Learning, work and social responsibility : challenges for lifelong learning in a global age / by Karen Evans.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Evans, Karen, 1949-

Series:

Lifelong learning book series ; v. 13.

Lifelong learning book series ; v. 13

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Continuing education--Great Britain.

Continuing education.

Continuing education--Social aspects.

Continuing education--Government policy.

Great Britain.

Continuing education--Government policy--Great Britain.

Continuing education--Social aspects--Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xv, 274 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

[Dordrecht] : Springer, [2009]

Summary:

The political consensus on lifelong learning which marked the end of the 20th century fundamentally reshaped discourses on the role of lifelong learning. In "knowledge-based" economies, we are engaged in a lifelong competition for livelihoods; learning for a living as part of a global learning revolution.

The argument (of the author), put simply, revolves around social justice, and active and engaged citizenry. Policies to encourage lifelong learning are based on the view that individuals must learn new things primarily to secure employment in an ever-changing world. The result of these policies has been to open up unsustainable inequalities which ordinary people are unlikely to tolerate for much longer. For politicians, bringing politics closer to the world and aspirations of ordinary people will mean seeking solutions based on broader and fairer forms of meritocracy and bringing work and the pursuit of broader social purposes into a better balance at all levels of the social world.

Contents:

1 Learning for a Living: The Powerful, the Dispossessed and the Learning Revolution 1

1.1 Actors in Changing Social Landscapes 3

1.2 Re-establishing the Relationships Between Education and Real Life 7

1.3 Defining the Learning Revolution and Its Limits 13

1.4 A New Generation of Adults: Taking Control of Their Lives? 15

1.5 Discussing the Future 18

1.6 Choice, Optimism and Expectations 19

1.7 Marginalised by the Broad Sweep of Social and Economic Decline 20

1.8 The Social World of Work 21

1.9 Individual Responsibility in a Social World 24

1.10 Summary and Conclusions 26

2 Taking Control?: Early Adult Life in Contrasting Social Landscapes 29

2.1 Introduction 29

2.2 The Wider Significance of Comparisons Between England and Germany 31

2.2.1 Rapid Changes in England and Germany 31

2.2.2 Regulated Germany, Diverse Britain 32

2.3 Transitions Involve Negotiating Different Structures 34

2.4 The Significance of Subjective Viewpoints 35

2.5 Pressures, Constraints and Resources 36

2.5.1 Perceptions of the Effect of Area on Employment Opportunities 36

2.5.2 Young People's Views on the Influence of Family Background and the Influence of Peers 38

2.6 Agency, Control and Views of Self 39

2.6.1 Overview: Feelings of Control 39

2.7 The Importance of Qualifications 45

2.8 Self-Confidence, Independence and Responsibility 46

2.9 Choice, Optimism and Expectations 47

2.10 The Impact of Employment Schemes: New Deal and JUMP 50

2.11 Summary and Conclusions 51

3 Students Anticipating the Future 55

3.1 Barriers to Widening Participation: Student Experience in England 57

3.2 Perceptions of Qualifications and Life Chances? 60

3.3 Independence, Responsibility and Achievement 63

3.3.1 Control of One's Own Life 69

3.3.2 Plans for the Future 70

3.3.3 Assessment of Own Behaviour 71

3.4 Scope for Action in Contrasting Socio-Economic Environments 72

3.5 Systemic Implications 74

3.6 Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning 75

3.7 Bringing Social Responsibility Back into the Equation 83

3.8 Summary and Conclusions 83

4 Workers in Control of the Present? 87

4.1 Adult Workers and the Significance of Biography 88

4.2 Work Experience in Early Adult Life 89

4.3 Linking the Individual and Social Dimensions of Learning and Work 91

4.5 Bringing Prior Skills, Understanding and Abilities into the Workplace 92

4.6 How Using Tacit Skills and Knowledge in the Workplace an Change or Personalise the Environment 95

4.7 The Value of College-Based Elements to Workplace Learning 96

4.8 Other Factors Affecting Learners at Their Workplace 97

4.9 Rethinking 'Transfer' 98

4.10 Employees' Contributions: Constructing and Personalising Workplace Learning Opportunities 99

4.11 Employers' Perspectives on Their Employees' Abilities and Dispositions 100

