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The Many Faces of Lifelong Learning: Recent Education Policy Trends in Europe

Draft for Journal of Education Policy

Andy Green

This article examines the rise of the discourse on lifelong learning across Europe and the variety of national

policy trends which its rhetoric occludes. The ubiquitous presence of this meta-discourse in education and

training policy-in-theory is seen as a singular event which can be ascribed to the impact of the variety of global

forces on the education arena. It serves specific political functions in addition to signalling real changes in

education and training systems. The duality of convergent rhetoric and divergent policy- in- practise is seen as

a challenge to education policy analysis which requires multi-layered interpretation.

Education and training policy can increasingly be seen as a global commodity. Armies of international think

tank experts and consultants analyse, develop, adapt and package policies to order for governments,

corporations and other interested parties; international organizations - notably the OE!, the "orld #ank and

the European ommission - evaluate national policies and seek to persuade national governments to adopt their

favoured measures, $ith more or less potent forms of persuasion; and national education ministries keep a

$atchful eye on developments in other countries $hich they may adapt or borro$. %ean$hile, of course,

countless independent academics in universities study policy developments and analyse their implications and

effects. "here education policy $as once a largely national affair, no$ - thanks to improved communicationsand cross-national data, and because of the global pressures of competition and transnational politics - it is no$

a fully internationalized, and at times internationally - traded, commodity.

&his, by and large, is a good thing' it encourages cross-national collaboration in education and increases the

evidence base from $hich policy can be developed. &he narro$ parochialism and occasional inertia of national

policy-making in, say, the ()*+s and +s, has no$ given $ay to more dynamic and reflective process, although

this may not necessarily be more democratically accountable to national electorates. or policy analysts this

internationalization of policy makes life both more simple and more treacherous. On the one hand there is

incomparably better data to $ork from, much of $hich cross-national; on the other hand, analysing policy

becomes more complex because there is no$ a patina of international discourse overlaying national policy texts,

$hich may not al$ays run parallel $ith the implications of actual policies proposed. &o put it simply, the

internationalization of policy-making and analysis has generated an international educational rhetoric $hich can

obscure as $ell as illuminate $hat is actually going on. &o understand policy no$ $e have both to decode the

international rhetoric and analyse policy in context to appreciate dynamics of change. isions and empirical

trends are e/ually important and $e understand little $ithout analysing both, although too much of current

policy analysis restricts itself exclusively to the discourse.

(

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&his article seeks to dra$ out some of the dominant trends in current education policy in Europe and the

developed $orld, highlighting $here these are convergent and, alternatively, divergent, and commenting on

some of the implications of different policy models. 0n brief compass, this $ill not attempt to do more than

sketch out some of the ma1or overarching trends, although it dra$s on and updates a more detailed analysis of

policy developments reported else$here 23reen, "olf and 4eney, ()))5. 6o$ever, it does seek to analyse

both policy-as-discourse and policy-as-practise $here possible, albeit here $ith illustration rather than reporting

of systematic analysis, to avoid the pitfalls noted above. ollo$ing one of %arx7s better methodological

precepts about 8rising7 from the abstract to the concrete 2and hence, although not here, dialectically back to

complex higher order theory5, the analysis begins $ith the contexts and themes $hich drive and overarch

international policy discourse before exploring in some more detail the complexities of policy in practise in

some different states.

The rhetorics and realities of lifelong learning and the knowledge society

&he dominant and organizing discourse in education and training policy at the turn of the millennium $as

lifelong learning 2in the context the learning9kno$ledge society5. &his idea, $hose origins lie $ay back and

buried in the $ritings of forgotten educationalists some :+ years ago 2eg #asil eaxlee, () the latter notably in the influential Learning To Bereport by Edgar Faur

(UNESCO, 1972) - the 1990s idea o !ie!o"g !ear"i"g i" a !ear"i"g so#iety

de#isi$e!y shited the po!i#y grou"d by stressi"g %!ear"i"g& rather tha"

