Lifelong Learning and Globalisation: Towards a Structural Comparative Model

Any comparative study of lifelong learning in a globalised world runs into a number of major problems since lifelong learning is not a structural system like other sectors of education but once we raise this question it follows naturally that we can ask to what extent is it possible to study lifelong learning comparatively. Before that question can be answered, however, it is necessary to clarify what precisely is lifelong learning and so that constitutes the first part of this chapter. In this section we will argue that a major element of lifelong learning occurs, in its present form, as a result of the process of globalisation and so the second part explores the idea of globalisation and we will endeavour to show that the dominant social forces that are exerted on all aspects of most societies stem from this process, but we will argue in the third section that there are social forces that reinforce these social pressures whilst others seek to mitigate them so that the effects of globalisation do not necessarily result in standardisation. Finally, we will produce a model that allows us to understand how different manifestations of lifelong learning occur and this might form the basis of comparative studies of lifelong learning policies, if not of lifelong learning itself.