Education is coming to occupy an ever large place in people’s lives as its role among the forces at work in modern societies increase. There are several reasons for this. The traditional division of into separate periods childhood and youth devoted to schooling, adulthood and working life, and retirement no longer correspond to things as they are today and corresponds still less to the demands of the future. Today, no one can hope to amass during his or her youth an initial fund of knowledge which will serve for a life time. The swift changes taking place in the world call for a life time. The swift changes taking place in the world call for knowledge to be continuously updated, and at time same time, the initial education of young people is tending to become more protracted. A shorter working life, shorter working hours and a longer expectancy of life after retirement are also increasing the time available for other activities.
Education, too, is changing fast. More and more opportunities for learning out of school are occurring in all fields, while skills, in the traditional sense of the term, are giving way in many modern sectors of activity to the ideas of developing competence and adaptability.
The traditional distinction between initial education and continuing education therefore needs to be reconsidered. Continuing education that is really in harmony with the needs of modern societies can no longer be drfind in relation to a particular time of life (adult education as opposed to the education of the the young, for instannce) or to too specific a purpose.