Challenges in evaluating the EU’s lifelong learning policies

ABSTRACT

Since the early 1990s, lifelong learning has become a major policy concern for the European Union, being seen as a means for enabling individuals to be more competitive in social and economic contexts that are continually changing. After a series of white papers and strategies in the field of lifelong learning, the EU launched the Lifelong Learning Programme in 2007, which dealt with the most pressing issues in the field. In light on the complexity of this programme, we need to ask ourselves if traditional evaluation models and approaches are appropriate for evaluating complex educational policies and programmes in the educational field. Thus, the stake of this article is to explore the challenges which arise when evaluating the EU’s lifelong learning policies and programmes in general, and the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013 in particular, as well as to propose several new directions for overcoming these challenges.

Keywords:

• Lifelong learning
• evaluation
• contingency view in evaluation
• Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013

Notes on contributor

Alexandru Clain is a PhD candidate in Political Science and International Relations at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest, and a scholar within the project ‘Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships for young researchers in the fields of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences and Sociology’ POSDRU/159/1.5/S/134650, financed through the Sectoral Operational Programme for Human Resources Development 2007–2013, co-financed by the European Social Fund.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest [grant number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/134650].