The Call to Action by Rogers and Lifelong Learning - Assignment Example

Answers to Questions 1-16 Student’s Name: Course: Tutor’s Name: Date: Part A 1. What is Field’s definition of “lifelong learning”? Field (2006, p. 9) defines lifelong learning as the ‘recognition that learning may stretch out across a lifetime’. In other words, lifelong learning is more of a recognition or an awareness of the fact that learning starts at birth, and ends (at least in most cases) when one dies. 2. Indicate briefly the call to action outlined by Rogers Rogers (2006) states that lifelong learning should be used to: remedy deficits; overcome disadvantage; and enhance diversity. To remedy deficits, Rogers (2006, p. 129) suggests that lifelong learning should be used to ‘remedy the lack of education which many suffer today’. To overcome disadvantage, Rogers (2006, p.130) suggests that lifelong learning should be used to provide ‘learning opportunities for the excluded’, while to enhance diversity, Rogers (2006, p. 132) suggests that lifelong learning should become ‘socially transformative’. 3. What are the four key stages outlined by Schuller and Watson in the educational life course? i. Up to 25 years (young people) ii. 25-50 years (people who sustain productivity, and prosperity; build personal identities and family lives) iii. 50-75 years (despite the age, such people still need education and training opportunities). iv. 75+ years (people still need to learn even after retirement) The four stages are meant to deal with the lifelong learning needs of an ageing society and ‘patterns of paid and unpaid activity’ among people of different ages (Schuller & Watson 2009, p. 6). 4. Insert examples in the missing sections of this table from Maton & Muller. Table 1.0. The arena of the pedagogic device Field of practice Production Recontextualization Reproduction Form of regulation Distributive rules Recontextualizing rules Evaluative rules Kinds of symbolic structure Calculus Deriving dimensions from others; relating objects to others Didactic teaching Principal types Algebra, analytic geometry High school mathematics syllabus Problem solving Typical sites Senior schooling Working with dynamic concepts; experimenting; research Skills and competencies 5. How did Houghton and Sheehan view the composition of learning? ( “Learning involves both education and learning by doing, learning by using and learning by interacting”) Based on the quoted text, Houghton and Sheehan (2000, p. 9), perceive learning as multi-faceted, where education is just one of the aspects. Experimenting (i.e. doing), experience (doing) and learning from others through interaction are some of the other learning aspects implied by the two authors. The authors seem to support their indication that learning can occur informally through doing; using; and interacting by underscoring the importance of creativity, openness to change, creativity and problem solving are important skills in the knowledge economy. 6. In which quadrant of this diagram would we typically locate “…someone learning to get along better with their kids or spouse” (p. 10) and why? (one sentence should suffice) A person in the typical situation described above should fit in quadrant 4, since such a person would be relatively young, and the interactions with a child or spouse would be expected to occur in an informal setup. 7. Identify two socio-political goals of the program at Sojo and Rivera? ‘Framing mathematics as a weapon in the struggle for social justice’ and ‘creating opportunities for youth to be involved in political experiences and social movements’ are the two socio-political goals identifiable from Gutstein (2008, p. 12). Through the objectives, the maths projects in Sojo and Riviera provided learners with a political experience and a new form of social realization. 8. How does the sociocultural context determine what is learned and by whom? The socio-cultural context refers to aspects of the society such as demographics (i.e. age, gender, race, and ethnicity), globalization, and technology. When the three identified aspects converge, Merriam, Caffarella and Baumgartner (2006, pp. 21) indicate that they affect the kind of knowledge that is sought by members of a society, and the kind of learning they engage in. For example, in a society where the population is aging, it is the same people who would be expected to seek adult learning, in order to satisfy specific learning needs identified in their immediate socio-cultural environments. 9. Where do Finger and Asun surmise that adult education is heading? Finger and Asun (2000, p.132) imply that adult education is headed in the same direction as ‘the practices and discourses of the larger society’. Since the latter are shaped by the ‘market, competitiveness and survival’ adult education is clearly tied to the discourses of respective societies since it reacts to the same societal contexts hence becoming ‘a product of society more than it is a driving force of its transformation’ (Finger & Asun 2000, p. 132). 