Lifelong Learning in Confucius Philosophical Perspective

With NSF funding, we have been exploring students' conceptions of life-long learning and how the construction of professional portfolios can contribute to preparing students to engage in life-long learning. In this paper, we discuss broad ideas related to life-long learning, the role of self-awareness in life-long learning, and the potential for portfolio construction to support life-long learning generally and the development of self-awareness specifically. Our paper includes both a literature review related to these topics as well as themes resulting from an analysis of interviews with students concerning these topics. We close by suggesting implications.

The changing nature of employment and careers is causing governments, enterprises, educational providers and individuals to take seriously the concept of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is a concept that has long been associated with the traditions of liberalism, highlighting the continuous development and growth of individuals within civilised societies. However, despite its potential to provide a broad integrating rationale for national educational policy, it is only in the past few years that the concept, with a new overlay of instrumentalism, has emerged as a practical policy for developed economies as they move into the Information Age. With the move of most developed countries into a post-industrial age, knowledge is seen as the primary resource for individuals and the economy overall. As both society’s needs and knowledge itself undergo rapid change, the lifelong learning skills involved in reaching and remaining at the cutting edge of knowledge are becoming crucial employment skills. Those institutions that are successful in providing their graduates with a lifelong learning capacity will gain a significant competitive edge in the marketplace. Through considering case studies involving two Australian universities, Monash and RMIT Universities, this chapter canvasses the changes required to implement effective lifelong learning strategies in traditional universities. Such institutions face substantial barriers to the implementation of lifelong learning at all levels; that is, at the individual level, at the departmental and the faculty level, and the institution itself. In discussing these barriers, particular attention will be given to those orientations, or mindsets, prevailing within higher education institutions that must be changed if lifelong learning is to be embraced.

Aim. The aim of article is present the changing of idea of lifelong learning. The article focuses on the idea of lifelong learning. The first part shows the essence of lifelong learning. An attempt has been made to organise concepts like: lifelong learning, lifelong training, continuing education and permanent education, as well as education and adult education, to consequently educe the idea of lifelong learning from the concept of continuing education.
 Methods. It’s used the literature analysis because of the theoretical character of a paper.
 Results. In the paper was presented how idea of lifelong learning was changing in the time. Furthermore, the article shows the social context of the use of lifelong learning in relation to the theory of human capital and social capital theory as well. The next part of the article concentrates on identifying the most important initiatives of the European Union, the objective of which was the implementation of the idea in Europe. The article presents the aims of the EU programmes that are focused on the implementation of that idea in European education.
 Conclusions. The development of the idea lifelong learning is referring with a social and cultural changes. This idea is a very important part of EU strategy which main gol is to build the Information Society.

Author designs credits accumulation and exchange model, the corresponding curriculum system, and the interface for them. This 3 parts form a credit bank system serving for lifelong learning. The innovation points are courses supermarket structure, level-cross curriculum system, course depreciation, and smart reminder for exchange.

The rapid growth of technology accompanied new requirements in all aspects of life. The constant flow of information and the irresistible rise of technology gave rise to 21st-century skills, digital literacy, and lifelong learning concepts which are all in the spotlight of several organizations, policymakers, and researchers. Due to the increasing accessibility of technology, people, each day, feel the need to adapt to this new pace of life. Thus, teachers not only should be aware of their students’ needs but also be equipped with the qualifications the current age entails. With this in mind, in this paper, the researchers studied the mediating role of digital literacy between teachers' lifelong learning tendency and their 21st-century skills. The sample consists of 273 randomly selected teachers. The researchers used three different multifactor data collection tools. In addition to the acceptable validity and reliability results, the findings indicate varying degrees of positive correlations among the factors of the data collection tools. The outputs also indicate that participants’ lifelong learning tendencies were at a low, but digital literacy and 21st-century skills were at a medium level. Moreover, while lifelong learning tendency directly affects 21st-century skills, ethics and responsibility act as a mediator between lifelong learning tendency and 21st-century skills.

The paper includes a comparative analysis in terms of lifelong learning in countries like France, Germany, Finland and Romania. The objectives: Update on the definition of each star on lifelong learning concept; Comparison strategies associated with lifelong learning for the countries analyzed; Tracking the contribution of different levels of educational system in terms of lifelong learning. The research was based on studying scientific literature from the country and abroad and it was based on questionnaires distributed. The results of investigation showed that success is related to the projects in terms of institutions, local projects and the project of the entire state that must ensure quality education. After implementing the research, conclusions are that the exchange of information between countries is needed, exchange of experience should head the true value, strategic cooperation should increase and innovation in lifelong learning through study visits for Education and training professional.

