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Education, Lifelong Learning and the Transformation of Society
There is much anger in the world today. People rage against injustice and inequality. Tempers flair as we struggle to protect the planet. Societies change and evolve and our values are transformed over time.
Many practices such as slavery, colonialism and capital punishment were deemed acceptable in the past and considered abhorrent by today’s standards. Our current laws on discrimination and tolerance were hard fought and did not come about without argument and persuasion. Even with these, we know there is still much to do.
The progressive process of transforming values in society is essentially an educative endeavour. Consider how our collective values have changed, even in the course of, for example my own lifetime: My eldest sister had to leave her job when she got married, it was ok to hit children in school, homosexual acts were deemed criminal offences and university fees excluded many from achieving their potential. The situation today is not perfect but it has improved considerably.
However, we do not live in some privileged time when our values have evolved to a pinnacle. We continue to question how we live with each other and strive to make it better.
In this vein, it is not unreasonable to assume that at some point in the future our understanding of the purpose of education and the nature of lifelong learning will be transformed.
Today, many people think of education as simply a process of preparation: as the preparation of the young for adult life, or the unskilled to become competent, or of human capital in the interests of the supply of labour. Despite its prevalence, this is an impoverished view of education and a flawed model of learning.
Education involves more than preparation; as we learn we are already participating. Our world is transformed by journeys from peripheral to central areas of practice, from novice to expert and from passive acceptance to deep questioning of shared values.
Two significant UNISCO reports, Learning to Be (Faure 1972) and Learning: The Treasure Within (Delore 1996), affirm the transformative power of education on the lives of individuals and societies as a whole. The so-called ‘four pillars’ derive from these documents:
Learning to know,
Learning to do,
Learning to live together,
Learning to be.
These statements go beyond the purposes of education to embody the values that underpin the transformative power of lifelong learning.
Notice how they build and connect with each other. “Learning to know” is perhaps the most obvious and commonly associated with the preparation model of education. In recent times we are increasingly aware of “learning to do” as an important function of vocational and professional education. However, it is only when we connect these with “learning to live together” and “learning to be” that we grasp the progressive nature of learning.
In ‘learning to live together’ we are challenged in a different way – to recognise and respect all other people and to share our competence and collaborate for a better world.
Through these actions – learning to know, do, and live together – we move toward the goal of ‘learning to be’. Each person achieving their full potential.
This is the ultimate aim of education and lifelong learning. Perhaps at some time in the future these values will be shared by everyone. That’s the power of transformative learning!
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Learning, Participation and After Virtue
What makes a good person?
This is an old and important question. Philosophers and theologians through the years have sought an answer including Aristotle, Aquinas, Hume, Kierkegaard, Newman, Nietzsche and others.
Alasdair MacIntyre provides a useful analysis of the history of thinking on this question and the current state of moral philosophy in his books After Virtue (1984) and Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (1988). MacIntyre argues that a full understanding of moral philosophy today is constrained by failure to appreciate historical context.
He proposes a disquieting scenario to illustrate what he deems the state of affairs today. Imagine, he suggests, through some terrible catastrophe all the scientists in the world were wiped out and with them the thinking and practice they engaged in. Some time later, when people seek to revive science they would only be partly successful; they would have to rely on clues from remnants of documentation, pieces of laboratory apparatus and a scattering of folk ideas. The practice of science would be gone.
Although MacIntyre uses this vista to illustrate how, he believes, we have lost the way (and means) of moral philosophy, he is also making a point about ‘practice’. Human activities directed and sustained toward a particular goals are practices. Thus science and its sub-fields are practices, as are many of the activities we engage in such as medicine, engineering, academic scholarship, the arts and sports etc.. MacIntyre (1981a p30) makes clear his understanding of practice:
By a ‘practice’ I am going to mean any coherent and complex form of socially established cooperative human activity through which goods internal to that form of activity are realised in the course of trying to achieve those standards of excellence which are appropriate to, and partially definitive of, that form of activity, with the result that human powers to achieve excellence, and human conceptions of the ends and goods involved, are systematically extended.