10. Fowler and Lee used the case study to describe the health knowledge gained by Sophie. Is this knowledge best described as: committed knowledge, knowledge relativism or new learning or some combination? Provide a brief justification? The situation described in Fowler and Lee (2007) indicates of a combination of committed knowledge (where Sophie believed she knew with certainty how she would breastfeed, and was hence straightforward in her answers, and in disagreement with those who suggested that maybe breastfeeding was not a certainty as she thought it to be); and the second part where knowledge relativism is portrayed. In the latter, Sophie is seen to develop the skills to deal with the complexities of breastfeeding, and looks at breastfeeding from a different perspective. 11. How did Murray view the role of education as a means of social justice? Because of its use alongside healthcare, one gets the impression that Murray (2010, p. 15) is suggesting that education is just as important as healthcare for purposes of attaining social justice. However, it is also evident that the writer has tied the ‘social’ concept to productivity and competitiveness, hence the passage can be interpreted that without education (and healthcare), it would be hard (or almost impossible) for the affected people to be competitive or productive, and this would be a social injustice to them. 12. Why is theoretical knowledge a socially powerful knowledge? Because when it is dislocated from ‘the system of meaning in which it is embedded’, it is transformed from principles and concepts into particularized knowledge which can be applied in real workplace roles and tasks (p. 211). In other words, theoretical knowledge equips one with the knowledge and skills needed to handle practical issues and roles in the work or social environment. 13. Describe the main agenda or the key point behind the thinking of the article by Nussbaum? The main agenda in Nussbaum seems to be pegged on the author’s conviction that education can either serve human development, or profit-making interests of a few but significant members of the society. The author suggests that teaching economic enrichment cannot be done while imparting democratic values in the learners, and hence since most of the education is intent on making economic successes of the learners, there is a possibility that the world could end up with a generation of value-lacking citizens in future. 14. How did Groundwater-Smith and Sachs consider that trust is maintained? Groundwater-Smith and Sachs (p. 345) consider social covenants that are based on ‘loyalty, fidelity, kinship, sense of identity, obligation, duty, responsibility and reciprocity’ as the ideal way of maintaining trust. The social covenants are contrary to social contracts, which promise gains or threaten people with external force (p. 345). Further, Groundwater-Smith and Sachs (2002, p. 345-6) indicate that those entrusted must warrant the trust through their behaviors, but even such trust can be eroded if too many rules and regulations are put in place. Part B 15. Indicate briefly how the new learning might affect the future of the educational context in which you work or in the field in which you have the greatest interest. As Kalantzis and Cope (2008, p. 12) indicate, there is no precise answer that can describe the shape that the new learning will take in the future. Specifically, the two writers argue that new learning will be a ‘series of open possibilities and agendas in the plural’ (Kalantzis & Cope 2008, p. 12). In this writer’s own view, Kalantzis and Cope (2008) are right in their predictions and especially in regard to the dimensions of education and learning. For starters, and in regard to dimension 1 (i.e. ‘The social significance of education’ (p. 15)), it is possible that education will continue being a central part of the knowledge society. Specifically, it is possible that education in future will seek to develop minds that can thrive in the uncertain postmodern world. As such, it can be expected that future education will seek to develop the confidence, curiosity, critical, and collaborative nature of learners’ minds. Most of the changes that are likely to affect education will happen because of the corresponding changes in cultural settings where learning occurs; the activities that learners engage in; and the corresponding discourse (Wells & Claxton 2002, pp. 1-2). The cultural changes could affect other dimensions of learning as identified by Kalantzis and Cope (2008, p. 15), since increased use of technology will decentralize the ‘institutional locations of learning’ even further, and the future will probably bring in new tools of learning hence making the teacher-student(s), student-student interactions more dynamic. Additionally, and especially in my area of interest – physics, the tools of learning will probably be more diverse, hence the possibility that the outcomes of learning will be more enhanced in the future. For example, Squire et al. (2004, n.pag.) observe that simulation is currently used in schools to ‘provide accessible ways for students to develop intuitive understandings of abstract physics phenomena’. Such usage of new teaching tools will probably increase and even become more sophisticated in future, hence making the teaching profession more potent, and the learning environment much more learner-friendly. Stevenson (2006, p. 1-2) probably