The article studies the image of adults behind the concept of lifelong learning. Educational policy documents are studied, which substantiate strategies of lifelong learning on a global, European and national level. Papers issued by the UNESCO, OECD, EU-Commission and Federal/State Commission for Educational Planning and Research Promotion (Bund-Länder-Kommission – BLK) rarely explicitly include adults. The adult is – if included at all – outlined as a working person, as a citizen and as a resp…
This article is concerned with the discourse and policy of lifelong learning in Europe after 1973. It deals with the question whether the 1980s have to be seen as a period of diminishing interest in lifelong learning or as a formative phase of so called neoliberalism. Applying a corpus lingustic approach, it analyses the official documents of the European Communities as archived in the database EUR-Lex. The results are interpreted as the expression of a new European governance regime called “te…
