Learning in Later Life

Challenges for Social Work and Social Care

Trish Hafford-Letchfield

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781472431004
• eBook ISBN: 9781317106593
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Within the UK and Europe, government legislation and policies concerned with demography have asserted a paradigmatic shift towards the increased engagement of older people with public services. The philosophy of user involvement and co-production within these contexts has become integral to finding ways in which to improve the wellbeing of older people and their experiences of ageing well.

Whilst this area has been steadily emerging within the educational field in relation to the lifelong learning of older people, there has been a relative under-theorization and a lack of empirical research however into the lifelong learning needs, opportunities and experiences of those older people using social care who are typically marginalized from these debates and developments. This book address this gap by paying specific attention to examining what opportunities might be present within care services and public services in general for older people using social care to capitalize on the skills and knowledge they might need to achieve more person-centred support.

Through developing a debate and argument for the convergence of the lifelong learning agenda with social policy and social care, its core argument focusses on the challenge of sustainability of the care and support of older people. The author explores how social care could engage more meaningfully with concepts such as social capital and the challenges associated with achieving a genuine co-productive approach towards the quality of experience of older people using social care. This book will be an essential read for professionals working with older people in health and social care, as well as those engaged with gerontology and ageing studies in education and practice.

1 Theories of learning and pedagogies An introduction to key concepts

DOI: 10.4324/9781315591919-2

Introduction

This book is about learning in later life and the challenges for social work and social care, an area rich with potential for cross-disciplinary theoretical and practice development that may appeal to a range of audiences across social policy, education, ageing studies and the caring professions. In acknowledgement of this potentially diverse audience, this chapter sets out to establish a foundational basis from which we will begin to examine the relevant issues so as to paint a broader landscape with scope for developing an argument as to why learning is a meaningful concept in later life. There are complex relationships between lifelong learning, educational gerontology, policies on ageing and the development of professional practice with older people, all of which will be explored separately as well as being subjected to holistic synthesis within the subsequent chapters of this book. We start with the premise that the study of learning is itself a complex phenomenon. For example, there is no generally accepted definition of ‘learning’ as theories about learning tend to overlap; can be very traditional in their accepted forms; or as suggested in the introductory chapter, the very act of theorising about learning offers a means of exploring new possibilities for both its application and ways of conceptualising or thinking about later life. Beginning with a broad summary of the field of learning establishes an appreciation of its social, emotional, scientific and technical dimensions so we can later consider how these interact with the socio-political and economic environments. Also essential to the study of the concept of learning is the field of pedagogy or the study of teaching methods and examination of the aims of education and how educational or learning goals may be achieved. We habitually tend to depict learning and development as a vertical process aimed at elevating us as humans upwards to higher levels of knowledge or competence, but historical social movements such as those coming from the ideas of Paulo Freire (1972) onwards have demonstrated how educators should be fully conversant with the socio-cultural context in which we ‘teach’. Freire’s ideas constructed a complementary perspective to traditional thinking, namely that of horizontal or sideways learning and development (Engeström 2009) and placed people as the subjects of their own learning and fostered a partnership model. As we will see later in this chapter, ‘social pedagogy’ is another academic discipline used to reflects what society at a given time thinks about education and the life course, about the relationship between individuals and society, and about social welfare for its marginalised members (Galuske 2009).

Given that theories of learning and their pedagogies draw together knowledge and practice from disciplines such as sociology, psychology, educational philosophy, science and art and other humanities, key learning theorists discussed here are those who give a more holistic perspective about the way in which learning takes place. Learning theorists who locate learning within its socio, economic and political context suggest that it is a potential instrument capable of shaping and driving social change. Having such an overview serves to open up the core thesis of this book, which is the relevance and meaning of learning in later life and principally, the subsequent implications for knowledge, research and practice in social work and social care and for related professions.

