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Abstracts
Volume 34, Number 1, Spring 2002
[ Peter Alheit et al ] [ Neil Selwyn et al ] [ Keith Forrester ] [ Stephen Billett ] [ Sarah Speight ]
The 'Double Face' of Lifelong Learning: two
analytical perspectives on a 'silent revolution'
Peter Alheit and Bettina Dausien
This article focuses on the tensions between two perspectives on lifelong learning. Perspective I examines the social framework for lifelong learning. In perspective II we put forward our own theoretical view on 'education in the life span', namely the concept of biographical learning, and outline the idea of the 'biographicity' of social learning processes. This discussion is set within the context of the globalising imperatives and international discourses of lifelong learning. In the conclusion, we suggest the main perspectives and desiderata for research
'We are guinea pigs really': examining the
realities of ICT-based adult learning.
Neil Selwyn, Stephen Gorard and Sara Williams
The use of information and communications technology (ICT) to facilitate easy access to lifelong learning for all is one of the central tenets of the UK government's drive to establish a 'learning society'. At the heart of initiatives such as the 'University for Industry' and 'learndirect' are the objectives of increasing access to educational opportunities, thereby widening adult participation in lifelong learning. In so doing the government has invested considerable faith (and finance) in the role of ICT as the primary means of overcoming traditional barriers to lifelong learning. Yet, to date, this growing area of adult education remains over-discussed and under-researched. This article therefore presents an initial empirical examination of the nature of this apparently 'new' form of adult learning. Utilising the concept of 'learning trajectories' and based on in-depth interviews with 36 adult learners in four different ICT-based settings this article examines: (i) the extent to which ICT can be said to be widening participation in learning to previously 'disengaged' adults; and (ii) the experiences, attitudes and views of those learners currently participating in ICT-based learning.
Work-related learning and
the struggle for employee commitment
Keith Forrester
Workplace or work-related learning represents an important and expanding area of interest for adult educators. Encouraged by a variety of recent government policy developments within a framework of 'lifelong learning', adult educators and trade unions once again are seen as having an important contribution to make towards workrelated learning initiatives. However, this article raises a number of concerns and worries about the underlying assumptions and purpose of much of this learning. Against a background of recent research and developments involving the author, it is suggested that an uncritical analysis of 'learning' within the workplace by adult educators and trade unionists risks aligning these activities to new forms of oppression and managerial control.
Critiquing
workplace learning discourses: participation and continuity at work
Stephen Billett
This article critiques some assumptions shaping the current discourse on workplace learning. It proposes that these assumptions restrict how workplace learning is conceptualised and discussed. Principally, describing workplace learning environments and experiences as 'informal' and that 'informal learning' occurs in workplaces constrains understanding about how learning occurs through work and, consequently, the development of a workplace pedagogy. As with educational institutions, in workplaces there are intentions for work practice, structured goal-directed activities that are central to organisational continuity, and interactions and judgements about performance that are also shaped to those ends. Therefore, describing learning through work as being 'informal' is incorrect. Instead, the structuring of workplace activities has dimensions associated with learning directed for the continuity of the practice, which also often has inherently pedagogical qualities. Moreover, the unqualified description of learning environments as being either 'formal' or 'informal' suggests a situational determinism. Instead, learning is proposed as being interdependent between the individual and the social practice. The core tension in this relationship is that between those needs for the continuity of the work practice and individuals' needs to realise their personal or vocational goals. It is proposed that considerations of learning, learning in workplaces and the development of a workplace pedagogy need conceptualising in terms of participatory practices.
Digging for history:
archaeological fieldwork and the adult student 1943-1975
Sarah Speight
Social change in Britain after World War II is often cited as a factor in the decline of traditional adult education. Using archaeology as a case study, this article argues that, for this subject, the period was particularly conducive to expansion, and that decline was delayed until the 1970s. The period 1943-75 saw steady growth in numbers of university- and field-based archaeologists, heightened awareness of archaeological issues and growth in the provision of extra-mural archaeology. Adult students demanded practical involvement and formed a lobby seeking the 'professionalisation' of the discipline. The article concludes by considering the decline in extra-mural fieldwork from the 1970s, arguing that the factors and successes of the post-war period were themselves part of the recipe for decline. As archaeology became the preserve of professionals, the amateur adult student was squeezed out.
