Learner agency and the curriculum: a critical realist perspective

Abstract

Agency, understood as the capacity to act independently and to make one’s own choices, is considered central to children’s development. Thus, education, and hence education curricula, have a role in the development of learner agency. While curriculum development is a key focus for educational theory, research, policy, and classroom practice, the potential implications of curriculum content selections for learner agency remain underexplored. Theoretically, this paper engages with critical realism, explaining how it can provide theoretical foundation for a more comprehensive view of learner agency and, by implication, more balanced curricula. Empirically, the paper draws on the findings from a content analysis of the national curriculum documents of four countries with relatively high scores in international comparative tables, England, Australia, Hong-Kong, and Canada, to develop a new typology of primary curricula. Based on the extent of emphasis placed on knowledge versus skills, values, and attitudes, three types of curricula were identified: knowledge-based, skills-oriented, and learner-centred. Due to its significant theoretical and practical influence globally, we focus on the knowledge-based model and its likely impact on students’ agency. We conclude by highlighting the importance of making learner agency a key orientation of the curriculum and suggesting directions for future research.     

Adult and community education in complex societies: reconsidering critical perspectives

In this contribution, I explore how critical pedagogical perspectives can inspire adult and community education practices. The central argument is that today, in contrast with the heydays of emancipatory practices and theories, the classical critical approaches need reconsideration. The paper explores how these approaches sometimes have a stultifying effect on the participants in practice. In line with the French philosopher Rancière, a perspective is explored that departs from emancipated participants rather than from participants in need of emancipation. The theoretical investigation is inspired by reflections on art practices that struggle with similar questions on emancipation as the field of adult and community education.     

A social realist perspective on student learning in higher education: the morphogenesis of agency

Contemporary critiques of student learning research call for new theoretical and methodological approaches. This article proposes a social realist approach to this research, using the morphogenetic theory of sociologist Margaret Archer. The applicability of this approach is demonstrated by reference to an empirical study of engineering students at a South African university, using narrative analysis. In the article itself, two narratives are given in some detail, illustrating the key outlines of the analysis. Students’ emerging personal identities are shown to be highly dependent on their social backgrounds, yet when in the university the possibilities for the morphogenesis of student agency are very constrained. A critical interrogation of these findings proposes that a true higher education should facilitate the development of an enlarged sense of agency for students.     

Issues in action learning: a critical realist interpretation

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the perspective of ‘critical realism’ has considerable potential for moving forward the theory and practice of action learning. The paper addresses three questions: (1) Does action learning emphasise the individual or the collective? (2) Can action learning be thought of as critical, but should it also be the subject of criticism? (3) What gets carried forward from action learning by way of learning? Critical realism is argued to be illuminative of these issues; this involves dealing with ontological questions – what is there out there to learn about – as well as epistemological ones – how can this be learned about. It also involves seeing the world as an open system with emergent properties rather than the predictable machine of the positivist approach and the ‘nothing but a sea of meaning’ of the extreme social constructionist approach. The conclusions are that: (1) Yes, it can, and should, focus on both. Individual and organisational foci (one form of the individual-collective question) for action learning are compatible and reconcilable, though often with difficulty. (2) Yes to critical approach of and from action learning, which is its true intent. Suggestions are made on how to do this in an ultimately constructive way. (3) There are several answers to this, the ability to learn, ‘mechanisms’ that can but may not necessarily work in future situations, depending on circumstance and ‘state of play’ information.     

New academics,new higher education contexts: a critical perspective on professional development

New academics entering higher education are especially vulnerable if teaching in a post-colonial classroom is not foregrounded as an explicit part of their professional induction. Drawing on a study of a professional development programme for induction to teaching, this paper explicates how six new academics confront specific challenges of exclusion, marginalisation, and alienation at institutional, faculty, departmental and classroom levels. Framed by critical and social realist theory, the study uses photo voice methodology to elicit new academics' critical insights in the ‘learning to teach’ frame. The paper asserts new academics must engage in ways that make explicit the racial, gendered and class-based constraints experienced in various university spaces. While the relevance and legitimacy of current professional development programmes depends on their ability to be responsive and socially just, the study also questions whether programmes alone can challenge deep systemic constraints that are reproduced through current university structures and culture.     

Absenting the absence(s) in the education of poor minority ethnic students: a critical realist framework

Absences, in terms of lacks, are identified by researchers as explaining factors of failure in inclusive education, for example, the absence of minority ethnic students’ native language from instruction. However, there is a lack of a clear framework against which to discuss issues of absence in the education of poor minority ethnic students. In this paper, I draw on the notion of laminated systems from Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism philosophy, in order to provide a conceptual theoretical tool for identifying and addressing absences in the education of poor minority ethnic students in a more structured and conscious way. This is done by drawing on qualitative empirical data, collected from a school with a high concentration of poor minority ethnic students in Cyprus, as part of a PhD thesis. Findings illustrate that absence(s) are interrelated and emergent features which occur in different levels of reality. Absences need to be identified and decided a posteriori for each case, whereas mono-dimensional, non-specific or ‘one-size-fits-it-all’ strategic actions should be avoided.     