%edu#atio"&, a"d %so#iety& rather tha" %s#hoo!&' he pub!ication of an der ?ee7s

The Learning ociety in ())( and the European ommission7s report Teaching and Learning! towards a

Learning ocietyin ()) provide t$o markers in continental Europe of the ne$ society-$ide emphasis. 0n the

@ similar landmarks are visible $ith the publication of Bte$art Canson7s book Towards the Learning ocietyin ())D and the initiation in ()) of the EBC7sLearning ociety "esearch #rogramme.

o$ almost every OE! country - from Bouth orea to anada - makes reference to lifelong learning and the

kno$ledge society in its education policies and the idea no$ constitutes something of a meta-discourse in policy

terms. &he notion is, of course, hopelessly vague, masking many different policy approaches, but it captures

something real and significant in modern policy trends, and thus provides a convenient $ay into analysis.

As a meta-discourse, $hich is a relatively rare phenomena in the annals of education policy, lifelong learning

has no doubt served various complex ideological purposes connoting, as it does, vision, change and, above all,

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policy inter-connectedness 2or 81oined-up7 thinking in @ policy parlance5. 6o$ever, at its heart is a very

simple and significant notion. 4ifelong learning implies that learning should take place at all stages of life cycle

2from 8the cradle to the grave75 and, in more recent versions 2E,

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rather than simply an extension of longstanding historical trends 26irst and &homson, ())5, there is little

argument no$ that the process as $e have experienced it since the ():+s is both /ualitatively distinct - not least

in the huge role of multinational corporations and foreign direct investment - and that it is here to stay, at least in

some form. &he pertinent /uestions no$ are not about $hether it is novel, but about the nature of the

contradictions embedded in this complex phenomenon 26ay and %arsh, ()))5' $hat form $ill it take, $hat

form should it take, and $hat are the benefits and costs of, say, free-for-all hyper- globalization on the liberal

2@B5 model or some more regulated and contained process 2as, for instance, in the espousal by 4ionel Hospin in

rance of the controversial &obin tax to calm financial markets5. Beptember (( thhas, of course, tragically

demonstrated some of the malign conse/uences of unfettered globalization and its tendency to increase both

global ine/ualities and cultural resistence to perceived American cultural and economic hegemony. "hether the

8re-regulation7 of global exchanges $hich this has engendered 2so far vis-a-vis security, travel and criminal

financial transactions5 augurs a permanent shift remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that the phenomenon

$ill continue to over-determine our $orld, including the $orld of education.

Global economic restructuring

At its core the concept of globalization denotes a secular rise in the fre/uency and speed of international

exchanges of capital, labour, goods, services and ideas $hich literally transforms our notions of time and space

26arvey, ()=); "aters, ())*5. A process of internationalization has indeed been under$ay for centuries $ith a

spectacular rise in the latter half of the nineteenth century 26obsba$m, ())D5, but the current $ave is

exceptional. 0t has been driven by the triple forces of ne$ communications technologies; the financial de-

regulation process that follo$ed the collapse of the #retton "oods system of fixed exchange rates in the early

():+s; and, not least, by the dramatic extension of multinational domination of $orld trade made possible by

cheaper transport and communication and a liberal $orld order. &his by no means brings forth the 8borderless

$orld7 of the ahistorical fancies of the hyper-globalists, like en7ichi Ohmai 2())+, ()) 5; in fact in the ())+s

more ne$ nation states $ere formed than in many previous decades and, as the Afghan conflict and subse/uent

8$ar on terrorism7 have sho$n, nation states are still ma1or payers in the global scene. 6o$ever, it does mean

that in crucial areas of economic and social policy national governments have less autonomy than before in the

face of the po$erful multinationals and the demands of transnational organizations 26eld; ()=); 3reen, ()):5.

0t also means that far reaching changes are occurring in economic and social structures $hich have ma1or

impacts on education.

