Life-wide Learning Research Articles

Chasing Meaningfulness in Spanish Physical Education: Old and New Features

Purpose: The meaningful physical education (PE) approach aims to prioritize meaningful experiences for and with learners. However, most of the previous literature has been produced in a particular context: English-speaking countries. Thus, the goal of this study was to analyze positive experiences in Spanish PE using this approach. Method: A qualitative research approach based on open-ended questions was implemented among 454 preservice teachers. A modification of the reflexive thematic analysis approach was adopted to include the Meaningful PE features. When responses did not fit into any of the existing features and clustered around new themes, we proposed new features. Results: Positive experiences were predominantly explained by the features of the Meaningful PE approach, although some testimonies could not be categorized under the established features of this model, leading to the proposal of three new features: novelty, teacher interpersonal style, and relief. Discussion/Conclusion: These findings suggest the use of democratic and reflective pedagogies to connect with the needs of contemporary learners. By adopting this approach, it will be possible to make PE a site for inclusion and a life-wide learning space.

The Third Sector’s contribution to the implementation of adult education policies

The European Union’s policies on lifelong learning, initiated in the 1990s, have significantly influenced the development of Italy’s legislative framework in this area. This paper presents the key findings from a series of collaborative research projects conducted between Roma Tre University and the National Forum of the Third Sector. Undertaken between 2016 and 2023, these participatory studies focused on experiential learning among individuals employed within these organisations, as well as methodologies for competence recognition. The research on experiential learning has elucidated that all human activities can serve as learning opportunities, provided individuals engage in reflective practices to derive meaning from them. Within the contexts of lifelong and lifewide learning, the validation of non-formal and informal learning offers significant benefits for adults, fostering personal, social, civic, and occupational development, while reducing barriers to re-entry into formal education systems. For initiatives within non-profit organisations aimed at facilitating validation processes, a deeper understanding of the competences cultivated through such experiences is essential. The presence of recognised standards is deemed a crucial formal prerequisite for validation. The frameworks emerging from the presented studies demonstrate that activities within the Third Sector primarily promote the development of transferable competences, crucial for both enhancing technical–professional skills and fostering conscientious and proficient conduct in social and civic engagement. In this context, engagement in the Third Sector emerges as a catalyst for nurturing citizenship competences vital for navigating national and international transitions, promoting social cohesion, and advancing democracy. Through the findings of these studies, the Italian Third Sector has played a significant role in shaping public policies concerning lifelong learning and the validation of experientially acquired competences, notably regarding the incorporation of transferable competences into the National Repertoire. Additionally, some lines of action for influencing the implementation of validation policies at the European level will be discussed.

The multiple affordances of micro-credentials – turning potential into possibility

PurposeThe study aims to consider the multiple affordances of micro-credentials as a means of creating agency and making a positive contribution to the human experience, through the voices of practitioners and stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachMultiple case study, narrative inquiry, using Reflexive Thematic Analysis to identify themes was the approach used. Qualitative Descriptive Research is employed to present and analyse the re-told tales.FindingsMicro-credentials possess numerous characteristics which coalesce to create multiple affordances, which are identified as follows: Micro-credentials as: Urgent and Emergent, Critical and Transformative, Promoting Equity, Access and Participation, and Servicing Traditional Qualifications. These concomitant multiple affordances possess the core affordance of micro-credentials making a difference to the lives of learners. The more powerful affordances a micro-credential has, the more powerful it is and the greater the difference it can make to the human experience.Research limitations/implicationsPractitioners will arguably do well to consider these multiple affordances in the future development of micro-credentials. Equally, those working in urgent or emergent spaces, in critical or transformative areas of practice, those engaged in a social justice environment or in the re-development of curricula, would do well to consider micro-credentials as a means of creating agency in the development and recognition of knowledge and skills. This study has focused on the voices of practitioners and their storied professional lives. However, the learner voice is limited to one and the employer voice is absent. Future research will benefit from a consideration of the employer voice in the development of micro-credentials as well as the voice of the end user, the learner.Practical implicationsIt is hoped the study will assist practitioners in the judicious development of micro-credentials that possess agency and make a positive contribution to the human experience.Social implicationsIt is hoped the study will shed light on how micro-credentials can afford equity, access and participation to priority learners, and to all learners, in the development of cognitively manageable, affordable, time-achievable micro-credentials, that enable learners to see success quickly, whereby encouraging them to further their life-long and life-wide learning journeys.Originality/valueThis study unusually gives voice to practitioners and other stakeholders in the micro-credentials arena. Most studies to date have focused on the potential of micro-credentials. This study considers their actuality and new ways of ‘doing' micro-credentialing based on the voices of experience.

