Chapter 8 - Criticisms and Future Prospects

Abstract

This chapter presents a critical analysis of lifelong education and it discusses how lifelong education can be further developed and improved. It also presents a review of some of the practical steps that must be taken if a workable principle is to be established and put into practice. The idea of education and learning as lifelong processes is by no means new. In modern times, the exact term lifelong education first appeared in English educational writings about 50 years ago. The main ideas of lifelong education in its modern form were spelled out immediately after the Second World War, however, in the context of further education rather than lifelong education. A continuing problem for educational theorists has been that, although there are scattered and fragmentary statements that emphasize the lifelong nature of educative learning, these have not been collected and organized into a unified theory of lifelong education.