ABSTRACT
This text is concerned with thinking differently about some of the changing discourses which have come to govern the education and training of adults in recent years and the consequence for practices. It examines the context for such changes and their contested nature. The focus for the discussion is on differing notions of a learning society and the ways in which that is being constructed in the changing practices and discourses of lifelong learning. The argument will be that to encapsulate those changes new forms of thinking are necessary which involve moving away from the dominant discourses of adult education. While much of the detail will focus on events as they are occurring in the United Kingdom, the suggestion is that many of the general trends have a wider applicability and resonate with much that is going on elsewhere in the world. To support this view a certain amount of literature from beyond the United Kingdom is incorporated into the text. Caution is always necessary in making comparisons between nations and even within nations. However, resonance of certain similarities of influence can be identified, particularly given the greater economic and cultural integration being experienced in contemporary conditions of globalisation.
