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Ready to Learn – Taking the First Step
Oh I was just wondering have you got a moment, I just want to ask you about something‘ she had arrived at NCI reception and they suggested I might meet with her. ‘No problem at all‘ I assured her while thinking how much I had to do that afternoon. Five minutes later she sat in my office. She was very nervous and I thought I noticed a slight trembling in her voice. Her name was Susan. ‘It’s like this‘ she said ‘I was thinking of doing a course here but I am not sure if I’d be able for it‘. She went on to tell me her story. She left…
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Learning Identity and Learning Italian
In previous posts I spoke about learning identity. I emphasised that we all carry many (often unquestioned) assumptions about who we are and who we can be as learners. The notion of learning identity is proposed as a component of one’s overall self-identity. I argued that learning identity is often framed in one’s school years and can remain fixed through life especially for non-participants in further formal learning. In my own research on participation in the digital world I came accross learning identity as an important influence on people’s decisions to enroll on basic computer courses. The recurrent theme is captured in the phrase “I was no good in school”.…
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The Child Abuse Report – Adults now Children then
I can’t let this week go by without commenting on the publication of the report on abuses in the Irish education system by members of religious orders. The report was particularly scathing of the Christian Brothers. I went to a Christian Brothers school and indeed was walloped, slapped and beaten like many others. There was violence in my schooling but also lots of good stuff and on balance I got away lightly. In light of the report I wish to comment again on the phenomenon of Learning Identity – I talked about this in a previous blog. As you might expect my ‘learning identity’ is made up of two components…
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My Learning Identity
The term “identity” is widely used in many different contexts – we often speak or our national, cultural, linguistic or sporting identities. This multifaceted aspect of identity signifies that we should really think about our identities rather than a singular identity.There seems to be two ways in which we use identity in everyday life; firstly, we identify with a particular group or practice – in this we seek to belong or to be a part of something and secondly, we develop an internal notion of our own identity – this is self-identity – and it is often used to compare ourselves with others.It is not difficult to see how the…
