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This conceptual article examines George Ritzer's concept of prosumption in the context of lifelong learning in the UK. Ritzer's references to prosumption as a form of eternal return of a "primal act", which draw on the work of Friedrich Nietzsche and Gilles Deleuze, introduce some ambiguity into the concept. This ambiguity echoes a certain polarization in the debate about co-creation, especially regarding the nature of consumer participation in the creation of value, but it is central to defining the limits of consumer freedom and agency. Critical analysis of UK lifelong learning discourse shows how prosumption can work as a tool of control in this context, producing docile subjectivities, compliant forms of creative co-production and disposable 'nothing' products through repetition and a return of the same. Where prosumption is able to challenge this repetition, however, it involves creativity and the return of difference. These examples show how eternal return, ultimately, underpins prosumption's claim to offer a valid description of emerging practices of prosuming lifelong learners.

This paper examines the developing relationship between higher education (HE) practices and professional training for UK firearms officers. In particular, this paper's analysis challenges some common assumptions about the role of HE and the drive to professionalization in the context of police firearms training. The potential for effective partnership in this setting is examined, focusing on how these partnerships might work better and how theories of expansive learning might support them. Its impact is explored through interviews with officers from three UK forces, focusing on the relations between academic and more professionally oriented learning. Semi-structured interviews were used to gauge the views of seven trainees, whose responses were analysed to inform a discussion of workplace learning environments and conclusions about enhanced training and professional practices. The findings suggest that expansive learning environments are one way of developing training provision to meet the needs of increasingly complex firearms roles in the UK, especially the demand for greater responsibility and effectiveness. We suggest that both HE and professional training organizations can and should play a part in developing such environments.

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