The discourses of Lifelong learning share a number of common themes across European countries. Changes in technology and work organisation, increased leisure time and population ageing are all said to increase the demand - and need - for continuous adult learning. The greater demands for learning opportunities cannot be met entirely by the existing institutions for formal learning, nor need they be. Information technology makes possible a variety of new modes and sites for learning (OECD, 1996). So much is common in the new rhetoric shared by policy-makers across the developed world. However, beyond this there is little agreement. Visions of lifelong learning and the learning society differ markedly in both ends and means. In some versions the main objective is individual development and improved quality of life; in others it is the promotion of social equality and social cohesion; most commonly, perhaps, it is enhanced productivity and national economic competitiveness. There is equal divergence in the models for achieving the learning society. Some stress the role of the market and the responsibility of the individual; some advocate multiple stake-holding and social partnership; others, although increasingly rarely, advocate the central role of the state in orchestrating and managing the learning society. The outcomes of these different models would, of course, be highly divergent - as varied, in fact, as are the current systems of education and training across the developed countries.