The politics of ‘lifelong learning’ in post‐1997 Hong Kong

This article is concerned with the politics of lifelong learning policy in post‐1997 Hong Kong (HK). The paper is in four parts. Continuing Education, recast as ‘lifelong learning’, is to be the cornerstone of the post‐Handover education reform agenda. The lineaments of a familiar discourse are evident in the Education Commission policy documents. However, to view recent HK education policy just in terms of an apparent convergence with global trends would be to neglect the ways in which the discourse of lifelong learning has been tactically deployed to serve local political agendas. In the second part of this paper, I outline what Scott has called HK’s ‘disarticulated’ political system following its retrocession to China and attempts by an executive‐led administration to demonstrate ‘performance legitimacy’—through major policy reforms—in the absence of (democratic) political legitimacy. Beijing’s designation of HK as a (depoliticized) ‘economic’ city within greater China must also be taken into account. It is against this political background that the strategic deployment of a ‘lifelong learning’ discourse needs to be seen. In the third section of this paper, I examine three recent policy episodes to illustrate how lifelong learning discourse has been adopted and has evolved to meet changing circumstances in HK. Finally, I look at the issue of public consultation. The politics of education policy in HK may be seen to mirror at a micro‐level, the current macro‐level contested interpretations of HK’s future polity.     

Concepts and practices of education and adult education: obstacles to lifelong education and lifelong learning?

Over the last half century, in varying degrees and under various names, there has been much interest in learning throughout life for everybody. Although what has been written has stressed its necessity and feasibility, little has been achieved. As is common to all things educational, it has lagged behind the times. Little considered and highly resistant among the obstacles to it are the current concepts, institutions and practices of education. The widespread, systematic study of education in the 19th century grew out of the need to train teachers required by the introduction of universal primary schooling. Concentration by teacher trainers on this task, and their struggle to establish their subject as a coherent discipline to be taught in institutions of higher education was such that the prevailing view of education came to be restricted not merely mainly, as hitherto, but only, to the upbringing of children and young people. Rejecting this view of necessity, adult educationalists have sought for their own field academic recognition as a discipline, emphasizing their differences from initial education. Study of current educational writings from many countries shows that the reconciliation of these two positions, necessary to lifelong education, has not gone very far. Consideration of what might be done to create a process and a habit of lifelong learning for all on the basis of current practice and theory of initial education and adult education, of which lifelong education can only be a contributory element, will require fundamental changes in both. There are few signs so far of the political will and the sense of urgency that will apparently be required.     

Lifelong learning: The dialectics of “lifelong educations”

This article examines the emergence of different patterns of lifelong education and at the same time gives an overall view of how the various contributions to this special issue add to our understanding of the process of change that is taking place in the educational arena. The article is structured around three main themes. First, it addresses the changing relationship between initial education, adult education and the general learning environments. As the author shows, these three elements form a complex and interacting web of influences, which can be fully understood only as a totality. Secondly, under the heading of The Dialectics at work behind and in education, the article discusses such factors as the changing patterns of employment and non-working time and the disparity between social demand for education and the institutional response. Thirdly, the author deals with the economy of lifelong learning and the changing role of the state in education. Overall, the author presents a picture of profound and widespread transition, in which many different types of learning society are emerging.

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel untersucht das Auftreten unterschiedlicher Bildungsmuster im Bereich lebenslanger Bildung und gibt zugleich einen Gesamtüberblick darüber, wie verschiedene Beiträge zu diesem Thema unser Verständnis für den gegenwärtig im Erziehungsbereich stattfindenden Veränderungsprozess erhöhen. Dieser Artikel gliedert sich in drei Hauptthemen. Erstens geht er auf die sich ändernden Beziehungen zwischen einer Erstausbildung, Erwachsenenbildung und allgemeinen Lernumgebungen ein. Der Autor zeigt auf, daß diese drei Elemente ein komplexes und interagierendes Netz von Einflüssen bilden, das nur in seiner Gesamtheit vollständig erfaßt werden kann. Zweitens diskutiert der Artikel unter der Überschrift die angewandte Dialektik vor dem Hintergrund der Bildung und in der Bildung selbst Faktoren wie Veränderungen von Arbeitsplatz und arbeitsfreier Zeit und die Diskrepanz zwischen dem sozialem Bedarf an Bildung und der institutionellen Antwort darauf. Drittens behandelt der Autor die wirtschaftliche Seite des lebenslangen Lernens und die sich ändernde Rolle des Staates in der Bildung. Insgesamt präsentiert der Autor das Bild einer tiefgehenden und weitreichenden Übergangsphase, in deren Verlauf viele unterschiedliche Arten von Lerngesellschaften auftreten.

