A comparative study of policies and strategies for promoting lifelong learning among countries

Abstract

This comparative study was aimed at: (1) studying the results from comparison of policies and strategies for promoting lifelong learning among various countries in the contexts of society, economy, policies, and culture; and (2) proposing guidance on lifelong learning promotion in Thailand. Documentary research was conducted to synthesize and compare key strategies and policies of each country. The comparison outcome was then applied to drafting the guidance on lifelong learning promotion with several experts’opinions. The results: (1) comparison of policies and strategies for promoting lifelong learning among various countries showed that most of the countries focus on the development of people under four age groups, i.e., infancy to preschool age, school age, working age, and retirement age, for whom lifelong learning may be promoted in different ways; and (2) the guidelines of promoting lifelong learning consisted of these following aspects. For instance, the development plans and budgeting on promotion of lifelong learning should be clearly established; the operation authority should be decentralized; resources shall be adequately distributed to all needed areas; learnings centers should be set up, and local curriculums should also be designed; local universities shall develop research and arrange community services aimed at promoting lifelong learning; a committee/ a working panel may be established so that they could work on outlining laws, regulations, and orders, etc. Thus, the relevant parties in the societies could take this acquired knowledge as a reference for promoting lifelong learning to their own context.