Models of Lifelong Learning and the ‘Knowledge Society’: Education for Competitiveness and Social Cohesion

Abstract

Policy debates frequently invoke lifelong learning as a key to achieving both national economic competitiveness and. social cohesion. The European Commission’s targets for education and training, for instance, are considered central to the overall Lisbon strategy for ‘a competitive and knowledge-based economy … with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion’. (Fontaine 2000). But how far is it possible to achieve a competitive and dynamic ‘knowledge economy’ which is also a ‘knowledge society’ with high levels of social cohesion? And if it is, what forms of lifelong learning are most likely to promote this, and combined with what policies in other economic and social domains? This chapter seeks to examine these questions by analysing the different national and regional models of the knowledge economy and knowledge society in Europe and the contribution that lifelong learning makes in each.