Lifelong Education. A Psychological Analysis

193 Pages·1977·8.245 MB·English

by  A. J. Cropley (Auth.)

"The UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg,
is a legally independent entity. While the pro-
grammes of the Institute are established along the
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The points of view, selection of facts and
opinions expressed are those of the author and do
not necessarily coincide with official positions of
the UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg."
LIFELONG EDUCATION
A Psychological Analysis
by
A. J. CROPLEY
University ofRegina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
and
UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg,
Federal Republic of Germany
PERGAMON PRESS
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Copyright© 1977 Unesco Institute of Education
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retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic,
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permission in writing from the publishers
First edition 1977
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cropley, A. J.
Lifelong education.
(Advances in lifelong education; v. 3)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Adult education. I. Title. II. Series.
LC5219.C74 374 77-5702
ISBN 0-08-021814-8( Hardcover)
ISBN 0-08-021815-6C Flexicover)
In order to make this volume available as economically and rapidly as possible the
author's typescript has been reproduced in its original form. This method unfortu-
nately has its typographical limitations but it is hoped that they in no way distract
the reader.
Printed in Great Britain by Page Bros (Norwich) Ltd, Norwich
Foreword
Quantitative and qualitative developments taking place in
education in both developed and developing countries in recent
years, together with increasing constraints such as shortage of
funds, are resulting in the search for ways of organizing educa-
tional services so that they will be more democratic, more flex-
ible, better adapted to the needs and requirements of society,
and more responsive to the perceived problems and dangers of
contemporary life.
The International Commission for the Development of Educa-
tion and Unesco have recently proposed lifelong education as a
master concept for the organization of education at all levels
and in all kinds of societies. In response to the call for
clarification and practical implementation of this guiding con-
cept, the Unesco Institute for Education decided, in May 1972,
to focus its international, cooperative research programme on
school level education within the perspective of lifelong learn-
ing.
The present volume represents one step in this process of
theoretical elucidation and practical specification of the con-
cept of lifelong education. It involves an analysis of some of
the major theoretical assumptions of lifelong education, through
consideration of its psychological basis. It also attempts to
indicate, although in broad and general terms, some of the main
features of school curriculum from the point of view of life-
long education.
The present text has been prepared with a wide audience in
mind. It should provide a useful introduction to the basic
ideas underlying "lifelong education" for those who are newcom-
ers to the area. It should also help scholars to focus their
thinking on certain key issues, and to examine some of the
statements made in this connection with more penetrating crit-
ical thought. It will also hopefully be valuable to instructors
7
8 Lifelong Education
in teacher training institutions, and to students preparing to
enter the teaching professsion, both as an introduction to the
basic notions of lifelong education, and also as a review of
educational psychology relevant to the area.
The Unesco Institute for Education has been fortunate in
benefiting from the cooperation of Professor Arthur Cropley,
who has been associated with the current programme of the In-
stitute since it first began in 1973, for the preparation of
this study. Grateful acknowledgement must also be made of
those contributions from friends and staff members of the In-
stitute to the preparation of the final version of this study.
M. Dino Carelli
Director
Unesco Institute for Education
Introduction
The set of educational goals and ideals referred to as in-
volving "lifelong education" is increasingly being referred to
in contemporary educational theory, after first appearing in
ancient writings and subsequently re-emerging from time to time
throughout the middle ages and relatively modern times. It has
even been proposed as the master concept for the development of
present day world education in both developed and developing
nations. However, the principles set down as guidelines for fu-
ture educational developments have often been couched in ideal-
istic terms or have made many assumptions about factors such as
what might loosely be called "human nature", or about other cru-
cial preconditions such as the economic feasibility of a life-
long system of education. For these reasons, there is a press-
ing need for more precise definition of just what is meant by
lifelong education. It is also important to show what novelty
the principle contains, and in what way it is of particular rel-
evance to contemporary educational issues. Finally, there is
need of statements concerning the practical implications of the
ideals of lifelong education for teachers in the classroom, for
those who are concerned with training teachers, for educational
planners, and for all other elements of the educational system.
It would be excessively ambitious to attempt to meet all
of these needs in a single volume, and certainly no such at-
tempt has been made here. However, what has been attempted is
a contribution in the area. The present book adopts the stand-
point of psychology, and examines some of the relevant issues
from this standpoint. It is concerned with teasing out some of
the key issues and problems, and trying to show what kind of
factors need to be borne in mind when evaluating lifelong edu-
cation or attempting to apply its principles. It is also con-
cerned with the question of whether the basic assumptions under-
lying lifelong education make good sense, psychologically speak-
9
10 Lifelong Education
ing. Finally, it is concerned with what school curriculum
would be like, in very general terms, if lifelong education
were adopted as a guiding principle for its design. This anal-
ysis of curriculum is necessarily general and abstract, but it
is hoped that it represents a move in the direction of giving
practical application to the prescriptions put forward in the
name of lifelong education.
The text deals at some length with criticisms of lifelong
education. Indeed, it may even seem that many of the criti-
cisms are endorsed, or that they are advanced with excessive
enthusiasm. However, this approach is adopted because review
of criticism and self-evalution as a result is one of the ma-
jor forms of learning. From criticism comes improvement; for
this reason careful consideration of critical comments should