&he economic process of globalization, $hich provides the ma1or shaping force behind educational reform,

involves ma1or restructuring in all the countries $hich have been substantially dra$n into the reach of the global

market - ie most notably in Europe, orth America and Asia. At the most profound level, globalization has

intensified economic competition bet$een regions and nations, by dra$ing more countries into the competition

for markets for goods and services 2#ro$n, 3reen and 4auder,

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aspect of the production process, creating distributed net$orks of manufacturing and service units 2Ceich, ())(;

astells, ())5 in different countries $here each is located in its most favourable environment. As a

conse/uence, much of the manufacturing and assembly $ork has gone to countries $ith lo$er labour costs as

has some of the more routine data processing the service industries 2%artin and Bchuman, ()):5. &he more

advanced countries, $hich cannot hope to compete $ith the developing $orld on labour costs and still maintain

living standards, are thus increasingly moving their production and service industries up into the higher value -

added areas of design, research, specialist production, and marketing. 6ence the near universal call in the

advanced nations, including the ne$ly industrialised regions of east and south east Asia, for a shift to$ards the

so-called kno$ledge-economy $ith its higher concentration of high skills and high value kno$ledge $ork 2!&0,

())=; 4eadbeater, ())); #ro$n, 3reen and 4auder,

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At the optimum, economic restructuring is leading to much more fundamental changes in $ork organizations

and hence skills demands in enterprises. irms $ishing to compete at the high value-added end in

manufacturing and services, $here profits depend on skills and /uality, are seeking to transform themselves into

8high- performance $orkplaces7 though a variety of means 2eep and %ayhe$, ()))5. %anufacturing

enterprises have sought to achieve high /uality, efficient and flexible production through restructuring along so-

called post-ordist or 8lean production7 lines 2Btreeck, ())5. &ypically both strategies have involved adopting

flatter hierarchies $ith 8single status7 employment conditions, giving more responsibility for product and

process innovation to the shopfloor $orker, and re/uiring greater functional flexibility from all. lexible

specialisation in production has been achieved through the use of robots and multi-skilled $orkers 2Iiore and

Babel, ())D5. 8Hust-in-time7 systems of stock and process control have been developed, after the &oyota model,

to reduce $asteful stacking of inventories, and ne$ 8/uality control circles7 have been introduced to reduce

costly production defects. At the best, enterprises have introduced integrated manufacturing systems relying on

high levels of automation, maximum flo$s of information, and the $ork of flexible teams of multi-skilled$orkers.

Enterprises such as these have become 8learning organizations7 capable of continuous adaptation and change

2Btahl et al, ())G5. Employees fre/uently have to ac/uire multiple skills at different levels of complexity, as in

vehicle manufacturing plants $here production technicians move bet$een functions as diverse as design,

programming, maintenance, and operation. &hey also need more holistic understanding of their organizations

and to $ork in teams $here the totality of interacting skills and kno$ledge is more important than the individual

part 26amden-&urner and &rompenaars,())G5. 4earning organizations not only re/uire everyone to be in a

constant process of learning and adaptation, they also tend to see their prime function as engendering and

sustaining the stock of organizational or 8collective7 intelligence 2#ro$n and 4auder,

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the costs can be shared. ortunately, ne$ information technology, and particularly the different forms of 0&-

based remote learning $hich they enable, make possible the development of myriad forms of informal and non-

formal learning, $hether this be in the $orkplace, the home or the community. &he learning society is thus both

the most affordable and most responsive $ay to meet the learning demands of the kno$ledge economy, as far as

national governments are concerned. #ut it is also in tune $ith $hat many people $ant 2OE!,

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Iatterns of family life and leisure have also changed markedly in the past G+ years in the developed countries.

