ABSTRACT
Lifelong learning is a concept which is found increasingly in current debate on education, particularly within the framework of discussion on widening participation and adapting to changes in patterns of employment. In the very wide use of the term, and also in its sometimes rather uncritical use, lie certain dangers. Its impact can be very much reduced, and there is a real risk that it will lose any sense of significance. The remedy is to explore the concept carefully and thence to be judicious in its employment, while at the same time seeking to specify carefully the conceptual boundaries of its use.
