Learning for life

"The foundations of lifelong learning are laid during the school years." David H. Hargreaves Working within the spirit of David Blunkett's visionary foreword to The learning age: A new renaissance for Britain, David H. Hargreaves' radical analysis challenges the myth that lifelong learning can or should be separated - in any sense - from school education. It asks the critical question: what changes in thinking, policy and practice are needed for the culture and process of lifelong learning, as visualised by David Blunkett, to become a reality? Starting with a clear, unequivocal statement that "whether people are motivated to learn beyond the end of compulsory education, and have the capacity to do so, depends very much on what happens to them during the school years", the author explores ways in which policy and practice at school level will need to change in order to meet the crucial challenge of sparking and sustaining a person's motivation and capacity to learn throughout life. Based on a series of seminars with over 50 leading-edge practitioners, academics and members of the policy community, Hargreaves identifies: the strengths and weaknesses of key dimensions of formal education, such as curriculum, pedagogy and assessment; routes to creating a fresh approach to education and learning that embrace new insights into leadership, innovation, Information and Communication Learning Technologies, and design; opportunities for innovation that will address immediate problems in education and transform our understanding and provision of lifelong learning. Learning for life is compulsory reading for all stakeholders in the education, business and policy communities and for anyone concerned with the future of education in Britain.