&he decline of the traditional nuclear family and the multiplication ne$ patterns of relationships and forms of

family life are part of this, as is the huge rise in single occupancy households in Europe7s capital cities. &his

and the explosion of identity politics and ne$ cultural styles are part of a burgeoning lifestyle diversity that is a

marked as the complex patterns of modern $orking life 2astells, ()):5. &hese shifts create ne$ bonds and

allegiances at the same time as breaking do$n old patterns community and belonging. lass and geographical

mobility have brought $ith them a secular decline in the bonds $hich historically tied neighbourhood

communities, social classes and religious groups and, even, families. 0n one sense this means that societies are

less divided. 0n another, ho$ever, and in the absence of ne$ forms of cohesion, it represents a net loss of

important sources of group solidarity, and therefore a more individualized society 23reen, ()):5. On measures

of association, social trust, volunteering and political engagement, Bocial apital in the @BA has been in steep

decline since the ()+s 2Iutnam,

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instance, range all the $ay from demand-led models of voluntary partnership in the @ 2the net$ork model5 to

the more formalized social partnership models of the northern continental and ordic states, to the more statist

models still prevalent in some of the southern states 2such as Iortugal and 3reece5 23reen,

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and 4eney, ()))5. A number of countries have substantially devolved po$er in school education to

geographical regions 2Bpain5 or to language communities 2#elgium5. Io$er may be delegated to elected

regional governments or to regional arms of the central ministries 2deconcentration5 or, as in the case of rance,

to both. 0n the latter case, it could be argued, one form of decentralisation is cancelled out by another 2orbett

and %oon, ())5. &he more typical pattern of change in the ordic countries 2and particularly in inland,

or$ay and B$eden since this $as already the case in !enmark5, has been to devolve more responsibility do$n

to the level of the municipality and local level, thus reducing the administrative functions of both central

government and the regional authorities 2%iron, ()); ilsson, ())5. Bome countries 2@ and etherlands5,

on the other hand, have reduced the po$er of the middle public tiers and substantially delegated administrative

and budgetary po$ers to the institutions themselves. &his, at least in the case of the @, is associated $ith the

development of a /uasi-market in education, $hereby parents and students are given more choice of providers

and institutions compete $ith each other for custom and funding 23er$itz, #all and #o$e, ())*; 4e 3rand,

())+5. Although the direction of change in all cases has been the same - ie to$ards more devolution - substantial

differences in fact exist bet$een systems $here the dominant decision-making po$ers are at the regional andlocal authority level and those $here they largely rest $ith the institutions and markets. or instance, @

schools $hich have been given the po$er to hire and fire teachers and to spend the ma1ority of the school

budget are in fact in the position of small businesses operating in a controlled market. Bchools in rance and

3ermany, on the other hand, have been delegated some additional po$ers, but they are still allocated teachers

by the public authorities, have discretion over only a small part of the total school budget, and tend not to regard

themselves or operate as businesses 2orbett and %oon, ()); !ascher, Colff, and Btryck, ())*; !erouet, ())(;

OE!, ())D5. ull financial delegation and local management of schools, as in the @ case, cannot operate

fully in continental systems $here teachers are still civil servants employed and paid by the central or regional

state authorities.

ocational training may take place in a variety of dedicated institutions or at the $orkplace and can hardly be

seen as a coherent system in the same $ay as education. evertheless, it is still substantially sub1ect to

regulation, particularly in relation to those parts $hich are publicly funded, and this has also been sub1ect to

change in many countries. or the most part these changes have involved ne$ forms of public funding designed

to enhance efficiency as $here funding levels are more directly related to inputs and outputs 2as in the

8taximeter system7 in !enmark, and output- related funding in the @ and the etherlands5 23reen, 6odgson,

Bakamoto and Bpours,

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trend to$ards devolving more po$er to the social partners in a number of countries, not least as a $ay of

encouraging employer to invest more in training 2E!EOI,

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apprentice systems due to the linkage of the latter $ith old and declining industries and because of the

preference of students for more academic /ualifications $hich allo$ more flexibility and status on the 1ob

market 2E!EOI, ())*5. Only !enmark 2$ith the #asic ocational &raining or EB - Erhvervs aglige

3runduddannelser5 and the etherlands 2$ith the COs5 have managed to revive substantially their apprentice

routes and this by creating hybrid or mixed-mode apprenticeships $here training contracts can be based on the

firm or the school 2!rake and 3erme, ())D5.

