Open AccessMapping our way out? Critical reflections on historical research and the Faure report
Author(s) -
Barry J. Hake
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the european journal for research on the education and learning of adults
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2000-7426
DOI - 10.3384/rela.2000-7426.3584
Subject(s) - narrative , lifelong learning , reading (process) , interpretation (philosophy) , sociology , repertoire , empirical research , educational research , epistemology , pedagogy , history , political science , literature , linguistics , art , law , philosophy
Contributions to the literature have postulated an historical shift in policy narratives from the Faure report’s formulation of “lifelong education” for UNESCO in 1972 to a focus on “lifelong learning” since the mid-1990s. It has also been argued that the policy narrative articulated by de-schoolers in the early 1970s was incorporated in the Faure report. This paper critically examines the empirical foundations for such arguments and is based on a re-reading of the policy repertoire articulated by Faure’s report together with an analysis of the de-schoolers’ reception of the report in the early 1970s. Based upon a re-reading of primary texts and secondary sources from the 1970s, the analysis demonstrates that these widely accepted arguments constitute a problematic interpretation of the historical relationships between the key policy narratives in the 1970s. The conclusions identify a number of significant areas for further empirical research regarding the historical relationships between first generation policy narratives.