Adult learning Australia webinar – Professor Stephen Billet on lifelong learning

Second webinar today organised by Adult Learning Australia (ALA) as part of Adult learning week.

Professor Stephen Billett shared findings from his latest project.

Provided an overview of the project which was to try to understand how working age Australians learning progresses and be better supported.

Involved collecting retrospective accounts of participants life histories, monitoring their learning longitudinally and surveying.

Also on the team are Professor Henning Salling Olesen(Denmark) and Professor Laurent Filliettaz (Switzerland) With Professor Sarojni Choy, Dr. RaySmith, Leah Le, Dominka Ohana, Dr. Debbie Bargaille and Dr. Darryl Dymock.

3 phases. 1 – collected histories through 2 interviews. Used both qualitative and quantative analysis. 200 participants.

Phase 2 had to be adjusted to allow for effects of Covid 19 . Map 30 participants’ work-life changes and learning through progressive analyses of their current work and learning

Phase 3 consolidating findings.

Phase 1 findings reported here. Stephen shared stories of two participants, including experiences of a refugee re-establishing in a new country and moving through a series of work as it became available; and an adult with learning disability.

Transitions through working life are important as learning is required to negotiate them. Most accounts of development across the lifespan emphasise stages along with various social and societal factors. Therefore include stages of life, changes in employment status, changes in occupations, changes in location, changes in physical and psychological health/well-being and changes in personal circumstances or lifestyle.

Personal/lifestyle, occupational and employment status are the most frequently mentioned in the sample.

Kinds of learning include language and literacy, cultural practices, the world of work, work/life engagement and occupational skills.

Conceptualised these as initiating factors through changes imposed. The types of learning and development and eventual outcomes of the learning.

Summarised implications for lifelong learning. Personal agency are important. Learning is mimetic. Discovery learning is not sufficient, access to guidance to access socially-generated knowledge, effortful engagement and external support required. In general, learning is goal-directed  but may not be singularly focused, long-term strategic or coherent. Therefore, individuals’ ‘education’ across working life is personally shaped. There is need to account for the continuities of transition.

Mediating factors include educational provision and community of the person.

Summarised main points. Lifelong learning needs to be broad, to meet the diverse needs of learners as each has different circumstances and goals through the life course.

Q & A session followed.