Lifelong Learning and equal gender opportunities:a social justice approach.
Camila Valenzuela Persico. Education Phd Candidate. Researcher on Lifelonglearning, education and social justce. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Abstract
This article aims to review the evolution of lifelong learning concept and its
relationship to the social justice concept from a gender equal opportunities
perspective. Because of this, firstly there is a synthesis of the development of
lifelong learning concept. Secondly, there is an overview to the social justice
concept and its strong link to education. Throughout these theoretical blocs, its
importance as an essential role at the moment of promoting gender equal
opportunities is remarked upon.
Key words: lifelong learning, gender, professional development, work based
learning, recognition of prior learning, social justice.
Resumen
El siguiente artículo tiene por objetivo revisar la evolución del aprendizaje
permanente y su vinculación al concepto de justicia social desde la perspectiva
de la igualdad de oportunidades de género. Por lo cual, primeramente se hace
una síntesis del desarrollo del concepto de aprendizaje permanente.
Posteriormente, se da una mirada a los conceptos de justicia social y su
vinculación a la educación. A lo largo de estos dos bloques teóricos, se resalta
el papel fundamental que tienen a la hora de promover la igualdad de
oportunidades de género.
Palabras clave: aprendizaje permanente, género, desarrollo profesional,
aprendizaje en el puesto de trabajo, reconocimiento de aprendizajes previos,
justicia social.
Introduction
The knowledge society that is characteristic of the post-
industrial era has installed lifelong learning paradigm,
emphasizing the inherent treat that learning is for the
human being and the need to promote it through life.
Nevertheless, there are overlapping opportunities regarding
access, to learning and training actions which are truly
evident at a gender level. We find both, highly trained
people belonging to elite of the society and people that
struggle access basic education and develop their
competence.
This has generated the need to trigger specific policies
and programs to increase the presence of those women and
men with little access to training actions, promoting
lifelong learning as a mechanism of equal gender
opportunities. However, women’s inclusion in the job market
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has a tendency to place them in low salary job positions
and low and basic skills performance, which make it
necessary to review policies and assess another strategies
polled from main actors and learners of lifelong learning
programs.
These programs promoted by governments based on
recommendations made by international organizations (such
as some programme areas of UNESCO Institute for Lifelong
learning: literacy basic skills, adult learning and
education) are mainly oriented towards the second
opportunity, and does not take into account essential
gender topics, which are core features to pursue more equal
societies.
It proves the contingency to develop training plans from a
gender perspective –feminities and masculinities- that
promote lifelong learning as a real and effective dimension
of social justice, which advocates regulating social and
economic inequality through a wide variety of concepts and
theories (merit, entitlement, equality of outcome, equality
of opportunity, need and many more). In this sense, it is
important to remark the dimension of social justice for
educational purpose as a human right, making the best of
all learning capacities to empower a social and personal
dimension of learning besides the productive one.
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This article aims to have an overview of the lifelong
learning concept and its impact on equal gender
opportunities through a social justice approach. To pursue
this aim, the article is divided into two sections; the
first one developing the history of lifelong learning
concept and the second one regarding social justice and
equal gender opportunities. The main conclusion that can be
drawn from this analysis is that promoting lifelong
learning opportunities with a gender perspective are
crucial to achieve more equal and cohesive societies.
1. Lifelong learning
1.1. Conceptual evolution
Learning is an inherent process to human activity through
experience and existence. Lifelong learning concept (LLL)
has been developed throughout history of education reaching
its highest diffusion from the hand of international
organism since 70 decade.
In 1969, the Head of International Institute for
Educational Planning of UNESCO, Philip H. Coombs, published
“The World Educational Crisis”, where he proposes education as a
continuous process through life, opening a widespread
debate and acceptance on the topic and generating a great
quantity of reports and publications within the
organization (with a wide and humanistic perspective) and
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other organizations, with its consequent implications in
educational policy at an international, national and
regional level, turning into supranational policy (Jacobi,
2009).
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) defined recurrent education as the distribution of
education throughout an individual’s life in a recurrent
way (OECD, 1973: Jarvis, 2010), claiming that all people
should have right to education further the compulsory
education.
