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.

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.

What can the politics of discourse tell us about the discourse of politics? How are flexibility and lifelong learning positioned within policy? Flexibility and lifelong learning have become key aspects of education policy in nation states and bodies such as the European Union and Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development in recent years. They are positioned as necessary for the knowledge economy and social inclusion. The failure to adapt through becoming more flexible and participating in lifelong learning is held up as a failure at individual, organisational and national levels. But how has that narrative come to be constructed? In what ways is it persuasive? And what forms of political action are possible and necessary? These are the questions addressed in this text. Drawing upon the work of Michel Foucault and on the notion of rhetoric, this book forensically explores examples of the work of policy texts in the discourses of education, lifelong learning and flexibility that they construct. In so doing, it argues for the need to take policy discourse seriously and not simply dismiss it as 'spin'. Through a detailed examination of policy texts from primarily Australia, the UK and European Union, this text provides insights into the strategies through which flexibility and lifelong learning become realized and realizable as part of the common sense of educational discourse. Rather than simply rejecting these ideas, or suggesting they are merely the window dressing for the more malign interests of the knowledge economy or globalization, it suggests a politics of the wedge and possibilities for the insertion of different meanings. Central to the claims of this text are that we need to engage closely with the discursive and rhetorical strategies of policy, in order that we understand both how it is constructed and thus how it can be deconstructed.

Educational policy is often dismissed as simply rhetoric and a collection of half truths. However, this is to underestimate the power of rhetoric and the ways in which rhetorical strategies are integral to persuasive acts. Through a series of illustrative chapters, this book argues that rather than something to be dismissed, rhetorical analysis offers a rich and deep arena in which to explore and examine educational issues and practices. It adopts an original stance in relation to contemporary debates and will make a significant contribution to educational debates in elucidating and illustrating the pervasiveness of persuasive strategies in educational practices.
Rhetoric and Educational Discourse is a useful resource for postgraduate and research students in education and applied linguistics. The book will also be of interest to academics and researchers in these fields of study and those interested in discursive approaches to research and scholarship.

Educational policy is often dismissed as simply rhetoric and a collection of half truths. However, this is to underestimate the power of rhetoric and the ways in which rhetorical strategies are integral to persuasive acts. Through a series of illustrative chapters, this book argues that rather than something to be dismissed, rhetorical analysis offers a rich and deep arena in which to explore and examine educational issues and practices. It adopts an original stance in relation to contemporary debates and will make a significant contribution to educational debates in elucidating and illustrating the pervasiveness of persuasive strategies in educational practices.
Rhetoric and Educational Discourse is a useful resource for postgraduate and research students in education and applied linguistics. The book will also be of interest to academics and researchers in these fields of study and those interested in discursive approaches to research and scholarship.

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.

What can the politics of discourse tell us about the discourse of politics?

How are flexibility and lifelong learning positioned within policy?

Flexibility and lifelong learning have become key aspects of education policy in nation states and bodies such as the European Union and Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development in recent years. They are positioned as necessary for the knowledge economy and social inclusion. The failure to adapt through becoming more flexible and participating in lifelong learning is held up as a failure at individual, organisational and national levels.

But how has that narrative come to be constructed? In what ways is it persuasive? And what forms of political action are possible and necessary? These are the questions addressed in this text. Drawing upon the work of Michel Foucault and on the notion of rhetoric, this book explores examples of the work of policy texts in the discourses of education, lifelong learning and flexibility that they construct. In so doing, it argues for the need to take policy discourse seriously and not simply dismiss it as spin .

Through a detailed examination of policy texts from primarily Australia, the UK and European Union, this text provides insights into the strategies through which flexibility and lifelong learning become realized and realizable as part of the common sense of educational discourse. Rather than simply rejecting these ideas, or suggesting they are merely the window dressing for the more malign interests of the knowledge economy or globalization, it suggests a politics of the wedge and possibilities for the insertion of different meanings. Central to the claims of this text are that we need to engage closely with the discursive and rhetorical strategies of policy, in order that we understand both how it is constructed and thus how it can be deconstructed.