Towards the Learning Society

Abstract

This paper is a revised version of Stewart Ranson's inaugural professorial lecture given at the School of Education, University of Birmingham , in June 1991. It offers a wide-ranging examination of the need for reform and the reforms required to regenerate education in the UK. It seeks to develop the framework for a political theory of education for the 21st century, defining the purposes and conditions for a learning society which can enable all to develop their powers and capacities.