A Tale of a Discursive Shift - Analysing EU Policy Discourses in Irish Adult Education Policy - From the White Paper to the Further Education and Training Strategy

Oct 15, 2026

This article presents key findings from a Critical Discourse Analysis of two Irish adult education policy documents: Learning for Life: The White Paper on Adult Education (DES, 2000) and the Further Education and Training Strategy (SOLAS, 2014). A diachronic approach examines how policy language evolved, especially in addressing educational inequality. Methodological nationalism is broadened through a focus on European Union (EU) discourses shaping Irish policy formation and inclusion redefined as active inclusion. The study also highlights evidence-based discourse, arguing that Critical Discourse Analysis supports advocacy as a normative force.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

EU influence on education policy formation

From lifelong learning to skills discourse

Inclusion redefinition and evidence-based resourcing

A Tale ofa Discursive Shift: Analysing EU Policy Discourses in Irish Adult Education Policy–From the White Paper to the Further Education and Training Strategy denise shannon Abstract This article discusses some of the main findings of a Critical Discourse Analysis of two landmark documents in Irish adult education: Learning for Life: The White Paper on Adult Education (DES, 2000) and the Further Education and Training Strategy (SOLAS, 2014) (from here on referred to respectively as the White Paper and the FET Strategy). The diachronic approach taken by this inquiry permits an exploration of the ways in which language in policy documents has changed overtime, particularly in terms of how policy addresses educational inequality. It is in this way that the notion of a discursive shift could be explored, setting this change in language in starker relief. Policy as discourse shapes the formation of this inquiry so the article briefly explicates the approach taken to a Critical Discourse Analysis. Considerations of methodological nationalism widened the focus to consider the influence of European Union (EU) policy discourses specifically in Irish policy formation and these discourses in the statecraft of the EU and nation states. It is from this perspective that the Irish story is also a European one, so the article analyses how the White Paper and the FET Strategy were framed by the EU policy discourses of ‘lifelong learning’ and ‘skills’ respectively. As part of this analysis, this article considers the significance of the redefinition of the notion of ‘inclusion’to ‘active inclusion’ and the sharpening of ‘evidence based’ discourse in policy resourcing of adult education provision. Finally, the article briefly elaborates on the authors’ experience of this research and the value of Critical Discourse Analysis as a normative force and a tool for advocacy. Keywords: Adult Education, Discourse, Hegemony, Lifelong Learning, Neoliberalism, Policy, Skills, EU, Nation State Introduction The education system is … the product of conflict between the dominant and the dominated … It is an arena of conflict over the production of knowledge, ideology and employment, a place where social movements try to meet their needs and business attempts to produce hegemony. (Carnoy and Levin, 1985) The EU is often seen as an important influence and actor in shaping global education policy. Its interactions see nation states acting as ‘norm-advocates’in national policy using discourses which are mediated through EU education policy space (Klatt, 2014) . While the subsidiarity principle means that the field of education falls under the competence of the member states, at the time of writing of the White Paper, the EU had gained incremental legislative ground for its role in adult education policy. The Treaties of Maastricht 1992 and Amsterdam 1997 enabled permeability in policy formation between education and vocational training, and the monitoring of member states national employment policies. The Luxembourg Process (named following its adoption at the Jobs Summit Luxembourg in 1997) saw education emerge in EU employment policy in the form of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning was viewed as away to ‘transform passive labour market policies into active policies for human resource investment’(EC, 1997 p. 15). It can be said that this coupling of labour and education policy was symptomatic of the shift from Keynesian and welfare state economics of postwar international politics (where education is a right and is provided by the state) to the Washington consensus of postcold war (where education is a service to the consumer that is provided by the market). The resultant proliferation of neoliberal ideas promoted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) influenced this changing paradigm in policy development, with the origins of lifelong learning arising from economic rather than educational roots. Notably, Jarvis (2007) cont

FAQs

Which two policy documents are analyzed in the Critical Discourse Analysis?

The article analyzes Learning for Life: The White Paper on Adult Education (DES, 2000) and the Further Education and Training Strategy (SOLAS, 2014).

What does the diachronic approach focus on?

It explores how language in policy documents changes over time, particularly how policy addresses educational inequality.

How are EU policy discourses linked to Irish adult education policy in the article?

The study examines how the White Paper and the FET Strategy were framed by EU discourses of 'lifelong learning' and 'skills' respectively.

Oct 15, 2026

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