Lifelong Learning as a Globally Diffused Policy Discourse in Asia

Abstract

Abstract Lifelong learning (LLL), an educational policy discourse originating in the industrialized West, has become a policy mantra in many parts of the world, including Asia. This chapter provides an overview of the development of LLL in Asia, with attention paid to how it converges with and diverges from the dominant LLL discourse in the West. Specifically, it focuses on the major problems that LLL is intended to address, the kind of society that is imagined through the adoption of LLL, the patterns of movement in LLL, and the international actors driving the move towards LLL in Asia. The chapter raises important questions around issues of power, control, and capacity of participation in the diffusion of LLL as a global policy discourse.