The ‘double face’ of lifelong learning: Two analytical perspectives on a ‘silent revolution’

Biographical learning: two decades of research and discussion

“…The tensions I have pointed to above concern the following five themes: (1) the relation between action and sense making, (2) what should be considered the proper object of knowledge: one's action patterns ), one's biography (Alheit & Dausien, 2002), or the relation between oneself and the social world (Alheit, 1994), (3) whether the learning process is characterized by people actively and consciously reflecting on their lives or whether the learning process rather is dependent on serendipity, chance, and self-regulation, which imagines a more passive learner, (4) whether the concept should focus on discourse or experience, and (5) a possibly over-optimistic character of biographical learning, a belief that stories can 'change structures'. Besides these tensions, there are reasons to discuss critically the idea regarding the occurrence of general conceptions of one's biography, as well as the idea of narrative coherence that is present in the biographical learning tradition.…”

“…Clearly there is another tension here (not necessarily contradictory) between, on the one hand, the idea of individuals as deliberately reflecting on their biography and becoming aware of new action options and, on the other hand, the surprised learner who does not understand until afterwards but follows a learning process that is self-operating and governed by a logic of its own. The latter is underscored also by the notion of 'autopoiesis' (Alheit, 1994;Alheit & Dausien, 2002). This concept (which is used previously by the sociologist Niklas Luhmann and originally developed by the biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela) indicates that the process is characterized by self-regulation and suggests the individual's creative adaption to the environment (Chamberlayne, 2004).…”

“…Based on a broad sociocultural analysis as well as on the intention to understand individual learning processes, the concept thus provides an alternative way of addressing issues related to policy making (eg. Alheit & Dausien, 2002;Glastra, Hake, & Schedler, 2004).…”

The development of the professionalism of adult educators

“…Alheit and Dausien talk of 'biographic learning' (cf. Alheit & Dausien, 2002), and point to reflexive learning processes (ibid., p. 16) which can be described 'as learning about the (trans) formations of experience, knowledge and one's actions in lifewide (lifehistory and lifeworld) connections' (Smilde, 2009, p. 84). A lifehistory approach allows us to reconstruct the decisions and strategies of the individual and the specific social opportunities that govern these, as they change over the period of a lifetime.…”

Cross-Cultural Approaches to Biographical Interviews: Looking at Career Transitions and Lifelong Learning

“…The narratives can act as a resource for coping with changes and transitions in a person's life when living in uncertain times by drawing on past experiences which help them to redesign their lifecourse through the process of 'biographicity' (Alheit, 1992). Alheit and Dausien (2002) coined the term 'biographicity' to refer to biographical learning whereby a person 'draws on their biographical stock of knowledge'. Biographicity or biographical learning takes into account both the individual and the social enabling individuals to control their lives, make decisions and manage transitions.…”