Participation in adult education for community development: a critical discourse analysis of Training for Transformation

Participation has become so central to adult education for community development that even the World Bank supports participatory programming. This article analyses how participation is conceptualised in Training for Transformation (TfT), a Freirean-inspired curriculum used in international community development settings. TfT seeks to equip learners ‘to understand and take action in their world’, partly by shaping the curriculum itself. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the TfT curriculum, three interviews, and published TfT case studies, the study explores what kinds of involvement and control educators and curriculum developers intend in TfT. CDA elucidates who is included in the training and how practitioners position themselves vis-a-vis learners and other audiences. TfT implementation highlights the dialectic between idealised community participation and decision making in educational programming, and educators’ need and desire to develop curricular content. Specifically, within Freire’s early philosophy and the TfT curriculum, there is a tension between exploratory, participatory learning pedagogy rooted in dialogue, and animators’ intention to teach certain content and relay particular ideologies. This study highlights potential contradictions and complications in adult education for community development participatory discourses, and underscores the need for practitioners to consider what genuine participation entails and how best to cultivate it.     

自我导向学习及其与成人教育发展述评

自我导向学习孕育于成人教育,又推动成人教育的发展。自我导向学习对成人教育的发展影响巨大,奠定了成人教育学的学科基础,形成了成人学习的基本模式;澄清了成人学习认识上的误区,促进了成人学习研究的深化;推动了成人学习流派、学说的涌现和实践模式的建构。拓展理论基础、建构基本原理、加强课程领导和开发有效策略是自我导向学习在我国成人教育研究领域的发展趋势。     

Education in the Anthropocene: Ethico-moral dimensions and critical realist openings

Human-induced changes in planetary bio-geo-chemical processes have tipped earth into a newly-proposed geological epoch: the Anthropocene, which places moral and ethical demands on people regarding who should take responsibility for the well-being of people and planet, how, and why. Drawing generally on critical realist ontology, and more particularly on Roy Bhaskar’s concept of the person as a ‘four-planar social being’ living in the world as a laminated ontological whole, the article examines the dimensions of people’s ethico-moral engagement with the Anthropocene and considers what types of learning processes might enable people to understand, live in, and co-create this period known as ‘the Anthropocene’ in just, care-filled and—where necessary—transformative ways. The article points to the need for a radical re-orientation of education systems in the light of ethico-moral challenges that come to prominence in the Anthropocene, and argues for learning processes that nurture individual and collective moral agency through transformative, even transgressive, learning processes that are relational, humble, interdisciplinary, multi-perspectival, systemic, reality-congruent and contextually responsive.     

Enhancing curricula and learning environments using critical realist perspectives and approaches: a case study and critique

While critical realist (CR) ontological and epistemological perspectives and research approaches are becoming more widely adopted by higher education researchers, the scope of research is relatively limited, and novice researchers in the area still struggle to create rich, in-depth, and critical accounts of these approaches ‘in action’. This article provides an account of teacher-researchers’ exploration of these perspectives in the context of an important aspect their everyday teaching practice – the design of effective curricula and learning environments. The context is research that focused on the design, evaluation, and enhancement of learning environments intended to facilitate students’ development of design thinking expertise. The article outlines the researchers’ CR paradigm positioning and implications for methodologies used to gather, analyse, and theorise data about the response of design and business students to three iterations of a design thinking learning environment. The research involved action research that integrated survey, case study, and theorising methodologies. Examples of data, analyses, and explanatory theory are provided to give insights into specific research tasks and their outcomes. Possible explanations for the findings and their implications for attempts to enhance the learning environment are considered from a CR perspective along with challenges that deploying these approaches may entail.     

The governmentality of reconciliation: adult education as a community relations technique in Northern Ireland

Despite a successfully negotiated peace agreement in Belfast in 1998, tensions between different community groups continue to exist in Northern Ireland. This situation creates a governmental need to find solutions to problems such as segregation, inter- and intra-group violence and other forms of sectarian antagonisms. On the one hand, this is attempted by disciplinary measures such as ‘peace walls’ and an increased presence of state powers such as police and armed forces. On the other hand, community relations discourses remain a common refrain in Northern Ireland with their focus on a ‘conduct of conduct’ approach. In this article, I seek to understand adult community education through community relations initiatives and designated anti-sectarian courses as a governmental technology in Northern Ireland designed to change technologies of the self. The article highlights the possibilities for a way forward inherent in this approach and links community relations to broader contexts of policy developments in Northern Ireland.     

Structure and agency in learning: a critical realist theory of the development of capacity to reflect on academic practice

Theories of learning typically downplay the interplay between social structure and student agency. In this article, we adapt a causal hypothesis from realist social theory and draw on wider perspectives from critical realism to account for the development of capacity to engage in reflection on professional practice in academic roles. We thereby offer a theory of professional learning that explores how social and cultural structures and personal emergent powers combine to ensure variation in the emergence of such reflective capacity. The influence of these factors on professional learning is mediated through reflexive deliberation and social interaction, with the exercise of one's personal powers specifically identified as a stratum of social reality. We consider further the role of concerns, intention and attention in professional learning, drawing together issues that are rarely considered within the same theory. We thus offer a comprehensive account of professional learning, showing how a focus on structure and agency increases the explanatory power of learning theory.     

