Lifelong Learning

This anthology discusses the necessity of an expanded notion of lifelong learning. Expanded lifelong learning means providing consistent and inter-connected preconditions for learning in all life contexts, both individually and collectively. Expanding the concept of lifelong learning means to provide conducive preconditions for learning, organizing all activities for learning, implementing, and promoting learning broadly across institutions and organizations. Expanded lifelong learning is necessary to handle current global crises. Through the nine chapters, the authors explore lifelong learning and what expanding it means. Integrating formal, non-formal, and informal learning and discussing non-conventional ways of theorizing and organizing, opens new pathways for lifelong learning.

Olav Eikeland (1955-2023) was a philosopher with a PhD in Ancient Greek Philosophy (1993). After several decades at the Work Research Institute in Oslo, he was appointed professor of pedagogy (education and work life research) in 2008 at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University. He extensively published articles and books on critical research methodology, action research, philosophical bases, and institutional ramifications of different research forms and ways of knowing. His special focus was on the relevance of Aristotelian perspectives for modern social research and on organizational and collective learning outside the educational systems and in their intersection. Hedvig Skonhoft Johannesen, PhD, is a sociologist and associate professor at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway, teaching at the master’s program in vocational pedagogy. She has written about vocational teacher’s cultural codes, lifelong learning at the boundaries between university and work life and critical thinking in the climate crisis. Her research interests include vocational education and training (VET), teacher’s professional practices, lifelong learning and the sociology of knowledge.