The transformational possibilities of liberal vocationalism: a case study of post-year 10 Outdoor Education in Western Australia

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the transformative potential that liberal vocationalism, aligned with contemporary visions of lifelong and lifewide learning, presents for outdoor learning across institutional and industry settings. Utilising Bernstein’s sociological theory, the paper explores this transformation through an illustrative case study of the relations, knowledges and identities of post-Year10 Outdoor Education in Western Australia (WA). The case study highlights how Outdoor Education in WA has been organised through distinct classificatory relations that exist between government, regulatory bodies and individual industry providers that serve to distinguish Outdoor Education from outdoor learning that is ongoing and able to be pursued by people of any age in many and varied learning contexts. These classificatory relations are shown to be reflected in established qualification and training structures, privileged knowledges and particular subject and learner identities. It is argued that consequently, current post-Year10 Outdoor Education provision has a generated a vision of outdoor learning and vocationalism that constrains learners’ access to and engagement with lifelong and lifewide experiences that can enhance their own and others’ lives. In response, three foci are presented that constitute a heuristic framework via which transformative possibilities can be progressed. The first focus calls for progressive relations between institutional education, industry and community stakeholders in the creative re-design of qualification structures and educational experiences. The second underlies the need for qualification and training structures to enable all learners equitable access to knowledges for lifelong and lifewide learning. The third argues for the construction of new therapeutic identities in Outdoor Education that enables learners to orientate towards an experience of outdoor learning that is autonomous and flexible in both theory and practice. The paper concludes by considering research and teaching directions that can facilitate the realisation of these possibilities.

A theology rhizome

This article contains suggestions to the Faculties of Theology in South Africa about an alternative way and direction to educate their students in this metamodern era. Because any learning in a specific profession implies lifelong and lifewide learning, the suggestion also includes the alumni of the faculties. This is all about rhizomatic learning, which involves both the educators and their students in an interactive and student-centred relationship where both parties act on an equal basis when deciding on the content and direction of the learning process for a specific year. It also involves the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and large language models such as ChatGPT. This is therefore an appeal to the educators of the Faculties of Theology in South Africa to become highly empowered resourceful online educators (HEROEs), also called recently minded educators (with no age restriction), taking a fresh look at the way in which they are currently teaching their 21st-century students and to maybe reconsider it in light of this article.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Good contemporary theological education would mostly result in good Theology students and good pastors. This article suggests an alternative way to teach our students in the current metamodern era. Rhizomatic learning fits into the technological era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as well as Education 4.0, Learning 3.0 and the posthuman era.

A landscape of practice approach to enhance employability: insights from domestic and international postgraduates

PurposeDrawing on a theoretical framework of sustainable career ecosystem theory, our paper aims to consider how domestic and international postgraduates can enhance their employability through participation in a landscape of practice.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed an exploratory, longitudinal case study design to capture students' lived experiences on an 18-month Master of Professional Practice course at a higher education institution in New Zealand. The data collection procedure involved field note observations (months 1–4), a focus group (month 13) and narrative frames (months 16–18). The sample was domestic students from New Zealand (n = 2) and international students from Asia (n = 5).FindingsOne’s participation in multiple communities of practice represents their landscape of practice and a commitment to lifewide learning. Through participation in various communities of practice, domestic and international students can enhance their employability in three ways: (1) boundary encounters to develop social capital, (2) transcending contexts to enhance cultural capital, and (3) acknowledging the development of psychological capital and career agency.Originality/valueOur work offers one of the earliest empirical validations of sustainable career ecosystem theory. Expressly, communities of practice represent various contexts whereby employability capital is developed over time. Additionally, the postgraduate students themselves are portrayed as interconnected and interdependent actors, presenting a novel framing of such dependencies at the micro-level of the ecosystem. The practical implications come from informing universities of the value of a landscape of practice to enhance the employability of domestic and international students in preparation for sustainable careers and to promote the sustainability of the career ecosystem.

