What role are schools to have in the establishment of a learning society? Limitations and exclusions left unexamined in much public debate about the development of lifelong learning are identified and discussed. Emerging social and economic changes are characterized in relation to their possible educational consequences. Some emerging social implications of ‘risk’ and ‘individualization’ are explored and their impact upon learning discussed. Learning, it is argued, should be construed as a ‘biographical’ project, a journey, during which the learner autonomously constructs a lifeworld. Professional commitment should be redefined in terms of an orientation to enhance learners’ self-esteem and capability to participate in communities of practice, to enrichment of sociality.
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