Coordinator
Jonas Greve Lysgaard, Assistant Professor (joly@dpu.dk)
Lecturers
Pia Cort, associate Professor, Aarhus University (cort@dpu.dk)
Helle Nordentoft, Associate Professor, Aarhus University (hnj@dpu.dk) Anders Kruse Ljungdalh, Post. Doc, Aarhus University. (ankl@dpu.dk) Pasqua Marina Tota, external lecturer (pmarina.tota@gmail.com)
Jonas Greve Lysgaard, Assistant professor, Aarhus University (jogr@dpu.dk)
Copenhagen, autumn 2014 Module No.1
The Sociology of Lifelong Learning (15 ECTS)
European Masters in Lifelong Learning
2 The module explores lifelong learning from the perspective of sociology of education.
Lifelong learning, which encompasses all types of learning (formal, non-formal and informal) takes places in the society – in a given society. The learner is a social individual; he/she is part of a network of human relations and member of a society with particular culture, institutions, directions and projects, which he/she is expected to internalise. In other words, the learner, as any individual, is part of a society and this society is part of him/her. The module, therefore, will place the learning individual within their social, and more precisely, in the socio-historical context in which learning happens, be it a ‘pre-modern’, a ‘modern’ or a ‘post-modern’ society.
For this purpose, the module will employ accounts from socialisation and social reproduction theories and will examine the emergence and diffusion of major currents of pedagogic ideas from the perspective of the specific societal conditions which gave rise to them. At another part, the module will adopt a political sociology approach by looking into lifelong learning in the framework of the ‘knowledge society’ debate.
Students will have the opportunity to investigate the theoretical underpinnings of this and other related concepts and to analyse policy initiatives at national, regional and global levels. Reference will be made to main international policy making entities which have placed lifelong learning at the core of their research agendas and policy recommendations. The students will also have opportunity to go through the recent debates and research with regard to the relationship between lifelong learning and citizenship as well as the new regimes of knowledge production, transmission and certification in higher education.
Aims
Students are expected to:
Acquire knowledge on the main sociological perspectives and policy initiatives on lifelong learning, based on international research and scholarship in this field;
be able to understand and reflect critically on the theoretical and empirical knowledge-basis of lifelong learning and identify relevant scientific issues;
3
evaluate independently theoretical and methodological approaches to sociology and education studies as well as different positions and arguments on lifelong learning;
communicate a comprehensive and accurate response to a relevant topic under investigation as well as relevant research-based knowledge in both specialised and non-specialised contexts;
initiate and carry out interdisciplinary inquiry and collaboration in the knowledge areas of the module.
Teaching and learning approach
The module will be taught through lectures, presentations of selected texts by the students and discussion groups. In the lectures, students will have the opportunity to listen to a specialised presentation, derived in many cases from the lecturer’s own published research which will be available for reading, and engage in dialogue with the lecturer. In their presentations, students will communicate to the class selected publications by other authors and they will offer their own viewpoints. In the discussion groups, students will reflect on selected aspects of the session and the texts presented in the class.
All designated texts – indicated in the programme as ‘reading for the session’ – are included in the module’s compendium or they are available on the Blackboard. Texts may be added or replaced, prior to the session, according to the lecturer’s judgment.
Please, note that the reading and presentation of these texts is absolutely essential for students to participate in the sessions. For this purpose, students are given, under the heading ‘preparation’, points of focus or questions which they have to consider when they read the designated texts.
Students are expected to make every effort to exercise their capacity for critical understanding of the topics under consideration during both their preparation and their participation in the sessions.
4 Students will submit at the end of the semester a written assignment of 15 standards pages (2400 characters, including spaces), excluding bibliography and appendices.
For details about the examination students may want to read the study regulations.
With regard to the exam schedule and related procedures they may need to contact the study office.
Students are expected to make a decision about the topic on which they would like to work and to submit to the module coordinator a completed Essay Proposal Form by the 27th of October. The form can be downloaded from the module’s site on the Blackboard. Students must specify in the form their essay topic: they should give a provisional title, a short abstract, an outline and a few bibliographic references followed by a short comment which indicates their relevance to the selected essay topic.
