Arinto, P. and Bandalaria, M. (2009). Lifelong Learning. EDDE 211 Course Manual.

University of the Philippines Open University.

Module 3
Learning Principles and Theories Relevant to Lifelong
Learning

Objectives

After working on this module, you should be able to:

1. Differentiate lifelong learning from the traditional paradigm of learning;
2. Discuss the learning principles that underpin lifelong learning; and
3. Describe the dimensions and process of learning from a lifelong
learning perspective.

1.0 The Lifelong Learning Paradigm

Contrary to appearances (for example, the fact that the term consists of
words that are easily defined), ‘lifelong learning’ is not a simple concept. It
refers to more than just the self-evident idea that learning can and does take
place throughout the life span. The lifelong learning paradigm in fact posits
that learning should take place throughout the life span.

As described in Module 2, this assertion is made in the context of

several challenges to education which are summarized by Knapper and
Cropley (2000, p. 5) as follows:

 • Changed learning needs (more people wanting to learn different things)

• Problems of financing for education (reduced funding, demands
 for more effective use of resources)
• Increased concern about democratization and fairness (elimination
 of socioeconomic, gender and geographic inequities)
• A perceived need for linking education and day-to-day life
(harmonizing education and culture, relating education to work,
 linking education to peace and preservation of the ecosystem)
 • A need for new teaching and learning strategies
• The emergence of new forms of communication other than
written language
 • New methods of educational delivery, including online learning
• Changing demands of work, such as the need for periodic retraining
as existing job skills become obsolete
 • New career patterns
 • Home-based work
• Changing clientele for education, in particular large increases in
mature-age students resulting from both work and career changes
as well as demographic trends

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Arinto, P. and Bandalaria, M. (2009). Lifelong Learning. EDDE 211 Course Manual.
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These challenges imply the need for structural and systemic changes that
constitute lifelong learning as an alternative approach to education. How
does this approach differ from the traditional approach to education?

Activity 3-1

Based on what you have read in Modules 1 and 2, distinguish between

the traditional paradigm of learning and the lifelong learning paradigm by
filling in the table below.

Traditional Paradigm Lifelong Learning

of Learning
1) When learning takes
place

2) Where learning takes

place

3) Who learns

4) Who teaches

5) What is taught

6) Why it is taught

7) How it is taught

You might wish to share your answers and compare them with those
of you classmates in the discussion forum for this module.

You might also review and revise your answers after reading this
module, and perhaps after re-reading Modules 1 and 2.

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Arinto, P. and Bandalaria, M. (2009). Lifelong Learning. EDDE 211 Course Manual.
University of the Philippines Open University.

2.0 Foundations of Lifelong Learning

One of the key premises of lifelong learning is that learning takes place all the
time. According to Field (2006, p. 2), “…often with out even knowing that we
are doing it, we learn new facts, skills, ideas and emotional capacities simply be
enrolling with that permanent instructive institution, the University of Life. We
learn from dialogue with friends and family, workmates and strangers; we learn
by trying new things out, or looking over someone else’s shoulder; we learn by
watching television and reading books; we learn by browsing through record
catalogues or surfing the internet; we learn by thinking and reflecting.”

This type of learning is informal, unstructured, and often unconscious.

Advocates of lifelong learning advocate a structured and systematic
approach that would harness as well as develop the learning capacities of
individuals and communities. Such an approach would require not only the
recognition of learning environments but also their construction and
orchestration into a system that would foster learning for all throughout the
life span. As articulated by Medel-Añonuevo et al. (2001, pp. 9-11), this
system of learning environments consists of the following levels:

Table 3-1. Levels of learning environments

Micro Family Critical to providing a foundation for the culture of
learning
Meso School Critical in laying the foundations for basic learning
skills, such as learning how to learn, positive
attitudes toward learning, and striving for
competence and excellence
Community Providing facilities or centers for learning, such as
public libraries, cultural centers, and community
learning centers
Workplace Developing work skills, as well as professional
competence, including people skills
Macro Societal, Sharpening the individual’s ability to think critically,
national, and validate and update knowledge, expand skills and
global contexts positive attitudes, adapt and grow
(Based on Medel-Añonuevo et al., 2001)

Two things are apparent about schools (which include colleges

and universities) in this lifelong learning system:

1) The school is only one of several institutions that are expected to

foster the learning capacities of individuals; and
2) The school must play the critical role of developing the capacities
of individuals to become lifelong learners.

