Identity, learning and engagement: a qualitative inquiry using the NCDS
(2004) John Preston
Wider Benefits of Learning Research Report No.13
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In contemporary adult education there are concerns with issues of identity and engagement in civil society. In particular, how do personal and collective identities impact upon participation in education and in the wider civic and political sphere? In this report we outline how the work involved in maintaining and constructing adult identities also enables us to understand types and intensity of involvement.
Using the NCDS (National Child Development Study) we identity fourteen individuals who vary according to their degree of adult learning and civic participation. We nest these individuals within various identity 'contexts' (class, gender, geography, attitude). By integrating data from interview and longitudinal data we gain a valuable insight into various 'identity strategies' employed and their implications for education policy.
The conceptual framework developed in this report presents a new way of thinking about participation in adult learning and memberships of other bodies such as PTAs or school governorships. Work on policy initiatives to widen participation or to increase participation in civil society is often reduced either to personality characteristics or 'background' characteristics (such as social class). Examining individual strategies of the ‘self’ within social contexts enables us to appreciate the dynamic and purposive considerations behind involvement (or lack of it) in education and the civic sphere.
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