Is the secret to effective lifelong learning lurking in the views of prospective kindergarten teachers? Comparing German and Hungarian prospective kindergarten teachers’ views on learning

Lifelong learning (LLL) became a basis for education policies in the 21st century. The GLLI (Global Lifelong Learning Index) ranks countries based on their performance in LLL (Kim, 2016). The present paper aims to compare a successful country (Germany) with a mid-performing country (Hungary) in two ways: (1) by comparing the two countries’ framework strategies and training requirements for lifelong learning, and (2) by comparing prospective views on learning in Hungarian (N H =14) and German (N G =14;) kindergarten student teacher groups using Verges’ association matrices in order to identify the key LLL elements in their views. The target group for the qualitative research was selected based on the pedagogical phenomenon that the views of prospective teachers have a great impact on their later work, including in relation to child development (Ránki, 2002; Dudás, 2005; Takács, 2016). The results show that there are some differences in the interpretation of LLL between the two countries, which can be observed in the regulatory documents and the associations made by student kindergarten teachers. The results reveal differences in the importance of self-regulated learning, learning motivation and social competences, and some common elements, like playfulness or joy, in learning activities.