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University of the Philippines Open University.

For schools to be able to perform their role of developing lifelong learners

requires a rethinking of what schools should teach and how they should
teach it.

There is some consensus among lifelong learning advocates about what

knowledge and skills should be taught or developed. As summarized by
the World Bank report on lifelong learning in the global knowledge
economy (2003, pp. 21-22), these are:

• Acting autonomously: Building and exercising a sense of self, making

choices and acting in the context of a larger picture, being oriented
toward the future, being aware of the environment, understanding how
one fits in, exercising one’s rights and responsibilities, determining and
 executing a life plan, and planning and carrying out personal projects.
• Using tools interactively: Using tools as instruments for an active
dialogue; being aware of and responding to the potential of new
tools; and being able to use language, text, symbols, information
 and knowledge, and technology interactively to accomplish goals.
• Functioning in socially heterogeneous groups: Being able to
interact effectively with other people, including those from
different backgrounds; recognizing the social embeddedness of
individuals; creating social capital; and being able to relate well
to others, cooperate, and manage and resolve conflict.

Delors et al. (1996) propose a similar set of competencies, which they call
the four pillars of learning:

Learning to Learning to Do Learning to Live Learning to Be

Know Together
Mastery of tools Personal Education should Education should
rather than competence focus on: (1) lead to
acquisition of rather than discovery of other development of
structured certified skills (the people in the first the whole person
knowledge latter is the ability stage of – mind and body,
to perform specific education; and (2) intelligence,
Learning to physical tasks) involvement in sensitivity,
appreciate study common projects aesthetic
(understanding, Personal in the second appreciation and
knowledge and competence is a stage of education spirituality
discovery) as mix of skills and and in lifelong
something that talents: certified learning Education should
encourages skills acquired equip young
greater intellectual through technical In (1): Develop people to develop
curiosity, and vocational appreciation for their own
sharpens the training + social human diversity independent,
critical faculties, behavior + and the critical way of
and enables personal initiative interdependence thinking and
people to develop and a willingness of all peoples judgment so that
their own to take risks they can make up

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University of the Philippines Open University.

independent In (2): Foster their own minds

judgments on the Aka ‘people skills’ collaboration in on the best
world around them or ‘interpersonal social projects and courses of action
skills’ conflict resolution in the different
A two-pronged circumstances in
approach: (1) a Preparing people their lives.
broad general to innovate
education; and (2)
study of a small
number of
subjects in depth

Learning how to
learn: developing
concentration,
memory skills, and
the ability to think

(See http://www.unesco.org/delors/fourpil.htm for more on the four pillars.)

The UNESCO Institute for Education (now the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong
Learning) adds a fifth pillar—learning to change. Indeed, multidimensional
and rapid change is a central characteristic of life in the 21st century for
which lifelong learning has been proposed as a response. Contemporary life
is characterized by change and changes in the information domain resulting
in social, economic, and cultural change. “Continuous change requires
continuous learning”, says McClusky (1974, p. 101, quoted in Knapper and
Cropley, 2000, p.13). For Neice and Murray (1997, in Knapper and Cropley,
2000, p. 13), change is “the core educational issue” which necessitates the
fostering of lifelong learning as the “pedagogic ethic”.