At the beginning, the approach of the concept was the
restructuring of the educational system emphasizing adult
education and non formal learning. However, during the last
years has been an emphasis in the reform of formal
educational systems, through the impact of international
assessment performed by OECD such as PISA. This evolution
and complementation of LLL concept –from adult education to
international assessment- is due to the step toward
knowledge society, where it is necessary to strengthen
competencies from the foundation.
This is how the LLL concept was taking shape through the
60’s until today deriving into what is known as Learning
society, based on LLL paradigm, where educational reforms
should focus in create this learning society (Ven Der Zee,
2006).
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On the other hand, the concept forecast is work for social
agents, such as regional organisms with geographical
limits, its main representation in this area is the
European Union (EU) as a supranational organism, whose
activities in educational topics in the beginning were not
that explicit, although in the last decade it has generated
a wide quantity of documents and policies to understand the
meanings of the concept. In coordination with International
and Supranational Organisms, the invaluable activity
developed by nongovernmental organisms and scientific
communities, whose research has contributed greatly to
development actions of LLL. Apparently, more coordination
will be required by all these agents to create more
armorial and coherent dynamics, although they all support
each other, in their own construction of the concept
(Jacobi, 2009).
The European Union characterizes the XXI century for its
development defining LLL as a guiding principle of its
transversal educational policies to achieve becoming into
the most competitive knowledge based economy. In this
sense, the EU has developed the definition of LLL as all
learning activity that takes place throughout life, with
the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competencies
from a civic, social, professional and personal perspective
(European Comission, 2001).
This definition has encompassed a range of activities
undertaken by the European Union on committees of[Type text] Page 6
education, work and research. Thus generating a
comprehensive global strategy to achieve besides
competitiveness and social cohesion.
Therefore, these principles that support LLL and guide its
effective implementation emphasize the central role of the
learner, the relevance of equal opportunities and quality
and the importance of learning opportunities (European
Commission, 2001). These guiding principles of development
strategy have been adopted by educational policies in other
countries, such is the case of Chile, country that belong
to OECD and takes part and promotes international networks
of knowledge y scientific development that allow sharing
experiences related to the achievement of highlighted
principles by European Commission.
Another LLL definition comes from the academic sector. For
Jarvis (2010), it is the combination of processes
throughout the life of the whole person - body (genetic,
physical and biological) and mind (knowledge, skills,
attitudes, values, emotions, beliefs and senses) - that
experience in a social situation, the perceived content is
then transformed cognitively, emotionally or practically
(or through any combination) and integrated into the
individual's personal biography resulting in a continually
changing person.
For Garrido y Ejido (2006), LLL sees education as an
ongoing process throughout life, offering articulated
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learning experiences that are non-formal and informal. This
process looks at the acquisition of a set of competencies
that include both knowledge and practical skills, oriented
to the personal, social and work development, so that
facilitate active and participative knowledge society.
Both conceptual definitions are valid, one is more process
focused and the other one more global, giving a
comprehensive vision of the concept that ultimately has a
primary objective, which is improve people’s life quality
through the attainment of equal access of learning
opportunities.
1.2 Types of learning situation and classification of
educational structure
According to Jarvis (2010) and Colley, Hodkinson and
Malcolm (2002), based on Coombs and Ahmed purpose in 1974,
there are different learning types depending on the
learning situation (formal, non formal or informal). In
this sense, formal learning is the typically provided by a
recognized training institution, structured (in terms of
learning aims, timing and learning support) and which
entails a certification.
Non formal learning is typically provided by an educational
organization which does not entails certification, although
it is structured and it is intentional. Jarvis (2010)
distinguishes a main structure that derives from non formal
learning. On one side, human resource development (HRD),
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that incorporates human capital concept, searching to
increase people’s knowledge and skills. Nowadays, it is
developed training based on competencies and vocational
qualification, which involves learning based on the job
position under mentoring systems, developing social capital
concept (Kirpatrick, Field y Falk, 2003). On the other
side, it includes liberal adult education, stereotyped as
middle class spare time, highlighting the idea of widening
knowledge, skills and hobbies.
