Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)

47

Life-Long Learning ‘Aspirations’ and Labour Market(s) ‘Realities’

RC04 Sociology of Education (host committee)

Language: English and Spanish

One core dimension of the European Union (EU) “Lisbon Strategy” (2000) is “more flexibility and openness to the labour market in teaching/learning” at the educational institutions by promoting Life-long Learning (LLL) structures. However, many recent studies show an unprecedented degradation of labour relations, in both the public and the private sectors, in the name of “economic competitiveness.” Acute financial and economic crises have a direct adverse impact on labour market indicators, poverty and social services. They also have indirect effects via budget retrenchment (leading to more unpaid work to service increasing social needs), credit squeeze (leading to a drain in the liquidity of the family business) and mounting pressures on the economy of the families. 
This session will attempt to bring together theoretical as well as empirical insights on the way young people (generally defined as people between 18 and 24 years of age) perceive their life chances and working-life situation, and on their educational and training strategies for overcoming increasing financial burden and improving their labour market position. Special attention will be paid to the role that various European-wide initiatives on educational restructuring (of general or vocational nature) play in preparing young people for the labour market, and how realistic can be today – in times of diminishing educational and occupational expectations – the rhetoric of the so-called “Knowledge Society” and “Life-long Learning” (LLL).