Lifelong learning and schools in the twenty-first century

The necessity to cope with the rapid changes in science and technology in the 21st century and the necessity to adjust to the prerequisites of the knowledge society brought about the need for lifelong learning. Schools create lifelong learning societies and in this sense their importance is not to be underestimated. The length and the quality of the education at schools assume a critical role for the ability and motivation which are targeted at prospective learning situations. Accordingly, the strategy of lifelong learning should also include school years. The aim of this study is, while taking the basic differences between educational perspective of the 20th century and the concept of the lifelong learning in the 21st century, to display the changing function of educational institutions and the interaction between schools and lifelong learning with a terminological analysis.