Until relatively recently, adult learning in the UK was largely recognised as being situated mainly within the LEA adult education centre, university extra-mural departments and the WEA. However, this picture has changed. The major change has been a shift from 'education' to 'learning' as the key organising concept. A greater range of settings are now recognised as sites producing learning, and alongside this has grown a debate about the purpose and form of study within adult learning. This has led people to question both the concept of adult learning and the boundaries of its provision.
...

The 'learning society' is not a new idea, although its popularity has grown in recent years with the suggestion that lifelong learning is a condition for economic competitiveness in a global economy, replacing the earlier conception of it as a condition for democratic citizenship.
This reader, designed to accompany Module E827 of the MA in Education, critically examines the demographic, technological, economic and cultural challenges which have led to interest in the idea of a learning society, and explores their policy and practical implications for lifelong learning. It also...