Investigating the enactment of social presence in blended adult education

ABSTRACT

Background

While open-cohort blended education programmes allow for accessible and flexible study trajectories, they may present social challenges to learners. Social presence is a possible a way of enhancing adult learners’ success. It can lead to an increased perception of community, which may result in lower rates of dropping out.     

Theorising participation in urban regeneration partnerships: an adult education perspective

While the policy approach in Urban Regeneration Partnership tends to be viewed as participatory governance using an urban studies lens, this article posits an alternative theorisation that takes an adult education perspective. We draw from Lefebvre’s notion of space, Engeström’s Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Holand et al.’s concept of positionality and social identity to theorise Urban Regeneration Partnership as expansive participation that acknowledges discursive struggle and contradiction in authentic democratisation. We argue for a multiscalar understanding of citizenship that attends to sociocultural conditions, challenges hegemonic spatial modalities and inculcates conditions for transformative agency. Our theorising is illustrated using data from a doctoral study examining one Urban Regeneration Partnership in the Republic of Ireland. Three themes emerged from the study: market-led discourse of transformation versus a narrative of community; rhetoric of empowerment versus the unequal positioning of residents, and the dominant hegemony of official knowledge versus community-based experiential knowledge. The article examines whether the academy can make a difference in people’s lives through challenging the prevailing orthodoxy, revealing unexamined assumptions and offering alternative frameworks for deeper understanding of the policy cycle in Urban Regeneration Partnerships.     

Critical religious education: highlighting religious truth-claims in non-confessional educational contexts

In this article, a religious education, which combines a respect for relevant critical demands, when analysing religious truth-claims, and a sensitivity to the need to avoid unwarranted criteriological constraints in the analysing process, is examined. Starting with an analytical comment upon Andrew Wright’s critical realist approach in terms of a ‘pursuit of truth’, the question of how to motivate epistemological analyses within religious education is raised and discussed with reference to three relevant sceptical arguments. These arguments are made objects of critical comments, and an illustration of pedagogical and methodological consequences is presented with reference to the new syllabuses for religious education in Sweden. Finally, a constructive re-interpretation of Wright’s approach is elaborated, and a critical position in relation to it is outlined.     

国外社区教育对我国学习型社区建设的启示

社区教育是建设学习型社区的主要途径。文章深入分析了国外社区教育的成功经验,提出我国建设学习型社区应采取加强立法、拓宽资金渠道、建立人才保障制度、充分利用社区公共资源、加强社区学院建设等来推动社区教育的策略。     

对成人教育中政治性教育的若干思考

成人作为已经参与社会公共生活的“公民”，必然同国家的政治架构发生政治关系，对成人教育开展政治性教育有利于和谐社会的构建。成人教育具有现实功能和经济发展作用，因此，在成人教育中开展政治性教育是完全可行的。方法和原则主要是：改变传统的灌输式的教育方法、开设政治学课程、开展思想政治教育，并坚持以人为本的原则。     

美国社区学院社区教育的发展与展望

转学教育、职业教育和社区教育是美国社区学院的三大主要职能,相对于前两种职能而言,社区教育是最后产生的,却是目前发展最为强劲的职能,它是社区学院开展成人教育、继续教育、终身学习、社区服务、社区为本的教育的重要形式.     

Differential outcomes of adult education on adult learners' increase in social inclusion

To date a significant share of the European population can be considered at risk of social exclusion. It has been argued that adult education programmes are a powerful tool to support vulnerable adults increasing their social inclusion. This study aims to answer the question if and which subgroups of vulnerable adults experience an increase in social inclusion after joining adult education programmes. The results of our study show that 46.3% of the participants experience an increase of social inclusion in terms of ‘activation and internalization’ and 41.0% experience an increase in ‘participation and connection’. Results show that foreigners and people who live together experience a higher increase on variables of ‘activation and internalization’ and ‘participation and connection’. Furthermore, results show that learners who received school education at a primary level and have no professional qualification experience a higher increase of social inclusion on a few variables of social inclusion.     

Towards flexible learning for adult learners in professional contexts: an activity-focused course design

This article argues for a flexible model of learning for adults which allows them to make choices and contextualise their learning in a manner appropriate to their own professional practice whilst also developing as a member of a learning community. It presents a design based around online ‘learning activities’ which draws on ideas of constructivism, collaborative learning and reflective practice. The model was developed for adult learning in Higher Education, and has been adapted and extended to a number of different programmes. Implementation of the model for the Teaching Qualification (Further Education) has been the subject of an interpretative evaluation using a multiple methods approach. Learners' experiences of this programme together with issues associated with the application of the model to other programmes are discussed.