Research Centre for the Learning Society
Welcome to the Research Centre for the Learning Society. The Centre was set up in September 2000 with generous initial funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the University of Exeter Foundation. The Centre exists to evaluate through independent research, the coherence and effectiveness of policies and programmes designed to bring about the 'Learning Society'.
At the heart of the Centre is its research activities programme and this is supported by a range of development projects and teaching activities.
The research programme is organised around five complementary themes
- Learning in the Life-Course
- Adult Life Transformations
- Assessment of Performance and Mastery
- Learning, Inclusion and Democracy
- Skills Development for Policy-Makers
The research of the Centre deploys a range of methodologies within which interpretative and qualitative research methods are prominent. There is also a commitment to multi-disciplinary and comparative perspectives in the work. Research findings are assessed and interpreted in an international context.
Professor William Richardson
Centre Director