"hat is interesting here is the regional basis of the differences bet$een countries. 0t appears that selective

secondary systems and dominant apprenticeship systems go together to some extent, and that they are supported

by common contexts involving strong unions, effective social partnership and relatively high status for craft

level 1obs $hich are protected by labour market regulation 2see #ro$n, 3reen and 4auder,

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0t $ould also be true to say in relation to the upper secondary phase that there has been considerable concern in

many countries $ith the status disparities bet$een general academic and vocational tracks and attempts have

been made through /ualification systems to achieve greater parity bet$een these. &hese attempts may take the

form of increasing the degree of commonality bet$een curriculum and forms of assessment bet$een the general

and vocational tracks, as the rench sought to do $ith the creation of a vocational baccalaurKat alongside the

general and technical baccalaurKats in the ():+s and as has been done in B$eden $ith the enhancement of

vocational lines to three year programmes like the general programmes 24asonen, ()):5. A $eaker alternative

to this form of integration has been the development of curriculum frame$orks as in the @ $hich maintain

unaltered the distinctiveness of the different tracks, both in terms of curriculum and assessment, but place them

$ithin a common frame$ork $ith other tracks $ith $hich they are accorded parity of esteem 2although this

may turn out to be nominal than real5.

6igher education and continuing training have also seen $idespread change in curricula and assessment. 0n thecase of higher education this has mainly taken the form of internationalising curricula 2OE!, ())b5 and

paying more attention to 0& and key skills, $ith less change to systems of assessment and /ualification

2although $ith the notable exception of 3ermany introducing a bachelors degree alongside its traditional

%agister /ualification5. 0n continuing training the emphasis in many countries, as $ith initial E&, has been on

the ac/uisition and assessment of key skills and competences. &he ma1or changes in assessment and

/ualifications have involved, apart from the rationalization of certificates mentioned earlier, more assessment of

competences and the development of various means for accrediting prior learning and experience, such as the

Ls in England and the bilans de competence in rance 2E!EOI,

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cycles these motifs, signifies a real directional convergence in policy principles. 6o$ever, policy-in-practise

still varies markedly across European states and lifelong learning has many faces depending on $here it is

encountered. 0n many respects this represents an increasing convergence around regional models that remain

/uite distinctive.

%editerranean states 2including rance5 remain relatively centralised, statist and comprehensive $ith a

continuing domination of a fairly traditional educational paradigm. 3erman-speaking states have tended to be

more regionalised $ith strong social partnership models of governance and regulation, but are generally more

prone to academic selection and curricula specialisation than their %editerranean counterparts. &he @ and the

etherlands have moved furthest to$ards a /uasi-market model, $ith high levels of institutional diversification

and autonomy and, in the @ case, and continuing preference for curricula specialisation. &he ordic states

have moved partially and cautiously in this direction too, but they still stand apart in their regional affinities for

local public control combined $ith structural and curricula integration and universalism. &he ordic systems

are still amongst the most comprehensive in their institutional structures and egalitarian in selection andadmissions policies any$here. &hey are also relatively uni/ue in their tendency to combine primary and lo$er

secondary education in a single institution. &he ordic states also tend to have exceptionally $ide participation

in adult continuing education and training 2OE!,

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%ichael Hoseph5.

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%orld rder24ondon' 6arper ollins5.

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&ra1ectory or Cunning up a !ead End BtreetF Journal of Education and %or", (< 2G5 pp. G

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Andy 3reen is a professor of education at the 4ondon @niversity 0nstitute of Education and co-director of the

!epartment for Education and Bkills - funded "ider #enefits of 4earning Cesearch entre 2"#4C5. 6is

main field of research is the comparative study of education and training systems in $hich he has published

$idely and conducted research and consultancy for a variety of national and international bodies. 6is current

research $ith the "#4C focuses on the effects of learning on civic participation and social cohesion.

()

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