Do the demands of the global forces shape local agenda? An analysis of lifelong learning policies and practice in China

Lifelong learning has become a global phenomenon that has significantly reshaped the conventional foundation of national education systems. Lifelong Learning has experienced an evolution that can be identified in two generations: it first emerged in the 1970s and then quickly gained significance and prevalence by the 1990s. There is general consensus that the rise and spread of the lifelong learning concept in the 1990s was propelled by an intensifying process of globalization, which has also greatly shaped the emphasis and agendas that are captured in the concept. Correspondingly, a dominant albeit disputed trend emerged in literature that portrays lifelong learning as serving the global knowledge economy. Based on a review of the discourse on the global forces that affect lifelong learning, this study explores how lifelong learning policies and practices in China are influenced by globalization. It finds that China has adopted broader agendas of lifelong learning than those required by the global forces. This study serves as a first step towards filling the current research gap: there is a lack of studies exploring lifelong learning policies and practices in East Asia, while most of the existing literature on the topic is focused on Western countries.