01/03/1998 Education Sociology
DOI: 10.1080/13596749800200022 SemanticScholar ID: 143230345 MAG: 1971206316

Society is not Built by Education Alone: alternative routes to a learning society

Publication Summary

Abstract This article examines the notion of a learning society in Britain by outlining some of the chief arguments currently being used to advocate the establishment of such a society. These arguments have two main strands – that the standard of education and training has a direct impact on the economy and that therefore expenditure on lifelong learning is an investment that will be recouped, and the claim that there is a lack of justice in the distribution of education and its rewards in Britain today. The article also involves a brief consideration of the extent to which a learning society already exists. Using preliminary findings from a large-scale study of participation in adult education and training over 50 years in industrial South Wales, it concludes that to some extent ‘Learning Society’ is used by policy-makers and academics as a term of convenience. It is an ideal notion (but one with very prosaic targets couched in terms of certification) which helps mask the lack of real progress in some re...

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Avatar Image for Stephen Gorard

Prof. Stephen Gorard

University of Durham - Professor in the School of Education

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