Learning Outside Academy: International Research Perspective on Lifelong Learning

256 Pages·2006·1.51 MB·English

by  R. Edwards

Learning Outside the Academy
Learning that takes place outside the academy has been an important area of
research in a number of countries in recent years. Experiential learning, informal
learning, community-based learning and learning in the workplace have become
signifi cant areas of research, practice and policy, in particular as attempts have
been made to provide avenues for recognition of such learning within the formal
institutions of education and training.
Drawing upon international research into these areas, this book examines
empirically and theoretically how different strands of research can contribute to
each other, thereby enhancing the understanding of learning in diverse contexts.
The expert contributors draw upon their own research in these areas and refl ect
on the methods used when conducting research and the challenges posed.
Looking at a diverse range of issues the book offers a vital snapshot of current
research topics including:
• European policies of non-formal learning
• The combination of work and learning
• Knowledge and learning in social movements
• Possibilities for further research.
The contributions to this book are based on material presented at the second
international conference on lifelong learning held at the Centre for Research in
Lifelong Learning, UK. In establishing a wider framework for debate about the
meaning and signifi cance of lifelong learning, this timely and thought-provoking
book will provide practitioners and researchers in the fi eld with a relevant
and contemporary discussion on some key and topical ideas about non-formal
education.
Richard Edwards is Professor of Education at the University of Stirling and on
the Management Group of the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning.
Jim Gallacher is Professor of Lifelong Learning and Co-Director of the Centre for
Research in Lifelong Learning, Glasgow Caledonian University.
Susan Whittaker is Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Lifelong
Learning, Glasgow Caledonian University.

Learning Outside
the Academy
International research perspectives
on lifelong learning
Edited by Richard Edwards,
Jim Gallacher and Susan Whittaker
First published 2006
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2006 Richard Edwards, Jim Gallacher and Susan Whittaker for
selection and editorial matter; individual chapters, the contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gallacher, Jim, 1946–
Learning outside the academy : international research perspectives
on lifelong learning / edited by Richard Edwards,
Jim Gallacher & Susan Whittaker.
p. cm.
“Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada.”
Based on material presented at the 2nd international conference on
lifelong learning held at the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning
in UK.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Adult education–Congresses. 2. Continuing education–Congresses.
I. Edwards, Richard, 1956 July 2– II. Whittaker, Susan.
LC5457.G35 2006
374–dc22 2005028806
ISBN10: 0–415–36585–6
ISBN10: 0–203–01838–9 (ebook)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–36585–7
ISBN13: 978–0–203–01838–5 (ebook)
Contents
List of fi gures vii
List of contributors ix

Introduction: tangled up in learning 1
RICHARD EDWARDS, JIM GALLACHER AND SUSAN WHITTAKER
PART I
Theory, methods, concepts 9
1 Informal learning: the challenge for research 11
VERONICA MCGIVNEY
2 Theorizing pedagogy within social action contexts:
a case study of a South African trade union 24
LINDA COOPER
3 Inside out of experiential learning: fl uid bodies,
co-emergent minds 42
TARA FENWICK
4 European policies on ‘non-formal’ learning:
a genealogical review 56
HELEN COLLEY, PHIL HODKINSON AND JANICE MALCOLM
PART II
Learning processes 75
5 Combining work and learning: the disturbing
challenge of practice 77
DAVID BOUD
vi Contents
6 Pedagogic learning in the pedagogic workplace 90
JANICE MALCOLM AND MIRIAM ZUKAS
7 Recognition of tacit skills and knowledge in work re-entry:
modelling of learning processes and outcomes 103
NATASHA KERSH AND KAREN EVANS
8 Learning in non-formal settings and the development of
‘really useful’ knowledge 120
LYN TETT
9 Knowledge and learning in social movements: issues and
opportunities for adult community education 133
JIM CROWTHER
PART III
Learning outcomes 149
10 Learning in action: lessons from poor women in the South 151
SALMA ISMAIL
11 Re-reading the texts of RPL: what recontextualizing principles
are coded into the selection of curriculum resources? 169
JUDY HARRIS
12 Learning in the new work order 183
JEAN SEARLE
13 Lifelong learning reaching regions: where other learning
doesn’t reach 202
KATE SANKEY AND MIKE OSBORNE
14 Researching learning outside the academy: emerging themes 224
JIM GALLACHER, RICHARD EDWARDS AND SUSAN WHITTAKER
Index 231
List of figures
7.1 DCA modelling of Diana’s case 111
7.2 DCA modelling of Ali’s case 114
7.3 DCA modelling of Sarah’s case 116
9.1 Different types of movement 137
9.2 The worker’s role and social movements 141

Contributors
David Boud is Professor of Adult Education at the University of Technology,
Sydney. He has written extensively on teaching, learning and assessment in
higher and professional education, and on workplace learning. Currently he
is involved in research on everyday learning in workplaces and sustainable
assessment practices for lifelong learning.
Dr Helen Colley is Senior Research Fellow at the Education and Social Research
Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University, and a Fellow of the National
Institute of Careers Education and Counselling. In addition to her work on
informality and formality in learning, she has published extensively on mentoring,
including her recent book, Mentoring for Social Inclusion (RoutledgeFalmer).
She serves as an expert to the Youth Research Partnership of the European
Commission and the Council of Europe. She is currently completing research
on learning cultures in further education, within the ESRC’s Teaching and
Learning Research Programme, where she has continued to develop her work
on gender and lifelong learning.
Linda Cooper is based in the Centre for Higher Education Development at the
University of Cape Town, and is a Senior Lecturer in adult education. She has
worked in an educational support capacity with South African trade unions
over many years, and has been involved in the training of worker educators.
Her research interests include: the history and contemporary practice of
worker education; diverse forms of knowledge; theorising learning in social-
action organisations; and the impact of globalisation on workplace learning
and knowledge.
Jim Crowther is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. He is the co-
founder of the International Popular Education Network and is the co-editor
of a number of books: Popular Education and Social Movements in Scotland
Today (1999), Powerful Literacies (2001), Renewing Democracy in Scotland:
an Educational Source Book (2002), Popular Education: Engaging the Academy
(2005), and Lifelong Learning: Concepts and Contexts (2006).