“Lifelong and life‐wide learning in various contexts: From theory to practice” special issue

AbstractThe special issue, “Lifelong and Life‐wide Learning in Various Contexts: From Theory to Practice,” includes diverse manuscripts exploring learning environments and practices that shape the educational experience of people across contexts and at different stages of their life. It gathers pieces that include theoretical conceptualizations, critical analyses, and reflective counter‐narratives, effectively capturing our theme in captivating ways. For school psychologists and administrators to have a fully informed perspective on the nature of learning and factors contributing to students' overall development, understanding, and embracing lifelong and lifewide learning is essential.

Investigation of Public Education Center Administrators’ Life-wide Learning Habits in terms of Various Variables

The aim of this research is to examine the life-wide learning habits of public education administrators in terms of various variables. In this study, the survey model was used to determine an existing situation. The research population consists of public education center administrators working throughout Turkey. The sample of the research consisted of 393 public education center administrators working in public education centers in the 2022–2023 academic year. The stratified sampling method was used to determine the sample representing 7 regions of Turkey. The data of the study were obtained using the “Life-wide Learning Habits Scale”. In the analysis process, descriptive statistics were calculated for the whole scale and subdimensions. Independent group t-test was performed to compare groups according to gender and marital status. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether the life-wide learning habits of administrators differ according to professional seniority and educational status. The Tukey test was used to identify from which groups the differences between the groups originated. According to the results of the research, life-wide learning habits of administrators were at a high level. The life-wide learning habits of administrators differed significantly according to gender, marital status, and professional experience. It was determined that there was no significant difference according to the education status of administrators.

We can do it - Empowering learning.

We all need to adapt constantly in order to thrive in our ever-changing complex world. Thus, education and educators need to empower learners to develop a mindset and skills set of lifelong and lifewide learning. Papers from around the globe, reflecting the current drivers in education, were published in the FEMS Microbiology Letters virtual Thematic Issue 'Empowering learning' in October 2023. Its content is reviewed here to provide the context for further discussions within the professional community. The focus is on being inclusive, on lowering and removing barriers to learning, and fostering a sense of belonging. So learning communities can be established and connected in support of learning with and from each other for societal benefit, and this is discussed. Authentic learning approaches are highlighted with respect to the inherent opportunities for learners to take ownership for their learning, yet learn collaboratively, and develop resilience over time. Supporting learners in becoming self-regulated and realising their full potential, is truly worthwhile.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategies Adopted in a European University Alliance to Facilitate the Higher Education-to-Work Transition

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted higher education, imposing the need to add new strategies to academic educational models to facilitate young people’s transitions from education to work. Among the new challenges, the research study focuses on the importance of valuing and incrementing inclusion, raising awareness of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) strategies and policies. Many universities have yet to develop inclusive processes and cultures that provide equality of opportunity for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, physical ability, identity, and cultural background. Since 2019, the European Commission has financed “European Universities”, networks of universities creating international competitive degrees that combine excellent study programmes in different European countries. Today, 340 institutions in 44 European University Alliances (EUAs) promote European values and identity and revolutionise their quality and competitiveness to become the “universities of the future”. This article proposes a comprehensive approach to promote EDI within the EUA “ULYSSEUS” involving Spanish, Italian, Austrian, French, Finnish, and Slovakian universities through micro-actions to apply EDI principles at the project level. The authors will frame the theoretical basis of the experience through documentary analysis and their academic expertise in promoting strategies connected with the European values enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union: pluralism, tolerance, justice, solidarity, non-discrimination and equality. Implementing these values through visible micro-actions could document and counteract the disadvantages underrepresented groups face in academia. In the mid-term, the experience had by the students in the EUA could facilitate the higher education-to-work transition, allowing them to replicate their EDI-related experience as students to their future roles as citizens and workers. The outcome could thus contribute to a life-wide learning perspective for a more inclusive Europe in the long term.

