BY YOKO ISHIKURA, Japan Times
The need to acquire new knowledge and develop new skills throughout life, i.e., lifelong learning, has been recognized and advocated around the world. As jobs undergo transformation and the way we learn and work is affected by new technologies, we cannot assume that the three-phase sequential approach to life — school, work and retirement — will remain efficient and effective in the future. We need to depart from the conventional thinking that a majority of learning takes place when we are young and mainly at school, with little additional learning and development of new skills during the work and retirement phases. With life expectancies increasing in the advanced economies, we need to constantly update and refresh ourselves, keeping up with the changes in the world, in order to have a meaningful life with purpose.