LLinE Lifelong Learning in Europe

Peter Mayo: Abstract

Competences and the Right to Lifelong Learning. A Critical Alternative Discourse.

The discourse regarding competences, measurable in a rather positivist manner, with the emphasis on ‘outcomes’, is arguably the most hegemonic in education in this day and age. It reflects the broader and equally hegemonic discourse regarding competition and mobility (capital and labour) in an age characterised by the intensification of globalisation. My presentation will analyse the implications of this discourse with respect to the right to lifelong learning. What counts as lifelong learning according to this discourse? Which important notions of lifelong learning are left out of this discourse? Drawing on Paulo Freire and Lorenzo Milani, I propose the right to an alternative and more expansive notion of lifelong learning, related to the concept of critical citizenship.