Reimagining Lifelong Learning in Higher Education

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Higher Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2024 | Viewed by 1251

Special Issue Editors

Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Interests: lifelong learning; adult education; access to higher education; social inclusion
Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Interests: lifelong learning; adult education; access to higher education; social inclusion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Post pandemic, there is an opportunity to rethink not only new pedagogical possibilities but also the basic purposes of lifelong learning in higher education, and how a renewed vision of education might be harnessed to develop more democratic and just societies. In this Special Issue, we invite authors to reimagine higher education as a system where the most fundamental ambition should be to allow people to cultivate their interests and acquire understanding, experience, and skills in disciplines and areas that excite and intrigue them. How can this vision be embedded within the current neoliberal model of higher education, which is underpinned by privilege, inequality and competitiveness, and works against aspirations of human flourishing and the fostering of human capacities? Neoliberalism does not aim to increase the well-being of everybody but increases social inequality, and this in turn drives a more competitive society and economy.

This Special Issue also welcomes papers that identify how lifelong learning in higher education can reach a broad spectrum of students—post-secondary students, adult learners, professionals who seek to up-grade skills for the workplace, senior citizens taking advantage of their increasing longevity to pursue cultural interests, and others—for high-quality and relevant higher education throughout their lifetime.  

Lifelong learning in higher education should embrace learning in its broadest sense, including the social, cultural and economic development of communities and the region (European Universities Continuing Education Network, n.d.). This seems an inclusive standpoint that should strongly influence the way that learners learn and teachers teach. However, the recent UNESCO (2020) report on Embracing a Culture of Lifelong Learning argues that in many education systems, lifelong learning is an auxiliary system rather than a central concept for education and social policies. This has resulted in fragmented reforms and top-down procedures, effectively disconnecting lifelong learning from the core of education systems and policies. Furthermore, the appreciation of the wider value of lifelong learning often falls short of the ambition to create a learning society in which learning for employability and skills is valued alongside learning for personal growth, community development, active citizenship and the ‘common good’. As Biesta (2006, p.169) suggests, lifelong learning is ‘increasingly understood in terms of the formation of human capital and as an investment in economic development.’ The adoption of this approach in higher education shifts lifelong learning further and further away from it being about a right, towards it being a responsibility, something which adults need to do to ensure they are work-ready throughout their career. This is further compounded by the neoliberalist model of higher education that increases social inequality and in turn drives a more competitive society and economy. While the political rhetoric suggests there is an appreciation of the wider value of learning, education policy very often falls short of the ambition to create a learning society in which learning for employability and skills is valued alongside learning for personal growth, community development, active citizenship and the ‘common good’.

In this Special Issue, we ask authors to consider how lifelong learning can be used to reorganize the higher education systems where formal learning dominates and is mostly reserved for young people, and to reflect on how lifelong learning can reinvent the business of higher education as one that is truly inclusive. How can universities post pandemic be places of compassion, wisdom and worthiness? How can they become places where prior privilege does not give priority in engagement, and where the recognition of diversity, equality and inclusion is the premise of formalized higher education where people can flourish? This opportunity is a new educative focus, not a new business model.

This Special Edition provides a forum for authors to share their own work in analyzing and responding to these issues. We welcome research studies and policy, practice-based, and/or theoretical contributions.

References

Biesta, G. (2006) What’s the Point of Lifelong Learning if Lifelong Learning Has No Point? On the Democratic Deficit of Policies for Lifelong Learning, European Educational Research Journal, 5, (3 & 4), pp.169-180.

Peters, M. et al (2020) Reimagining the new pedagogical possibilities for universities post-Covid-19, Educational Philosophy and Theory, Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1777655.

UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning (2020) Embracing a culture of lifelong learning: contribution to the Futures of Education initiative, Available at: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374112.

Dr. Nalita James
Dr. Anil Awesti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • lifelong learning
  • higher education
  • democracy and citizenship
  • inclusive education
  • adult and community education
  • transformative learning

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 326 KiB  
Article
Analyzing Teachers’ Perception of the Development of Lifelong Learning as Personal, Social and Learning to Learn Competence in University Students
by Eduardo García-Toledano, Andrea Gracia-Zomeño, Paula Farinho and Luís Miguel Correia Marujo Picado
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(11), 1086; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13111086 - 27 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 705
Abstract
In recent decades, European education systems and policies have prioritized the need for lifelong learning for all citizens, both within and outside the education system. This research is an observational study using a cross-sectional quantitative design involving 446 participants from Spain, Mexico and [...] Read more.
In recent decades, European education systems and policies have prioritized the need for lifelong learning for all citizens, both within and outside the education system. This research is an observational study using a cross-sectional quantitative design involving 446 participants from Spain, Mexico and Chile. The objective of this study is as follows: To understand how active methodologies impact the development and mastery of Personal, Social and Learning to Learn competence (PSLL) throughout the life of university students. The INNOVAPRENDE questionnaire, previously validated by 17 university experts and comprised of 43 items, was implemented. It is considered essential for students to develop a series of competences, in addition to acquiring knowledge, since lifelong learning is a necessity. It has been shown that less experienced teachers (vs. more experienced teachers), men (vs. women), and teachers with PSLL training during their university studies (vs. teachers with training during their work experience or without experience) have a more negative perception of their students’ overall development of PSLL. In conclusion, it should be emphasized that lifelong learning as PSLL is an educational paradigm open to any educational stage of teachers’ and learners’ lives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Reimagining Lifelong Learning in Higher Education)

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: mary@mahoneyconsulting.co.uk
Authors: Mary Mahoney; Annabel Kiernan
Affiliation: 1. Freelance Lifelong Learning Consultant & Trustee/Secretary UALL (Universities Association for Lifelong Learning) ; 2. Pro Vice Chancellor Academic, Staffordshire University
Abstract: In 2025 the English government will commence the roll out of a transformative new funding system for post-18 learners entitled the ‘Lifelong Learning Entitlement’ (LLE). This will be a single funding system for both higher and further education, which the government argues, will enable learners to pay for courses to develop new skills and gain new qualifications at a time that is right for them through full-time degree programmes, flexibly though part time study or by undertaking individual modules as an when they are needed. Focus is on training, retraining and upskilling at levels 4 to 6 (i.e. the first three years of a degree programme) and on high-value technical courses at levels 4 and 5. Essentially, the LLE is lifelong entitlement to access loan fund to support higher level/higher education studies up to age 60. Some targeted maintenance grant funding will be provided to some students who require it to age 60 and beyond. The authors will provide a critical review of the LLE from a lifelong learning perspective. They will explore the complex multifaceted discourse embedded in the LLE intentions as presented in policy statements, some of which appear to be at odds with the claims made about the role of LLE, and identify the ways that it will need to be shaped to achieve the benefits sought by government. Using the critical themes underpinning this special edition of the journal, they will consider the role that education provided through the LLE ‘transformative agenda’ can play in enabling access by adult learners of all types and for multiple reasons. They will consider the interplay between these and neo-liberal values relating to the role of higher education in employment, training and skills-focused priorities. They will also reflect on the role that the HE sector will inevitably need to play in shaping course design and delivery to ensure that the LLE can deliver both the government’s goals and those of lifelong learners, particularly those from disadvantaged communities and backgrounds.

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