To me, this conceptualising of practice, internal goods and the extension thereof resonates with work by Davidov, Engeström and other proponents of Activity Theory and Learning as Expansion. It is also consistent with the arguments I make (Casey, 2013) that the ultimate goal, purpose and direction, or telos, of learning is toward participation in practice. MacIntyre argues that ‘internal goods’ are always shared and belong to the practice. Internal goods act for the betterment of practice. I think this is what we mean when we use phrases like ‘in the service of Science’ or for ‘contributions to Agriculture’.
In order to answer the question of what makes a good person you would need to provide a context. A good scientist would be a person who extends the practice of science through participation and the realisation of internal goods particular to science. A good person today (in a general way) participates. Through participation we share in the development of, and are in the service of, societal practices. What is virtuous today differs from what was considered virtuous in the past. Why? Because practices have evolved and extended. Our understanding of issues such as climate change, world hunger, human rights and even ‘how we learn’ are the internal goods of the present time. With that in mind I’ll leave the last word to MacIntyre on his definition of a virtue:
A virtue is an acquired human quality the possession and exercise of which tends to enable us to achieve those goods which are internal to practices and the lack of which effectively prevents us from achieving any such goods.
MacIntyre (1981a p32)
References
Casey, L. (2013). Learning Beyond Competence to Participation. International Journal of Progressive Education Special issue: Educating for Democracy and the Process of Authority, 9(2), 45-61. Available from http://goo.gl/Pg0T3O
MacIntyre, A. (1981). After Virtue: A study in moral theory (London, Duckworth).
MacIntyre, A. (1981a). The nature of the virtues. Hastings Center Report, 11(2), 27-34.
MacIntyre, A. C. (1988). Whose justice? Which rationality? : Duckworth London.
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Richard Hannaford An Extraordinary Teacher
Some people are natural teachers.
I don’t mean ‘teachers’ in the everyday sense as in those who work in schools or colleges. I mean people who show us things and who we learn from in all manner of ways.
Richard Hannaford was such a person. I noticed this many years ago when I first met him as my sister Norah’s partner and later husband. Over the years I became more convinced this was the case, never more so than in the weeks leading up to his untimely death one month ago.
Richard probably did not realise that we were all learning from him and I know that he would be somewhat embarrassed at the idea of being described in this way. However, I think anyone who knew him would agree that with every encounter, on each occasion involving Richard, we came away with some new insight, something extra to make us better.
One thing we learned from Richard was the art of conversation. He cherished discourse and grasped the importance of listening to other voices and respecting different views. For Richard, discussion was an opportunity to see the world in a different way, as others see it. A frequent phrase he used was “do you think so?” For sure, he too always had something to say but it was never rash or trivial, he cared deeply about justice and social issues. When Richard spoke you knew he had been thinking beforehand.
We also learned from the many small things he did. To put it succinctly, he had very good manners and was always polite. However, these were just the outward evidence of something altogether much deeper. Richard had a very real sense that we share this life, this planet, with others. So, when he smiled and shook your hand, when we wore one of his lovely shirts, when he sang his party songs and laughed and even when, at Maire’s 50th party, knowing what he was facing, he roared out in glee “It’s so good to be here” again and again we learned from him. We learned to live our lives to the fullest extent but to remember always that we share the world with others. Manners are a way of recognising this.Without doubt there were two special people who Richard shared his life with and he never missed an opportunity to remind us of this. I don’t know how many times he would say how lucky he was to have met and fallen in love with Norah. He was never reserved about expressing his love for her. As for his son Dara, he readily admitted that when he was born it was the happiest day of his life. With Dara and through Dara we see the greatest evidence of what an extraordinary, natural and skilful teacher Richard was.
Think of Richard when you listen to these lines written by Confucius around 2500 years ago:
When a superior man knows the causes which make instruction successful, and those which make it of no effect, he can be a teacher of others. Thus in his teaching, he leads and does not drag; he strengthens and does not discourage; he opens the way but does not conduct to the end without the learner’s own efforts. Leading and not dragging produces harmony. Strengthening and not discouraging makes attainment easy. Opening the way and not conducting to the end makes the learner thoughtful. He who produces harmony, easy attainment, and thoughtfulness may be pronounced a skillful teacher. – Confucius, Book XVI – HSIO KI (Record on the Subject of Education)Richard was a skilful teacher and Dara and Norah and everyone who knew him will continue to learn. It is very appropriate that we planted an oak tree today in his memory. The oak tree was the symbol of knowledge in ancient Ireland. In Irish it is known as Daire. It will grow here in the Phoenix Park a place that has a powerful resonance for all our family. The phoenix is also associated with the symbolism of rebirth from ashes.
