ABSTRACT
It is broadly agreed that societies are undergoing a period of rapid and dramatic change. It has been well said that economic and political dynamics are altering the structures of personal and social experience and placing new demands on the capacities persons need to flourish in society. The changes are of such a scale and pace as to carry both great threat and vaunting promise. There is the threat to stability and to the established order of things. At the same time there is the promise of undreamt of qualities of life. This has placed education at the centre of public policy with the core task of helping people transform how they think of themselves. The term ‘learning society’ captures the necessity for continuous and progressive adjustment to change and emphasises the need for an educational system based on a powerful and practical understanding of learning for people at all ages and stages of their development. Learning has the potential to permeate and enhance all aspects of our lives from the narrow issue of acquiring a corpus of schooled knowledge and skill to the broader matter of learning to be a person in society and through every aspect of social life including leisure, wealth creation, health, family, workplace and political life. The urgent need for productive and progressive adjustment to change places increasing burdens of relevance, efficiency and effectiveness on educational systems and imposes learning as the core concept of our time.
