Policy Press
Six Lifelong learning trajectories and the two dimensions of change over time
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Abstract
There is another, perhaps more precise, way of examining the four main lifelong learning trajectories discussed in Chapters Four and Five. They can be broken down into two components. The first refers to participation in education and training immediately after passing the compulsory school-leaving age. The second comprises those forms of participation that occur later in individuals’ lives as adults (Gorard et al, 1998c).
In terms of our learning trajectories, therefore, a non-participant clearly registers neither component; a transitional learner only the first; a delayed learner only the second; while a lifelong learner has both.
In initial support for this model, it is striking that the number of episodes of participation in adult learning, the number of years spent in education and training, and the percentage of each respondent’s life spent in education and training for the lifelong learners is almost the exact sum of those for the delayed and transitional learners (Table 6.1). It is as though a lifelong learner is a combination of a transitional and a delayed learner.
By dividing the respondents into two equal-sized age cohorts, it is also possible to gain some indications of changes over time in the social determinants of these two components of participation, as the two cohorts reflect patterns of participation at different historical periods (see Gorard et al, 1999a). Table 6.2 shows that the major change in terms of patterns of participation over time has been a large increase in transitional participation (immediately after passing the official school-leaving age). There has not been an equivalent change in later-life participation (participation after a break from education until individuals are at least 21 years of age).
Abstract
There is another, perhaps more precise, way of examining the four main lifelong learning trajectories discussed in Chapters Four and Five. They can be broken down into two components. The first refers to participation in education and training immediately after passing the compulsory school-leaving age. The second comprises those forms of participation that occur later in individuals’ lives as adults (Gorard et al, 1998c).
In terms of our learning trajectories, therefore, a non-participant clearly registers neither component; a transitional learner only the first; a delayed learner only the second; while a lifelong learner has both.
In initial support for this model, it is striking that the number of episodes of participation in adult learning, the number of years spent in education and training, and the percentage of each respondent’s life spent in education and training for the lifelong learners is almost the exact sum of those for the delayed and transitional learners (Table 6.1). It is as though a lifelong learner is a combination of a transitional and a delayed learner.
By dividing the respondents into two equal-sized age cohorts, it is also possible to gain some indications of changes over time in the social determinants of these two components of participation, as the two cohorts reflect patterns of participation at different historical periods (see Gorard et al, 1999a). Table 6.2 shows that the major change in terms of patterns of participation over time has been a large increase in transitional participation (immediately after passing the official school-leaving age). There has not been an equivalent change in later-life participation (participation after a break from education until individuals are at least 21 years of age).
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures iv
- Acknowledgements vi
- Preface vii
- Contemporary policies for a learning society 1
- Lifelong learning trajectories 15
- History, place and the learning society: the case of South Wales 31
- Patterns of individual participation in adult learning 43
- Families and the formation of learner identities 65
- Lifelong learning trajectories and the two dimensions of change over time 87
- The role of informal learning 105
- The learning society and the economic imperative 121
- The impact of policies to widen participation 135
- The prospects for a learning society 145
- References 157
- The research sites 179
- Index 185
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures iv
- Acknowledgements vi
- Preface vii
- Contemporary policies for a learning society 1
- Lifelong learning trajectories 15
- History, place and the learning society: the case of South Wales 31
- Patterns of individual participation in adult learning 43
- Families and the formation of learner identities 65
- Lifelong learning trajectories and the two dimensions of change over time 87
- The role of informal learning 105
- The learning society and the economic imperative 121
- The impact of policies to widen participation 135
- The prospects for a learning society 145
- References 157
- The research sites 179
- Index 185