The competencies for lifelong learning described above consist of several

interrelated technical, interpersonal, and methodological skills and values.
The technical skills include literacy, language skills, and math and
science skills. Literacy is a multi-level skill that according to the
International Adult Literacy Survey (quoted in World Bank, 2003, p. 23)
should include at least the following:

• Prose literacy: the ability to locate information that requires low-

level inferences or that meets specified conditions, the ability to
identify several pieces of information located in different sentences
or paragraphs, and the ability to integrate or compare and contrast
 information across paragraphs or sections of text
• Document literacy: the ability to make literal or synonymous matches,
the ability to take conditional information into account or match up
pieces of information that have multiple features, and the ability to
integrate information from one or more displays of information and to
work through a document to provide multiple responses

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University of the Philippines Open University.

• Quantitative literacy: the ability to solve multiplication and division

problems, identify two or more numbers from various places in a
document, and determine the operation to use in an arithmetic problem

As for the language skills required, these are:

1) Proficiency in the first language or mother tongue. As Klaus et al. (2002,

in World Bank, 2003, p. 24) note: “Children are more likely to enroll in
school, learn more, and develop positive psychological attitudes in
school and they are less likely to repeat grades or drop out of school
when initial basic education is offered in their first language.”
2) Proficiency in an international language, such as English. This
requires the development of strong literacy skills in the learner’s first
language. This is because “[o]nce children can read and write with
confidence in one language, they are more easily able to learn
another language” (Klaus et al., 2002, in World Bank, 2003, p. 25).

Among the methodological skills that comprise lifelong learning competencies

are the higher order thinking skills: analysis, problem-solving, adaptation (e.g.
the ability to work with the unfamiliar), and technology skills (Tuijman et al.,
1997, in Knapper and Cropley, 2000, p. 45). They also include skills in self-
directed learning—that is, skills in time management, project management,
goal setting, evaluation, information gathering, and use of resources (Kegan,
1994, in Knapper and Cropley, 2000, p. 45)—as well as metacognitive skills or
the ability to reflect on one’s own learning processes and change them when
necessary. Metacognition includes what Resnick (1987, in Knapper and
Cropley, 2000, p. 46) calls the “executive processes” necessary for higher
order thinking:

• Keeping track of one’s own understanding of the issue

under consideration
 • Organizing one’s attention
 • Organizing the available resources
• Reviewing one’s own progress with the learning task

Equally important is the ability to articulate one’s metacognitions to

make possible “conscious self-reflection, highly specific feedback
(correction) by teachers, and communication with other learners to
compare methods, identify different approaches, and make
improvements” (Knapper and Cropley, 2000, p. 46).

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Arinto, P. and Bandalaria, M. (2009). Lifelong Learning. EDDE 211 Course Manual.
University of the Philippines Open University.

Activity 3-2

Think about the following:

1. Do you have the competencies needed to be a lifelong learner?
That is, do you have the ability to act autonomously, use tools
(including language tools) interactively, and function in socially
heterogeneous groups?
2. To what extent did the kind of schooling you experienced (in
elementary, high school, and college) emphasize learning to know,
learning to do, learning to live together, learning to be, and learning to
change? What would constitute evidence that these pillars of
education are given adequate attention in schools?

You might be called upon to share your answers in the discussion

forum for this module.

3.0 The Process of Learning

Proponents of lifelong learning have pointed out that traditional education

systems (i.e. schools) do not develop the kinds of competencies needed for
learning throughout life in a highly volatile and globalized world. Such
systems, it is argued, tend to promote rote learning of textbook or abstract
knowledge, instead of developing problem solving skills needed for
authentic learning. Moreover, such systems tend to be rigid and to cater to
homogeneous learners, when what is required is to “reach larger segments
of the population, including people with diverse learning needs” and
learners of various ages (World Bank, 2003, p. 28). Table 3-2 contrasts the
characteristics of traditional and lifelong learning models.