Informal learning is the outcome of daily activities
related to work, family and spare time. This type of
learning situation is not structured and it does not entail
certification. In most of the cases it is not intentional.
Nevertheless, distinguishing between them is a complex task
and it is assumed that formal educative scenarios entail an
important part of informal learning. In this perspective,
Colley et al. (2002), combines three approaches
(participative perspective of learning theories, community
education and mentoring) suggesting that there are few
learning situations that do not have a combination of
formal and informal learning elements. Consequently, the
limits between formal, non formal and informal learning are
significant in relation to the context and the particular
purposes. Regarding specific situations, it is a must to
pay attention to the historical, social, political and
economical context of learning and to the theoretical
learning view that is supported by the society.[Type text] Page 9
Regarding this learning situation types, a conceptual
structure of learning has been developed within lifelong
learning evolution. In its beginning early adult education
was the champion in the initial development, diversifying
into the following notions: Adult education from a liberal
approach and Superior education centered in the
professional dimension. Lifelong learning as an idea became
popular, when it was evident that school-university formal
educational system was not enough and that provision of
education had to be considerable wider.
The resulting evolution of the structure of learning
systems according to learning situation leads to Continuum
education, which combines professional education
diversifying it in Professional training (related to the
training within industry) and Professional development
(appealing to the career development), leading to the Human
Resource Development (HRD). However, it is the opening to
new learning opportunities –and supporting technologies-
that emphasizes the fact that learning is a collaborative
activity, which requires a great amount of exchange in and
between communities, encompassing different disciplines
with a common aim or related to a specific profession or
problem. These opportunities can be found in one
organization or through many organizations. To this extent,
individual learning systems for work will need of a social
interaction in a virtual world (Carneiro, 2011). This is
the case of work based learning of school teachers or like
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many other professions; or mentoring in companies or even
with excluded young people, highlighting formal and
informal elements in these learning processes (Colley,
Hodkinson y Malcolm, 2002).
1.3 Learning theory implicit in lifelong learning concept
There are different forms of understanding the concept,
since community education reflected in Overwien (2000)
studies, who takes into regard the educational dimension of
social movements as it happens with popular economical
organization (OEP) in the 70’s in Latin America. In this
way, it gives consistency to the concept, adding non formal
and informal learning dimension, emphasizing its temporal
perspective and highlighting the importance of continuity
and permanency. It is at this point when the concept turns
towards lifelong learning.
In the last years, LLL has become non just an organizer but
dominant principle of many policies, describing all
learning activities “from the cradle to the grave”,
encompassing community education, adult education,
vocational education, work based learning, distance
learning and superior education (Francis y Leathwood,
2005). It promotes the dissipation of institutional
boundaries, reconfiguring the learning situation and its
environment.
Nowadays, there is an important debate depending where the
focus on the learning-training process is, the concept
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acquires one meaning or another. In this way, there are
critical authors about the development of the concept
regarding it as a neoliberal discourse tool (Coffield,
1999; Field, 2001; Olssen, 2006). This appropriation from
neoliberal discourse of the concept remarks the idea of
personal responsibility of educational development, where
“whereas learning refers to an autonomous person as a
consumer, education requires public policies and
deliberated actions” (Garrido y Ejido, 2006: 26); connoting
people’s choice of benefiting themselves from educational
and learning opportunities.
However, inequalities in the opportunities of access to
education are clear (Garrido, 2006) regarding to a set of
barriers such as time, cost, gender and failure, which have
great impact in the access to these opportunities (Jarvis,
2010). Although, gender category cannot be understood
without contextualizing categories of social class and
race. This is so, because within LLL construct it is
regarded the hegemony of white middle class men, being
denied access to certain opportunities to men belonging to
ethnic minorities and marginalized social class (Francis y
Leathwood, 2005).