4.12 Individual Workers' Dispositions Facilitate the Workplace Environment 101

4.13 The Workplace as a Site for Access to Learning: the Contested Domain of 'Adult Basic Skills' 103

4.14 Participation and Motivations to Learn 103

4.15 Employees and Environments: Reciprocal Relationships 105

4.16 Towards a Social Ecology of Learning 107

4.17 Formal and Informal Workplace Learning 107

4.18 Informal Learning 109

4.19 Theory and Practice 111

4.20 What About Flexibility and Mobility of Labour? 113

4.21 Summary and Conclusion 116

5 Living at the Margins and Finding Ways to Work 119

5.1 Being Unemployed in Changing Social Landscapes 120

5.2 Social Exclusion and Lifelong Learning - New Policy Discourses 121

5.3 Educational Interventions and Responses 122

5.4 Exclusion - Becoming Detached from The 'Social Mainstream' 123

5.5 Unemployed Young Adults: Empirical Encounters 124

5.6 Unemployed and Underemployed Adults: The UK Context 127

5.7 Lifelong Learning and Unemployed Adults 129

5.8 Non-formal Learning and Widening Participation 131

5.9 Outcomes of Non-formal Learning 132

5.10 Recognition of Non-accredited Learning Achievements 132

5.11 Community-Based Learning 133

5.11.1 The Adult and Community Learning Fund 134

5.12 The Potential of Situated Learning: From 'Communities of Practice' to 'Learning Communities Centred on Practice' (LCPs) 135

5.13 Situated Learning and Competence Development 136

5.14 Improvement of the Situation of People Threatened with Social Exclusion - Limits and Possibilities 138

5.15 Cultural Values and the Ways in Which These Are Reflected in Policy 142

5.16 Summary and Conclusions 144

6 Gender, Work and Learning 147

6.1 Young Adults' Awareness of the Influence of Gender on Life Chances 148

6.1.1 Leipzig: Men Have the Upper Hand 148

6.1.2 Women Have to Prove Themselves 149

6.1.3 Prejudice and Stereotypes 150

6.1.4 Tackling Non-traditional Roles 150

6.1.5 Gender Issues Come to the Fore in Employment 151

6.2 Patterns of Experience in the English City Region 152

6.2.1 Career Orientation 153

6.3 The City Region in Western Germany 154

6.3.1 Career Orientation 154

6.3.2 Future Prospects and Plans 155

6.4 The City Region in Eastern Germany 155

6.4.1 Opportunities and Discrimination 155

6.4.2 Career Orientation 156

6.5 Comparison Across Areas 156

6.6 'Gender Autonomy' and Social Responsibility: Challenges for Work and Vocational Learning 159

6.6.1 Rethinking Key Competences 160

6.6.2 The Typical Cases 161

6.6.3 The Exceptional Cases 162

6.6.4 Gender Autonomy 165

6.6.5 Furthering Gender Autonomy 167

6.7 What Is Possible to Change Through Vocational Education and Training? 169

6.8 Summary and Conclusions 171

7 Participation, Social Life and Politics 175

7.1 Social Dynamics, Experience and Participation 176

7.2 Self-Confidence, Independence and Responsibility 178

7.3 'Flexibility' and Critical Engagement 180

7.4 Students' Participation in Politics 185

7.4.1 Work Values and Activities Outside Work 188

7.5 Education for Citizenship in Adult Life 190

7.6 Summary and Conclusions 195

8 Beyond Individualisation: Human Strivings for Control of Their Lives 199

8.1 Exploring Human Agency: Comparative Life Transitions Approach 200

8.2 Effects of Increased Perceptions of Risk on Transition Behaviours 204

8.3 Perceptions of Individual Responsibility and Reactions to Systemic and Political Changes 205

8.4 Individualisation Revisited 207

8.5 Adults' Experiences of Working Life and Learning 207

8.6 Changes in the Experience of Work 208

8.7 The Individualisation Thesis Revisited 210

8.8 Agency and Feelings of Control 211

8.8.1 Conceptual Schema for Structure-Agency 212

8.9 Understanding Social Regularities and Individual Action 215

8.10 Shared Experiences of Gender 216

8.11 Shared Perspectives on 'Race' Ethnicity and Nationality 216

8.12 Agency and Performance in Working Lives 218

8.13 Evolving Approaches to Understanding People as Agents in Life and Work 221

8.14 Summary and Conclusions 225

9 Systems and Societies in Transition: Challenging Inequalities, Choosing Inclusion 227

9.1 Neo-Liberalism and the Logic of Markets 228

9.2 Human Capacities and Forces for Change 230

9.3 'Rhine Model Versus Anglo-American Model' 232

9.4 Risk, Social Polarisation and Personal Agency 234

9.5 Challenging Inequality, Choosing Inclusion 237

9.6 The Discourses of 'Uncertainty' 239

9.7 Individual Responsibility, Mutual Responsibility, Social Responsibility 241.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781402097584

1402097581

140209759X

9781402097591

OCLC:

297148310