DEVELOPING AND MANAGING LEARNING RESOURCES

Developing and Managing Resources within Lifelong Learning

Developing and Managing Resources within Lifelong Learning

Introduction

Lifelong learning is now viewed as both a social prerogative and economic necessity (Anderson, 1999). Social and ethical notions of inclusion and increased access to learning at an institutional level underpin educational objectives embodied by the commitment of policy-makers to engage learner participation in learning opportunities throughout life (Hyland and Musson, 2001). Individuals are encouraged to make meaningful choices about their learning and development at different stages of their working lives. Whether enacted in the transition from education to work, during periods of unemployment, or when there is a need to update knowledge and skills, lifelong learning is a multi-faceted, intricate arrangement of trends and developments that can reshape or change occupational structures, shifts in the organisation of employment, or personal values in terms of lifestyle and community (Kivinen and Silvennoinen, 2002).

ost-compulsory education and training (PCET) generally and further education (FE) in particular mirror the profiles of structural change, highlighting a framework of complex innovation and rhetoric in a field of new initiatives and development of a knowledge-driven society. The contemporary realities of shifting societal and economic structures, together with the creation of a plethora of learning opportunities at both governmental and institutional level, raises the issue of a perceived fragmented post-16 educational system that arguably requires a new vision to view the totality of learning in further education.

Further, it focuses on the key theme of policy and practice in the learning and skills sector. In response to government concerns regarding skills shortages and learner development to meet national requirements, it is argued that post-16 policy is driven by the semi-privatisation of education and training.

Policy and practice - impact on the post-16 sector

Lifelong learning is a policy area underpinned by new principles of partnership between the LSC, educators, government, employers and individuals. Furthermore, FE remains a key partner in this relationship. Provision of learning now articulates a discourse of competitiveness and target-related funding. Since the incorporation of colleges following enactment of the Further and Higher Education Act (1992) and the subsequent transformation of the post-16 sector (Elliott and Crossley, 1997), the rhetoric around greater autonomy, professional management of institutions and improved quality standards implies a commitment to an ethos of radical change in the structure of learning organisations.

Sectoral educational policy is driven by a response to global market forces impacting on the type and range of post-16 curriculum delivered by FE colleges. The emphasis is on teaching the knowledge, skills and attributes needed in the world of work. Current practice is focused on the development of vocationalism and key skills initiatives determined by the engagement of the education sector in workforce development to meet the needs of a knowledge-based global economy. Government policies allude to embracing lifelong learning as a vanguard response to skills shortages and unemployment. Provision is a dichotomy of specific employment and workplace skills programmes on the one hand, which appears to be diametrically opposed to areas of ...