captures the effect that the new learning will have in the future by creating a scenario for an imaginary student – Savannah, who in 2055 uses a ‘learning capsule’, which is a ‘a fully self-contained learning centre’. Through the telecommunication interfaces, the imaginary Savannah is able to access the best teachers, conducts virtual experiments, and connects with another student in Paris to practice her French. She chats with friends in Singapore, and communicates with a teacher located in the University of Cambridge. The heart of the imaginary situation by Stevenson (2006, p. 2) is that the ‘capsule and the learning materials’ used by Savannah and other students are provided free by the government, which no longer funds physical schools, and has instead chosen to support virtual learning as the more viable and cheaper form of education. While the imaginary scenario may seem too far-fetched at the moment, the possibilities of its realization in future are real. Such situations would then mean that ‘the significance of difference’, the ‘relationship of the new to the old’, and the ‘the professional role of the teacher’ dimensions as identified by Kalantzis and Cope (2008, p. 15), would no doubt attain new meanings in education which may or may not be too distinct from the current meanings. Overall, and in line with Aldrich’s (2003, p. 2) observations, it would be expected that new learning will affect the future of education by bringing about the ‘best practices, relevant news, simulations, performance tools for just-in-time learning, role models, mentors, experts, coaches, and fellow learners’. 16. Task: Evaluate a recent educational policy or practice. Critique it and where applicable review it in terms of its application to the future or its capacity to cope with change School Reform. Making every school a great school. Julia Gillard and Labor Julia Gillard and Labor (2010, p. 6) is a policy framework that promises to institute what it calls fundamental and new school reforms in Australia. Specifically, the policy framework states that it will carry on what it had started in the earlier administration namely: ‘my school website; national school curriculum; and national professional standards for teachers’ (Gillard & Labor 2010, p. 6). On re-election, Gillard and Labor promise to empower ‘local schools to give principals greater authority’, and to institute the ‘national trade cadetship’. Moreover, Gillard and Labor (2010, p. 6) promise some new reforms that would include ‘online diagnostic tools for parents and teachers’; ‘reward for school improvement program’, ‘Australian baccalaureate’, and ‘reward payments for great teachers’. Analyzing Gillard and Labor’s (2010) proposals against the eight dimensions of learning as presented by Kalantzis and Cope (2008) reveals the following: I. That indeed education is socially significant, so much that people seeking political leadership have to address it during their campaigns. The promises in Gillard and Labor (2010) happened at a time when the author and the party were seeking re-election in Australia. As such, they knew that addressing education matters would drive their campaign agendas further by appealing to the education stakeholders and the larger society. Such an approach is in line with Kalantzis and Cope’s (2008) observation that political leaders recognize the significance of education as ‘a crucial part of the fabric of the economic and social progress’. II. In their second dimension of learning, Kalantzis and Cope (2008) argue that the traditional ‘institutional locations of learning’ no longer serve as the only locations where learning takes place. Gillard and Labor (2010) seem to acknowledge such sentiments and have specifically indicated their intention to help teachers, students and parents to use online diagnostic tools to improve learning (Gillard & Labor 2010, p. 10). Through such a proposal, Gillard and Labor acknowledge that learning takes place at home too, that parents too can participate in educating their children, and that learning need not be constrained within classroom settings. Such recognition by Gillard and Labor also touches on the 3rd dimension, which Kalantzis and Cope (2008) identify as ‘tools of learning’. In the latter, and unlike traditional teaching methods, Gillard and Labor acknowledge the role that new technologies (e.g. online platforms) will play in advancing learning. III. Gillard and Labor’s (2010) proposal to involve teachers, parents, and students, and the proposal to give school principals more autonomy is in line with the eighth dimension – i.e. ‘the professional role of the teacher’ as identified by Kalantzis and Cope (2008, pp. 11-12), where teachers are painted as ‘autonomous, highly skilled, responsible managers of student learning’. IV. Gillard and Labor’s (2010) insistence of a national curriculum and standardized tests (My school), is in line with Kalantzis and Cope’s (2008) 7th dimension that implies that there is a ‘relation of the new to the old’. In other words, although there are new inclusions to new learning, components of the ‘old’ learning still exist. V. Gillard and Labor’s (2010) proposals for cadetship and the Australian Baccalaureate coincide with