Patricia A. Gouthro

A critical feminist analysis of the homeplace as learning site: expanding the discourse of lifelong learning to consider adult women learners

Using a critical feminist analysis, this paper delves into the way in which current discourses in lifelong learning are frequently delineated by a masculine and competitive framework of values, reflective of the impact of the global marketplace. To challenge these underlying assumptions of what constitutes important learning, the article focuses on the significance of the homeplace as an important site of living and learning. By examining how identity, relationships, and labour within the homeplace impact upon and shape learning experiences, insights may be gained into the particular challenges that women learners face. From this, attention can be focused upon developing supports for women learners. At the same time, the article raises questions about underlying value structures that need to be addressed to create a broader and more inclusive perspective of lifelong learning.

Education for Sale: At What Cost? Lifelong Learning and the Marketplace.

This paper examines the influence of the marketplace on discourses in lifelong learning and raises questions about the future direction of these discussions, drawing upon critical and feminist analyses. A brief overview of how the notion of lifelong learning has shifted from an emphasis on cooperation and shared development to a discourse of competition and individualism is given. Drawing upon the works of various educators, an overview is given of some of the ways in which the marketplace has influenced lifelong learning discourses and has become a pervasive presence in academia. Both critical and feminist analyses are used to examine how justice, equity issues, and critical thinking are suppressed when the marketplace becomes a predominant influence in education. An assessment of questions raised by educators working to challenge this marketplace orientation in lifelong learning and suggestions for further areas of research conclude the paper.

Active and inclusive citizenship for women: democratic considerations for fostering lifelong education

In this paper a critical feminist theoretical framework is used to explore the challenges of creating democratic learning spaces that will foster active and inclusive citizenship for women. Three democratic considerations are addressed to assess how adult educators can create more inclusive opportunities for lifelong education for women. The first consideration is the need for a careful examination of structural inequalities that create disadvantages for women in pursuing lifelong education. The second consideration is the need to create a broader and more gender inclusive understanding of the scope of lifelong learning possibilities, so that women’s learning experiences are not devalued. The third consideration explores how to take up gender as a complex variable within the broader discourse of inclusion. This paper is informed by preliminary results from a current SSHRC (Social Science and Humanities Research Council) study on lifelong learning trajectories for women in Canada and a CCL (Canadian Council on Learning) study on active citizenship for women in Nova Scotia.

Teaching resistant novice educators to be critically reflective

Drawing upon our experience as university faculty in teaching novice educators, we explore the issue of resistance from students around learning that entails critical reflection. By novice educators, we refer to pre-service teacher candidates and graduate students in Education faculties, particularly graduate students in adult education/lifelong learning programs, who often do not have prior Education degrees or extensive experience as educators. We believe novice educators should be taught to be critically reflective, regardless of whether they teach in schools, government, the not-for-profit sector, or business sector.

Neoliberalism, lifelong learning, and the homeplace: problematizing the boundaries of ‘public’ and ‘private’ to explore women's learning experiences

This paper develops a critical feminist theoretical analysis of the significance of the homeplace in explaining the experiences of adult women learners. It argues that current discourses in lifelong learning are shaped by neoliberal influences that emphasize individualism, competition, and connections to the marketplace. Critical educators, drawing upon a Habermasian analysis, make some valid critiques of problems with developing an educational agenda shaped by neoliberal values, but their assessment is insufficient for explaining the persistence of gender inequalities within adult education. This is because critical theory does not adequately take up other ‘medias’ of power, such as patriarchy. A feminist lens is used to explore and complicate the perceptual divisions between the ‘public’ and ‘private’ spheres through an examination of three focal points in the homeplace; identity, relationships, and labour. Drawing upon a social science and humanities (SSHRC) research study that looks at womens learning trajectories in Canada, and a Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) grant on women and active citizenship, examples are brought in to support the discussion. From this analysis, recommendations are made for educators, administrators, and policy makers to challenge a neoliberal agenda in lifelong learning and develop a more holistic and gender inclusive approach that troubles commonly accepted parameters of ‘public’ and ‘private’ by exploring the significance of the homeplace on adult learning experiences.