Literature
Compendium (Reader): Compendium containing the relevant literature for each session will be prepared by the Module coordinator. The compendium can be bought via DPU Library, Aarhus University, Campus Emdrup.
Prior to each session students are advised to locate the room where the teaching will take place at BlackBoard.
5 THE SOCIOLOGY OF LIFELONG LEARNING:
PROGRAMME OVERVIEW
Session Date Title Lecturer Room
1 8-9-14 Lifelong learning and the social context Jonas Greve Lysgaard
E158
2 15-9-14 Modernity and modernisms Jonas Greve Lysgaard
E158
3 22-9-14 Sociology and research methods Helle Nordentoft E158 4 29-9-14 Desire, Bad Practice and The speculative
turn
Jonas Greve Lysgaard
E158
5 6-10-14 Policy research Pia Cort E158
Autumn holiday 6 20-10-14 The battle of LLL – LLL’s discursive
hardships
Pia Cort E158
7 27-10-14 Lifelong learning as European Union policy
Pia Cort E158
8 3-10-14 The sociology of education policy making Pasqua Marina Tota
E158
9 10-11-14 Education systems as institutions of socialisation
Pasqua Marina Tota
E158
10 17-11-14 Society, Knowledge and the use of Pleasures
Anders Kruse Ljungdahl
E158
11 24-11-14 Learning how to be a citizen, action competent and not being an idiot
Jonas Greve Lysgaard
E158
12 1-12-14 The sociology of Life Long learning.
Pitfalls, honeypots and potentials
Jonas Greve Lysgaard
E158
6 Date and time: Monday 8 September 2013, 13.00-16.00
Title: Lifelong learning and social context Lecturer: Jonas Greve Lysgaard
Room: E158
Content
Lifelong learning cannot be understood outside of its historical and social context.
The purpose of this session is to make students acquainted with selected major theoretical contributions in sociology and particularly sociology of education, which bring to the fore precisely this fact. The session will emphasise that this context is no longer bound by national borders, as globalisation has given rise to a new, global social structure, sustained by network technologies.
Reading for the session
Durkheim, E. (1956) Education and Sociology. The Free Press. Chapter 1:
‘Education: Its Nature and its Role’, pp. 61-90.
Bernstein, B. (1996) Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. London: Taylor and Francis. Chapter 2: ‘The Pedagogic Device’, pp. 39-53.
Castells, M. (2004) ‘Informationalism, networks, and the network society: a theoretical blueprint’. In Manuel Castells (ed) The Network Society: A cross-cultural perspective. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Preparation
From Durkheim (1956): please discuss his definition of education (p. 71) in connection with his distinction between ‘individual’ and ‘social being’ (pp. 71-72).
7 From Bernstein (1996): please discuss his concepts of ‘instructional’ and ‘regulative discourse’ and their relation.
From Castells (2004): please prepare your answers to the following questions:
- How does the author define the ‘network society’?
- Which are the three independent processes which, according to the author, interacted in constituting the network society?
- Why the network society is global?
- Is there a global division of labour?
- What does the emergence of the network society entail for culture?
Further reading
Sassen, S. (2007) A Sociology of Globalisation. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company.
Walford, G. and Pickering, W.S.F. (eds) (1998) Durkheim and Modern Education.
London: Routledge.
8 Date and time: Monday 15 September 2014, 1300-16.00
Title: Modernity and modernisms Lecturer: Jonas Greve Lysgaard Room: E158
Content
The concept of Lifelong learning is embedded within the greater cultural history and history of ideas that continue to inform and form our societies. This session will give a critical perspective on the notions of pre-modern, modern and post-modern societies and how this interlinks with education, and why we should still be concerned with the background of LLL in order to change the future of the concept. The importance of modernity and its influence on concepts of the modern break with a traditional society will be illustrated through discussions of the importance of the Frankfurt school. The emancipatory potential of the notion of the post-modern will be discussed with an eye towards whether we can be truly post-modern in a lifelong learning perspective.
Reading for the session
Adorno, Theodor W. (2001) The Culture Industry. New York, Routledge Classics.
page 1-28.
Bauman, Zygmunt (2000) “On Being Light and Liquid”, foreword in Zygmunt Bauman Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Appignanesi, Richard & Garrat, Chris (2007) Introducing Post-modernism.
