Search results

This article reports on research carried out under the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC's) Learning Society Programme. The program comprised 14 projects involving research into the learning society and the ways in which it can contribute to the development of knowledge and skills for employment and in other areas of adult life. The article is one of a series of comparative studies which explore notions of lifelong learning, learning organisation and learning society in Europe and, in some cases, reflect on the use of comparative research in the social sciences. This study compares educational systems within the United Kingdom (UK) with the major objective of the research being to compare performance in initial education and performance in continuing education. The comparison operates on a number of levels: a direct comparison between Scotland and Northern Ireland; a comparison of the two smaller countries with England; a comparison between five different sectors; and a less structured comparison between Scotland and Northern Ireland and other smaller countries of a similar size. The article outlines the progress of the project and early insights from the research in Scotland and examines issues involved in drawing on international studies in attempts to measure social capital.