[ Title Page ]
[ Foreword ]
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Education Ministers, when they met in 1996, agreed that "lifelong learning will be essential for everyone as we move into the 21st century and has to be made accessible to all . . . " The following year OECD Labor Ministers echoing the message and stressing its implications for labor market policy, ". . . underlined the importance of ensuring that lifelong learning opportunities are broadly accessible to all persons of working age, in order to sustain and increase their employability."
Lifelong learning is already a reality for many adults. Some engage in learning to keep up with the rapid societal changes, others to improve their knowledge and skills. However, we know from work carried out at the OECD and elsewhere that a substantial number of adults do not participate in lifelong learning. Some face barriers to access that arise for a range of reasons, including financial constraints and changing human resource development practices in firms.
But for many adults, barriers to participation arise because the available learning opportunities are poorly adapted to their learning needs or the situations in which they find themselves. If lifelong learning is to be a reality for those adults that are now excluded, there is need for more than simply a policy commitment to serve all: we need more policy and program know-how.
In April 1998, the OECD, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education, held an international conference on How Adults Learn. The purpose was to further the understanding of how programs and policies could be better adapted to the learning needs of adults who, so far, have been underrepresented in lifelong learning. In our search for sound answers we sought out the views and experience of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from different parts of the world.
The results are a rich set of lessons, some provocative questions, and suggestions for new areas of inquiry. I appreciate the willingness of the U.S. Department of Education to publish these results to make them more widely accessible. It is my hope that the publications, together with the OECD's continued work in this area will nourish constructive debate that will lead to expanded opportunities for adult lifelong learning.
T.J. Alexander
Director,
Education, Employment, Labor and Social Affairs
OECD
| [ Title Page ] |
|
[ Foreword ] |
This page last modified November 16, 1999. (lvb)