Table 3-2. Characteristics of traditional and lifelong learning models

Traditional Learning
The teacher is the source of
knowledge.
Learners receive knowledge from the
teacher.
Learners work by themselves.
Tests are given to prevent progress
until students have completely
mastered a set of skills and to ration
access to further learning.
All learners do the same thing.
Lifelong Learning
Educators are guides to sources of
knowledge.
People learn by doing.
People learn in groups and from one
another.
Assessment is used to guide learning
strategies and identify pathways for
future learning.
Educators develop individualized

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University of the Philippines Open University.

learning plans.
Teachers receive initial training plus ad Educators are lifelong learners. Initial
hoc in-service training. training and ongoing professional
development are linked.
“Good” learners are identified and People have access to learning
permitted to continue their education. opportunities over a lifetime.
(Source: World Bank, 2003, p.29)

A key difference between traditional and lifelong learning systems is the idea
that successful learning depends more on how people learn than on what
they learn. Since knowledge is growing exponentially, what people learn
quickly becomes obsolete. This is not a problem provided people have the
capability to keep on learning. To develop this capability, education systems
need to adopt a pedagogic model that is based on a deep understanding of
how people learn.

The following ideas about how people learn underpin the paradigm of
lifelong learning:

1. Learning is an active process in which learners interact with and

make sense of the environment around them.
2. Learning involves constructing knowledge out of connections
drawn between new information and what learners already know.
3. Learning is a social process. It comes about through interaction,
conversation, dialogue, and collaboration with others (teachers,
peers, family member, members of the community).
4. Learning is contextual and situated. What is learned and how it is
learned are inextricably linked: “knowledge is a product of the
activity, context, and culture in which it is developed and used”
(Brown, Collins, and Duguid, 1989). Thus, knowledge needs to be
presented in an authentic context, i.e., settings and applications that
would normally involve that knowledge.
5. Learning is a process of increasing participation in communities of
practice. That is, it involves “not just… local eve nts of engagement in
certain activities with certain people, but… a more encompassing
process of being active participants in the practices of social
communities and constructing identities in relation to these
communities” (Wenger, 1999, p. 4, emphasis in original). This
‘encompassing process’ includes joining a community, observing how
things are done over an extended period of time, undertaking minor
but legitimate tasks within the community, becoming more involved in
major community activities, and forming an identity as a member of
the community by developing the ability to speak and act as such.
Learning is therefore a kind of apprenticeship.

These statements about the process of learning encapsulate what is

known as social constructivist theories of learning, which are said to be a
major influence on lifelong learning (Fields, 2006).

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University of the Philippines Open University.

4.0 Adults as Learners

Medel-Añonuevo et al. (2001, pp. 9-11) posit the following characteristics

of learners in general:

1. The learner is an active and creative explorer of the world, rather than
one who responds mechanically to environmental stimuli and events.
2. The learner is a reflexive agent, or one who critically reflects on
his/her life and environment.
3. The learner is a self-actualizing agent, or one who is driven by
the motivation to fulfill his/her potential as an individual.
4. The learner is an integrator of thinking, feeling, and action—that is, it
is not only cognition that propels the learner to act but also emotion.

These statements are especially applicable to adult learners. (Recall from

Module 1 that adult learners, or adults engaging in organized learning after
the initial period of education, are a particular focus of lifelong learning
provision.) According to Brookfield (2000), adult learners have the capacity
to think dialectically, employ practical logic, know how they know what they
know, and engage in critical reflection. Moreover, there are important
emotional dimensions to learning that must be taken into account in adult
education.

Activity 3-3

Read Stephen Brookfield’s “Adult Cognition as a Dimension of

Lifelong Learning”, which is available at
http://www.ibrarian.net/navon/paper/Adult_Cognition_as_a_Dimensio
n_of_Lifelong_Learni.pdf?paperid=13086157

After reading the essay,

1. Differentiate in your own words between and cite personal
examples of thinking dialectically, the use of practical logic,
learning to learn, and thinking critically.
2. Reflect on the extent to which Brookfield’s observations about the
affective dimensions of adult learning (i.e. feelings of impostorship,
cultural suicide, incremental fluctuation, lost innocence, and
community) are true in your own experience as an adult learner.
3. Discuss the implications of Brookfield’s ideas about adult cognition,
including its affective or emotional dimensions, on educational
provision for adults. That is, how should the four cognitive capacities
of adults and the emotional dimensions of adult learning be taken
into account in education programs intended for adults (e.g. the
graduate program you are enrolled in)?

