"I highly appreciate the quality of Fejes' and Dahlstedt's research and writing. They manage to present in a comprehensible way some essential concepts of Foucault that help us to understand better what practices of lifelong learning, in a broad sense, are emerging nowadays in advanced liberal societies. In doing so, they contribute to the renewal of critical thinking in education. They convince me that such renewal is important and necessary... and I think both theoreticians and practitioners of lifelong learning will equally recognize and value this analysis, particularly also, because they present a good mix of theory and practice." -Professor Danny Wildemeersch Today, people are constantly encouraged to verbalise and disclose their "true" inner self to others, whether on TV shows, in newspapers, in family life or together with friends. Such encouragement to disclose the self has proliferated through discourses on lifelong learning through which each citizen is encouraged to become a constant learner. The Confessing Society takes a critical stance towards the modern relentless will to disclose the self and argues that society has become a confessing society. Drawing on Foucault's later work on confession and governmentality, this book carefully analyses how confession operates within practices of lifelong learning as a way to shape activated and responsible citizens and provides examples of how it might be possible to traverse the confessional truth of the present time. Chapters include: Reflection and Reflective Practices Deliberation and Therapeutic Intervention Lifelong Guidance Medialised Parenting This controversial book is international in its scope and pursues current debates regarding trans-national policy and to research discussions on education, lifelong learning and governance, and it will provoke lively debate amongst educational practitioners, academics, postgraduate and research students in education and lifelong learning in Europe, North America and Australasia.

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 ofourselves 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.

Neoliberalism and Market Forces in Education provides a wide perspective on the dramatic transformation of education policy in Sweden that has taken place during the last 30 years, with a specific focus on marketization. The marketization of education in Sweden is set in the wider international context of changes in education systems. With contributions from researchers across a wide range of scientific disciplines, the book provides examples of the consequences of market orientation in education in terms of increase in inequality as well as in terms of what the market orientation means for principals, teachers and students. It considers how Sweden has developed one of the most marketized education systems in the world and the possible consequences of such processes, as identified by research. Neoliberalism and Market Forces in Education will be of great interest to educational practitioners, politicians, scholars in the field, and postgraduate and research students in education.

Adult Education and the Formation of Citizens turns attention towards normative claims about who adults should become through education, and what capacities and skills adults need to develop to become included in society as 'full' citizens. Through these debates, adults are construed as not yet citizens, despite already being citizens in a formal sense; this book problematises such regimes of truth and their related notions of the possibilities and impossibilities of adult education and citizenship. Drawing on empirical examples from the two main adult education institutions in Sweden, folk high schools and municipal adult education, it argues that, through current regimes of truth, these institutions become spaces for the re-shaping of the "abnormal" citizen. The book suggests that only certain futures of citizenship and its educational provision are made possible, while other futures are ignored or even made impossible to imagine. Offering a unique focus on critically problematising the role of adult education in relation to the fostering and shaping of citizens, the book addresses the important contemporary challenges of the role of adult education in a time of migration. Adult Education and the Formation of Citizens will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of adult education, lifelong learning and education.

Neoliberalism and Market Forces in Education provides a wide perspective on the dramatic transformation of education policy in Sweden that has taken place during the last 30 years, with a specific focus on marketization. The marketization of education in Sweden is set in the wider international context of changes in education systems. With contributions from researchers across a wide range of scientific disciplines, the book provides examples of the consequences of market orientation in education in terms of increase in inequality as well as in terms of what the market orientation means for principals, teachers and students. It considers how Sweden has developed one of the most marketized education systems in the world and the possible consequences of such processes, as identified by research. Neoliberalism and Market Forces in Education will be of great interest to educational practitioners, politicians, scholars in the field, and postgraduate and research students in education.

When looking at practices of education and lifelong learning today it is easy to see that those of confession have become widespread. The practice that started out in the catholic churches and spread out into secular society during the 18th and 19th centuries has now firmly exhibited itself in the form of confessional learning that can be seen in pre - schools, nurseries, schools, colleges, universities and workplaces all over the world. Subjects are invited to turn their gaze inwards, to produce and disclose knowledge of themselves, in order that they may be improved In this book scholars and researchers draw on the work of Michel Foucault to analyse what occurs through confession when the practice has become an intrinsic part of our lives and ways of being. It explores these practices and looks critically at the knowledges that recognise confession as a discursive and contemporary social reality.Pointing out that human sciences have not readily allowed for a particular form of criticality, one that asks questions about why such practice has been allowed to become a reality in education and through lifelong learning; this book asks what is actually happening through these practices, and whether the outcome is positive. The authors argue that it is only through formulating answers to this question that we will come to fully understand whether we want to formulate an alternate practice to counter the power of the present confessional one.

