LEARNING FROM LIFE Gert Biesta University of Stirling

1. LEARNING FROM LIFE Gert Biesta University of Stirling the ‘Learning Lives’ project: a 3-year longitudinal study into the ‘learning biographies’ of adults (25 and older) using a life-history methodology “Tell me about your life” a particular way to ‘listen to learners’ and a particular way to understand learning in life (as learning from life) 3 steps: the truth about learning learning from life listening to learners: voice and choice

2. THE ‘TRUTH’ ABOUT LEARNING there is no learning there are no learners there is no lifelong learning ‘learning’ is a retrospective concept ‘learning’ is a normative concept to refer to something as learning can only be done after the event; to call something learning implies a value judgement about what counts as (good, worthwhile) learning ↓ see the struggle over what counts as learning (and who pays for it) in the field of adult education

3. ‘learning’ is not an activity but a judgement about change ↓ therefore people cannot be ‘engaged in learning’ (but they can be engaged in studying) ↓ people can be students but not learners lifelong learning is not inevitable (unless on an empty definition of learning); all depends on what counts as (good, worthwhile) learning and who is able/allowed to define what counts as learning ↓ we can refuse to be lifelong learners

4. LEARNING FROM LIFE learning in life ↓ learning in formal education settings (‘formal learning’ – often linked to assessment); informal learning (both inside and outside formal settings) life stories often recount formal education and less often informal learning many stories reveal another kind of learning: an understanding of, insight in, or even conclusion about the life (self and world) with significance for how people lead their lives: learning – identity - agency

5. THE ROLE OF STORY AND NARRATIVE many people tell stories about their lives, but not all stories are the same ↓ they differ in ‘quality’ ↓ a different ‘learning potential’ and a different ‘action potential’ life story/storying as a ‘site’ for learning? intensity of the story: confined or elaborate quality of the story: descriptive – analytical – evaluative ↓ an account of events or an attempt to ‘make sense’

6. FROM STORY TO NARRATIVE: THE ROLE OF PLOT a plot: the organising principle in a story which gives meaning and coherence to the elements of the story ↓ a plot is the way in which the life story – and hence the life as storied – makes sense for the story-teller ↓ evidence of learning from life Russell Jackson: engineer – conversion experience – priest – relationship/divorce – adult educator ‘priest’ = ‘the person I intended to be’ this sense of identity gives meaning to all other events in his life story (being closer or more distanced from this ‘core’ identity)

7. the story-teller is not always aware of the plot ↓ the efficacy of life stories/narratives: what people can do with their life stories ↓ can they use them to learn (learning potential)? ‘narrative learning’ ↓ consequences and conclusions or ‘caught in the story’ Paul Larsen (after 3 hours of talking): “I never tire of this.” Christopher Leith: “I think that the story of my life through the work that I've done, there's something for me to learn from it, I feel that somewhere.” “Sometimes I think what is that telling me; what is life inviting me to do next. That's a learning.”

8. the learning potential of life storying is not fixed ↓ over the course of the project some people became more familiar with the ‘genre’ of life story/storying ↓ narrative learning can be learned flexibility ↓ some people have ‘strong versions’ of their life story and stick to them; others have more flexibility in their life-storying ↓ both can be functional: ‘moral compass’ & ‘adjustment to changing circumstances’

9. narrative learning can be a resource for responding to change ↓ the ‘action potential’ of life stories/storying ↓ agency: the ability to give direction to one’s life ↓ the role of ‘imaginative distancing’: exploring alternative futures and ‘communicative evaluation’: judgements about alternative futures the experience of participation in the Learning Lives project: provided (unique) opportunities for constructing, telling and evaluating life stories (and hence for narrative learning)

10. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS what follows if it is granted that narrative learning can be an important resource for life? improving the capacity for narration and narrative learning? ↓ narration is less a capacity and more a practice ↓ providing opportunities for narration: story telling as social Is this only about individual stories about individual lives? need to make the connection between ‘private troubles’ and ‘public issues’ → the political dimensions of agency ↓ the ‘voice and choice’ agenda

11. CONCLUDING REMARKS narrative learning as a particular way to learn from life through story telling (construction of life narratives) ↓ a particular way to ‘listen to learners’ & valuing a particular dimension of lifelong learning ‘voice’ → but always voice-in-context (private troubles/public issues) ‘choice’ → choice from a set menu, or influencing the meny “We want democracy, not choice (Mr Blair)!”

12. THANK YOU www.learninglives.org www.gertbiesta.com Paradigm Publishers, 2006 – Pluto Press UK