The debate regarding the meaning of the concept leads to
conceal two dimensions of LLL: on the one hand, the
instrumental, addressing professional life and
competitiveness; and in the other hand, the humanistic and
civic dimension, addressing society enrichment and[Type text] Page 12
individual self-realization (Garrido y Ejido, 2006). For
UNESCO, LLL is the essential organizer principle to achieve
a global knowledge-based society and promotes formal, non
formal and informal learning, complemented with the four
pillars of learning proposed by the International
Commission on Education for the XXI century: learning to
be, learning to know, learning to do and learning to live
together (Carneiro, 2011).
The difference between education and learning has led the
study to focus on learning, which implies an active person
in the path of acquiring aptitudes, skills and competencies
as an inherent process; and education are the policies
disposed as interdependent processes which feed each other
(Garrido y Ejido, 2006).
Regarding the neoliberal discourse contented in the
development of LLL paradigm, Olsen’s (2006) point of view
applies the Foucault’s concept of governmentality to the
interdependence between learning and education, invoking to
a change towards a democratic and social justice discourse,
even in economical conditioning of educational practice.
Both, education and learning spring from a built in vision
of a three nested system: the learning classroom, embracing
students and teachers; learning school, joining inspectors,
directors, managers, families; and the learning community,
extending the learning experience toward the community as
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permanent learners, including mass media and social and
cultural institutions (Carneiro, 2011).
Accordingly to this system, Carneiro (2011: 4) refers to
the double role of education, connecting the old to the new
“this penetrating duality of education is compounded by a
rapidly changing society… as if the old order of thinking
would be changed by new paradigms of understanding the
reality… the increase in the speed of change prevents us
stop and reflecting”. In such manner, knowledge and
learning are like two sides of the same coin. The real
challenge is to understand a united world, where
connectivity needs to be understood as proximity:
understanding to be in a world where minorities are
committed to their citizenship in deprived zones.
Consequently, learning occurs in diverse and non
academicals scenarios, it is less teacher instructor
centered and more learners centered, demanding self
regulatory skills, resuming the training concept (bildung),
implying an active, experiential and practical pedagogy.
Hence, the role of the teacher needs to be reformulated,
switching from learning the dominant knowledge (curriculum)
towards skills development. Biesta (2006) locates the focus
in learning more than in teaching which presupposes that
learners know what they want and that formal education is a
part of the learning offer, taking diverse kind of shapes
(distance learning, non formal learning and so on).
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In this sense, the need to be constantly updated due to
rapid change implies an interconnected society – not just
in working terms but in the social and personal dimension-,
demanding a new vision of the learner that develops a
learning trajectory in new settings (Barnett, 2006). So,
learner rebuilds the identity permanently according to the
meaning that the context bestows to the learner.
It implies the development of new curricular styles
involving the changing potential of educational policies
for the new learner’s profiles and their trajectory, which
includes overcoming the overlapping discourse in the
founding of the policies regarding the deficit,
disadvantage and diversity discourse (Blundell, 2005;
Rogers, 2005).
Another dimension to take into account is the assessment,
in the case that men and women differ in their learning
styles and in access to opportunities, calling for new
models and review them according to the gender continuum,
changing hegemonic andocentric patterns established,
fostering new forms of assessment that connect the learner
to the teacher, especially in adults (Stalker, 2005). These
aspects are key factors of quality in terms of relevance
and impact of adult education (UNESCO, 1997, 2009).
According to Carneiro (2011), a completely comprehensive
model, regards three temporary variables (past, present and
future); paradigm shifts (from industrialization to
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globalization towards a new period of renascence); the
delivery modes (from uniformity to segmented distribution,
towards customization); and driving forces (market
bureaucracy should revert on empowered communities).
Moreover, the understanding of teaching-learning process
goes through all the learning theories: behaviorism,
cognitivism, constructivism, conectivism and generativism.
This last approach proceeds from two philosophical
tendencies dealing with scientific knowledge establishing a
marked distinction between received vision, which is a
passive recollection of existing knowledge; and the
semantic vision that involves a full-fledged reconstruction
of received knowledge and presupposes a constant quest for
added-value meaning. It involves a chain that goes from
data to information (meta data), from information to
knowledge (meta information), from knowledge to learning
(meta knowledge), from learning to meaning-making (meta
learning). Then, generativism is in between innovative
learning and learning to innovate and address the
foundations of a creative society, where the challenge is
to create new knowledge from previously codified knowledge
(Carneiro, 2011).
