Biographical learning – within the new lifelong learning discourse

Abstract

Biographical research is about how people's life courses develop through interaction between the individual subjectivity and the societal conditions. Learning is an important part of this interaction, and therefore biographical research of necessity includes a conception of learning. In this chapter, the author provides an overview of the theoretical understanding of learning in a biographical perspective. In the educational debate of the past 30 years – and especially during the most recent decade – the concept of lifelong learning has been sharpened strategically and functionally. The author looks at the social framework for lifelong learning – the macro-perspective. He presents a particular theoretical view on 'education in the lifespan', namely the concept of biographical learning – the micro-perspective. Biographical learning is embedded in lifeworlds that can be analysed under certain conditions as 'learning environments' or 'learning milieus'.