What is Lifelong Learning?

Lifelong learning refers to learning undertaken throughout a person's life through formal, non-formal and informal learning opportunities. In practice, the term is useful when interpreting qualification records and planning education or training. It should be understood in the context of the specific qualification, institution or regulatory framework involved.

For example, a learner can encounter lifelong learning when comparing programmes, planning a study pathway or reading the structure of a qualification. Its exact meaning depends on the context in which the term is used.

This term helps learners understand how learning is organised, delivered or described.