When looking at practices of education and lifelong learning today it is easy to see that those of confession have become widespread. The practice that started out in the catholic churches and spread out into secular society during the 18th and 19th centuries has now firmly exhibited itself in the form of confessional learning that can be seen in pre - schools, nurseries, schools, colleges, universities and workplaces all over the world. Subjects are invited to turn their gaze inwards, to produce and disclose knowledge of themselves, in order that they may be improved In this book scholars and researchers draw on the work of Michel Foucault to analyse what occurs through confession when the practice has become an intrinsic part of our lives and ways of being. It explores these practices and looks critically at the knowledges that recognise confession as a discursive and contemporary social reality.Pointing out that human sciences have not readily allowed for a particular form of criticality, one that asks questions about why such practice has been allowed to become a reality in education and through lifelong learning; this book asks what is actually happening through these practices, and whether the outcome is positive. The authors argue that it is only through formulating answers to this question that we will come to fully understand whether we want to formulate an alternate practice to counter the power of the present confessional one.

Adult Education and the Formation of Citizens turns attention towards normative claims about who adults should become through education, and what capacities and skills adults need to develop to become included in society as 'full' citizens. Through these debates, adults are construed as not yet citizens, despite already being citizens in a formal sense; this book problematises such regimes of truth and their related notions of the possibilities and impossibilities of adult education and citizenship. Drawing on empirical examples from the two main adult education institutions in Sweden, folk high schools and municipal adult education, it argues that, through current regimes of truth, these institutions become spaces for the re-shaping of the "abnormal" citizen. The book suggests that only certain futures of citizenship and its educational provision are made possible, while other futures are ignored or even made impossible to imagine. Offering a unique focus on critically problematising the role of adult education in relation to the fostering and shaping of citizens, the book addresses the important contemporary challenges of the role of adult education in a time of migration. Adult Education and the Formation of Citizens will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of adult education, lifelong learning and education.

"I highly appreciate the quality of Fejes' and Dahlstedt's research and writing. They manage to present in a comprehensible way some essential concepts of Foucault that help us to understand better what practices of lifelong learning, in a broad sense, are emerging nowadays in advanced liberal societies. In doing so, they contribute to the renewal of critical thinking in education. They convince me that such renewal is important and necessary... and I think both theoreticians and practitioners of lifelong learning will equally recognize and value this analysis, particularly also, because they present a good mix of theory and practice." -Professor Danny Wildemeersch Today, people are constantly encouraged to verbalise and disclose their "true" inner self to others, whether on TV shows, in newspapers, in family life or together with friends. Such encouragement to disclose the self has proliferated through discourses on lifelong learning through which each citizen is encouraged to become a constant learner. The Confessing Society takes a critical stance towards the modern relentless will to disclose the self and argues that society has become a confessing society. Drawing on Foucault's later work on confession and governmentality, this book carefully analyses how confession operates within practices of lifelong learning as a way to shape activated and responsible citizens and provides examples of how it might be possible to traverse the confessional truth of the present time. Chapters include: Reflection and Reflective Practices Deliberation and Therapeutic Intervention Lifelong Guidance Medialised Parenting This controversial book is international in its scope and pursues current debates regarding trans-national policy and to research discussions on education, lifelong learning and governance, and it will provoke lively debate amongst educational practitioners, academics, postgraduate and research students in education and lifelong learning in Europe, North America and Australasia.

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 ofourselves 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.

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) has emerged in recent decades as an important policy area and policy concept. It is a phenomenon with a certain variation in practices as well as contexts, concepts and conceptions. However, there is a basic idea about giving recognition to prior learning wherever and whenever learning has taken place. Such ideas can be 'materialised' in formal assessment systems providing the basis for recognition, as well as in informal processes where prior learning is made visible and gets recognition. This book provides a range of empirically and theoretically based contributions from different parts of the world where RPL, or an equivalent, is mobilised as part of educational practices for adults. Discussion in this area often takes place locally. This volume compiles different kinds of contributions to create a broader dialogue among scholars and practitioners, not only on the specific topic of RPL, but also on more general issues faced in educational research. It was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Lifelong Education.

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) has emerged in recent decades as an important policy area and policy concept. It is a phenomenon with a certain variation in practices as well as contexts, concepts and conceptions. However, there is a basic idea about giving recognition to prior learning wherever and whenever learning has taken place. Such ideas can be 'materialised' in formal assessment systems providing the basis for recognition, as well as in informal processes where prior learning is made visible and gets recognition. This book provides a range of empirically and theoretically based contributions from different parts of the world where RPL, or an equivalent, is mobilised as part of educational practices for adults. Discussion in this area often takes place locally. This volume compiles different kinds of contributions to create a broader dialogue among scholars and practitioners, not only on the specific topic of RPL, but also on more general issues faced in educational research. It was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Lifelong Education.