Docentė, gamtos mokslų daktarė Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Edukologijos katedra K. Donelaičio g. 52, LT-44248 Kaunas El. paštas: g.linkaityte@tsc.vdu.ltLektorė, socialinių mokslų (edukologijos) daktarė Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Švietimo studijų centras K. Donelaičio g. 52, LT-44248 Kaunas El. paštas: l.zilinskaite@smf.vdu.ltMokymosi visą gyvenimą idėja politiniu lygmeniu ES šalyse buvo įteisinta 2000 m. išleidus Mokymosi visą gyvenimą memorandumą. Tačiau tiek švietimo teoretikai, tiek politikai pripažįsta, kad įgyvendinant mokymosi visą gyvenimą projektus kyla sunkumų. Straipsnio autorės formuluoja tikslą – atskleisti Lietuvos suaugusiųjų švietimo vystymo perspektyvas mokymosi visą gyvenimą kontekste. Straipsnyje pristatoma mokymosi visą gyvenimą idėją charakterizuojanti priemonė ir jos pagrindu atlikta politinių dokumentų bei ateities scenarijų analizė, leidžianti nustatyti suaugusiųjų švietimo vystymosi perspektyvas Lietuvoje.

The article examines the features of the reform movement in the field of education and training, which took place in modern Western society as a result of changes associated with the transition from a post-industrial knowledge society. It is noted that, unlike the concept of the information society, which focuses primarily on the development of means of obtaining and processing information, the concept of society. The article emphasizes that the leading trend at the beginning of the 21st century is the awareness of the importance of the lifelong education paradigm for the development of human society, which causes radical changes in the field of education. Lifelong learning is becoming a priority for all levels of the education system, which, accordingly, should not only be aimed at forming certain general or professional knowledge at the secondary and higher education levels, but also provide for the continuous formation and development of the individual as such. The term «lifelong learning» is analyzed, which denotes one of the main directions of Western educational policy aimed at the acquisition of personal competencies by applicants, increasing competitiveness in the labor market, and providing support in solving problems related to professional and social life. A general review of the European Commission's recommendation documents on the formation of a new educational trajectory is carried out. The emphasis is placed on the fact that the method of implementing the recommendations of the European Commission in Ukrainian legislation should correspond to the degree of readiness of Ukrainian society for the specified reform changes at this stage of its social development and political realities. The author concludes that it is necessary to raise the question of the classification of reform changes in the field of education, namely - is there another wave of modernization or a radical transformation of the educational trajectory? It is noted that the search for an answer to this question actualizes the study of the history of the development of the very idea of lifelong learning, the origins of which go back to the antiquity of human civilization, and reach their apogee in the philosophy of pragmatism, the initial thesis of which is that the world is a constantly changing system, and the task of man is to adapt and survive in an environment that is constantly changing and becoming more complicated.

This paper provides a critical analysis of the EU’s Memorandum on lifelong learning in light of the evolution of the concepts of lifelong education and lifelong learning from the late sixties onward. It also analyses this document in light of the forces of globalisation that impinge on educational policy‐making in Europe as well as the all‐pervasive neo‐liberal ideology. The paper moves from theory to practice to provide critical considerations concerning certain ‘on the ground’ projects being presented as ‘best practice’ in EU documents. It brings out the neo‐liberal tenets that underlie much of the thinking and rationale for these projects, and indicates, in the process, how much of the old UNESCO discourse of lifelong education has been distorted to accommodate capitalism’s contemporary needs. An alternative conception of lifelong learning is called for.

– Lifelong learning might be one of the most important attributes for students pursuing a professional degree, e.g. medicine, law or engineering. From teaching and assessment point of view, it may be one of the most challenging attributes. In engineering programs, it is one of the required graduate attributes identified by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB), the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) in the USA and other accreditation bodies around the world. In this article we present a laboratory procedure to teach and assess lifelong learning in an engineering program. The concept of lifelong learning as defined by different accreditation bodies is discussed first and corresponding learning outcomes are developed using the revised Bloom’s taxonomy. Student activities required to achieve the outcomes are then devised. The links between pre-, in- and post-lab activities and the learning outcomes are established and the approach to run a laboratory course is designed. Finally, the assessment is planned using the so-called VALUE rubric by mapping the learning outcomes on the six dimensions of the rubric. The procedure is being implemented phase by phase in the laboratory component of a senior level course on process dynamics and control in the process engineering program at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

This paper was provoked by Ted Bailey’s article, ‘Analogy, dialectics and lifelong learning’ which appeared in the March–April 2003 edition of this journal. Dr. Bailey argued that students can be enabled to learn the key concepts of the subjects they are studying through the dialectical operation of analogy which makes new knowledge accessible by comparing it to familiar experience. It is the aim of this paper to show that dialectics extend far beyond this particular application, and that indeed they may be said to underpin the very concept of lifelong learning itself. The paper begins by examining the concepts of the dialectic and the double‐dialectic, relating these to the writings of Giambattista Vico. The dialectical interplay of Nature and History is seen to be the foundation of human knowledge. This unitary view is then contrasted with specialism in the categorization of knowledge. The implications for lifelong education are considered, and illustrated through an example of a curriculum project.

