Europe: Strategies and agendas for lifelong learning at time of crisis

Abstract

A complete overview of lifelong learning strategies in Europe, at both international and national levels, calls for understanding the processes through which these strategies take shape. Accordingly, in this contribution, lifelong learning strategies are analyzed through a critical lens on the processes  of governance from which they derive, rather than in terms of their content. Governance processes that, in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis and consequent tightening of economic monitoring within the European Union, have facilitated a closer inter-institutional collaboration between the EU and the OECD, with important consequences for lifelong learning policy. Evidence is found, for instance, in the formation of a reductionist skills agenda, joint between the EU and the OECD; an agenda capable of influencing future governmental thinking about lifelong learning and adult education in Europe.