Conceptualising learning

As stated earlier, learning is a complex matter and there is no generally accepted definition of the concept. Theories that you may have come across tend to overlap, refer back to well-known traditions in learning or try to explore new possibilities and ways of thinking. Traditionally learning has been associated with the acquisition of knowledge and skills but in recent years there has been a need to articulate a broad rationale for public and private investment in lifelong learning and a re-appraisal of the social and cultural value attached to it by policy-makers and the public in order to develop new perspectives alongside globalisation, technological and social change. In social work and social care for example, learning is often associated with individuals becoming ‘competent’ or developing ‘capabilities’ for professional practice (The College of Social Work 2012). At the organisational level, learning is seen as a necessary tool to facilitate the management of existing and future challenges in the work and its fields of practice. Workforce development strategies aim to facilitate the learning of its members through systems thinking, and an effective learning culture that follows a process that not only enables staff to develop and fulfil their potential but also enables the organisation itself to learn how to develop and evolve (Hafford-Letchfield et al. 2008). The critical characteristics of organisations that describe its capacity to learn from experience, adapt and transform itself in response to changing external conditions and as a means of remaining resourceful within a competitive environment is known as a ‘learning organisation’ (Gould 2000). A learning organisation is one that enables the liberation of learning from the political and administrative preoccupations of central government but is also able to recognise and accommodate the development of government and audit targets against which social care employees and their agencies are evaluated. Proponents of learning organisation theory write from within a commitment to humanist radicalism (Dovey 1997) and reflective practice (Jarvis 2001). It facilitates the connection between extending and disseminating knowledge to maintain and improve the standards of practice. It also consciously delivers opportunities to forge partnerships, for example with service users and the community, which provide support to improve the quality of services. Leaders and managers need to have a working knowledge of major theories of learning, particularly those that either explicitly or implicitly place experience at the centre of an organisation’s learning culture. Learning is therefore not limited to training events or courses but describes a set of processes located within the organisation where learning purposively engages with practice, is experiential and is achieved through shared problem solving and quality improvements. In many discussions around later life learning, the terms used to define it are used flexibly and interchangeably. Soulsby (2014, 181) for example offers the following definitions:

• Formal learning: learning typically provided by an education or training institution, structured in terms of learning objectives, learning time, or learning support and leading to certification. Formal learning is intentional from the learner’s perspective.
• Informal learning: learning resulting from daily life activities related to work, family or leisure. Informal learning may be intentional but in most cases it is not so.
• Nonformal learning: that often provided by non-educational organisations without accreditation or qualification as an intended outcome: it may be for leisure or other purposes. Nonformal learning is intentional. In the UK, the government has chosen the term informal learning to describe nonformal learning. However, the European Union includes learning provided by employers to enhance performance under the heading nonformal learning.

Earlier we mentioned the concept of a ‘learning organisation’ and this concept is related to the idea of the ‘learning society’, a movement that looks beyond formal educational environments, and to locate learning as a quality not just found in individuals but that forms an important element of systems where the social and situational orientation to learning is recognised. Faure et al. (1972) suggested that if learning involves all of one’s life, in the sense of both time-span and diversity, and all of society, including its social and economic as well as its educational resources, then going beyond what can be offered by educational systems alone provides the basis and aspiration for becoming what he termed the ‘learning society’ (xxxiii). Similarly Schön (1973, 28) talked about society itself becoming adept at learning by not only being able to transform our institutions, in response to changing situations and requirements, but by being able to invent and develop institutions that are ‘learning systems’; that is to say, systems capable of bringing about their own continuing transformation. Some of the work done by Schön explored the extent to which social movements and governments are in essence, examples of learning systems and the challenge is in how those systems could be enhanced. He suggests that conceptualising a movement towards the development and influence of learning systems is, of necessity, ‘a groping and inductive process for which there is no adequate theoretical basis’ (Schön 1973, 57). Together with Argyris (Argyris and Schön 1990) Schön went on to develop a number of important concepts with regard to organisational learning and the single and double loop learning already referred to above, which are further exemplars of the learning society.

The learning society (Hughes and Tight 1995) has been seen as an essential means of remaining competitive within an increasingly globalised economy and to improve individual and communal wellbeing. Edwards (1997) later identified three key strands in discourses around the notion of a learning society in which there is a shift from a focus on the provision of learning opportunities to one on learning. The first is portrayed as a product of modernism, the third as exhibiting a typically postmodern orientation. The second strand, with its emphasis on markets, economic imperatives and individual achievement, he argues, currently dominates.

Illeris (2007, 3) defines the concept of learning as “any process that in living organisms leads to permanent capacity change and which is not solely due to biological maturation or ageing”. This definition also implies that learning is something much broader and more complicated. The learning theorists we will consider here have enabled others to continue to innovate and construct the meaning of learning and adult education and theoretical understandings and application from different epistemological platforms. By building on the best of these constructions, we can generate continuous new insights and perspectives on both the nature of the learning process itself as well as the conditions that influence and are influenced by this process.

The process of learning

Learning integrates two very different processes, between the learner’s internal psychological process of elaboration and acquisition with their social, cultural or physical environment. Traditional behaviourist and cognitive learning theories focus on the first internal process whereas social learning theories draw attention to the external interaction process. Most theorists however recognise that both of these processes are significant and this is something we will see when we consider the needs and experiences of older people when they interact with services. Content is also important to the process of learning and what someone is intending to learn for example, specific knowledge and skills. This will be dependent on other incentives such as the individual or group values, attitudes, the meaning that they make of the learning content, the methods used, all of which help to build up the understanding and strategies of the learner and how they are directed.

