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This chapter provides a qualitative discussion on the role of social justice mechanisms as a response to alleviate stressors within neoliberal frameworks. Lifelong learning (LLL) has various models and goals, inclusive of social justice. It establishes flexible learning modes and environments to expand educational opportunities to include disadvantaged or marginalised individuals (Armstrong, 2014; Yang, Schneller, & Roche, 2015). Further, LLL has the capability to assess new events and use methods to effectively implement strategies that manage negative educational and economic impacts (Sharma, 2004). Within the Bologna Process (BP), LLL continues to be evaluated, and interestingly, LLL operates within this system that aims to create universalised and standardised practices across participating countries. As a result, there is a dynamic relationship of flexible learning within a structured framework.

This chapter addresses the issue of whether and how LLL has been responsive to major social and economic crises that have impacted the BP and inevitably learning processes. To determine LLL responses and possible contributions, a case study examination of policy and implementation in Scotland is presented through the lens of two major global crises. The two crises are the 2008–2009 Global Recession and the 2019–present day COVID-19 pandemic, which have impacted the planning and provision of education across the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Analysis is drawn from national government documents, academic and international organisation research papers, an interview and articles from relevant years. Challenges in LLL provision are also presented in the analysis. And although we cannot forecast with certainty the next global crisis to impact our educational system, this chapter concludes with points on how future impacts may be mitigated through LLL.

This chapter focuses on the use of target-setting in Scottish higher education to boost participation by under-represented groups. The central question I address is whether the technology of New Public Management, such as performance indicators and targets, is likely to be useful in addressing the problem of social inequality in higher education. Traditionally, the Scottish Government has tended to adopt a light touch to university regulation and governance, using institutional carrots rather than sticks (Raffe, 2013, 2016). More recently, since the introduction of widening access outcomes agreements and the publication of the final report of the Commission on Fair Access (Scottish Government, 2015), universities have argued that the government’s interventions risk eroding university autonomy without achieving policy goals.

Historically, Scottish education policymaking has been implemented independently of central educational policy makers, with policymakers negotiating with a variety of interest groups and elected policy makers. The paper discusses Scotland’s research policy; the purpose of research and its possible link to teaching and learning, the function of a research policy and a critical discussion of the theory of policy networks and policy communities to establish the key players who “really” shape and set Scotland’s research policy. The paper draws on documentary evidence to support recommendations on how to enhance the policy‐making process to ensure a greater representation and more effective implementation at the “grass roots” level of Scottish researchers and their academic managers.

This chapter offers a description and analysis of teacher preparation in Scotland from the period after World War 1 to the end of the twentieth century. It traces the development of the sector from Training Centres responsible to Provincial and National Committees, through monotechnic Colleges of Education, to Faculties of Education within Universities. Among the topics covered are: political and economic pressures affecting the policy context; the drive to improve standards and raise the professional status of teachers; the influence of key policy documents, such as the 1965 Primary Memorandum; the degree of control exercised by the Scottish Education Department; the significance of shifts in language (e.g. training/education/professional learning). The 1960s are seen as a particularly important period when major structural changes were introduced in Scottish education (e.g. the establishment of the General Teaching Council and Central Committees reviewing particular aspects of the school curriculum): these impacted on the aims and content of courses designed to prepare trainee teachers for work in schools. Similarly, later reforms of curriculum and assessment (Standard Grade, 5–14, Higher Still) necessitated responses by the teacher education community. Throughout the chapter certain key themes recur: the relationship between colleges and universities; the variable scope for innovation at different points in the twentieth century; the differential provision for primary and secondary teachers, graduates and non-graduates, men and women; the relative importance of academic knowledge and pedagogic skills.

The paper aims to examine the investment in Scotland's further education (FE) estate as an example of public sector capital investment. It looks at the sector's modernization, which has previously suffered from under‐investment, to provide a built environment that meets the educational requirements against a background of constrained resources.

The paper examines the historic legacy of the estate, the program to address the problem, issues arisen, solutions devised, assesses progress, and future development.