The European Year of Lifelong Learning (1996) was the first European Union initiative for lifelong learning and the first European Year with an educational theme. Since then, the concept of lifelong learning has affected the political agenda and has been developed and specified in its various aspects. To answer the research question of how – with the influence of which advocacy coalitions – the European Year of Lifelong Learning was formed, goals and actors who shaped the decision to carry out the European Year of Lifelong Learning are examined in this PhD paper. The Advocacy Coalitions Framework is the methodological foundation for this analysis. It is originated in the political studies field as an approach which values the importance of ideas in political decision-making. Advocacy Coalitions are identified with reference to relevant similarities of Belief Systems in the process of deciding about the European Year of Lifelong Learning. European documents of the decision-making process and complementary expert interviews are analysed by using grounded theory and qualitative content analysis. Qualitative content analysis helps to structure the steps of preparing and analysing, while theoretical coding (grounded theory) leads to coding guidelines and types. Many of the identified ideas and goals are still relevant when discussing lifelong learning and have developed since. Results show that the political discourse on the European Year of Lifelong Learning does not explicitly relate to educational theory. The decision-making rather builds on economic and social policy. Those two approaches are represented by two Advocacy Coalitions: Economic arguments are provided by the dominant coalition around the European Commission. The other coalition around the European Parliament is more loosely linked by social policy argumentation. Both coalitions consider employment as the essence of their belief systems. In addition to the relevant collective actors, the importance of strongly engaged individual actors to promote the issue of lifelong learning becomes evident. While several studies address the history of ideas around lifelong learning comparing different international actors and mention the European Year of Lifelong Learning as one milestone, this study contributes to research with the focus on belief systems and coalitions regarding this specific first initiative of one relevant actor, the European Union. Experts, scholars and stakeholders of adult education and lifelong learning can make use of the findings by relating to the economic as well as the social policy argumentation with a deeper understanding of its origins in the European Union discourse and by contemplating and addressing the lack of recourse to educational theory.

The tension between economic and democratic imperatives is not only felt in schools, colleges and universities but is also increasingly having an impact on lifelong learning. In this chapter I review these developments and identify shifts and transformations in policy and practice. I show how the very definition of what lifelong learning is and what it is for has dramatically changed over the past decades, moving from a broad and encompassing conception of lifelong learning for economic, personal and political benefit towards a much more narrow view which emphasises first and foremost the economic rationale. This has gone hand in hand with an increased individualisation of lifelong learning – making lifelong learning the responsibility of individuals – and a shift from lifelong learning as a right individuals can claim towards lifelong learning as a duty that is put upon individuals in the name of such abstract ideals as ‘the global economy’ or ‘global competitiveness.’ I not only show how these shifts impact at the level of individuals but also make a case for the need to reconnect the idea of lifelong learning with the democratic imperative – an idea to which I refer as the ‘learning democracy.’KeywordsSocial CohesionLifelong LearningKnowledge EconomySocial InclusionLearning SocietyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

This paper, from historical and philosophical perspectives, presents Confucian education philosophy, a philosophy that is argued is a philosophy of lifelong learning. Examined and illustrated are the Confucian concepts of Sage, a Confucian ideal human model, and Jun Zi, a Confucian realistic educational result. Through Sage, Confucius presented us an ideal model of humanity, a model that uses lifelong learning as its method and processes. The Confucian model encourages becoming the undivided ‘I’ with the universe, the unity of ‘I’ with other human beings, and the wholeness of ‘I’ with ‘self’. Through Jun Zi, understood as a realistic educational end, Confucius demonstrated that lifelong learning and lifelong education are necessary processes in enabling human beings to realize and practice their true nature—that is, living happily in and with the worlds of different kinds: universe, nature, society/other human beings, and self. The examination of Confucian multi‐dimensional educational purposes and the practices of lifelong and life‐wide learning denote that Confucius’ educational philosophy rests upon a belief that the human beings are the ends, not the means, to being in the world. Therefore, Confucian educational philosophy presents us an alternative lens through which to view and ponder the limit of current practices of lifelong learning and lifelong education.

Lifelong machine learning methods acquire knowledge over a series of consecutive tasks, continually building upon their experience. Current lifelong learning algorithms rely upon a single learning agent that has centralized access to all data. In this paper, we extend the idea of lifelong learning from a single agent to a network of multiple agents that collectively learn a series of tasks. Each agent faces some (potentially unique) set of tasks; the key idea is that knowledge learned from these tasks may benefit other agents trying to learn different (but related) tasks. Our Collective Lifelong Learning Algorithm (CoLLA) provides an efficient way for a network of agents to share their learned knowledge in a distributed and decentralized manner, while eliminating the need to share locally observed data. We provide theoretical guarantees for robust performance of the algorithm and empirically demonstrate that CoLLA outperforms existing approaches for distributed multi-task learning on a variety of datasets.