Learning and Doing

Autor/in	Thompson, Jane
Titel	Learning and Doing
Quelle	In: Adults Learning, 16 (2005) 10, S.11-12 (2 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0955-2308
Schlagwörter	Citizenship; Lifelong Learning; Adult Learning; Adult Education; Popular Education; Social Justice; Politics of Education; Foreign Countries; Educational Change; Social Integration; Educational Policy; Educational Practices; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Staatsbürgerschaft; Life-long learning; Lebenslanges Lernen; Adulte education; Adult training; Erwachsenenbildung; Adult; Adults; Education; Adult basic education; Befreiungspädagogik; Soziale Gerechtigkeit; Educational policy; Bildungspolitik; Ausland; Bildungsreform; Soziale Integration; Politics of education; Bildungspraxis; Großbritannien
Abstract	For those working in adult learning, supporting active citizenship has become one of those principles-turned-platitudes they like to recite, but they need to search hard in the small print of recent White Papers to be sure that the Government cares about the wider purposes of learning beyond functional training for employment. "Active citizenship" is one of those formerly radical terms that used to be associated with audacious grass roots energy, participatory democracy and progressive social change--in the days when adult education was considered to be "a movement" with organic links to some of the most influential social movements of recent times, such as the labour and trade union movement, the women's movement, the civil rights movement and the peace movement. It has now become a happy-clappy soundbite--like "empowerment", "participation", "social inclusion" and, most recently, "respect"--that New Labour routinely appropriates to pretend a radical-sounding approach to an otherwise authoritarian pre-occupation with micro-managing the potentially troublesome attitudes of the lower orders. When faced with a rather limited view and moralistic application of the language of participation and citizenship, it is worth considering what has been won and lost when those employed in adult learning talk about active citizenship. The conceptual shift, over the last 15 years, from adult "education" to adult "learning", has made a huge difference to what they actually "do". Instead of specialist teachers and enthusiasts, teaching a wide range of subjects, designed to stimulate and challenge a relatively wide range of people, the day job for most of them now entails enticing and cajoling the poor and other minorities into activities designed to make them healthier, more socially competent and more likely to get a job. Either that or processing the blizzard of paperwork routinely required to prove that the latest short-term initiative has been delivered on time, on budget, and in line with government targets. In this article, the author contends that it is about time adult educators get back in touch with the energy, commitment, and anger that fuels active citizenship and rediscover the educational potential and significance of popular social movements. After all, states Thompson, there is nothing left to lose. Education for pleasure has virtually disappeared. Education for activists in trade unions, community groups, and women's organisations has been regulated out of existence or readjusted to the requirements of the skills agenda. And education for the poor has everywhere become a condition of benefit, employment, or citizenship, designed to keep them busy. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	National Institute of Adult Continuing Education. Renaissance House, 20 Princess Road West, Leicester, LE1 6TP, UK. Tel: +44-1162-044200; Fax: +44-1162-044262; e-mail: enquiries@niace.org.uk; Web site: http://www.niace.org.uk/publications/adults-learning
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10