Cambridge: Icon Books. Side 3-55 (Don’t worry, it’s illustrated!)
Preparation
Students are expected to prepare by studying the texts to familiarize with the concepts of the traditional, modern and postmodern society and to be capable of using these concepts in the classroom discussion.
9 Consider the following questions:
- What does modern education mean?
- What does post-modern education mean?
- Are you modern? post-modern?
Further reading
Englund, Tomas (2006) “Jürgen Habermas and Education”, Journal of Curriculum Studies.Vol. 38, No. 5.
Ruchters, Annemiek (1988) Modernity-postmodernity Controversies: “Habermas and Foucault”. Theory, Culture & Society. Vol. 5.
10 Date and time: Monday 22 September 2014, 13.00-16.00
Title: Sociology and research methods Lecturer: Helle Nordentoft
Room: E158
Aim
A key challenge in academic research is to produce valid scientific arguments and conclusions on the basis of consistent analyses. The aim of this session is to qualify the students understanding of the way in which an argument can be structured in academic assignments in a systematic way.
Content
First the student is
introduced to different conceptions of “theory” and presented to possible relationships between theory and practice/the empirical field of study
secondly criteria of a valid scientific argument is presented together with the way in which this rhetorical way of thinking can be applied in academic assignments
Teaching forms
The teaching alternates between lecture and small exercises in which the students work with the themes of the session. Moreover, the plan is to integrate and work with the students assignments at MALL during the session.
Preparation
E-mail answers to the 3 questions below one week in advance (23rd of September) of the session to the teacher – hnj@dpu.dk.
1. What do you find is the biggest challenge when you have to write an assignment at MALL?
2. What is the biggest help?
3. What do you expect from this session? Any particular area you would like to know more about within the theme of the session?
11 References
Silverman, David (2005): Doing qualitative research. London: Sage Publications. The whole book is worth buying and reading – but for this session you may concentrate especially on pp. 77 – 108.
12 Date and time: Monday 29 September 2014, 13.00-16.00
Title: Desire, Bad Practice and The speculative turn Lecturer: Jonas Greve Lysgaard
Room: E158
Content
The lecture presents the lacanian psychoanalytic perspective of Slavoj Žižek as an analytical perspective for understanding processes of social and individual creation of meaning and discourse. With a keen eye towards the importance of the ever present Bad practice in educational settings the theories of Zizek and Lacan is employed in order to consider the question of how we might understand the potential for good practice to be developed on a better understanding of the bad practices abound.
Supplementing the sociological focus on individual and social “demands” with a concept of “desire” offers new opportunities for critical perspectives on education and the notion of lifelong learning.
This approach will be situated within the emergent speculative realism movement and discussions of contemporary theoretical and empirical moves towards talking of a
“Real” outside of socially constructed discourses. An analysis of Danish and South Korean Environmental NGOs in a LLL perspective will illustrate the analytical potentials to be drawn from Zizek and speculative realism.
Reading for the session
Bryant, Levi, Nick Srnicek and Graham Harman (2011) “Towards a speculative Philosophy”. in Bryant, Levi, Nick Srnicek and Graham Harman (red.) The Speculative Turn – Continental Materialism and Realism. Re.Press.
Cooley, Aaron (2009) “Is Education a lost Cause? Zizek, schooling and universal emancipation”. In Discourse: Studies in the cultural politics of Education. Vol. 20, No. 4.
13 Lysgaard, Jonas Greve (2012) “The Significance of Perceptions and the Educational Desires of Environmental NGOs” in Jonas Greve Lysgaard (2012) The Educational Desires of Danish and Korean Environmental NGOs. Aarhus University.
Lysgaard, Jonas Greve (2012) “The importance of Bad Practice and the Possibility of traversing the Fantasm” in in Jonas Greve Lysgaard (2012) The Educational Desires og Danish and Korean Environmental NGOs. Aarhus University.
Preparation
Reflect upon the difference between the social and the Real and how this influences education.
Discuss your own Bad Practices both in your professional life and personal life.
Furthermore watch the animated RSA Animate lecture First as a Tragedy, then as a Farce by Slavoj Žižek on youtube. You can find it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g or by searching for ”RSA Zizek”
in youtube.
