Re-thinking lifelong learning and the knowledge economy

This event will take place on Tueday 15 December, 3pm, Clarke Hall, IOE

This seminar will reconsider the purpose and outcome of learning in the knowledge economy. It will argue that most research and policy texts on the knowledge economy operate without a clear definition of learning and, as a result, treat learning as the accumulation of qualifications rather than the use of knowledge to enrich or create new forms of human activity. To overcome this problem, an alternative conception of learning, based on a re-working of some of the tenets of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, will be proposed. This conception of learning is relational and individuated, situated but not situation-bounded, and embodied and cognitively attuned. The implications of this conception of learning will be considered in relation to (i) the forms of learning that support professional, vocational and workplace learning in educational and workplace contexts; and (ii) EU policies for lifelong learning.

Biography
Dr David Guile is a Reader in Lifelong Learning at the Institiute of Education.  His interests encompass debates in:
(i) Social Theory about knowledge economy/culture/society;
(ii) Social Philosophy about mind, reason and action; and
(iii) Cultural-Historical Activity Theory about knowledge, learning and pedagogy.

He uses them to provide a conceptual framework to research professional, vocational and workplace learning (PVWL).