Kalantzis and Cope’s (2008, p. 9) 4th dimension of learning (i.e. ‘the outcomes of learning’) where the outcomes of learning are indicated to come from learning by doing and thinking. Additionally, the proposals by Gillard and Labor seem to be cognizant of the reality that Australia’s education system needs to be recognized elsewhere in the world, especially considering that students may need to work in the global market place in future. VI. Kalantzis and Cope’s (2008, p. 10) 6th dimension (i.e. ‘significance of difference’) is also reflected in Gillard and Labor through the proposal to carry on with standardized tests and recognition of best performing schools. VII. Finally, it is clear that the balance of agency (i.e. the 5th dimension) as identified by Kalantzis and Cope (2008) is reflected in Gillard and Labor (2010, p. 6) through the proposal of availing ‘online diagnostic tools for parents and teachers’, and enabling students to participate in cadetships. This means that the power balance between teachers and learners is not as tilted as it was before, and the involvement of parents and the skilling of learners would enable some semblance of power balance. Overall, as indicated elsewhere in this answer, Gillard and Labor were seeking re-election and thus the subject policy framework had been authored for purposes of increasing the education stakeholder’s appeal for the authoring political party and its candidate. The political side of the framework notwithstanding, it is evident that the eight dimensions of learning as identified by Kalantzis and Cope (2008) are reflected in the policy framework document. References Aldrich, C 2003, Simulations and the future of learning: An innovative (and perhaps revolutionary) approach to e-learning, John Wiley & Sons, London. Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) 2011, ‘Australian Qualifications framework first edition July 2011’, pp. 1-110, viewed 18 Oct. 2012, ___2010, ‘The Australian qualifications framework (pending MCTEE approval-late 2010)’, viewed 18 Oct. 2012, < http://www.aqf.edu.au/Portals/0/Documents/Australian%20Qualifications%20Framework%20-%20pending%20MCTEE%20approval%202010.pdf> Australian Qualifications Framework Council (AQFC) 2009, ‘strengthening the AQF: a proposal: Consultation paper’, viewed 18 Oct. 2012, < http://www.aqf.edu.au/portals/0/documents/022105r08_aqf_strengtheningtheaqf_a4_hr.pdf>. Field, J 2006, Lifelong learning and the new educational order, Trentham Books, Staffordshire; Virginia. Finger, F & Asun, J M 2000, ‘The Transformation of education: where adult education is going –or being driven towards’, In Adult Education at the crossroads: learning our way out, Zed, London. Fowler, C & Alison Lee, A 2007, ‘Knowing how to know: questioning ‘knowledge transfer’ as a model for knowing and learning in health’ , Studies in Continuing Education, vol. 29, no.2, pp. 181-193. Gillard, J & Labor 2010, ‘School reform – making every school a great school’, Australian Labor Party, pp. 1-18. Ground-water Sith, S & Sachs, J 2002, ‘The activist professional and the reinstatement of trust’, Cambridge Journal of Education, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 341-358. Gutstein, E 2008, ‘Reinventing Freire: mathematics education for social transformation’, pp. 1-16. Houghton, J. & Sheehan, P 2000, ‘A primer on the knowledge economy’, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Melbourne, Australia. Kalantzis, M & Cope, B 2008, New learning: Elements of a science of education, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, Victoria. Merrriam, S B, Cafarella, R S & Baumgartner, L M 2006, ‘The social context of adult learning’, In Learning in Adulthood: a comprehensive guide, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco Murray, G 2010, ‘Framing globalization and work: A research agenda’, Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 11-25. Nussbaum, M. C 2009, ‘Education for profit, education for freedom’, Liberal Education, pp. 6-13. Rogers, A 2006, ‘Escaping the slums or changing the slums? Lifelong learning and social transformation’, International Journal of Lifelong Education, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 125-137. Schuller, T., & Watson, D 2009, ‘Learning through life: inquiry into the future of lifelong learning’, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, Summary Report, Leicester. Squire, K, Barnett, M, Grant, J M & Higginbotham, T 2004, ‘Electromagnetism supercharged! Learning physics with digital simulation games’, Proceeding ICLS ’04 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Learning Sciences, pp. 513-520. Abstract. Stevenson, K. R 2006, ‘Educational facilities within the context of a changing 21st century America’, National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, Vermont Avenue, Washington D.C. pp. 1-20. Wells, G & Claxton, G 2002, Learning for life in the 21st century: Sociocultural perspectives on the future of education, John Wiley & Sons, London. Wheelahan, L 2009, ‘The limits of competency-based training and the implications for work’, In Field, J, Gallacher, J, Ingram, R (eds.), Researching transitions in lifelong learning, pp. 201-212, Routledge, London; New York. Read More