open possibilities for understanding oneself and for participating in democratic and economic institutions. A concern, however, is that lifelong learning functions to render persons amenable and adaptable to contextual demands, making them governable. Lifelong learning is not just about learning through the lifespan, which persons arguably do, but is about rendering persons effective, efficient, and productive in relation to technological, economic, and democratic changes. Persons must develop the disposition, aspirations, and competencies to respond to changing contexts. They must be flexible, adaptable, and responsible in order for their consumption of knowledge and experiences to be relevant and useful. Lifelong extends institutional power beyond formal K-12 experience to persons’ lifespan in order to make them responsiveness to structural conditions.