Therefore, learning concept relates to constructivist
paradigm and active participation of the learner is
essential core within the paradigm, fostering creative
skills, critical and analytical thinking and problem
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solving strategies. This approach recalls authors such as
Dewey and Rogers to address certain shortages in the
current education systems and promote a knowledge-based
society. Learning is given in a wide variety of contexts
and shows different kinds of needs that formal system not
always covers or recognize.
From this perspective, Jackson (2011) proves that migrant
women learning actions in social spaces, provides them not
just of skills – such as literacy and language- but of
relational capital that shows the capacity of these
instances to develop not just the economical aspect but the
social and the personal as well, fundamental for human
development. It is so that the belonging sense can be
developed. Devos (2011) reflects about gender incoherencies
in the transnational knowledge society through a study in
which a set of women with higher studies that for diverse
reasons had to displace, could not achieve and develop
certain aspects of their identity, because it is related to
the territory.
At this point, LLL concept has a set of implications at a
gender level, (Francis y Leathwood, 2005; Rogers, 2006)
creating pressure through different theoretical critics
(such as feminism, Marxism and so on) to embody diversity
not just in gender but promote LLL for everybody, not
through a unified discourse ruled by a neoliberal hegemonic
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discourse but under local and individual specific needs and
to connect the disconnected.
The philosophy of this LLL approach addresses certain forms
of social inequities to create a just society that
interacts in an interpersonal base, so locality produces
its own ethos. It will be a social policy task and the
educational commitment to address educational resources to
the non-privileged (Jarvis, 2010). Therefore, it is
necessary to reflect about social justice paradigms and its
impact within the educative process.
2. Social justice
Educational research with gender perspective in education
is not new as it is a widely implemented trend in last
decades around the world, promoted by international
organisms, mainly by UNESCO, that has developed a specific
entity to promote gender equality and women empowerment.
Subsequently, social justice in education is a powerful
tendency of research in English speaking countries with
high relevance and scientific production within educational
research.
Within the present analysis, social justice is bounded to
lifelong learning with a gender approach, so the concept
will be developed from the equal opportunities perspective
resuming its theoretical development and emphasizing the
capabilities approach proposed by Marta Nussbaum (2010,
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2012) and the participation model proposed by Iris Marion
Young (2006). This is due to the origin of the concept
regarding the distribution of material benefits and during
the years it has adopted these other views which complement
the model recognizing the diversity of capabilities to
develop as well as the procedures and freedoms available to
achieve them and the possibility to be part of the society
regarding the wide variety of identities to represent and
participate in society.
Nevertheless, the concept social justice has a wide and
historical development that has thrived in the niche of a
number of disciplines such as Philosophy, Politics,
Sociology and Economics; each approach regards education as
an essential are of social justice development.
There are a varied ways of focus the term in the historical
evolution. According to Murillo y Hernández-Castilla
(2011), current approximations evolve from the paradigms of
distribution, recognition and to those of participation.
Social justice as distribution is the way in which primary
goods are distributed in society, evoking Rawl’s theory
from the 70’s, based on aristotelic philosophy. The
capabilities approach is interesting as a subsequent
approach, created by the economist Amartya Sen and pursued
by Marta Nussbaum, proposing that the idea of justice
brings in real freedoms that each human being enjoys. The
importance of this approach is that it requires examining
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the procedures value and the capabilities instead attending
just to the needed goods for such freedoms.
Therefore, education is a central element of the
capabilities approach, as international organism
development programs managed to shape skills and changing
inner capabilities, becoming in a source of satisfaction.
“People that have received an education, enjoy more and
better employment options, political participation and
productive interaction with other persons of the society,
both to a local and national level, even, global”
(Nussbaum, 2012: 181).
The same author highlights that women who knows how to read
and write have more communicational possibilities and can
share with similar people, which promotes other benefits in
the sphere of participation of women in society, at home
and in their leisure time, encouraging gender equal
opportunities (Nussbaum, 2010, 2012).