The small tree grows under the shade of the older one and the cycle of life and learning continues.
Richard Hannaford RIP
Richard (with the lovely shirt), Maire, Norah and Leo -
The Disengaged Student
In the further and higher education sectors we often come across the phenomenon of the disengaged student.
Typically a small number of students who register for a course seem to drift away – they are characterised by poor levels of engagement in class, infrequent attendance and lack of compliance with assignment deadlines. This is very frustrating for all concerned and inevitably it leads to trouble – failed assessments, repeats, appeals, reviews, etc..
All this seems to happen like a car crash in slow motion; we can see the inevitable outcome from a long way out and there seems nothing we can do about it.
By treating students are adults we recognise that they need to take responsibility for their own learning. Higher education is not compulsory and parental influence on learning should be much less than in school. This presents a dilemma educators and parents; on the one hand we want students to succeed but we also need them to succeed ‘on their own’. Too much interference and students never learn to take control; on the other hand, too little support and they drift into dissengagement.
I think part of solution could involve a new component called ‘Learning to Learn’ that would be regarded as essential for all incoming students. The intended outcome is quite straight forward – the student will become self-directed in their approach to learning.
How can this be taught? It is surely not easy! Well it may be more straightforward than we expect. I suspect that the strategies would involve some combination of the following:
- Start from where student’s are at now. If they have just left school then they are used to being told what to do and what is expected of them. They will not find it easy to suddenly be told that ‘everything is left up to you’ in college. Yes self-derecteness is the desirable attribute for the college graduate but we have to recognise that incoming students have not had an opportunity to learn this skill.
- Assess early, assess frequently and make it count. From the onset every student needs to be able to receive valuable feedback on how they are doing and most importantly, feedback needs to be accompanied by clear advice on how to improve.
- Encourage active discussion on ‘engagement’ – don’t develop or convey a sense of ‘it’s none of my business if you don’t show up’. When a student misses a class ask where they have been and is everything ok.
- Get students to do peer assessment. Yes get student’s to correct each others work. This may need to be formative only (i.e. not counting for grades) but it provides an opportunity for student’s to understand assessment criteria and structures.
- Get student’s to teach each other and to study together. This will not happen spontaneously so groups may need to be formed and guidelines proposed.
- Give student’s goal-oriented targets stating explicitly what they need to achieve rather than time-oriented targets such as how many hours they need to study.
- Get student’s to contribute to the design of assessments.
We will always have some percentage of students who become disengaged but using the strategies outlined above we may be able to keep that number to a minimum.You May Also Like
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Plato’s Meno
Plato’s MenoOne of the first accounts of the troublesome nature of learning outcomes is given in Plato’s Meno.
Plato used a series dramatically constructed dialogues as vignettes to illustrate philosophical points he wished to make. In the Meno Plato describes a conversation between Socrates, Meno (hence the title), a slave boy and Anytus.
Meno puts the following problem to Socrates:
“Can you tell me, Socrates, can virtue be taught? Or is it not teachable but the result of practice, or is it neither of these, but men possess it by nature or in some other way?”
Socrates and Meno proceed by agreeing that whereas they would recognise instances of virtue, as actions or as a quality in a person, it is difficult to know the essence of what it means to be virtuous.
So herein lies Meno’s paradox how can we recognise examples of virtuous behaviour while not knowing the entirety, or the common form, of the concept. In other words, how can look for something (a form of knowledge) when we don’t know what it is?
The important point is that Meno’s initial question on how we learn virtue inevitably draws us toward a conceptual examination of the meaning of virtue itself.
In the end the pair fail to resolve the mater and later in the dialogue Plato (through Socrates) goes on to provide a theory of knowledge based on pre-existing memory and the use of questioning as a means of recollecting what was there in the first place.
