ABSTRACT

Change, and particularly the unpredictability of change, is often held to be a central characteristic of the contemporary world. It is also central to the growth in interest in lifelong learning and a learning society. Changes external to the world of education and training are deployed to act as rationales for changes within that world. Educational change has become a matter of increasing interest with educators positioned as change agents. This has tended to focus on change in initial schooling (Fullan 1993; Fullan with Stiegelbauer 1991), although there are some studies of processes of change in the post-school sector (Scott 1992). Change and its importance for lifelong learning is obviously not new. Since the 1960s, economic and social change has been used to argue for lifelong learning. However, it is the significance and recognition given to change in more recent years which has resulted in an increased importance for lifelong learning.