These apparently conflicting approaches are summarized in
the recognition approach, mainly developed by Nancy Fraser,
which is to devise a political orientation program that
integrates the best of the politics of redistribution and
the best of the politics of recognition. The recognition
model derives from Hegelian philosophy and conscience
phenomenology that indicates a reciprocal interaction
between people, where each one sees the other as an equal
and at the same time as separated. This relationship is
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composed of subjectivity: where each individual becomes a
self only insofar as it recognizes the other subject and is
recognized by him (Murillo y Hernández-Castilla, 2011).
Fraser (2006) has developed an approach where social
justice dimensions interplay between them, regarding
resource distribution, diversity recognition and linguistic
representation, generating a large contribution to the
theory of social justice. Consequently, this model proposes
a dualistic perspective holding that class policies
(distribution) and identity (recognition) are integrated
from moral philosophy, social theory and political theory.
Iris Marion Young goes further in the development making it
complex by the need to understand social justice as a
procedure or a process as far as it becomes in a tool to
pursued distributive justice and political recognition from
a participative perspective (Murillo y Hernández-Castilla,
2011).
In “Responsibility for justice” (2011), Iris Marion Young
with an extensive analysis of the concept in the light of a
series of theoretical developments, on the one hand shows
that the entry of women in the workplace contributes to
introduce more competition in the labor markets and
expectations about appropriate roles for women. Besides,
she highlights a more individualistic understanding of
social relationships that blur social responsibility.
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On the other hand, “through structural processes of market
relations, how personal life goes on, depends somehow on
how their talents, aptitudes and ambitions are adapted to
the market demands and in the other side, the global
assessment of the person. Although, the market demand of a
person skill and what it produce is a circumstance that
conditions a person’s life and it is further a person’s
control; usually, it is not a question of luck. Market
relations are compounded by cultural traditions and
changing fashions influencing preferences for
institutionalized power relations that enable some people
to have greater control over the resources that other
people, and other missions and institutional rules” (Young,
2011: 43). This situation may narrow conditions of
participation to different groups within society, specially
minorities or non dominant groups.
Young’s (2011) model expresses that today few people think
that there is social equal opportunities. There are great
differences regarding quality of education and shamefully
it depends on race and social class, greatly because it is
largely expected that each community assumes their own
educational expenses.
As well, it is admitted that the educational system is
unfair and this model introduces ideas of what is missing
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to make it fair, however, these prepositions turn to be
radical. During schooling, efforts should always be
compensated and should be acknowledged the high competency
levels achieved. Instead, failure, if it should happen
should not be punished. Whoever fails to reach their
educational aim always should have another opportunity to
try again. Moreover, failure should not discard the
opportunity of more tries. (Young, 2011).
This philosophy holds that anyone who wants to learn
something, improve their skills and be well trained to
promote a social structure should have the opportunity to
do so. The opportunity to learn something should not be
closed even in the event of a permanent failure of the
person. If we take this principle seriously, it is the task
of society collectively to provide the opportunity to
acquire a certain level of knowledge and skills, as a
possibility for life. However, school failure has a high
cost as a social stigma closing opportunities to develop
within society in different areas. Most societies offer
just one chance in a life to foster the needed skills to
develop well-being (Young, 2011).
The contributions of Social Justice, both the capabilities
approach and the recognition and participation, express the
need to have opportunities throughout life to promote the
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development of skills, allowing people to achieve their
full potential in every moment and in every field. Due to
social interplay and the speed of changes it is a must to
count with opportunities that boost the highest people’s
development, especially of those who belong to groups whose
characteristics have less space for its progress and
participation. It has a strong relevance when learned
attributes become obsolete having few opportunities to
learn new skills and update them.
Some European societies offer a recycling system for
workers, although even the best programs offer a limited
path. A fair society would not punish failure and to some
extent would offer the opportunity of learning through life
(Young, 2011).
Moreover, when promoting educational systems and learning
as a universal right, there are inequities developed by
globalization none recognized as related to gender, social
class and race; although, lifelong learning seems to be
inseparable from social justice development, practices and
policies are varied and often have segmented and even
played the imperialist order (Jackon, 2011).
