This article explores how the three Spanish parties that formed a coalition government at the beginning of 2020 -- (i) the Spanish Social Democratic Party, (ii) the United Left and (iii) Podemos -- organise education for their members. With frame analysis as a theoretical itinerary, the study begins to outline what the parties' schools are about,…

Transnational migration, especially the growth of forced migration is unsettling the literature on widening access to university education. Equity definitions and understandings that frame social inclusion have presumed stable domestic populations within nations and targeted redressing historic internal social inequalities. Refugees and people…

Easing access to higher education (HE) for those engaging in lifelong learning has been a common policy objective across the European Union since the late 1990s. To reach this goal, the transition between vocational and academic routes must be simplified, but European countries are at different developmental stages. This article maps the…

The central questions addressed in this paper are the following: (1) In the context of the (European Union) EU's goal of severing the link between social class background and higher education participation, what progress has been made in widening access over the past two decades? (2) Has the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) helped EU countries to…

Widening access to higher education is clearly part of the European policy agenda. Higher education ministers in the Bologna countries, as well as the European Commission, have all expressed a wish to make higher education more representative of national populations. This policy objective has been echoed at national level. One approach to widening…

Public higher education has a long history, with its growth associated with mass higher education and the extension of a social right to education from secondary schooling to university education. Following the rise in student numbers since the 1970s, the aspiration to higher education has been universalized, although opportunities remain…

This paper compares access to full-time undergraduate higher education (HE) by members of less advantaged social classes and ethnic minorities across the four "home countries" of the UK. It uses data on applicants to HE in selected years from 1996 to 2010. In all home countries students from intermediate and working-class backgrounds…

Although the lifelong learning policy of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has had a unique impact on international discussions over the last four decades, little historical research has revealed the ideological influences at work within UNESCO's lifelong learning policy texts. With this in mind, this…

The recent restructuring of higher education in Japan has been carried out in the context of neo-liberalism with an emphasis on the unbridled workings of market forces. However, civic discourse on issues such as active citizenship and social inclusion/exclusion, which is significant to higher education as a democratic public sphere, has been left…

In this paper, the author has attempted to analyze and assess the progress of education for all (EFA) in India from 1985/1986 to 2005/2006. A similar analysis by the same author on this subject, for the period 1950-1986, was published in this journal in 1990. During that period of 35 years the development of EFA was apparently impressive, but…

Our main concern was to investigate the implementation of the new "Education Act", giving adults the statutory right to complete upper secondary education. Referring to a "top-down" and a "bottom-up" perspective we have investigated how the representatives of the county authorities (the bureaucrats) interpret and…

Today, "lifelong learning for all" figures prominently within the education and training policies of governments throughout the developed world and is presented as a powerful solution to a wide range of economic and social challenges. Norway is often regarded as a country that has perhaps made more progress towards this ideal than many…

Policies to widen access to higher education in Australia and Scotland were compared in the context of restructuring. Some similarities emerged. A major difference emerged which showed that social justice is an explicit goal in the Australian government's agenda, but is less directly acknowledged in Scotland. (SK)

Comparison of policies and practices in six countries focused on the concept of access to education as flexibility: systematic structural arrangements such as accreditation of prior learning, open and distance learning, and information/communications technologies. Successful international experiences have implications for Scotland and other…

Examines the educational context in which the 1999 elections for the new Scottish Parliament took place. Outlines key educational policy issues, especially access to and provision for further and higher education. (SK)