Further reading
Zizek, Slavoj (2009) First as a Tragedy, then as a Farce. Verso.
Žižek, Slavoj (2006) How to Read Lacan. London: Granta.
14 Date and time: Monday 6 October 2014, 13.00-16.00
Title: Policy Research Lecturer: Pia Cort Room: E158
Content
The aim of this session is to introduce you to public policy research and its historical development from the 1950s until today. In this historical exploration, we look into different models and conceptualization of policy. The session will also explore the relationship between research and policy and the tension between research of policy and research for policy.
Reading for the session
Bacchi, C.L. (1999). Women, Policy and Politics: The Construction of Policy Problems, Sage. Part One, 1: Policy studies – traditional approaches.
Desjardins, R. & Rubenson, K. (2009) Research of vs Research for Education Policy, VDM. Introduction.
Fischer, F. (2003) Reframing Public Policy – Discursive and Deliberative Practices, Oxford. Chapter 1.
Lerner, D. & Lasswell, H.D. (eds) (1951) The Policy Sciences. Stanford University Press. Introduction.
Preparation
Read the texts and consider the different conceptualisations of policy. What are the underlying assumptions and what are your own assumptions about policy. What is a policy?
15 Session 6
Date and time: Monday 20 October 2014, 13.00-16.00 Title: The battle of LLL – LLL’s discursive hardships Lecturer: Pia Cort
Room: E158
Content
In this session, focus is on the discursive battle over the concept of LLL and which meaning should be ascribed to it. We shall look into the historical development and how different transnational organisations have taken up the lifelong learning as part of their political agendas. We will look into differences in problem representations and how the current understanding of LLL as part of a human capital strategy to ensure national competitiveness in a global economy has come about.
Reading for the session
Bacchi, C.L. (2009): Analysing Policy: What’s the problem represented to be?, Pearson. Kap. 1 & 2.
Schuetze, H. G. (2006) International concepts and agendas of Lifelong Learning, Compare Vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 289 – 306.
Schultz, T.W. (1961) Investment in Human Capital. The American Economic Review, 51, pp. 1 – 17.
Preparation
Consider how lifelong learning is constructed as a policy in your home country. What is the problem represented to be? A question of up-skilling, equality of opportunity, of human rights, of competitiveness, etc.
Further reading
Rubenson, K. (2006) Constructing the lifelong learning paradigm: Competing visions from the OECD and Unesco in Ehlers, S. (ed.) Milestones towards lifelong learning systems, Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitets Forlag.
16 Date and time: Monday 27 October 2014, 13.00-16.00
Title: Lifelong Learning as European Union policy Lecturer: Pia Cort
Room: E158
Content
In this session we shall continue our explorations of the concept of LLL with a specific focus on the EU and its strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training. The concept of “Europeanisation” will be introduced and we will look into how education and training became “Europeanised” (or not). The EU polity will be introduced in order to gain an understanding of different modes of governance and how they work together to create a common European space of education. Together we will explore the 2010 and 2020 strategic frameworks to understand changes in problem representations.
Reading for the session
Bacchi, Carol Lee (2009): Analysing Policy: What’s the problem represented to be?, Pearson. Chapter 9.
Cort, P. (2008). The open method of coordination – a triangle of EU governance. In Desjardins, R. & Rubenson, K. (Eds). Research of vs. Research for Education Policy:
In an Era of Transnational Policy-Making. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.
Lawn, M. & Grek, Sotiria (2012) Europeanizing Education – governing a new policy space. Symposium Books. Introduction pp. 7-18 and chapter 1.
Policy documents To be announced.
Preparation
The study groups will be asked to prepare a discourse analysis of two policy documents with the aim of identifying dominant problem representations and differences/similarities between them.
17 Further reading
Cort, Pia (2008). VET Policy Formation and Discourse in the EU: a Mobile
Workforce for a European Labour Market? I Aarkrog, Vibe og Jørgensen, Christian (2008): Divergence and convergence in education and work. Peter Lang.
