Malcolm Tight

The Myth of the Learning Society

Abstract The learning society has been advocated as an answer to current economic, political and social problems by a wide coalition of interests, including politicians, employers and educators. Here we critically analyse the concept as a myth; that is, as an idea which may or may not have validity, but which many people believe in. For the purpose of this analysis, the learning society is set alongside four other myths upon which it builds: those of productivity, change, lifelong education and the learning organisation. It is argued that the United Kingdom cannot currently be considered to be a learning society, nor is it likely to become one in the foreseeable future. But the idea of the learning society retains an important role as a myth, in drawing together and channelling energies in directions sought by policy‐makers.

Writing on academic careers

ABSTRACT During the last two decades the higher education system in the UK has moved from an elite to a mass orientation, while academic careers have become less secure and more demanding, and a greater accountability has been imposed upon the system. In the light of these changes, it is appropriate to ask what is known about the nature of academic work. For the purposes of this article, academic work has been conceptualised as involving one or more of five overlapping roles: the commonplace triumvirate of teaching, research and managing, plus writing and networking. The existing literature on each of these roles, and on academic careers in general is reviewed. At the time of writing, there was no single comprehensive text available on academic work in the UK. While much has been written in recent years on the teaching role (and, to a lesser extent, on managing) relatively little of a cross-disciplinary nature appears to have been written on academic researching, writing or networking. The future developm...

Education, Education, Education! The vision of lifelong learning in the Kennedy, Dearing and Fryer reports

ABSTRACT The year 1997 witnessed the publication of three major policy reports related to the development of lifelong learning in the UK: the Kennedy, Dearing and Fryer reports on further, higher and continuing education, respectively. These reports produced responses from government, and underlay the consultative paper published early in 1998. This article examines these documents, not so much for the policies they propose, but for the conceptualisations of lifelong learning they contain. It concludes that, in this context, while the promotion of lifelong learning is to be welcomed, the documents suffer from three failings: they accord too much priority to vocational education and training; they betray a tendency to blame non‐participants, while placing responsibility on them for changing their behaviour; and they threaten economic and social exclusion for those who do not participate in the future.

Do League Tables Contribute to the Development of a Quality Culture? Football and Higher Education Compared

The increasing use of league tables to summarise the relative performance of universities suggests an explicit analogy with association football. The extent to which this analogy is useful is explored through a comparison between the operation of the Premier and Nationwide Football Leagues and Universities and Colleges in England and Wales. This comparison considers issues such as what the league tables actually measure, how performance is linked to rewards or penalties, what mechanisms are available for improving performance, and what similarities there are between the locations of more or less successful football clubs and universities.

Reviewing the reviewers

The peer review process is central to academic work, yet remains a relatively unex plored, indeed largely secret, activity. Peer review manifests itself in many ways and at a variety of levels in academic life: in staff employment, appraisal and promotion decisions, in research degree assessment, in research and teaching assessment exercises, in the publication process. This paper will focus on the last of these, and, in particular, on the reviews produced for refereed academic journal articles and book proposals. While my own work as a journal editor and referee allows me something of a more general perspective, I will use, for ethical and cathartic reasons, the reviews I have myself received of my own submitted articles and book proposals. The issues to be examined will include the quantity and quality of the advice given, the differences between the reviews of the same paper produced by different reviewers, and the relationship between reviews and editorial decisions. Some suggestions will be offered as to how the reviewing process might be developed and improved.

The Ever‐changing World of Further Education: a case for research

ABSTRACT Further education, the focus of much recent policy interest and development, is frequently characterised by insiders as ‘ever changing’. Yet, it remains grossly under‐researched and, hence, little understood by outsiders, whether they be academics, employers, policy‐makers or members of the general public. The bulk of the limited literature available on further education remains descriptive, policy‐orientated and focused on single institutions. Critical, analytical, theoretical and comparative studies are few and far between. Such studies are necessary in order to both understand and aid policy development in such a critically important sector. This paper examines and categorises the existing literature, and suggests areas for future research.

Crisis, what crisis? Rhetoric and reality in higher education

Abstract While the idea of crisis is prevalent in the post‐war Anglo‐American literature an higher education, it can also be argued that our higher education systems have achieved a great deal during this period. We need to ask, therefore, whether the identified crises are real or not. And, if not, we should consider why academics prefer to see crisis in so muck of what they do.

Mature student markets: An institutional case study

Warwick University, a research-led institution, has, in common with other universities, sought to expand its provision for mature students by developing new part-time and full-time degree programmes. Separate but related research projects have surveyed the students involved, looking at their characteristics, educational backgrounds and study purposes. This paper examines the extent to which distinct or overlapping markets for mature students are catered for by the different degree programmes offered.

Critical Perspectives on Management Learning A View from Adult/Continuing/Lifelong Education

The study of the relationship between organizations and learning may be approached from the perspectives of both business and educational studies. Within this developing arena for research and practice, a variety of academic tribes are engaged in exploration, with only limited contacts with each other. These tribes include adult/continuing/lifelong education, organizational behaviour/occupational psychology and management development/learning/studies. This article focuses on the beliefs and understandings of one of the tribes, adult/continuing/lifelong education, and considers what it might have to say to, and share with, another group, management learning. Five particular areas of research-studies of adult learning and teaching processes, of policy development and implementation, of access and participation, of the adult educational curriculum, and of the relations between adult learning, work and society-are selected for discussion. It is argued that what adult/continuing/lifelong education may have to offer is a more radical and political perspective, and one which is always concerned to look beyond the organization and below the management level.

Part-Time Postgraduate Study in the Social Sciences: Students' Costs and Sources of Finance.

ABSTRACT What practical and cost-effective mechanisms are there for supporting part-time postgraduate students? This question was posed by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in 1990. Surveys of selected departments and students in the social sciences were carried out to try to provide some answers. ‘Typical˚s part-time postgraduate social science students study for about 15 hours a week, work full-time in education, health or local government, receive some assistance towards the costs of their studies from their employer, and are given between half a day and a day release from work per week. These patterns vary significantly, however, by subject and type of study. The great majority of students would welcome greater financial assistance, with the payment of their fees seen as the top priority.