Making the Lisbon Strategy Happen - A Third Phase of Lifelong Learning Discourse in European Policy?

Author(s):

Andreas Nordin

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

23 SES 09 D, Politics of Life Long Learning

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-30

10:30-12:00

Room:

HG, HS 21

Chair:

Jennifer Teresa Ozga

Contribution

European educational policy on lifelong learning has undergone great changes during the last three decades, becoming a highly complex phenomenon with several internal and external actors involved. The discourse of lifelong learning has undergone great changes, from its initial engagement when it was a matter of social and humanitarian issues as outlined in the early documents of UNESCO, to emphasising lifelong learning as a moral and individual obligation in a more competitive and market-oriented language. In a European context this language of competition to a large extent derives from the vocabulary set out by the Lisbon strategy where competition is a key-theme. A policy trajectory that has taken the discourse from an initial phase of great social visions to a second phase focusing the need for self-regulated and morally responsible citizens. Recent research on the topic indicates that we are now standing at the threshold of a discursive shift where action instead of visions is at stake. Against this background I ask the question if there is evidence enough to suggest that European policy on lifelong learning is now experiencing a discursive shift into what could be described as a third phase? And if so, how could such a shift be described and what are the implications at an individual level? I take my theoretical point of departure in Habermas`s theory of communicative action using as analytic tools his concept of system and lifeworld as representations of different rationalities.

Method

I use Fairclough`s critical discourse analysis as a methodological framework in order to understand how the rationalities bound to the concepts of system and lifeworld become visible through different actors and actions in the policy discourse of lifelong learning. A number of research reports and policy documents on lifelong learning recently published within the European Union have been read and analysed.

Expected Outcomes

The analysis of the empirical material points to a direction where it is relevant to speak about a new, “third phase” of lifelong learning discourse emerging in European policy, characterised by the urgent need for implementation. In this paper a tentative conceptual framework is presented as to how this new and action-oriented “third phase” can be understood. The policy trajectory of lifelong learning is not to be understood here as a linear development where one phase follows another in a well-defined manner. Instead it is seen as an ongoing discursive struggle where different concepts over time replace each other as fundamental for the discourse and its actors, in the third phase represented by concepts such as “evidence” and “implementation”.

References

Ball, Stephen J. (1990). Politics and policy-making in Education: explorations in policy sociology. London: Routledge. Baye, Ariane & Demeneus, Marc (2008). The European Commission Stepping up both the Efficiency and Equity of Education and Training Systems. Policy Futures in Education, 6(6), 771-780. Brine, Jaqueline (2008). The Boundaries of Competency within the Lisbon and Bologna: the short-cycle / foundation learner. European Educational Research Journal, 7(3), 344-357. Castells, Manuel (2004). Informationalism, networks, and the network society: a theoretical blueprint. In: Castells, Manuel (Eds.). The network society. A Cross-cultural Perspective. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Chouliaraki, Lilie & Fairclough, Norman (1999). Discourse in late modernity. Rethinking critical discourse analysis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh university press. Council of the European Union (2004). “Education & Training 2010” The success of the Lisbon strategy hinges on urgent reforms. Document 6905/04, EDUC 43. Brussels. Council of the European Union (2006). Modernising Education and Training: A Vital contribution to prosperity and social cohesion in Europe. Document (2006/C 79/01). Brussels. Council of the European Union (2008). Draft 2008 joint report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the ´Education and Training´ work programme”Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation”. Document 5723/08, EDUC 29. Brussels. Fairclough, Norman (1992). Discourse and social change. Cambridge: Polity. Field, J. (1998) The Silent Explosion – Living in the Learning Society, Adults Learning (England), 10(4), 6-8. Gouthro, Patricia A (2002). Education for sale: at what cost? Lifelong learning and the marketplace. The international journal of lifelong education. 21(4), 334-346. Gustavsson, Bernt (2002). What do we mean by lifelong learning and knowledge? The international journal of lifelong education. 21(1), 13-23. Habermas, Jürgen (1984). The theory of communicative action: Reason and the rationalisation of society. Cambridge: Polity. Habermas, Jürgen (1987). The theory of communicative action: The critique of functionalist reason. Cambridge: Polity. Holford, John (2008). Hard Measures for soft stuff: citizenship indicators and educational policy under the Lisbon strategy. European Educational Research Journal, 7(3), 331-343. Jarvis, P. (2006) Beyond the learning society: Globalisation and the Moral Imperative for Reflective Social Change, International Journal of Lifelong Education, 25(3), 201-211 Jauhiainen, Arto & Alho-Malmelin, Marika (2004). Education as a religion in the learning society. The international journal of lifelong education. 23(5), 459-474. Lawn, Martin & Lingard, Bob (2002). Constructing a European Policy Space in Educational Governance: the role of transnational policy actors. European Educational Research journal, 1(2), 290-307 Lund, Stefan (2008). Choice paths in the Swedish upper secondary education – a critical discourse analysis of recent reforms. Journal of educational policy, 23(6), 633-648. Martin, Ian (2003). Adult education, lifelong elearning and citizenship: some ifs and buts. The international journal of lifelong education. 22(6), 566-579. Nowotny, Helga, Scott, Peter & Gibbons, Michael (2001). Re-Thinking Science. Knowledge and the public in an age of uncertainty. Cambridge: Polity.

Author Information

Andreas Nordin

Växjö university

Växjö

186

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