18 Date and time: Monday 3 November 2014, 13.00-16.00
Title: The sociology of education policy making Lecturer: Pasqua Marina Tota
Room: E158
Content
This session focuses on the processes of education policymaking from a sociological perspective. It will provide a conceptual framework for analysing the role of
contextual conditions including relations among the actors, and decision-making processes in affecting education policymaking. The session will present and analyse examples of policymaking processes, and how they are affected by contextual and societal factors. In particular the example of UNESCO’s “Education for All”
policymaking process will be presented. The session will give students the conceptual tools to analyse policymaking in lifelong learning as a social process.
Reading for the session
Moutsios, S. (2010). Power, politics, and transnational policymaking in education, Globalisation, societies, and education, 8(1), 121-141.
Tota, P. M. (2014) Filling the gaps: the role and impact of international non- governmental organisations in ‘Education for All’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, 12:1, 92-109, DOI: 10.1080/14767724.2013.858988
Preparation
From Moutsios (2010) and Tota (2014), please identify the main actors and their roles in sustaining the current agenda of transnational education policymaking.
Policy papers
UNESCO. 2000. “The Dakar Framework for Action. Education for All: Meeting Our Collective Commitments.” Text adopted by the World Education Forum, Dakar, Senegal, April 26–28.
Further readings
Dale, R. 2000. Globalisation and Education: Demonstrating a ‘Common World
19 Education Culture’ or Locating a ‘Globally Structured Educational Agenda’?,
Educational Theory 50 (4): 427–448.
Moutsios, S. 2009. International Organisations and Transnational Education Policy.Compare 39 (4): 467–478.
20 Date and time: Monday 10 November 2014, 13.00-16.00
Title: Education systems as institutions of socialisation Lecturer: Pasqua Marina Tota
Room: E158
Content
This session focuses on examining education systems as institutions for the
socialisation of citizens, which reflect and reproduce their societal values, norms, and structures. As an example, an analysis of the Danish education system; will be
presented though a case study of a Danish secondary school. In particular, it will be shown how it reflects the values, norms, and structures of the Danish society. Finally, the impact of global and European trends on education systems will be examined. The session will enable students to reflect upon and enable them to analyse their own education systems, in relation to the society to which they belong.
Reading for the session
Tota, P. M. (2013). The Danish education system: definition of the case study. In P.
M. Tota (2013), Citizenship education as a school life experience: The case of a Danish democratic school, Chapter 2. pp. 22-39.
Mudge, S. L. (2008). What is neo-liberalism? Socio-economic review, 6, 703-731.
Tolofari, S. (2005). New Public Management and Education, Policy Futures in Education, 3(1), 75-89.
Preparation
Think of the way you were educated in your society, and identify the elements in the education system that reflects the values, norms, and structures of your society.
Prepare a 2 minutes presentation about it.
Further readings
Hahn, C. (1998). Becoming political: Comparative perspectives on citizenship education. Albany: State University of New York Press.
21 Adorno, T. W. and Becker, H. (1983). Education for Autonomy. Telos, 56, pp 103–
10.
22 Date and time: Monday 17 October 2014, 13.00-16.00
Title: Society, Knowledge and the use of Pleasures Lecturer: Anders Kruse Ljungdalh
Room: E158
Content
The students will be introduced to Michel Foucault’s notion of bio-politics through part 5 ‘Right of death and Power over Life’ in The Will to Knowledge - History of Sexuality 1. In this chapter, Foucault argues that one does not liberate oneself from power by following one’s desires, because the desires have been installed by power in the first place. Instead, he suggests an analysis of bodies and pleasures. We will follow this thought well into his book The use of pleasures. History of sexuality 2, chapter 1 ‘Regimen in general’ in part two ‘Dietetics’, which shows how the ancient Greeks had developed regimens for the reasonable conduct of life, the reasonable use of pleasures. Interestingly, this is not an attempt to restrain the pleasures, but to control or modify oneself so to use the pleasures properly, sensibly. Within a given ethical regime, the unreasonable or insensible use of pleasure, on the other hand, is understood as a form of madness. People, who are not capable of using the pleasures properly, who are not capable of moderation, of taking care of themselves, i.e. of taking care of their own lives properly, are a danger to themselves. They are
understood as not being able to care for themselves. Such a condition was understood by Seneca as stultification, to which Foucault attends in the lectures The
Hermeneutics of the Subject in chapter 7, first hour, 27 January 1982. During this course, an empirical study of type 2 diabetes will be presented, and through the proper regimen of a lifestyle disease it will be demonstrated, how Foucault’s specific style of analysis can be applied in an empirical study of contemporary health norms. An additional aim of the session will therefore be to demonstrate how Foucault can be applied in empirical research. During this session the students will work in groups, where they will analyse and discuss central passages of the texts, and present their interpretations to each other (so be prepared – read the texts in advance!)