be one of the activities of proponents of lifelong education.
The book is also limited in several ways. For example, it re-
flects the author's own judgment concerning the most useful
psychological authorities to consult and, for this reason, it
will be judged inadequate or defective by some readers. It is
certainly selective and incomplete. This seems to be inevita-
ble and unavoidable unless an attempt is made to be encyclo-
paedic in coverage. The book also neglects writings in lan-
guages other than English, French and German, something which
reflects the author's linguistic inadequacies and not a judg-
ment of qual ity.
The major work involved in the writing of this book was
done at the Unesco Institute for Education. However, its prep-
aration was greatly facilitated by several months spent as a
Visiting Professor in the Psychology Department at the Univer-
sity of Adelaide. I am very grateful to the Department there
for its assistance. I am also grateful to the University of
Regina, where I have an appointment as Professor of Psychology,
for making leave available to me so that I could continue my
studies in the area of lifelong education. The greatest debt,
however, is owed to my friends and colleagues at the Unesco In-
stitute. Ursula Giere has been invaluable in her help from the
Documentation Centre, Louise Silz has made my work much easier
as a result of her loyal and skilful secretarial assistance,
and Louise Ortmann has made the task of physical production of
the text a much lighter load. Johanna Kesavan made an impor-
tant contribution through her critical editing of the manu-
script, and her suggestions have led to the elimination of many
faults. Many others, too, have helped generously and cheer-
fully. I have had much help from visitors to the Institute,
and especially from our colleagues who have worked with us on
a number of research projects in the area of lifelong education,
Introduction 11
and from those who were kind enough to read and criticize the
manuscript. I think in particular of Rod Skager, Ettore Gelpi,
Paul Lengrand, and many others. I am also grateful to Peter
Sachsenmeier for his help in bringing me into contact with
Pergamon Press. However, the most crucial factors were the pro-
vision by Dr. M.D. Carelli, in his capacity as Director of the
Unesco Institute for Education, of the freedom to read, think
and write, and above all, the influence of my colleague and
mentor Dr. R.H. Dave, who shaped much of my thinking in the
area.
A.J. Cropley
Chapter 1
Modern Education and the
Challenge of Change
Education for coping with change
Many educators are becoming increasingly concerned by the
rapid changes taking place in almost all spheres of modern life.
In the socio-cultural domain, for example, there has been enor-
mous population growth, greatly increased social mobility, and
wider public participation in political and cultural activities.
One effect of these kinds of change has been increasing demand
for educational equality, both within societies and also be-
tween nations of differing wealth and technological development.
Changes have also been seen in communications, in science, and
in technology. Finally, there have been extensive changes in
the availability of and demand for consumer goods, and in the
organization of the means of their production. As a result,
in the vocational world some jobs are disappearing, while new
ones are emerging which require new kinds of skill. Because of
these phenomena, today's schoolchildren may be preparing to en-
ter a social and vocational world that will not exist at the
time they become adults. This is true of both highly-developed
countries and also of less-developed.
Educational innovators are thus beginning to emphasize the
need for a new educational goal -- education for a changing
world. This goal is one that has profound implications of a
psychological nature. It also has implications for many other
aspects of human life, but it is the psychological ones with
which the present volume will be mainly concerned. The new
goal (education for coping with change) suggests that skills,
values and attitudes which children are spending their child-
hoods acquiring, in areas such as knowledge-getting, interper-
sonal relations, self-development, and sense of individuality,
may no longer be relevant to the world they will live in as
adults.
12
The Challenge of Change 13
For example, an increasing need is seen for "innovative
knowledge" (Dumazedier, 1972), in which present knowledge will
serve as the basis for a continuous process of further learning
and re-learning. This process of continuous learning will not
be restricted to the traditional three Rs of school, but will
be extended to all psychological domains. Children will need
to acquire knowledge not only of the facts and processes of
their society's technological and social organization, but of
themselves, of other people, and of their own and other cul-
tures. In the domain of traditional learning they will need to
know how to locate knowledge as and when they want it, but even
more importantly, how to use knowledge. They will have to be
able to organize, store and recall information, to handle log-
ical and numerical operations, and to communicate with other
people.
In recent educational theory, emphasis is also moving away
from education's role in the provision of cognitive skills and
focussing more on that of fostering interpersonal and intraper-
sonal development. There are increasing demands that education
consciously strive to facilitate full and satisfactory personal
growth and increased self-actualization. It should develop in-
dividuals who, as part of the process of growth towards maturi-
ty, become psychologically equipped to cope with the personal
tensions resulting from rapid economic, vocational, social and
cultural change. Many children who would, for instance, have
entered agricultural occupations 20 years ago will have to be
enabled by their schooling, not only to acquire technological,
urban-oriented job skills, but also to derive personally sat-
isfying lives from this kind of work. Increasing urbanization
has thus eroded traditional work values. It has also changed
parent-child, male-female, and worker-boss relationships, as a
result of factors like expanding automation of industry, wide-
spread availability of cheap power, massive reduction in the
need for unskilled labour, and disappearance of the small, hand-
worked farm.
Changes of the kinds just discussed have implications go-
ing beyond their effects on the production and distribution of
goods and the achievement of job security, however. Indeed, it
is predicted that widespread change will produce a future world
of personal and emotional instability. If people cannot cope
with change, they will be exposed to the risk of submergence,
overwhelming or alienation of their individualities. In such a
climate education will have to take on the roles of fostering
the growth of strong personalities capable of coping with
change, and of helping people to relate to other people. In
short, in addition to its responsibilities in the cognitive