Socrates uses a series of questions to elicit a mathematical proof from the slave boy as a means of illustrating his point.
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Learning Outcomes
Where we find learning outcomes
All learning outcomes are descriptive, they are attempts to capture in a series of statements the results and consequences of instruction or experience.
For anyone taking on a course of study, particularly a third level course, they are likely to want access to a description of that course and the modules associated with it.A key part of any such course or module description will be a series of statements that define the purpose and intent of the learning involved – these are known as the “Learning Outcomes”.Learning outcomes can be defined at all levels of course participation:- Programme Level Learning Outcomes are statements that describe the range, depth and kind of knowledge and competence expected of a student on completion of an entire programme such as a degree or a diploma.
- Module Level Learning Outcomes are statements that describe the knowledge and competence expected by the student on completion of a particular module or subject area within a programme.
- Class Level Learning Outcomes are indications of what is expected to be achieved by the students on completion of a specific class or tutorial session.
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Uncategorised
Earthquake!!
Maire and I have just experienced an earthquake! We are here in San Diego for the weekend after the SITE conference. We had just been on a boat tour of the harbour and at some time before I was due to pick up a rental car. We decided to go to Borders bookshop to have some coffee and relax. Unusually I ordered frozen coffee and a cake – as they often do the server took my name and said he’d call me when it was ready. I heard “Leon” and presumed it was for me and made my way to the counter.
Woo! Woo! Woo! the earth began to shift. Maire got very flustered. I was a bit calmer. But the experience lasted maybe 30 seconds. It’s a very strange feeling. I experienced it once before in Athens in 1980. This was more sustained.
The intercom in the store asked us to leave. Contrary to what we’re supposed to do I made sure to collect my rucksack. People were very orderly as we all left the building. Outside we stood for several minutes while those with iphones checked their apps for updates. I remembered I had a camera and took some footage posted below. You get a sense of the nervous laughter and the very professional manner in which the Borders manager informed us of what was happening.
For the rest of the day people here were a bit on-edge. Yes the Californians may be used to tremors but this was big enough. We watched some of the news channels and realised that there were several quakes. At time of writing no one seems to have been injured. -
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Weekend in Paris to “Sea the Stars”
Ryanair have a lot to answer for.
A few weeks ago Eamon, a good friend of mine, rang me to say that he had spotted cheap flights to Paris for the last weekend in September – the Arc weekend.Eamon and I both had busy Septembers so this was great timing for a short break.
Our main interest was the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe, perhaps the most prestigious race for top grade horses and this year something special was on the cards as Sea the Stairs an Irish (John Oxx) trained horse was on to complete a remarkable run of group one wins.
What this horse achieved in winning this race has never been completed before and without doubt makes him the most valuable horse in the world – watch and enjoy!
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Learning Italian Together (translated by babelfish)
La mia moglie Maire ed io ha deciso di imparare insieme l’italiano questo termine.Poichè siamo entrambe l’implicato nella formazione abbiamo pensato che fosse una buona idea imparare insieme la lingua.Dopo che molto cercando abbiamo trovato che il nostro istituto universitario della comunità locale ha fatto funzionare un corso di sera su Wednesday’ s alla volta che ci ha stato adatti.Ho mancato i primi due codici categoria dovuto altri impegni ed in modo da ero molto di scuse quando ho unito per la prima volta ieri il codice categoria.L’insegnante era fantastico – una giovane donna italiana molto amichevole che ha un regalo naturale come insegnante.Era grande – sono un principiante completo e con Maire (chi non aveva mancato i primi due codici categoria) abbiamo lottato con le introduzioni di base, vocabularly e la grammatica.Arrivederci per ora LeoMy wife Maire and I decided to learn Italian together this term. As we are both involved in education we thought it would be a good idea to learn the language together.
After much searching we found that our local community college ran an evening course on Wednesday’s at a time that suited us.
I missed the first two classes due to other committments and so was very apologetic when I joined the class for the first time yesterday.
The teacher was fantastic – a very friendly young Italian woman who has a natural gift as a teacher.It was great – I am a complete beginner and with Maire (who had not missed the first two classes) we struggled through basic introductions, vocabularly and grammar.
Bye for now
Leo