23 Reading for the session
Foucault, M. (1976[1998]). The Will to Knowledge. The History of Sexuality 1, part 5
‘Right of Death and Power over Life’. London: Penguin Books, pp. 133-159.
Foucault, M. 1984[1987], The use of pleasure. The History of Sexuality 2, chapter 1
‘Regimen in General’ in part 2 ‘Dietetics’. London: Penguin Books. pp. 99-108.
Foucault, M. (2003) Hermeneutics of The Subject – lectures at the Collège de France 1981-1982, chapter seven, first hour (27 January 1982). New York: Picador, pp. 125- 144.
Ljungdalh, A.K. (2013 – forthcoming). ‘Stultitia and type 2 diabetes – the madness of not wanting to take care of the self’. Foucault Studies (free access).
Preparation for the session
It is of utmost importance to this session that you read the texts very thoroughly and take precise notes as these will form an import ant part of the in session work with the texts and theories.
24 Session 11
Date and time: Monday 24 November 2014, 13.00-16.00
Title: Learning how to be a citizen, action competent and not being an idiot Lecturer: Jonas Greve Lysgaard
Room: E158
Content
The lecture will conclude the module by inquiring into the democratic potential of lifelong learning and the many interests vested into such a concept. The lecture will trace this by looking into democracy as a political project in European modernity – with the purpose to understand the contemporary reality in citizen formation, under the conditions of transnationalisation of political and economic power. It will be argued that at the historical time that participation in education systems is massive and information and knowledge are widely accessible, modern societies are experiencing a decline in democratic politics. The lecture emphasize the continued potential of LLL as a vehicle for developing democratic participation by drawing on concepts such as action competence in order to avoid the dire risk of mass idiocy.
Reading for the session
Dunn, John (ed.) (1994) Democracy: The Unfinished Journey, 508 BC to AD 1993 [Chapter 13, ‘Conclusion’, pp. 239-266]. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schnack, Karsten (2008) “Participation, education and democracy: implications for environmental education, health education, and education for sustainable development”. In A. Reid, B.B. Jensen, J. Nikel and V. Simovska. Participation and Learning. Springer.
Lysgaard, Jonas Greve (2013) “The Eduational importance of the Super human Idiot”.
Working paper.
25 Preparation
Discuss your stance on the potential of education as a successful or failed vehicle for democratic development.
Reflect upon how individuals and societies could become “action competent” through LLL.
Discuss what the modern day idiot looks like and how education can help us avoid turning into idiots, or perhaps the opposite?
Further reading
Martin, I. (2003). Adult Education, Lifelong Learning and Citizenship: some ifs and buts. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 22(6), 566-579.
Peters, M., Britton, A. & Blee, H. (eds.). (2008). Global Citizenship Education:
Philosophy, Theory and Pedagogy. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Touraine, A. (1997). Can we live together? Equality and Difference [Chapter 7:
‘Democracy in Decline?’] Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.
26 Date and time: Monday 1 December 2014, 13.00-16.00
Title: The sociology of Life Long learning. Pitfalls, honeypots and potentials Lecturer: Jonas Greve Lysgaard
Room: E158
Content
This lecture will wrap up the module and the focus on the sociology of life long learning by revisiting some of the analytical points and mains texts discussed during the module. The content and the literature to be read will thus be decided in collaboration between the module coordinator and the students at session 11, in order to pinpoint the theories and approaches of most relevance to the students and their exam projects.
Reading for the session To be decided
Preparation
Reflect on the module as a whole, its strengths and weaknesses, your contribution to it and the influence on the module on your knowledge and competences.
Read the literature that we have decided to revisit and reflect on how your perspective on these papers has changed during the module and how this influence your exam paper.
