Browsing by Author "Mäkelä, Essi"

The purpose of this thesis is to desribe what potrays to be a ’’problem’’ in the political documents of European union which regulate the lifelong learning. The study also focused on the matter how the lifelong learning is used as a technology of government and produces idea of ”normal” through political discourses. What kind of ideal or normality it constructs and how the lifelong learning subjectifies the individual? In the end of the thesis the presumptions and silences which has been left unproblematized or unquestioned in the political documents of the lifelong learning are raised. The research material was collected from EUR-lex, the official database of the juridical documents of European Union. The material consists of six notable documents related to lifelong learning of European Union from the years of 2005-2020. The material was analyzed using Carol Bacchi’s method “What’s problem represented to be (WPR)?”. The concepts of Foucault’s governmentality and discourse theoretical ideas based on post-structuralism has been utilized in this research in the context of lifelong learning. The results of this research showed that the starting point of lifelong learning is based on the discourses of economy, competitiveness and growth. Lifelong learning was seen foremost as the solution to the competitiveness and growth as well as to the constant change of the society and to the questions of social involvement. Ideal lifelong learner was constructed to be more entrepreneurial using competence talk. In addition, the lifelong learning was portrayed to be the responsibility and obligation of the individual more than before.