Book review
Principles and Practice of Informal Education
(Learning through Life)
Edited by Linda Deer Richardson and Mary Wolfe
Review by Donald Clark, Epic
I picked this book up from someone’s desk on
the basis of the interesting phrase ‘informal learning’.
At last, I thought, someone has written about the real world of
learning which is fluid and often takes place in the home, at work
and elsewhere, without the intervention of the professional apparatus
of teachers, trainers and lecturers. This was a big mistake, entirely
mine, not the authors. The book is actually about teaching and education
by other state funded professionals, community and social workers.
If you’re expecting a text that looks at real learning by
individuals outside of the system, then this book has little to
offer. This is about an often unrecognised part of the system –
social care.
Indeed, the first chapter ‘On being an educator’ sets
the tone for the entire book, suggesting that this is mostly about
educators, not learners. It is a well written introduction to some
interesting, though not wholly representative, theories about learning.
My original error was also reinforced as everything is largely phrased
on the premise that teaching is a necessary condition for learning.
However, I did enjoy the observations, which were consistent, if
not one-sided.
The second chapter was even better with a fascinating potted history
of informal learning, with an emphasis on the social drivers. It
traces the history of learning from Greece and Rome through medieval
Guilds to the modern (Victorian but largely unchanged) industrial
model of education we have today. There’s a lovely couple
of sentences on Coffee Houses and how people would pay a penny to
sit at a table and debate with strangers. There were over 2000 of
these by 1700 – what a great idea and what a great loss. The
Enlightenment really does seem like a golden age in terms of learning.
The nearest I could think of was the internet with its thriving
communities and discussion boards.
Then things got a little strange. From here on there were idiosyncratic
essays, some no more than random personal anecdotes, about the role
of social ‘educators’. Much of it massively politicised.
Again, this is not a criticism, merely an observation.
The politics does produce some laugh-out-loud moments (unintentional).
The authors of the essays can’t help but drift into political
rants or outrageous observations. Alison Tomlinson, who teaches
numeracy, and believes with religious fervour that all mathematics
is socially constructed, describes feedback from her working class,
Scottish, single parent. After delivering political worksheets on
topics such as local planning, police racism, housing policies,
industrialist wages and benefits policy, Sandra’s reaction
is clear, ‘I get bored with your political worksheets.’
Rather than accept the fact that she’s killing this person
with dull content, driven by her own political views, she reflects
that she could ‘steer the conversation so that Sandra comes
to connect these ‘truths’ about herself with other examples
of oppression, and accepts a ‘correct’ political position’.
Alison is also puzzled by the fact that people drop-out of her class!
To be fair, there are 20 essays in the book and, although I found
little academic rigour and research, there are some interesting
pieces which would best be described as seasoned practitioners in
the field passing on personal reflections.
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