The Learning Age

  In the preface to the Green Paper ‘The Learning Age’ (DfEE,1998) the new focus on lifelong learning is encapsulated by Tony Blair ‘…education is the best economic policy we have’ and lifelong learning grew out of third way politics.  The European Commission White Paper (1995) identifies challenges of the impact of the information society, [...]

Communities of Practice

The work of Lave and Wenger (2002) focuses on learning processes within ‘communities of practice’ – in other words, groups of professionals who learn together, thus highlighting the social aspect of learning. This can be linked with how the use of web2.0 tools such as social bookmarking and social networking could be utilised to develop [...]

Thoughts on Tuijnman

  Tuijnman (2002,p.7) discusses how prominent reports are setting growing expectations for policy makers to create an all-encompassing lifelong learning society. Statements about lifelong learning tend to be positive and have grown out of key documents proposed several decades ago, such as the OECD publications in the 1970s (cited in Tuijnmnan, 2002, p.7). Lifelong learning [...]