| Path: Home > Book Shop > Periodicals > Studies in the education of adults > Back Issues > Abstracts Vol35#2 |
Abstracts
Volume 35, Number 2, Autumn 2003
[ Tara Fenwick ] [ John Field ] [ Phil Bayliss ] [ John Egan ]
Reclaiming and re-embodying experiential learning through complexity science
At a time when ‘informal’ and ‘practice-based’ learning are receiving
unprecedented emphasis in lifelong learning debates, this article offers an
apologia for experiential learning (EL) in adult education. Taking the position
that the signifier of experience allows a foregrounding of the problematics of
experience and the centrality of embodiment in learning, the argument does not
deny theoretical weaknesses plaguing the experiential learning discourse. In
fact, four problems are described in EL theory and practice: ontological splits
that ‘lose’ the body; disciplines that control the body; educational management
that schools experience; and resulting exclusions. Towards reclaiming a more
productive
discourse of EL, an argument is presented for conceptually ‘re-embodying’ EL,
drawing from complexity science. Three themes of re-embodiment (co-emergence,
desire, and struggle) are presented. Pedagogic practices and reconfigured roles
for adult educators suggested by these themes are discussed in the final
section.
Civic engagement and lifelong learning: Survey findings on social capital and
attitudes towards learning
The concept of social capital commands considerable attention right
across the social sciences and among the policy community. In recent years, it
has also generated a lively debate among the research community in lifelong
learning. There is some emerging evidence that social capital is associated with
learning in adult life, but the nature of that relationship remains very
unclear. The paper reports on findings from a recent social attitudes survey in
Northern Ireland.
Learning behind bars: time to liberate prison education
With more prisons being built and the accompanying rise in prison
population, the efficacious role of prison education is becoming increasingly
important. Having been sidelined in the past, the education of prisoners is now
receiving closer Government attention in the UK. The discourse of prison
education mirrors the instrumental approach of learning for work taken by the
Government, because the primary task expected of prison education is to increase
the chances of employment by ex-offenders and hence reduce recidivism. If this
link were established it may convince policy makers, prison staff and inmates of
the further benefits of prison education. Hence, prison education could be
liberated by loosening its constraints of providing mainly basic skills classes,
to becoming integrated within all prison activities and by having more
involvement with the outside community.
Advocate, mentor or master? Worker-client power dynamics in HIV prevention
for injection drug users
This article examines the experiences, perspectives and practices of
HIV prevention workers whose clients are injection drug users (IDUs). In
particular the nature of clientworker power relations are analysed, using a
Foucauldian framework. These workers’ accounts demonstrate how different
approaches to these relationships – as advocate, mentor or master –
significantly impact service provision. The particulars of practice and beliefs,
and their implications for working with IDUs, as well as other realms of adult
education with a social justice orientation, are discussed.
