Pham Do Nhat Tien National Institute of Education Management
This review aims to address these main questions: What are the possible characteristics in theoretical description of a learning society and its learning citizens as well as the desired characteristics in practical building of a learning society with its learning citizens in different countries? Based on a tentative grouping of different approaches in the literature on learning society, this review offers a general picture of different aspirations and descriptions of a learning society and its learning citizens
according to four different groups which we call respectively theoretical-system approach, practical-system approach, thoretical-unit approach and practical-unit approach. Finally it shows that the highly complex task for each country in its way of building a learning society is to use this variety of characteristics as references in its learning process, and to determine the ways in which these characteristics should be adapted, concretized and tailored to the specific circumstances and available resources of the country.