Therefore, a current problem in the capabilities approach
of great importance is gender, as the inequality of women,
slows the development of nations and shows that certain
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approaches are inadequate for development of gender within
society. One of the main developers of gender equality are
access to education, “which besides of teaching a wide
variety of skills, eases the opening of traditional gender
roles (Nussbaum, 2012: 176).
In this sense, UNESCO and other international organizations
have encouraged an increase of women’s participation in
education and developing learning path which will allow her
to live in better societies. This is a product of the
agreements achieved from World Educational Conferences
(such as Jomtien 1990 and Dakar 2000) and Millennium
Declaration which has defined the Millennium Development
Goals (MDG) that should be achieved by 2015. One of the
programmes adding efforts to pursue the MDG is the
Education for all (EFA), where aim number 5 refers to
eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary
education by 2005. MDG proposes in goal 4 to promote gender
equality and women empowerment. According to these aims,
this organization has published the “World Atlas of Gender
equality in Education” (2012), highlighting that girls,
even in most of regions and countries still disadvantaged,
tend to increase their retention rates and to obtain better
outcome than men once within the educational system.
However, there is a horizontal and vertical segregation (as
women perform in low salary positions and they are not
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present in high responsibility positions) in terms of
gender stereotypes as the economical development is valued
focused on the production of goods and services and
ignoring the reproductive caring work without compensation.
Breeding and caring works are not completely valued and
considered in its all gender continuum at the moment of
assume and develop policies to attain a more just and
gender equal society, despite the fact that these
activities contribute to the training and development of
human resources and the knowledge society (Ribas, 2005).
3. Conclusion
The evolution of lifelong learning has had a relevant
impact within supranational and international policies,
with contrasting ideological dimension in its approach.
However, it is the synergy with the Social justice
discourse that denounces lacking aspects within programmes
remarking the importance to offer educational opportunities
though all levels to foster the inherent learning process
and develop human skills and competencies to its highest
capacity independent of socioeconomic background, ethnicity
and gender.
In this manner, the initiatives to recognize prior acquired
skills through non formal and informal learning activities
at the work place or diverse community practice are
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extremely important to validate participation and to
acknowledge people from various sectors of society that
until now have not been represented in Lifelong Learning
programmes.
Lifelong learning discourse must make an effort to value
new learning styles and promote educational instances that
harness skills potential to achieve cohesive, productive
and developed societies, not just to an economical extent
but including personal and social development. To this
extent policy makers should consider within their activity
that society is fragmented and learning occurs at all
levels and policies should be directed to work with the
recognition of prior learning and not waste talent to
develop innovation, consequently, policies have to be
flexible and be based on customized programmes for each
community and be harnessed on generativism pedagogies.
The development of policies should always regard within
their philosophy the gender equal opportunities, fighting
against traditional gender stereotypes to increase women
presence within positions of responsibility and balance it
with breeding and caring activities, which are essential
for the sustainable development of a growing and cohesive
society.
[Type text] Page 27
At a learner level, there is a great amount of work to do
sharing experiences and knowledge to be aware of what it
means to be a lifelong learner, all the instances in which
people interact and the differences in opportunities of
gender, social class and gender level must be addressed
through a great conscience of the main role lifelong
learner has in their life. This is especially relevant when
the role of men and women within society is discussed
related to their potential and skills to take part of the
development of an equal, just and sustainable life.
Through this research the challenge seems to be complex as
it regards various areas that interplay and highlights the
need to develop transversal policies. One of the main tools
to improve gender equal opportunities is through promoting
Lifelong learning activities with a social justice approach
which enables the opportunity to recognize the capability
of every human been and improves development by including
women in responsibility positions and sharing with men
their historical breeding and caring activity.
In general terms gender equal opportunities should be
encouraged with a transversal approach encompassing all
learning activities that enable men and women to develop
their capabilities as well that allows them to be fully
represented in society. As learning occurs in everyday life
and situation a wide Lifelong learning programme with a
[Type text] Page 28
social justice grasp will allow to promote gender equal
opportunities regarding a participative methodology.
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