Through and Beyond COVID-19, Promoting Whole Person, Lifelong and Life Wide Learning

The Covid-19 pandemic significantly affected what was originally classed as ‘normal’ for everyone across the world and will undoubtedly continue to impact on the everyday lifestyle and well-being of the general-public for years to come (Frampton, 2021). All the education sectors were affected, and the polytechnic sector was no exception. As the Government moves through and beyond Covid-19 with an agenda firmly rooted in developing skills, it starts to raise questions around widening participation, not just in terms of entry criteria, but also in terms of institutional readiness to support such diverse groups of learners using tailored whole person pedagogical approaches (Kim et al., 2021; McCoy, 2021). Furthermore, with the pandemic’s rapid acceleration of automation and ways of working, should the focus just be on skills? (McKinsey and Company, 2020; McKinsey Global Institute, 2020; Shepheard, 2020; The World Economic Forum, 2021). Or should there be a parity of esteem with other aspects and outcomes of whole person learning such as reflective practice, professional identity, attitudes, and behaviours which might be best nurtured and developed through both lifelong and life wide learning? As the world moves to a position of coexisting with Covid-19, could part of the solution to improving learner satisfaction and employability be through more person-centred programmes of study? This review paper argues that the solution is one that is achieved by increasing learner agency and creating a tailored study programme that is focused on the knowledge, experience, social and emotional needs of the learner. The long-term success of these approaches that are discussed within this paper are dependent on several factors outlined within the paper, which will require further inquiry.

Lifelong and lifewide learning for the perpetual development of expertise in engineering

ABSTRACT Increasing digitisation of engineering and social practices has altered the relationship between formal schooling and development of expertise for professional engineering work. What does the development of expertise look like when knowledge is generated and shared at an accelerated pace due to shifts in technology? In this paper, I present case studies of two early career software engineers. Using methodological insights from digital ethnography, I trace their professional journeys over two decades. I empirically demonstrate how the development of engineering expertise is a continuous and perpetual endeavour and engineers learn throughout their lives (lifelong) and across all the different spaces they inhabit at any given time (lifewide). I argue for extending engineering work practices research and research in engineering education more broadly to take larger timescales of learning into account to build a comprehensive understanding of engineering expertise development.

ON-LINE BRANCH INDUSTRY ANDRAGOGICAL ACTIVITIES – AN OVERVIEW OF QUALITY AREAS

Quality of branch industry andragogy (education of adults) has become an issue of importance, taking into account the necessity of lifelong and lifewide learning (LLL) and the essentiality of smart specializations. Due the COVID-19 pandemic, quality of on-line branch industry andragogical activities may prove to be a challenge. The main aim of the article is to analyze and systematize the quality areas concerning on-line branch industry andragogical activities, enabling verification of the assumed quality areas (i.e. means of communication/education/socialization, added value, verification of achievements by the user and feedback type for the andragogical activities organizer). The approach applied in the article is of descriptive-empirical nature. Research methods include induction, deduction and literature studies (the method of critical and comparative analysis was used). The article concludes with a suggestion of research on quality attributes, especially demanded in Poland.

Movies in Education: A Non-Formal Approach for Lifelong and Lifewide Learning

The cinematic language, in addition to acting as a persuasive mediator to be used in training contexts, can represent a meeting point between non-formal and formal education in the different lifelong-lifewide learning contexts. In this paper, the author specifies what we usually define as cinematic experience starting from the correlation between physical space (I’m going to the cinema) and visual act (I’m going to see a film).Then, he describes the components of the cinematic language (for example: long/full shot, plan américain/medium long shot, medium shot, medium close-up, close-up and extreme close-up, extreme wide, long/wide, etc.).Moreover, the author presents the psycho-pedagogical characteristics that are activated while participating in the viewing of a film. Finally, describes two examples of non-formal education through cinematic language. The first one refers to the Visualfest, a contest organized by the Department of Education of Roma Tre University, that aims to promote the dissemination of works created by scholars, teachers, students, educators and professionals who use images as a vector of knowledge. The second one is Co-Educa, an initiative of co-education, of alliance between the scholastic-editorial-cultural-scientific fields for the construction of a network of active subjects and the establishment of an authentic pedagogical agora.

Literacies across sponsorscapes: mobilising notions of literacy sponsorship

AbstractBuilding from the concept ‘sponsors of literacy', the authors revisit three empirical studies to argue for mobilising notions of sponsorship beyond fixed conceptions of individual sponsors and literacy to lifewide perspectives that take into account sponsoring relations across the broader learning lives of youth. The authors take up the theoretical heuristic ‘sponsorscapes' as a lens for attending to the dynamically networked, reciprocal and human‐material dimensions of literacy practices. With cases drawn from across settings and research foci, including middle school students in a classroom setting, high school‐aged youth across contexts and a participant‐researcher's interactions with a college student, the authors argue that attending to sponsorscapes can contribute critical insight into the emergent, diverse and valued literacies and sponsorship thriving across lifewide learning pathways, while recognising learners' agentive roles in investing, resisting and sponsoring literacies.