Be ready to share your answers in the discussion forum for this module.

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Finally, in discussing the need for education systems to respond to

demographic trends such as ageing populations and greater ethnic and
cultural diversity due to migration, McNair (2009) proposes a perspective of
learning as a way of helping individuals to build three forms of capital:
identity capital, human capital, and social capital.

• Identity capital is needed to develop and maintain our sense of

identity, self confidence, control over our lives, and engagement
with other people. This is critical to well-being and mental health,
and includes developing powers of creativity and reflection. This sort
of learning may be more important when people spend less of their
lives in paid employment, which gives most people a sense of
 purpose and meaning.
• Human capital includes the skills and knowledge needed to find and
retain sustainable and satisfying employment, both paid and unpaid.
This may be more complex over a longer working life in a more
rapidly changing labor market, and as the numbers of people in the
‘third age’ expand, it will be more important to understand the
 learning needs of the voluntary labor market.
• Social capital [or social connections or networks] is useful at two
levels. The first is to raise and maintain our families, which becomes
a more complex task with the rise of multigenerational and dual
earner families, more frequent divorce, second marriages and second
families, and growing caring responsibilities for a larger older
generation. The second is to play an active part in the wider society,
which becomes more difficult with increasing geographical mobility.
(McNair, 2009, p. 9)

It would be worth our while to reflect, individually and collectively, on how

education can help learners build these forms of capital that will allow them
to survive—and thrive—in the 21 st century.

Required Reading

Brookfield, S. (July 2000). ‘Adult cognition as a dimension of lifelong

learning’. Working Papers of the Global Colloquium on Supporting Lifelong
Learning [online]. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University. Available at
http://www.ibrarian.net/navon/paper/Adult_Cognition_as_a_Dimension_of_L
ifelong_Learni.pdf?paperid=13086157
Last accessed 05 January 2018

References

Brown, J.S.; Collins, A. and Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the
culture of learning. Education Researcher 18(1): 32-42. Available at

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University of the Philippines Open University.

http://mathed811.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/63103822/BrownSituated.pdf
Last accessed 05 January 2018.

Delors, J. et al. (1996). Learning: The Treasure Within [Highlights]. Report to

UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century.
UNESCO Publishing. Available at
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001095/109590Eo.pdf
Last accessed 05 January 2018.

Field, J. (2006). Lifelong Learning and The New Educational Order.

Staffordshire: Trentham Books Limited.

Knapper, C.K. and Cropley, A.J. (2000). Lifelong Learning in

Higher Education. 3rd Edition. London: Kogan Page.

McNair, S. (2009). Demographic Change and Lifelong Learning. National

Institute of Adult Continuing Education (England and Wales). Available
online at http://shop.niace.org.uk/media/catalog/product/f/i/file_3.pdf
Last accessed 05 January 2018.

Medel-Añonuevo, C.; Ohsako, T. and Mauch, W. (2001). Revisiting Lifelong

Learning for the 21st Century. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education.
Available at
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6b1c/09e7ea739673c4675052aa4e5c1a261
59bcc.pdf Last accessed 05 January 2018.

Smith, M.K. (2003, 2009). Communities of practice. the encyclopedia of

informal education. Available at
http://infed.org/mobi/jean-lave-etienne-wenger-and-communities-of-practice/
Last accessed 05 January 2018.

The World Bank. (2003). Transforming learning. In Lifelong Learning in the

Global Knowledge Economy: Challenges for Developing Countries. Pp. 21-55.
Available at
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/278200-
1099079877269/547664-1099079984605/lifelonglearning_GKE.pdf
Last accessed 05 January 2018.

*Withnall, A. (July 2000). ‘Older learners—issues and perspectives’.

Working Papers of the Global Colloquium on Supporting Lifelong Learning
[online]. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University. Available at
http://www.open.ac.uk/lifelong-learning/papers/index.html.
Last accessed 25 January 2010.

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