ABSTRACT
The contributions to this book indicate the complexity of the idea of transitions, when explored in the context of lifelong learning. While, as Ecclestone and others have noted, this has now become a major issue in policy in countries throughout the world, as well as being the focus for practice and research, the concept is used to cover many different activities and it is viewed as being important for many different reasons. As in so many other discussions concerning lifelong learning there are also competing agendas. Grace points to the predominance of economistic agendas that drive forward much of the policy with respect to lifelong learning, while he, and other contributors, emphasise the need to place a continuing emphasis on other agendas including social justice and personal development. Transitions can also refer to issues of the structures that facilitate and support transitions, as well as the processes for the people involved. They can also refer to transitions between different types of learning. In this brief concluding chapter we do not attempt to summarise the issues dealt with in the preceding chapters, nor to provide a comprehensive overview of the issues. Instead we focus on some issues that have been identified, and which we would suggest could be the focus of further research. We also seek to identify some issues that are relatively neglected in this collection, and in the wider research literature.
