Research Meets Practice The Third International Handbook of Lifelong Learning

We are living at a time when the future for humanity, and many other living things, looks uncertain and bleak. We need to change in so many ways if our planet and the life it sustains is to continue as we know it. As Barnet points out, ‘if learning [has] a purpose then surely it must be to learn how to live on this tiny planet.’ This has always been the case but there is an urgency like never before as we recognise the depth and scale of change needed to create a future that is more sustainable than the one we are currently heading for. If this is the verarching imperative for humanity’s lifelong learning and future survival, what concepts of lifelong learning do we need to enable us to learn to live in ways that will help sustain the planet and its life supporting systems?

Policies play a…