The Concept Of Lifelong Learning

Introduction

Across the world, governments are increasingly attracted to and focusing on the concept of lifelong learning. The European Parliament and the Council declared 1996 as the year of Lifelong Learning. The global trend towards lifelong learning puts the concept in the spotlight within the national discourse and political agenda. Lifelong learning, defined as “the recognition that learning may stretch out across a lifetime” (Field, 2006, p.9) has several underlying perspectives and motivations that appeals to governments and people.

The People’s Action Party (PAP), having led Singapore in the past fifty years, has largely aligned itself with the theory and practice of pragmatism to maintain its dominance in the political arena. The

When the concept was brought up by the Britain Adult Education Committee (Smith, 1919, p.5), adult learning was “viewed as a permanent national necessity, an inseparable aspect of citizenship, and, therefore, should be both universal and lifelong”. The 1972 Faure report, which Field (2006, p.13) argues as a turning point in the debate over lifelong learning, sees lifelong learning as an “essential humanistic concern with achieving the 'fulfilment of man ' through flexible organisation of the different stages of education, through widening access to higher levels of education, through recognition of informal and non-formal as well as formal learning, and through what were then new curricular concerns such as health education, cultural education and environmental

Firstly, the social justice model “pushes the notion of equality of opportunity and life chances through education in a democratic society”. Secondly, the cultural model sees lifelong learning as “a process of each individual’s life itself, aiming at the fulfilment of life and self-realisation”. Thirdly, the ‘open society’ model sees lifelong learning as “an adequate learning system for developed, multicultural and democratic countries”. Lastly, in the human capital model, lifelong learning “connotes continuous work-related training and skill development to meet the needs of the economy and employers for a qualified, flexible and adaptable workforce” (Schuetze and Casey, 2006, p.