Mobilizing lifelong learning: governmentality in educational practices

Abstract

John Field (2000) has recently argued that there are changes taking place in the practices of governing that have significant implications for lifelong learning. In particular, he points to attempts to mobilize civil society, of which life-long learning policies may be considered a part. This paper examines this proposition by locating Field's argument within wider debates about governmentality and the attempt to fashion calculating and enterprising selves. Drawing on actor-network theory, the paper then explores some of the ways in which changes in the curriculum associated with lifelong learning contribute to that process. In bringing together the discussion of lifelong learning, governmentality and actor-network theory, the paper provides a framing for researching the effects of policy and, more precisely, the differential ways in which active subjects are mobilized.