Lifelong Learning By Design

I was particularly inspired when watching and listening to Jim Knight 's lead role in a debate in the House of Lords.

In an educational world where we continually try to foster and even advertise ‘lifelong learning’ as a desired outcome of educational programs, I tend to get the feeling that this narrative is aimed only at the individual.?

Yes, we could have an ideal reality where groups of individuals come together to form a community of lifelong learners, such as in schools and tertiary institutions amongst others. But I am still left wondering if something systemic needs to happen to make lifelong learning the norm for the majority. And when I say “lifelong”, what do we really mean by that on an education system level?

At a time now when learning is compartmentalised, commoditised, and credentialed in arbitrary ways that promote compliance, perhaps the pathway towards lifelong learning - what we know we need as a global society in these rapidly changing times - cannot simply be a hopefully serendipitous one, but rather an orchestrated constant that is accessible and celebrated.?

“Thriving in the 21st century requires the courage to adapt to change, recognize our own knowledge gaps, and move toward more sustainable, inclusive paradigms of living and learning.” – Devin Carberry , The Future Will Not Be Taught

Disclaimer: I am by no means an educational system strategist, I'm simply an educational optimist. What follows is a part-paraphrased summary of Jim Knight's address, part-envisioning process from my experience and understanding. Let's dive in…

Redefine retirement in an aging world

With a world of humans continuing to increase in their average age, and with more 'centurions' than ever, the time spent unemployed after the age of sixty increases and leads to huge financial and social implications for the individual and for society as a whole.?

In what ways should we be recognising and acting on the increasing age of humanity such that it fosters human and societal flourishing for the entire lifetime of individuals in question?

Rethink education for a lifetime

The common 3-phase model of ‘education-work-retirement’ means tertiary learning (and the qualifications one receives as a result) is pigeon-holed into early adult life, which raises concerns over the longevity and viability of this learning in a rapidly changing job market landscape that calls for skills of the labour force to be continually adapting.?

“Some more forward-thinking universities are retooling their programs so that learning is not a one-off. They now offer courses for different stages of life–high school, university, mid-career, and retirement–while others offer microdegrees to help learners quickly upskill. Intensive three to nine month programs called bootcamps are also increasingly pervasive, especially for careers in tech.” – Devin Carberry, The Future Will Not Be Taught

Will something learned in your early 20s be useful and marketable for another six to eight decades, or more? If not, what does that mean for the systems we have in place to support those (and our workplace as a whole) with outdated skill-sets?

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Revamp education payment models

The tertiary learning system sells learning often for exorbitant fees, deterring people from spending additional time learning academically or, in some cases, from even entering tertiary education at all. This limits the scope of learning one does.?

How can we design tertiary learning engagement and payment models such that learning can be ongoing throughout one's lifetime - learning and earning is interweaved - to foster a social right to learning and give individuals access to opportunities to continually update their skills in a rapidly shifting professional landscape??

Learning for leisure is more than just for fun

"Learning for leisure" in an overhauled learning system becomes more accessible, encouraging lifelong learning, and recognises the value learning holds in one's own life and for a shared humanity.?

How can we de-stigmatise currently unappetising learning requirements by alleviating the barriers that often cast a shadow on the experience of learning?

Building intentional reflexivity to seek out learning opportunities

Learning systems throughout one's life need to prioritise metacognition in order to equip learners to become self-directed in their learning for both their professional and personal endeavours.?

How might wide-scale pedagogical shifts toward 'reflection of self' support learners to discover the knowledge of how they themselves learn best, practicing the skills in order to learn in this way, and thereby establishing that learning is firmly within the control of the learner no matter their age?

From degree transcripts to modular courses and ever-growing portfolios

Recognition of learning is currently limited in scope and depth, with certificates awarded after lengthy courses never signifying the true growth of the individual. Current achievement in education, for the large part, is also centred in knowledge rather than what one can do with knowledge and how one interacts with knowledge.?

How can we adopt more modular approaches to learning to make learning more accessible (time and money), encouraging lifetime membership to tertiary education institutions, and have that learning consistently curated in ongoing digital portfolios of the learner to authentically and more reliably showcase knowledge, skills, and dispositions in line with desired competencies to prospective employers?

Broaden the curricular scope and emphasis

To create a system that fosters lifelong learning means also placing value on learning the things that add to our lives now and in the future; traditionally siloed subjects require cross pollination with each other through project-based learning to mimic the interconnected nature of knowledge and more accurately represent how each of us and the world operate synergistically. Furthermore, broadening the curricular emphasis on fields that contribute to an increased sense of humanity such as sports and the arts is imperative for cultivating understanding of who we are as learners and doers; why we are the way we are, and why we do the things we do.?

How can we use transdisciplinary and applied learning, as well as place more importance on sports and arts, for example, in order to create space for humans to flourish indefinitely, both professionally and personally?

Centre communities around learning institutions

Colleges and other tertiary education institutions should be at the heart of communities, bursting with opportunity and offering a range of ways in which to access knowledge.?

How might we leverage creative approaches to tertiary education to turn our tertiary academic institutions into inclusive and representative learning ecosystems?

Inclusive learning systems for social, financial, and psychological safety

Learning systems that are inclusive of aging and older people, and are adaptive to the rapidly changing times, can be a fundamentally safe place for these people as their connection to modern times becomes more and more unfamiliar.?

How can lifelong learning systems help the older generation become sure of their future in the face of new innovations and a changing world?

Some concluding thoughts…

Not 'being able to learn and contribute' after the traditional retirement age leaves individuals disconnected from communities to which they seek to belong and contribute. How can one truly flourish if nearly half their lives are spent on the fringes of society?

Communities (and the workforce within them) being disconnected from older individuals is detrimental to the prospects of institutional or even indigenous knowledge being accessed through intergenerational collaboration and dialogue. How much human memory and learning are we inherently discounting, and therefore repeating historical mistakes, by not having older individuals amongst our work force and learning communities?

I’ll finish with a quote from Devin Carberry’s book, The Future Will Not Be Taught:

“To thrive, we’ll need to be curious, and excited to continuously develop and improve ourselves. Learners can no longer finish their formal studies, put up their sail, and cruise through the rest of their life. To stay relevant, we’ll need to identify as lifelong learners. That means being receptive to fresh ideas, unafraid to challenge our assumptions, and willing to constantly learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

Are the individuals and groups orchestrating educational systems willing to model lifelong learning and establish revolutionary methods to drive learning for a lifetime?

Acknowledgements

Jim Knight, Chair at STEM Learning UK, for standing up where and when it matters.

Thanks to Devin Carberry – Director of Learning and Innovation at Learnlife – and the book, The Future Will Not Be Taught, for bringing new ways of thinking to the ground level of teaching and learning.?

All of this reminds me of the research done by Bill Kole and the book, The Big 100 – Bill, your insights have changed the way we think about an aging society, thank you for shining a spotlight on it.?