Enacting Lifelong Learning in China: Historical and Future Perspectives

Labor Distribution And Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning refers to the desired end results or accomplishments of purposeful behavior or activity (Rothwell & Dubois, 1998). A broader definition of lifelong learning offered by Bennett and Bell (2010) includes “preconscious as well as conscious learning resulting from the transformation of experience in all contexts and stages in life and integration into the individual’s personal biography” (p. 415). This definition includes the social context of learning as well as the continual changes in self-identity and one’s life world that are both the beginning and the outcome of new learning. It addresses the ability of individuals to learn from experience so that they can cope with continual change.