Study Preparation for Refugees in German 'Studienkollegs' – Interpretative Patterns of Access, Life-wide (Language) Learning and Performance

Study Preparation for Refugees in German 'Studienkollegs' – Interpretative Patterns of Access, Life-wide (Language) Learning and Performance

Lifewide learning in the city: novel big data approaches to exploring learning with large-scale surveys, GPS, and social media

ABSTRACT Despite UNESCO’s Learning Cities agenda, which argues for the mobilisation of resources to promote education across all sectors and environments, there is little evaluative research on Learning City engagement which is both naturalistic and empirically rigorous. The research on informal adult learning in urban contexts is particularly sparse. This paper provides a case study of informal learning and lifewide literacies amongst Glaswegian adults using three distinct approaches to data collection: a household survey capturing rich data on learning attitudes, behaviours, and literacies; GPS trails that track mobility around the city; and the capture of naturally occurring social media. The work operationalises Learning City indicators, and explores domains beyond education, some of which have not previously been considered in surveys of adult learning, for example, physical mobilities and transportation patterns. We use theoretical concepts of social identity and capital to situate inclusion within explanatory frameworks of marginalisation in less tangible domains of informal learning using multi-stranded data. A triangulated analysis of city-wide participation in lifewide learning reveals a demographic picture of groups marginalised from learning opportunities and practices. We conclude with a call for new approaches to exploring learning participation which offer novel methods to evidence informal learning and lifewide literacies.

Creating “Opportunity-Rooms” for Inclusion through Popular Education

In this paper, we take a closer look at five Norwegian initiatives from the Nordic project Folkbildning Norden, which is intended to contribute to a better reception of immigrants. Our question is in what way these initiatives provide “opportunity-rooms” for inclusion. The initiatives underline the recognition of lifelong and life-wide learning by linking informal and formal elements of learning—where the “free and voluntary” are tightly coupled with the “useful and necessary”. All the initiatives create inclusion through involvement, networking, trust, belonging, and language learning. The initiatives tell us that different “opportunity rooms” might be important gateways for inclusion in various social contexts. The initiatives also allow for a further discussion about possible advantages and potential of the voluntary sector regarding increasing immigrants’ opportunities for inclusion into the society.

A Sample Activity for Holding a Studio Art – Painting – Course in a Museum

Museums are the most effective settings for life-wide learning used in arts education. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of use of museums for educational purposes on a Studio Art – painting – course. In this study designed according to case studies technique, one of the qualitative research methods, a semi-structured interview form was used to determine students' opinions on the learning process. The study group of the research was composed of sophomore students from the Division of Painting Education of the Department of Fine Arts Education at Bartin University. A museum trip took place in this four-week study, after which students were requested to draw some oil painting. Following the hands-on work, students were interviewed, and their drawings were collected. Data obtained from student interviews were put into a descriptive analysis, and they were arranged according to the specific theme of each. Oil paintings created by students as part of the study were interpreted descriptively by consulting experts, too. The results showed that students were really enjoyed attending a course in a museum, drawing right there. Students stated that they were attracted and got excited by different activities and learning environments in general and by attending a course in the museum, in particular. Considering data obtained from the interviews, the positive contribution reported by students was also reflected on their oil paint drawings, which were the practical component of the study.

Lifewide or School-Only Learning: Approaches to Addressing the Developing World’s Learning Crisis

This cluster randomized controlled trial tested the impact of school-only and lifewide-learning (LWL) approaches to supporting early-grade learning over 2 years in rural Rwanda. We compare school-only and LWL treatments with a business-as-usual control condition and with each other. Schools in both treatment groups received reading materials and teacher training. LWL villages also received support to enrich home and community literacy ecologies. Student reading assessments, administered across 21 sectors (analogous to U.S. school districts), showed that both treatments positively impacted learning. LWL produced a greater impact, particularly in oral comprehension, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. However, nearly one third of the students lacked basic skills at endline, indicating that further efforts are needed to address the learning crisis in the least-developed countries.