Assignment 1 – The Purpose Of Lifelong Learning

Assignment 1 – The Purpose of Lifelong Learning

Assignment 1– The Purpose of Lifelong Learning

3141EBL Change Agency

couRse Convenor: Prof. Stephen Billett

Submitted by: David Martin

Student #2636349

Date Submitted: 15 September 2008

Lifelong learning involves cumulative learning over time in a variety of circumstances. It is a popular term that supports ongoing education to support a changing workplace and social settings that learning supports. Lifelong learning is also what engages people in an interdependent relationship between work and education. This assignment will analyse and discuss the different conceptions of lifelong learning as part of educational institutions, personal, social, cultural and vocational learning. The relationship between vocation and working life and lifelong learning will then be examined and it will be argued that while the changing nature of work is currently focused on the economic value of such work there are significant social and cultural issues that therefore have an effect on the implementation and worth of lifelong learning. Finally, the education worth of lifelong learning will be examined as something that aligns with vocational worth and industry defined competency. It will be argued that socio-economic disparity is a reason to include value lifelong learning as being able to contribute more than just work skills.

Conceptions of Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning is an evolving concept that has varied meanings and goals and has been used in various forms since its adoption by UNESCO and other prominent organisations who started using it shortly after the Second World War (Jarvis, 2004, p. 62) and has regained popularity since the mid 90’s (Tight, 2002, p. 39). Lifelong learning can involve learning in an educational institution, the workplace, within communities, with family or independently. It is also understood as “an individual process which continues throughout the whole of life” (Jarvis, 2004, p. 65) and therefore learning tends to be cumulative, something that starts before school and continues well after formal education finishes. Lifelong learning is now a subject that is included in almost every social change agenda and education policy (Bagnall, 2000, p. 20), though its purpose is still contested.

The focus of lifelong learning in adult education has been shifting away from holistic and personal goals towards a process or series of events that provides economic assistance to the individual, the community and country. It is argued that this is related to the changes in the modes of production taking place in the globalising world economy and the need for countries to compete in this emerging environment (Bélanger, 1999, p. 20), adult education has become vocational education. Unfortunately, this has led to education being measured as costs and benefits to the economy (Bagnall, 2000, p. 21). Lifelong learning should be considered more than an economic benefit; there are social well being and personal growth issues to be considered as well.

Adult and vocational education is often undertaken through personal determinism; people enrol themselves for social and personal reasons even if the underlying reason is work related (Billet & Pavlova, 2005, p. 195). Further, self-directed learning is associated with lifelong learning (Jarvis, 2004, p. 313) in a way that individuals must seek out new knowledge and meaning themselves. While this is related to personal determinism it also seems to be a push to move responsibility for lifelong learning away from governments, society or employers; to make the individual somehow responsible for providing the best of themselves for the economic greater good (Billet & Pavlova, 2005, p. 195).

Adults do choose lifelong learning and continuing education for improved economic positioning, but it should be recognised that there are other issues, including personal growth, family and civic responsibilities and commitments to goals other than the governments’ desire to compete in a global marketplace of information and labour.

Vocations and working lifes

Work provides individuals with a sense of self that is necessarily associated with the type and quality of work they perform and the social relationships formed as part of their working lives (O'Doherty & Willmot, 2001, p. 125). This appears to be a line of thinking that has been promoted throughout society since the time of industrialisation, with the principle of any work in any condition as the only moral way of life (Bauman, 1998, p. 12). However, the changing nature of modern working life has changed the experience of workers with a vocation is no longer considered one stable job over a working lifetime. The changing nature of society has changed the nature of work; the type of work, the place of work and the amount of work is quickly shifting.

It is argued that contingent jobs that are part-time or short term produce insecurity and unpredictability (Carnoy cited in Billet, 2006, p. 258) but this still promotes the values of full time work as the only and best method of production. For some people part time, or even a period of no work can be advantageous. Lifestyle can dictate the need for non-permanent/traditional work patterns, e.g. a parent may require work that allows them time to raise children, or a year with little or no work might facilitate full time study or community and volunteer work. These types of situations show that working life also needs to be considered as an individual subjective experience (Billet, Work change and workers, 2006, p. 6) not just an objective or economic indicator.

Workers now have to participate in a variety of roles throughout their working lives because of the changing work, workers needs, and society in general. Growing dependence on information technology in various industries, the rise of information economies and downtown of manual handing based production industries in developed countries are prominent examples of theses changes. Sometimes changes are gradual within a particular community, other times changes seem sudden and quite significant in that the work can become scarce or available in another geographical area (Billet, Work change and workers, 2006, p. 257). In other cases the job remains, but the processes and skills needed to do the job change drastically because of new technology or tools. This variety means that even people in paid employment need to develop new skills throughout their working lives (Green cited in Billet & Pavlova, 2005, p. 195). However it is important to remember that these skills are not only used to support paid employment but help support the individuals own goals for life outside of work; family and community commitments (Billet & Pavlova, 2005, p. 196). Adult and vocational education are increasingly being used to provide pathways to new skills and vocations with more and more adults participating in this particular form of lifeling learning (Bélanger, 1999, p. 20). It has meant that there are new demands on the education sector, which is demonstrated by the push toward privatising and placing market values on education providers (Peters cited in Reynolds & Webber, 2008, p. 49).

