The promotion of lifelong learning (LLL) competencies is a topic of high relevance in current educational policy. Learning is seen as a life-span endeavour where continuous enhancement and improvement of competencies are necessary. Two central determinants appear as common core factors for LLL: the persistent motivation to learn and the skills to realize this motivation. Unquestionably schools should lay the cornerstones for these skills. Using data from our own studies the presentation illustrates that Austrian schools presently do not really succeed in imparting these basic competencies for successful LLL. Not surprisingly, educational outcomes are low in comparison to other countries with a negative trend and schools are not able to compensate disparities. After picturing the Austrian school today, the presentation shortly describes the ideal school of tomorrow. To illustrate, how it can be realized the TALK program and its evaluation results are briefly presented. TALK is a training program for teachers to enhance LLL. Finally, challenges for politics and society are discussed. Download Presentation