ABSTRACT
The discourse of lifelong learning has become disconnected from the discourse of social purpose adult education despite the material reality of poverty and the evidence of continuing social polarisation in contemporary British society. The current context of adult education theory, policy and practice exacerbates this problem. The New Labour government in Britain does not seem to herald a new era. Nevertheless, its professed interest in education may offer the opportunity to stretch the discourse of lifelong learning and the learning society so that it begins to reflect some of the key values and purposes of an older tradition in which adult education was an integral part of the struggle for democracy and social justice.
Yesterday’s utopias can become today’s reality. Maybe we must first achieve daily utopias mat represent a positive dialectic between human realities and human aspirations.
(Gelpi, 1997)