The methodological approaches that were used in this research were ethnographic, quantitative and analysis of post-compulsory education policy documents 1945-2007. The article aims to explore the issues of ethics in lifelong learning, and an alternative approach to the analysis of the impact of lifelong learning policy, by focusing research attention as follows: first, on the contests between the meaning of inclusion in lifelong learning to lifelong learners and the meaning of inclusion in lifelong learning to the state, and second on the ethical concerns facing lifelong learners. Finally, the ethics are explored of the practice of inclusion in lifelong learning through the ethical dilemmas that face teachers and advisers of lifelong learners.