All of the changes in vocations and in a persons working life means that adult education is now something that most will participate in. An understanding of working lives and vocations is useful to then evaluate the provision of lifelong learning.

Educational worth of lifelong learning

In the last 20 years the value of lifelong learning has been tied to vocational worth and improving an individual’s worth as part of an economic system. “Ours is a consumer society” (Bauman, 1998, p. 23), things are purchased, used up and replaced with more things. Education is one of those things; as an individual’s work and personal circumstances change new education is required. While learning happens all the time there is an increasing requirement for recognised education to keep up with changes in individuals and in society. Further, there is “recognition that lifelong learning is more than economic” (EC cited in Jarvis 2004, p. 19) and that any learning that involves adults needs to ensure that it meets more than just the vocational needs of a person. As with work itself education needs to cater for some of their interests and promote the persons own sense of identity and therefore being able to “exercise their ‘sense of self’” (Billet, 2006, p. 207). In some cases this will mean that education is not strictly work related, but will encourage social justice, equality, individual empowerment or liberation from deprivation and poverty (Bagnall, 2000, pp. 25-28).

It has been shown that the more people that go to school the more likely they are to participate in adult education (Bélanger, 1999, p. 22). However this means that those that are unable to participate, or had difficulty with participation in primary and secondary education are likely to face barriers when participating in adult education (Bélanger, 1999, p. 23). The claim that the widespread adoption of information and communication technology will automatically improve quality of life and allow more personal and vocational freedom can be countered with the argument that control is still maintained through those that have access to technical expertise (Reynolds & Webber, 2008, p. 51). This means that the lines of power are not removed, they will simply shift slightly. These barriers are based on socio-economic disparity, the unequal distribution of opportunities to succeed in education and it is argued that “income distribution and family circumstances still have a significant impact on access to education” (Wells, 2007, p. 66). Even with the concepts of lifelong, flexible and accessible learning being adopted it still appears the people who need the education most find it hardest to access it.

With industry controlling the skills being taught in the vocational education sector, the government’s current concept of lifelong learning seems to be focussing on retraining older workers with new skills, allowing them to work longer (Australian National Training Authority, p. 5). This seems to be one of many narrow views of lifelong learning that devalues vocational educations role. Meta cognitive skills, high order thinking and problem solving are hard to define as the behavioural style outcomes currently in use and are some of the most useful over time. While it is argued that training should always be done for a specific organisational reason (Tovey & Lawlor, 1997, p. 10) lifelong learning, includes training and therefore needs to have more than an immediate and economic use.

Conclusion

Concepts of lifelong learning have been developing long before the term itself was coined and used popularly in vocational education. How an individual contributes to society and what skills and knowledge are required to make this contribution is a cornerstone of lifelong learning. This is intertwined with the complex values and contentions found in vocations and working lives, along with a rapidly changing society and economic realities. Vocational education as part of lifelong learning needs to keep up with these changes to help educate the workers of today and tomorrow, not only for economic well being, but for social and personal improvement and fulfilment. The contentious stakeholders in vocational education try to do this while meeting their own specific goals by tailoring lifelong learning and the skills, attitudes as well as vocational and social worth those who participate in work and education.

List of references

Australian National Training Authority. (n.d.). Shaping our Future: Australia's National Strategy for VET 2004-2010. Retrieved August 2, 2008, from Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations: http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/98206EC7-3B9A-4A58-991F-4F28010BF825/16445/national_strategy.pdf

Bagnall, R. G. (2000). Lifelong leraning and the limitations of economic determinism. International Journal of Lifelong Education , 19 (1), 20-35.

Bauman, Z. (1998). Work, Consumerism and the New Poor. London: Sage.

Bélanger, P. (1999). Adult learning and the transformation of work. In M. Singh (Ed.), Adult Learning and the Future of Work (pp. 19-28). Hamberg: UNESCO Institute for Education.

Billet, S. (2006). Work change and workers. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

Billet, S., & Pavlova, M. (2005). Learning through working life: self and individuals' agentic action. International Journal of Lifelong Education , 24 (3), 195-211.

Jarvis, P. (2004). Adult education & lifelong learning. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

O'Doherty, D., & Willmot, H. (2001). The question of subjectivity and the labor process. International Studies of Management and Organisation , 30 (4), 112-133.

Reynolds, W. M., & Webber, J. A. (2008). Expanding Curriculum Theory : Dis/Positions and Lines of Flight. Taylor and Francis e-Library.

Tight, M. (2002). Key concepts in adult education and training. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Tovey, M., & Lawlor, D. (1997). Training in Australia: design, delivery, evaluation, management. Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia.

Wells, G. (2007). Prices and values: a perspective on adult and community education. Australian Journal of Adult Learning , 47 (1), 64-77.

David MartinStudent #26363493141EBL – Change Agency