Reclaiming the radical: Using fiction to explore adult learning connected to citizenship

Abstract Traditionally, adult education has had a focus on learning connected to social purpose. In the current neoliberal climate, lifelong learning is increasingly defined as an endeavour whereby individuals must situate themselves in a competitive position in order to succeed in the global marketplace. Radical educators who believe that education should have a broader mandate need to explore alternative pedagogical approaches that will challenge adult learners to think critically about social issues, political and economic structures and cultural concerns. Drawing upon the research from a SSHRC funded study on lifelong learning, citizenship, and fiction writing, this paper argues that using fiction may be one way to disrupt the pervasive, in Habermasian terms, ‘worldview’ that limits the focus of adult learning to a narrow, market-oriented mandate. Instead, educators can use fiction reading and writing as a means to explore challenging issues pertaining to lifelong learning and citizenship.

Assessing power issues in Canadian and Jamaican women's experiences in learning via distance in higher education

This paper examines a qualitative research study which examines the experiences of ten Jamaican and Canadian women engaged in learning via distance in a graduate adult education program. Using a critical feminist perspective, three power issues emerged as topics for discussion that are important for distance educators in higher education to take into consideration. These are some of the ethical and practical challenges of teaching internationally and cross‐culturally, gender differences in power relationships in the distance learning classroom, and the impact of relationships in the homeplace and how this may affect womens learning experiences.This paper examines a qualitative research study which examines the experiences of ten Jamaican and Canadian women engaged in learning via distance in a graduate adult education program. Using a critical feminist perspective, three power issues emerged as topics for discussion that are important for distance educators in higher education to take into consideration. These are some of the ethical and practical challenges of teaching internationally and cross‐culturally, gender differences in power relationships in the distance learning classroom, and the impact of relationships in the homeplace and how this may affect womens learning experiences.

Building on Critical Traditions: Adult Education and Learning in Canada

books like the one under review fill a void. Secondly, Roberts makes Freire come alive by treating themes of great relevance today, such as ‘the range of meanings of literacy,’ ‘reasonemotion,’ ‘political correctness’ and ‘university curricula’. This is all part of reinventing Freire. What Roberts provides throughout this excellent volume is recognition of the validity of a Freirean lens. It is a lens, which serves as an instrument of analysis with respect to various issues and forms of cultural production. We often speak of a Marxian, Weberian, Feminist, Gramscian, Lacanian, Derridian or Foucaultian lens. We can also speak of a Freirean lens. As with the other lenses, it enables us to extend our analysis, beyond that of schooling and well-established forms of adult learning, across the whole gamut of political, philosophical and cultural activity. Freire, therefore, becomes relevant to domains not easily and immediately associated with him. In an earlier book, I showed his relevance for such studies, as that of museums, and such contexts, as that of the Mediterranean. Roberts has gone even further, taking us into such realms as that of world literature. Soon we can speak of a Freirean literary lens.

Well‐being and happiness: critical, practical and philosophical considerations for policies and practices in lifelong learning

This paper argues that while the Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning that was commissioned by NIACE makes some helpful recommendations for broadening the scope of lifelong learning to include considerations around well‐being and happiness, the reports do not provide a sufficiently critical or philosophical analysis of the challenges facing the field of lifelong learning today. Perhaps because it is intended to inform policy makers and the general public, the Inquiry reports are written in language that seems to be carefully designed not to offend or alarm anyone, appealing to the reason and good sense of readers who might be swayed by persuasive argument to be supportive of wider notions of lifelong learning. Despite its critique of viewing education only in economic terms, financial concerns are used consistently as justification for recommendations with the report. The main difference is that economic issues are presented within a broader social context. While the report makes some beneficial recommendations, the contributors have not taken this opportunity to assert the importance of critical adult education taking the lead in informing the future direction of lifelong learning in the UK. This paper focuses particularly on the theme of well‐being and happiness, using a critical feminist analysis, to point out ways in which this argument could be developed to provide a deeper analysis of some the concerns raised in the Inquiry.

The role of the arts in professional education: Surveying the field

Abstract Many educators of professionals use arts-based approaches, but often explore this within the confines of their own professional disciplines. This paper consists of a thematic review of the literature on arts and professional education, which cuts across professional disciplines in an attempt to identify the specific contribution the arts can make to professional education. The review identified five broad approaches to the use of the arts in professional education: exploring their role in professional practice, illustrating professional issues and dilemmas, developing empathy and insight, exploring professional identities and developing self-awareness and interpersonal expression. Woven through these approaches we found that the development of a more sophisticated epistemology and a critical social perspective were common outcomes of art-based work in professional education. Arts-based approaches may help learners to make a critical assessment of their own roles and identities within professions, and to consider the impact of professions in shaping the broader society.