This article represents four emergences through which to explore the significance of lifelong learning. Drawing in particular on complexity theory and actor-network theory, it seeks to develop an understanding of the reductions and emergences, and purifications and translations to which lifelong learning is subject. To do this, the article also…

This article explores the significance of theories of the post-human for lifelong learning. Drawing upon the works of Karen Barad and Bruno Latour, it suggests that education has focused on the learning subject as a result of an a priori assumption of a separation of matter from meaning, the object from the subject. By contrast, a post-human…

The article explores the conceptualization of learning and context from a number of perspectives and some of the theoretical and methodological issues raised when context is no longer considered as a container, but as a relational effect. It provides an introduction for the articles that follow, insofar as they take up lines of flight from the…

This paper explores the question of the purpose of education within the context of Lyotard's framing of the postmodern condition. It points to some of the continuities and discontinuities in the framing of the current condition as postmodern and the recurrent problematics of truth-telling which is the mark of this condition. It suggests that…

Examines the emergence of workplace practices influenced by modernization. Demonstrates how growing emphasis on reflection in education and training is related to the need for flexible lifelong learning stimulated by workplace changes. (SK)

This article explores the question of what we might understand to be a learning context within discourses of lifelong learning. If we identify learning as both lifelong and lifewide, how then can we frame a meaningful notion of context and what is its relationship to learning? These are important questions that have been explored within work on…

Discusses the mobilization of lifelong learning within the context of actor-network theory and "governmentality." Develops a framework for further research. (Contains 28 references.) (PKP)

Argues that discourses of lifelong learning act as intellectual technologies that construct individuals as subjects in a learning society. Discuses three discourses using actor-network theory: (1) economics/human capital (individuals as accumulators of skills for competitiveness); (2) humanistic psychology (individuals seeking fulfilment through…

Autobiographical accounts of two adult educators address questions of what it means to be an adult educator in an environment of individualization and reflexivity. Cultural conditions that give rise to similarities and differences in their accounts, such as postmodernism and popular culture, are identified. (SK)

Analyzes the way text is used in constructing and reporting research, using three representations: (1) algorithm, which presents research as a logical and sequential process; (2) strategic improvisation, arising from researchers' lived experience; and (3) reflexivity, which considers how researchers construct the world in the process of writing…

The current notion of lifelong learning in policy and practice is dominated by behaviorist, adaptive accumulation of skills and qualifications. An alternative is reflexive lifelong learning, developed through social learning networks within the context of dislocation and uncertainty. It involves the reflexive practices of metacognitive analysis…

Drawing on Foucault, Deleuze, Guattari, and actor-network theory, the significance of space in flexible learning and its role in knowledge production and identity are explored. A cautious and analytical approach to the notion of lifelong learners liberated from time and space constraints is advocated. (Contains 27 references.) (Author/SK)

Argues the necessity of a discursive approach to policy analysis. Emphasizes the importance of metaphor to the analysis. Explores the metaphorical role of lifelong learning in educational policy. (SK)

Social inclusion appears to be an unconditional good. Examination of social policy studies and poststructuralist philosophy suggests that "inclusion" is positioned within a philosophy of identity that denies difference and is thus exclusionary. Promoting social inclusion heightens awareness of difference. The rights of those who choose…

Critical analysis of the European Union's (EU) policy toward a learning society involving eight countries. Presents a theoretical framework composed of three different aspects of learning-society policy debate: economic, political, and cultural. Suggests that EU policy for a learning society is unstable and complex. (Contains 56 references.) (PKP)