In 1999 the FE Estate in Scotland reflected decades of under‐investment. Local authority owners in the face of competing priorities allowed many buildings to deteriorate, often failing to meet modern health and safety requirements, wrongly configured, and sometimes incorrectly located. The investment program of the Scottish Funding Council has successfully started to arrest the deterioration in the estate, and in many places has achieved significant improvement through highly focused funding levering in substantial resources by way of commercial loans and recycled property receipts which have multiplied the impact of the SFC investment.

The paper raises issues of how the public sector attempts to resolve competing policy objectives, with constrained resources and imperfect knowledge of future demands. Paper is descriptive with some analysis of problems and potential resolution. It highlights an opportunity for future quantitative work by researchers interested in optimizing capital allocation decisions under multiple constraints and imperfect knowledge by drawing attention to under researched source material in Scottish Government documents.

The paper presents fresh material on public sector capital investment. Primarily drawing on Scottish Government information sources, recent developments in the Scottish FE Sector are explained. Shows how the Scottish Government, its predecessor the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Funding Council have used modern tools of capital planning and estate management to improve the property legacy of a sector that has been short of investment for some decades.

Young people’s choice of higher education institution and subject are often assumed to take place in a social vacuum, ignoring the influence of family and friends. Despite a shift away from state funding of undergraduate higher education towards a cost-sharing model (Johnstone, 2004), little research has been carried out on family attitudes to debt, particularly in Scotland where home students do not pay tuition fees. This chapter explores how higher education decisions are made by Scottish domiciled students in the context of their families and the ways in which such decisions are mediated by social class.

This chapter will focus on the use of evaluative research in higher education policy analysis. The approach will be illustrated by reference to higher education policy in Scottish higher education, with particular reference to the longitudinal evaluative research of support of teaching and learning (T&L) (the Quality Enhancement Framework or QEF). The chapter will discuss the features of the research process which are shaped by evaluation theory. We adopt a theoretical position on policy research which foregrounds the situated experience of policy as a core research focus. Policy is depicted as being underscored by an implicit theory of change which is used to structure and orientate the research focus. The design of the research is characterised by the involvement of potential users of the research output, with implications on the way in which findings are articulated, presented and ultimately used, along with aspects of the evaluative research design. The case study of the QEF will be contextualised, and the intersection between the design features and theoretical approaches, and the use and usability of research outputs, will be established.

This paper examines entrepreneurship education (EE) in Brazil and Scotland and unpacks convergent and divergent practices in vocational education (VE). The authors evaluate access to EE in VE and suggest and how it might be advanced in Brazil.

The authors conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA); interpretative analysis of interviewee experiences with 12 educationalists, in management and academic roles, from two Brazilian and two Scottish VE institutions, contextual findings inform advances.

In Scotland, there is a well-defined entrepreneurial ecosystem where government policy and partners support and monitor provision of and accessibility to EE. In Brazil, government does not regulate policy provision of EE, and there is no defined entrepreneurial ecosystem of partners. IPA enabled the authors to examine divergent entrepreneurial education provision and evaluate accessibility to EE in Brazil.

Implications include ways to advance educational inclusivity and accessibility for VE students in Brazil and a call to address availability through policy is underpinned by empirical data. Contextual characteristics of the study might be considered limiting but address a broad call to contribute to EE in VE settings.

The findings of this study equip educationalists with new knowledge about advancing EE provision and delivery in VE, which in turn supports inclusivity.

The authors contribute directly to an agenda that will create impact for young Brazilians through accessible EE models that place EE in VE at the forefront of social change in Brazil.

This paper describes the process and outcomes by which an e‐learning strategy was developed for the Scottish further and higher education sectors. It summarises the context in which the Scottish Funding Councils have supported developments in Information and Communication Technology and e‐learning and identifies the main external drivers which shaped policy development. The paper presents the main conclusions of the e‐learning strategy and indicates the actions which the councils are now taking. The paper provides a useful case study of the process of strategy development at the national level and identifies key concepts which we in Scotland believe are essential components for the effective deployment of e‐learning in colleges and universities.