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Reflexivity, learning identities and adult basic skills in the United Kingdom

2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 27; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01425690600556461

1465-3346

Mark Cieslik,

Education Systems and Policy

Abstract This paper reports on the findings of a small qualitative research project that examined the experiences of a group of adult learners attending a basic skills programme in the English Midlands during the late 1990s. It explores patterns of participation on such programmes and illustrates that early life course experiences can shape changing dispositions towards learning and forms of (dis)engagement from formal provision. The concept of reflexivity is used to help describe the differing contributions that structural and agential processes make to this patterning of engagement with learning. Such an approach is posited as a development of the concepts of learning identity and learning career that have recently been used to understand participation in education. Acknowledgements The author thanks Andrea Abbas, Clare Ellis, Steve Miles and Don Simpson for comments on previous drafts of this article. Notes 1. Payne (Citation2003) has raised concerns on this issue suggesting that competency threshold scores reflect normative assumptions made by a community about ‘acceptable’ levels of basic skills. 2. These initiatives have included the reform of curricula, the qualifications framework, learning and teaching as well as the establishment of a national research centre for basic skills. 3. See also Cieslik (Citation2003a) (ESRC grant no. RES‐000‐22‐0331). 4. An emphasis on reflexivity does not suggest that learning careers are shaped by individual’s rational decision‐making alone—space precludes a more detailed analysis of the knowledgeability of actors and structuring processes. 5. The basic skills of students included those who required considerable help over years to achieve a good grasp of literacy (foundation level) and the more able (levels 1–2) who required 6–12 months of assistance.