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Résumé Cet article examine l'apparition de différents modèles d'éducation permanente et explique également en quoi ce numéro spécial nous permet de comprendre les processus de transformation qui ont lieu sur la scène éducative. L'article est structuré autour de trois thèmes principaux. Il aborde en premier lieu l'evolution des liens existant entre éducation initiale, éducation des adultes et environments éducatifs. L'auteur démontre que ces trois éléments forment un édifice complexe d'interactions réciproques qui n'est vraiment compréhensible que considéré dans sa totalité. Il discute ensuite sous le titre Processus dialectiques en éducation divers facteurs tels que la mutation des modèles d'emploi et de temps hors travail, ainsi que la disparité entre la demande sociale en éducation et la réponse des institutions. Enfin, il se penche sur l'éducation permanente d'un point de vue économique et sur le nouveau rôle de l'Etat en matière d'éducation. L'auteur brosse avant tout le tableau d'une transformation profonde et générale qui donne naissance aux formes de société éducative les plus variées.

     

The role of metacognition in reading‐accuracy learning and instruction

Abstract

Effective metacognition powerfully supports actioning of complex tasks. The complexity of English orthography makes mastery of reading accuracy (word identification) an extremely complex task. At‐risk readers thus are likely to benefit greatly from effective metacognition of reading accuracy. Optimal reading‐accuracy instruction involves development of conceptual, procedural and conditional knowledges, evidenced in concept and skills development, strategy usage and metacognitive actioning. It is considered likely that metacognition of reading accuracy and metacognition of cognitive processing both support reading‐accuracy mastery in children with reading disability. Student metacognition (baseline and learned) and the role of instructional scaffolding as metacognitive supports are considered integral aspects of skill mastery and generalisation. Needs for research on metacognition in reading‐accuracy development are discussed.     

The evolution of the European Union’s lifelong learning policies: an institutional learning perspective

The EU’s lifelong learning policy has emerged as an overarching educational reform policy intended to address a wide range of issues, including education, employment and competitiveness. The question has been raised as to whether the resulting policy is merely a catch‐all concept that can be applied to any needs or whether it is underpinned by a comprehensive concept and strategy. This article advances the notion of institutional learning as the selective adoption by organisations of characteristics or policies from other organisations, as opposed to the wholesale homogenisation suggested by institutional isomorphism. Based on our periodisation of international lifelong learning policy, this article argues that a complete historical analysis of the discourse on lifelong learning, coupled with an analysis of the European Commission’s institutional learning from others will give a more appropriate picture of what contributed to the current conceptualisation of lifelong learning.     

Canadian and US adult learning (1945–1970) and the cultural politics and place of lifelong learning

This essay examines adult learning in Canada and the USA (1945–1970). It explores this emergence in relation to moves to establish academic adult education as a cultural force that could help citizen learners to negotiate a way forward amid the collision of instrumental, social, and cultural change forces altering life, learning, and work in the emerging postindustrial society. In this regard, it focuses centrally on lifelong learning as an idea designed to have broad appeal in rapid-change postindustrial culture. In particular, it attempts to explicate a cultural politics of lifelong learning, which academic adult educators hoped would give the field a higher profile within what they perceived to be an emerging change culture of crisis and challenge. Two key factors are considered in these deliberations. First, this essay explores the relationship between public education (understood as schooling for children) and adult education. It takes up how this problematic relationship interfered with a post-war turn to lifelong learning. Second, it examines the shift in the meaning of the social in understanding adult education as social education in postindustrial society. It argues that the post-war discourse of democracy delimited this meaning, locating the social predominantly within a concern with preserving the dominant culture and society.     

Comparison of learning and study strategies of traditional and open‐learning‐system students in Turkey

This study compares the learning and study strategies of the students of the Faculty of Administrative Sciences of Cukurova University taking traditional on‐campus courses and those at the Open Learning Faculty of Anadolu University following an open learning programme. The evaluation was based on the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI), developed by Claire E. Weinstein (1987), together with a separate questionnaire to elaborate the findings.

Findings reveal that students of both groups have considerably lower scores, especially in the affective domain, in relation to the other college students answering the same items in previous evaluations. However no important difference has been found between the groups belonging to the traditional and open learning systems evaluated in this study.     

Lifelong learning and the low‐skilled

This article is a combined result of a three years research project on low‐skilled learners’ experiences as participants of various kinds of adult training and education in Denmark, and the findings of a three years research consortium on workplace learning, summing up and generalizing our various findings as to how low‐skilled adults function in relation to participation in training and education activities, how they feel about it, what is important to them, and consequently what works in practice in relation to this very important but often neglected group of adult learners.     

Going with the flow: First‐cycle higher education in a lifelong learning context

Abstract

Higher education is in flux as governments around the world seek to use it as an instrument to enhance national economies, and the half‐life of knowledge steadily decreases. Lifelong learning is presented as critically important to the development of human capital, but its implications for first‐cycle higher education have yet to be fully appreciated. It is argued that first‐cycle higher education is evolving in the light of changes in the relationship between the academy and employers. Students’ part‐time work is a significant component of their experience in higher education, yet its potential for learning is generally under‐exploited. The argument is made that part‐time work can be drawn into the formal curriculum without prejudice to traditional academic concerns, particularly if a lifelong learning perspective is taken.     

