ABSTRACT
After havin g l o ng thought o f ourselves a s special , Sou th Afr icans are beg in -
n i n g to realize just h o w s imi la r our ' h o m e - g r o w n ' policie s are t u r n i n g out t o
be t o thos e o f th e res t o f the w o r l d . F o r a range o f reasons w h i ch cannot b e
entered into here, m u ch o f th e po l ic y discourses i n education i n S o u th Af r i c a
are bein g shape d b y th e internationa l context . H o w e v e r , a s Chr i s t i e (1996 )
has argued , thes e discourses ar e be in g mediated an d consti tute d i n particula r
ways b y forces i n the Sou t h Af r i ca n context . T h i s paper seek s to conduc t a n
assessment o f th e ameliorativ e potentia l o f emergin g educat io n po l i c y i n
Sou th Afr ica . I propose t o focu s thi s assessmen t largel y on h o w th e concep t
o f i i f e l o n g learning ' is be ing employed in the conceptual izat io n an d rhetori c
o f emergin g educat io n pol icy . T h e pape r begin s w i t h a cri t ical rev ie w o f th e
major policie s an d discourse s relate d t o l i fe lon g learnin g i n Sou t h Afr ica .
T h i s i s fo l lowed by an attempt to explor e h ow contextua l factor s ar e shapin g
these discourse s an d relate d educat io n policie s i n Sou t h Af r i ca . F ina l ly , I
present some thought s on the possibili t ie s and constraint s relate d t o i m p r o v -
ing th e ameliorativ e potentia l o f educat ion po l i c y i n Sou t h Af r i ca .
