Swimming with the (main) stream? The relationship of adult education and the lifelong learning agenda in post-devolution UK - Maria Slowey - Article

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào

Examines how the lifelong learning agenda shaped post-school education and training debates across OECD countries and how UK adult education both reflected and helped advance these ideas. Reviews developments over the last decade through analysis of five major issues, highlighting tensions between lifelong learning priorities and adult education objectives. Discusses conceptual models of the learning society, the skills-versus-social debate, policy rhetoric versus implementation, and key themes such as access, recognition of prior learning, quality, mobility pathways, and strategic partnership amid constitutional devolution.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Key Issues in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning

Areas of Congruence and Tension

Constitutional Change in the UK

Devolution and Institutional Shifts

Swimming with the (main) stream? The relationship of adult education and the lifelong learning agenda in post-devolution UK Maria Slowey The (main)Stream of Lifelong Learning For a decade or so the policy debate on post-school education and training across OECD countries has been shaped to a considerable extent by the associated, although distinct, concepts of lifelong learning and the learning society. Developments in the UK have both reﬂected this trend and contributed to pushing forward these notions. For that part of the post-compulsory sector encompassed within the loosely deﬁned arena of adult education this focus on lifelong learning might have been expected to have led to the-long heraldedshift in adult education from the margins to a more central role in relation to policy and educational provision. At a minimum, the idea of learning over the lifecycle surely lies at the heart of the concept of lifelong learning? The plethora of policy documents at national and international levels published on the subject around ten years ago did indeed make explicit, albeit in a variety of different ways, the importance of continuing education and training for the adult population (EC: 1995; OECD: 1996; UNESCO: 1996) . The arguments included: the changing nature of the globalised economy, the rapid pace of technological and associated social changes, the pressure of social movements for greater equity, demographic trends and patterns of migration. A decade on, might it not therefore be reasonable to expect that the adult education community would ﬁnd itself, perhaps unusually, swimming with, as opposed to against, the (main)stream?1 This paper reviews developments in 1 As an aside it has to be noted that there is no single adult education community or tradition. For the purposes of this discussion, adult education is equated with that element which emphasises the interconnectedness of personal and social development. the UK over the last decade through an analysis of ﬁve major issues. The list isnot intended to be exhaustive but addresses several signiﬁcant areas as evident in contemporary policy papers, the research literature and legislative changes. The situation of individual countries will of course vary. However, some of the experiences of the constituent parts of the UK are likely to ﬁnd echoes in Ireland as they reﬂect the impact of common global economic and social forces, mediated by national and regional circumstances. The thrust of the argument presented here is that in relation to the situation in the UK there are major tensions, if not contradictions, in terms of the contribution ofrecent lifelong learning policy priorities to the achievement of adult education objectives. It should come as no surprise that we encounter such tensions and contradictions. In a research programme commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) over this period on the nature of the learning society, Cofﬁeld and his colleagues identify no fewer than ten different, conceptual models of the learning society (Cofﬁeld: 2000) . These different conceptions of the learning society reﬂect the different perspectives of the various social and political players and they carry different implications for lifelong learning and its relationship to the adult education community-speciﬁcally, using Cofﬁeld’s typology, the adult education perspective would be associated mainly with a combination of‘personal development’, ‘local learning societies’,‘education reform’ and ‘structural change’conceptions ofthe learning society. Areas of Congruence and Tension The debate in the UK can be characterised as being between a skills’ model anda social model of lifelong learning-with the balance of power ﬁrmly in the hands of the former. There were high expectations that the election of a new Labour Government in 1997 might lead to a shift in this balance. While the rhetoric reﬂected values held in high regard by adult educators conc

FAQs

What five themes are highlighted as potential areas of congruence between adult education and the lifelong learning agenda?

The paper highlights wider access, recognition and assessment of prior/experiential learning, quality and learner-centredness, development of pathways to support mobility, and emphasis on partnership at strategic and operational levels.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào