The Right to Learn raises questions about the future of the learning society. It suggests that the rights of children and parents are not being addressed by the UK Government's concentration on a highly centralized education system.

Ken Brown is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Educational Research, University of Aberdeen

1. Introduction 2. New Buckets Under Old Leaks? 3. Why Educate? Society, the Individual and Education 4. Ours to Reason Why? the Human Rights Issue 5. What Price Freedom? Economy and Effectiveness in Education 6. Learning, Teaching and Learning to Learn: Epistomological Perspectives 7. How Others Do It (i): Some International Alternatives 8. How Others Do It (ii): A Radical Alternative; Home Education 9. Ways Forward: Towards a 'Learning Society' 10. Conclusion: Towards a Learning Society