Foucault and Lifelong Learning

Over the last fifteen to twenty years, there has been increasing interest in the work of Michel Foucault in the social science in general and in relation to education in particular. This, the first book to link Foucault and lifelong learning, explores the significance of Foucault's work for our understanding of the policies and practices of lifelong learning.

Since the ground-breaking work of Stephen Ball in 1990, there have been many texts which have explored the significance of Foucault's work for education. However, most of those texts have focused on the significance of Foucault for schooling and for higher education.

With its great spread of international contributors, this book brings together different approaches to the analysis of lifelong learning derived from Foucault, including:

• socio-political systems of governance
• institutions for education and training
• understandings of ourselves as citizens within society
• identity, gender and diversity
• Foucault's contribution to research on lifelong learning

Taking up differing resources and possible approaches to Foucault, the articles focus on the significance of lifelong learning for educational policy and practice and the wider societies of which education is a part.

This book therefore offers new insights into lifelong learning and makes a significant contribution to its study and to the wider use of Foucault within educational studies.