Assessment preferences,learning orientations,and learning strategies of pre‐service and in‐service teachers

The importance of developing effective learning strategies and motivational beliefs has been widely acknowledged as a way of meeting the demand to acquire lifelong learning capabilities for successful functioning as professionals in the ‘information age’. The study reported in this paper examined the learning orientations and strategies of prospective teachers as well as their assessment preferences and compared them with those of in‐service teachers. The Motivated Learning Strategies Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Assessment Preferences Inventory (API) were used to test the hypothesis that in‐service teachers will exhibit a deeper approach to learning and assessment due to their constant engagement in meaningful learning experiences. The results confirmed the hypothesis and their implications for teacher education programmes were then discussed.     

More than nickels and dimes: the health benefits of a community‐based lifelong learning programme for older adults

In Canada, as in many countries, public continuing education of the non‐vocational general interest type for people in post‐work languishes on the margins of political discourse. This case study of one such traditional program for seniors run by a school board in Ontario explores the experiences of older adults and the meanings they attach to their learning. The goal is to better understand the roles and effects later life learning has in promoting health and well‐being at both the individual and community levels. This study analyzes qualitative data collected through interviews, classroom observations and documents, referring to the micro, meso and macro levels of theory in adult education, psychology, health and social gerontology. The three main learning outcomes identified include: 1) the effects of enduring interest, 2) classrooms as social support networks, and 3) the awareness of the right to learn. The article examines how these outcomes function as health promoting mechanisms for individuals and communities. The results indicate the vital role played by affordable and accessible public continuing education program for retirees, especially seniors at risk. They also suggest the need for further quantitative research to measure the impact of learning on health and the quality of later life.     

The influence of wait‐time on classroom learning

This study describes a lesson in which students engaged in inquiry in evolutionary biology in order to develop a better understanding of the concepts and reasoning skills necessary to support knowledge claims about changes in the genetic structure of populations, also known as microevolution. This paper describes how a software simulation called EVOLVE can be used to foster discussions about the conceptual knowledge used by advanced secondary or introductory college students when investigating the effects of natural selection on hypothetical populations over time. An experienced professor's use and rationale of a problem-based lesson using the simulation is examined. Examples of student misconceptions and naïve (incomplete) conceptions are described and an analysis of the procedural knowledge for experimenting with the computer model is provided. The results of this case study provide a model of how EVOLVE can be used to engage students in a complex problem-solving experience that encourages student meta-cognitive reflection about their understanding of evolution at the population level. Implications for teaching are provided and ways to improve student learning and problem solving in population genetics are suggested.     

The negotiation and co‐construction of meaning and understanding within a postgraduate online learning community

There is an increasing development of courses and course components taught through teaching and learning dialogues online yet there is little secure knowledge regarding the educational quality of these dialogues. Drawing on contemporary sociocultural research, this paper adapts a well‐established analytical framework (see Mercer, 1995 Mercer N (1995) The guided construction of knowledge: talk amongst teachers and learners Clevedon Multilingual matters  [Google Scholar]) that has been developed to understand face‐to‐face educational dialogues to the context of asynchronous electronic conferencing. The work reported is derived from an in‐depth case study of a tutorial group of 11 students enrolled on a course within the Open University's MA in Open and Distance Education. The course was taught online to an international cohort of students from wide‐ranging academic backgrounds. The analyses of electronic conference archives presented here focus on understanding the students' online collaborative work and the ways in which they constructed meaning, negotiated shared understanding and supported each other in the process of learning at a distance. The implications of the findings for educational practice are considered.     

Improving learner outcomes in lifelong education: formal pedagogies in non‐formal learning contexts?

This article explores how far research findings about successful pedagogies in formal post‐school education might be used in non‐formal learning contexts – settings where learning may not lead to formal qualifications. It does this by examining a learner outcomes model adapted from a synthesis of research into retention. The article first introduces the model. It then explores this model to identify pedagogy suitable for formal education. Next it asks whether this pedagogy may also be appropriate for use in four non‐formal learning contexts: community development; adult literacy; workplace learning; and personal interest learning. While it gives a qualified ‘yes’ to the question, it acknowledges some shortcomings in the pedagogy for non‐formal adult learning. Finally, the article attempts to address shortcomings by integrating a critical dimension into the model, suggesting that learner outcomes in formal education could also benefit from the inclusion of this critical dimension.     

Transforming Chinese teachers' thinking,learning and understanding via e‐learning

The Developing E‐learning for Teachers (DEfT) project, a collaborative venture between UK and Chinese universities, has produced e‐learning modules for master's level programmes for in‐service high school teachers in China. E‐learning offers Chinese teachers new and innovative forms of professional development and provides for transformative learning. The paper investigates teachers' online learning experiences and how e‐learning facilitates teacher transformation from three perspectives: the ‘learner‐centred perspective’, the ‘knowledge‐centred perspective’ and the ‘community‐centred perspective’. The paper concludes that e‐learning, while not without some caveats, is a feasible solution for the training needs of serving Chinese teachers.