ABSTRACT
Introduction ‘LEARNING, LIKE BREATHING, IS something everyone does all of the time’ (Tight 1996: 21). It is an inevitable part of life that humans learn continuously unless some major physical or psychological trauma interrupts the process. Even when we are asleep, we learn. Indeed, it is increasingly believed that some aspects of learning can even take place in the womb. Babies learn to associate certain rhythmic sounds with a calm, soothing environment and, once born, will respond positively to such sounds being played to them. From cradle to grave, we are acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes. We pick up incidental bits of information; we are influenced in manners sometimes subtle, sometimes evident. From this it becomes clear that the concept of lifelong learning must concern itself with something more than simply learning throughout life. Otherwise it is a mere tautology and is hence beyond elaboration. Instead it must concern itself with purposeful learning, be this formal, non-formal or informal. We might want to term this education but then there is the other problem of deciding when learning constitutes education and when it does not.
