Cautionary Tales in the Ethics of Lifelong Learning Policy and Management: A Book of Fables (Lifelong Learning Book Series)

This work is concerned with appraising the contemporary ethical impact of lifelong learning ideology and advocacy on education, through focusing on trends in educational policy and management that flow from the ideology. It has its origins in the author's concern that many of those trends are being defmed and promoted, or opposed, without an adequate understanding of their ethical dimensions. The 21 trends examined in this work are seen as defming important dimensions of the quite radical changes in educational policy and management that are flowing from the practical realisation of lifelong learning ideology and advocacy. In here evaluating those trends from an ethical perspective, the thesis is developed that they lead inevitably to distinctive ethical dilemmas or tensions in the lived experience of educational participants. The dilemmas, though, are not seen as realities that can intelligently be either avoided or resolved. They are, rather, inescapable features of the trends, although they and the experience of them may be managed intelligently to a greater or lesser extent. This analysis is premised on the belief that an understanding of the dilemmas may be of practical value in assisting educators, and policy makers and managers, to live and work more intelligently with them and to better manage the educational changes that are defmed by the trends. It may thereby contribute to moderating the excesses, sillinesses, and inanities so often evident in the directing and managing of refonns associated with the trends and to reduce the anguish and pain associated with them. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi The Cultural Context....Pages 1-8 The Ethical Perspective....Pages 9-13 The Fable of Learning....Pages 15-21 The Fable of the Individual....Pages 23-30 The Fable of Outcomes....Pages 31-37 The Fable of Context....Pages 39-45 The Fable of Vocation....Pages 47-53 The Fable of Education and Training....Pages 55-62 The Fable of Education as Literacy....Pages 63-68 The Fable of Accountability....Pages 69-75 The Fable of Standards....Pages 77-82 The Fable of Technique....Pages 83-88 The Fable of Flexibility....Pages 89-95 The Fable of the Educational Market....Pages 97-103 The Fable of the Educational Contract....Pages 105-110 The Fable of the Educational Project....Pages 111-116 The Fable of the Educational Manager....Pages 117-124 The Fable of the International Provider....Pages 125-131 The Fable of the Educational Requirement....Pages 133-137 The Fable of the Present Moment....Pages 139-142 The Fable of the Educational Partisan....Pages 143-148 The Fable of Education as a Commodity....Pages 149-153 The Fable of Discriminative Injustice....Pages 155-159 In Closing....Pages 161-164 Back Matter....Pages 165-193

This work is a critique, from an ethical perspective, of contemporary trends in lifelong learning policy and management. It focuses attention on 21 trends, each represented by a fable that is drawn from the experience of a stake-holder. The trends have been selected as exemplifying common responses to contemporary cultural change. They are drawn from a number of different countries and across educational sectors: higher, adult and vocational education and post-compulsory schooling. Each fable is explained, examined and grounded in scholarship on educational change and applied ethics through an accompanying account.
The work is directed to educational policy makers and managers. It has been designed for use as a resource in advanced under-graduate and post-graduate professional development programs in educational policy, leadership, change, change management, justice and ethics. Its unique use of fables, accompanying accounts and background theory allows readers to engage with the text at different levels.

"This work is a critique, from an ethical perspective of contemporary trends in lifelong learning policy and management. It focuses attention on 21 trends each represented by a fable that is drawn from the experience of a stake-holder. The trends have been selected as exemplifying common responses to contemporary cultural change. They are drawn from a number of different countries and across educational sectors: higher, adult and vocational education and post-compulsory schooling. Each fable is explained, examined and grounded in scholarship on educational change and applied ethics through an accompanying account." "The work is directed to educational policy makers and managers. It has been designed for use as a resource in advanced under-graduate and post-graduate professional development programs in educational policy, leadership, change, change management, justice and ethics. Its unique use of tables, accompanying accounts and background theory allows readers to engage with the text at different levels."--BOOK JACKET My intention in this chapter is to introduce the cultural context that informs and shapes the educational trends with which the subsequent analysis is concerned.