A further dimension of learning lies in the form of incentives provided and how this directs the learner, which may in turn be affected by the content or conditions for learning. Illeris (2009) stresses this interactive dimension as one that provides the impulses that initiates the learning process. “This may take place as perception, transmission, experience, imitation, activity, participation etc…. and serves the personal integration in communities and society and thereby also builds up the sociality of the learner” (2009, 11).

There may be tension in these three fields and each dimension further involves both a mental as well as physical side. Developments in neuroscience have told us that from very early life learning may begin through the body and take part through the brain from which the mental side is developed but is never separate or an independent function and depends on ‘synaptic plasticity’ (Howard-Jones and McGurk 2014). The brain is extensively interconnected in early life enabling the associative network of neurons to be pruned and strengthened as a result of repeated experience, hence the truth in the statement ‘use it or lose it’! We also know that conditions like prolonged stress, physical illness and environment can have a detrimental effect on learning and so having an awareness of neuroscience and learning can help to impact, positively, quality of teaching and promoting positive strategies for learning. The value and durability of the learning in older people with long-term conditions experiencing complex physical and sensory barriers for example will require methods that emphasise strong incentives to learn or by giving attention to the socio-cultural and material environment as well as providing compensation in these areas. Likewise, resistance to learning may arise from poor motivation, psychological issues or structural barriers such as discrimination and oppression and require pedagogic responses that engage with independence, responsibility, flexibility and creativity (Hafford-Letchfield 2007). Illeris (2009) argues that paying attention to the systemic features of learning are therefore more important than just focusing on individual learners and require a form of pedagogy that engages with techniques to suit particularly challenging educational situations. Aspects of care such as learning to manage one’s own care and support; negotiating and embracing pragmatic issues to do with the management of health; changing mental capacity and the meaningfulness of life as it progresses are all relevant here. Learning in later life is often put forward as a product of interaction and as an interactive and interpretational process (Percy 2010). This is indeed reflective of the way in which public services develop in contemporary society. Percy suggests that in this context notions such as ‘everyday knowledge’ and ‘patterns of interpretation’ are central and call for a critical and pragmatic approach to combine instrumental, interpretative and reflexive aspects of learning (2010, 2). As systems in social care develop, older people and those who are supporting them also need to develop their own skills and knowledge particularly in a way that collaboration can be fostered at the level of the individual, family and social network and at the organisational, community level in order to achieve any meaningful transformation in the ageing process.

We now turn to look at three learning theories that embody a systems approach: Freire’s critical pedagogy, social pedagogy and transformative learning. Having an overview of these will help us appreciate some of the philosophical and practice issues that underpin the themes and approaches taken in this book.

Paulo Freire and critical pedagogy

Critical pedagogy and its current form of popular education in Latin America describe an adult education programme evolving from the village-based literacy work of Paulo Freire (1921–1997). Freire assigned priority to how ideology, power and influence specifically impacts upon and disadvantages the immediate lives of ordinary people and he provided an analysis of the relationship between education with conditions of oppression, within oppressive elitist and discriminatory societies (Freire 1972). Freire was concerned that those ‘educating’ took an active role in promoting collective social action to effect change using dialogue as an alternative to the traditional educational model, which he called ‘banking education’. Banking education, an important theme of Freire’s critical pedagogy, is a process in which knowledge is directly transferred from teacher to learner in a passive way without any critique. Mayo (2011) suggests that learners may experience cultural alienation and become defenceless against cultural imperialism. As an alternative, dialogue is not only an educational technique, but also a style of confrontation in which people are encouraged to develop the social awareness and critical thinking skills through a problem posing approach to education (Durakoğlu 2013). In critical pedagogy, the learner not only comes to recognise injustice, but upon this recognition, is expected to actively participate in the specific political or social action required to change it and to engage in epistemological curiosity (Vittoria 2010). The process and problems involved in taking informed, collective, political action in a functioning democracy are not well addressed in the literature of critical pedagogy and we will be considering some of these issues in Chapter 4 when looking at theories on educational gerontology where we will apply critical pedagogic principles to a particular approach to learning in later life. Critical pedagogy can be applied in our thinking about professional practice generally however. Making sense of the politics of social work and social care in its current contexts for example remains a very challenging task where very strong ideological positions have been taken up within policy and particularl...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Frontmatter Page
• Table of Contents
• List of tables, figure and photographs
• Permissions
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Theories of learning and pedagogies: an introduction to key concepts
• 2 Contemporary challenges for social work and social care in supporting older people
• 3 Learning in later life: policy perspectives
• 4 Theories of learning in later life
• 5 Conceptualising lifelong learning within social care: creating a framework for practice
• 6 Learning opportunities and learning experiences when using social care: findings from an empirical research study
• 7 Co-producing learning for professional education: two case studies
• 8 Some challenge of researching lifelong learning in later life
• 9 Developing professional knowledge and skills and expertise: challenges for practitioners
• 10 Final reflections
• References
• Index