Ever since the Faure report for UNESCO in 1972, Lifelong Learning has been a major targeted aim of many governments, communities and most of all as a stated goal for education systems. More recently, Delors et al (1996) re ignited the discussion with renewed emphasis on the ideas of learning across the lifespan for all.

Along with this emphasis there has been a recognition that work and workplace learning, with its attendant interest in and involvement with Vocational Education and Training, needs to consider different foci in this rapidly changing globalised ultra-modern world (Handy, 1996; Beck, 2000; Cairns and Stephenson, 2009).

The focus of much Vocational Education and Training over the 20^th Century and continuing into the first decade of the 21^st Century has been on skill development underpinned by the concept of competence. While there have been many different and cultural-based definitions and usages of this term and much debate about its scope and applicability as a underlying conceptualisation of the purpose and approach necessary for the development of skilled workforces in Europe, the Asian-Pacific region and the Americas, there has been almost universal usage of the term in the VET and related areas. There have been critiques and alternatives offered to what was seen by some as a narrow and instrumentalist emphasis on current demonstrable performance (and understandings) inherent in the competence approach over the last twenty years of the last century and there has been an emphasis on a broader concept of Capability, which suggested a more flexible, adaptable and mindfully aware learner who could be more comfortable working with unfamiliar problems in unfamiliar situations (Stephenson and Yorke, 1998; Cairns 1992; Cairns and Stephenson, 2009).

This paper picks up on the alternative viewpoint with an additional argument that what we need in the 21^st century are three dimensional learners. The three dimensions outlined are Lifelong, Lifewide and Lifedeep aspects that will fit the ultramodern and capable learner in workplaces to be more able to operate across the certain uncertainties of this century’s progress as it unfolds. That we may have significant and different future scenarios across this century has led to some interesting and very alarming speculation about the way cultures, nations and communities will shift and potentially dissolve as the bases of world power move east (Friedman, 2009).

As well as drawing on a research base from the past twenty years which has examined the Capability idea and its applicability across both individuals and organisations, this paper puts forward a suggested future research agenda aimed at a close examination of this different model and cultural emphasis as a basis for more substantial progress across Europe and the rest of the world in rethinking VET and Workplace Learning.

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