Whether or Not the Analytical Tools by Kalantzis and Cope Have Contributed to Change in the Learning Process - Case Study Example

Lifelong Learning Student Name: Tutor’s Name: Course: College Name: Lifelong Learning Introduction The essay is going to give an elaborate discussion of the analytical framework presented by Kalantzis and Cope, which has elaborated greater insights and understanding towards learning processes. Therefore, students are able to broaden and deepen their understanding of educational research, theory and practice. Hence, students are accorded support in order to enable them situate themselves as educators within existing theories and practices of education. In addition, students are in a position to undertake an inquiry in educational practice; develop an understanding and capacity that is related to inquiries made by teachers, and represent and synthesize their learning to an inquiry community through exams that are comprehensive. As a result, change is depicted in the way learning process is conducted, and this is evident in the case study used in presenting the different practices available in lifelong learning. The field of practice is education and the context of the case study is the advancement evident in the sector. Furthermore, the practice will give a detailed account of the theoretical frameworks that have contributed to the changes in the educational sector and give elaborate examples in the case study by showing the arguments presented by different authors. The case study identifies and describes in brief specific analytical framework examined in relation to the life of students in formal learning institutions (schools). In retrospect, the thesis of the essay is whether or not the analytical tools presented by Kalantzis and Cope have contributed to change in the learning process. The paper supports that the analytical tools have changed the learning process, which is evident by using one of tools to support the position. The paper is structured in a chronological manner and therefore, the next step is the explanation of the analytical frameworks in question. Here, authors are mentioned and an identification and explanation of dimensions present by looking into the three analytical stages of the framework. The fourth part is the case study and gives an account of the application of the framework. Under this part, the case study is described, framework application is described and analyzed, and observations are mentioned. The fifth and last part is the discussion and conclusion of the question. Here, a summary is given on the case study and a critique of the framework is shown by looking at the values associated with the said framework. Explanation of the analytical framework According to Kalantzis and Cope, the analytical frameworks presented are used by contemporary educators in support of their practices. This is elaborated in four dimensions as follows: 1) learning processed, 2) sources ability, 3) learning infrastructure, and 4) measuring learning. According to Kalantzis and Cope, the three perspectives (behaviourism, brain developmentalism, and social cognitivism) entered the practice and discipline of education in the order they entered. Behaviourism, a school of thought, was founded by John B. Watson, Edward Thorndike and B.F. Skinner in the first half of the 20th century under the psychology discipline. Observation was the key aspect in this theory and thus, consciousness and simplified learning was eliminated. The argument presented by this school of thought in the learning process is that there is no real difference between animals and humans process of learning and thus, stimulus and reinforcements are their primary sources. As a result, they resorted to using Pavlov experiment that showed the relation between dogs feeding time and the sound of a buzzer. The sources of ability mention the fact that, “learning is ‘conditioned’ by external stimuli” (Kalantzis & Cope 2012, p. 200). Here, learning is broken down into stimulus-response-reinforcement. Lastly, learning was measured by psychologists through the intelligence tests or mental capacities of people. Brain developmentalism and constructivism is observed by Piaget (developmentalism) and Chomsky (linguistics) in recent times under cognitive sciences. Jean Piaget argues that the process of learning occurs through accommodation and assimilation processes. Noam Chomsky, a linguist gives focus to common human factors (language origins and nature). In education, ‘nature’ versus ‘nurture’ roles is a debate presented under the sources of ability. For the learning infrastructure, educationists pay more attention to the nurture side while for developmentalism,, its focus is on the nature side. For developmentalism, learners learn what, and when they are ‘ready’ (Kalantzis & Cope 2012, p. 204). In Chomskian linguistics, language immersions give learners symbolism aspects of a specific language. Brain developmentalism perspective measures learning by balancing them with socio-cultural factors since they are not deficient. Also, they are criticized for it at-times monocultural perspective and individualistic bias. Chomsky, on the other hand, is criticized from comparative and contrastive point of view of linguistics. Cognitive science speaks in general terms and does not recognize social and cultural differences. Social cognitivism approach tries to balance social and cultural factors with the brains potentialities. For example, Vygotsky describes transition made by children from thinking that is complex to conceptual through the social language acquisition process (Kalantzis & Cope 2012, p. 207). The source of ability in humans is evident in their capacity to learn and thus, nature provides the human race with a range of ‘affordances’ (Kalantzis and Cope 2012, p. 208). Learning infrastructure looks into education task in a transformative way by working with the learners in the process of acquisition of an inheritance that is socio-cognitive. Under measuring dimension, the process is of a social perspective that recognizes that much is learned from the outside of an individual’s brain. Therefore, enormous variety in terms of knowledge and learning is evident (Kalantzis & Cope 2012, p. 211). Application of the framework to the case study Adult education in Australia is growing because many of the people practicing it have realized the importance and impact towards their current status. However, radical adult education theory should be considered in this case since it contributes to cultural and critical orientations in terms of political-philosophical, which explains the relationship between social recognition and economical redistribution (Huttunen & Suoranta 2006, p. 28). The learners are adult individuals who have formal education and want to further their qualifications and others have no qualifications. As an educationist, being at their disposal is important in giving them direction and mentoring them to take courses that will improve their current standards of living. This could be in terms of taking courses in line with their businesses, careers and even social status. Practitioners in adult education and training mentor these individuals and engage them in coming up with strategies that add value to their educational qualifications and training. The case presented talks of the revolution of human ability to be able to manipulate information and apply results across a wide spectrum of human activity (Field 2006, p. 10). Factors like the global ebb, government, science, and economy flow are some of the demands that have brought change in the education sector. Adult education is a profound instrument that is being adopted by many countries with an aim of refashioning supply of training and educational opportunities. Through adult education, socialization of the young was the sole purpose and this meant that social cognitivism was being promoted (Field 2006, p. 13). It is also evident that this programme looked into the environmental and cultural aspects of education that promoted behaviourism framework. Therefore, it looks at an individual and is said to be driven by the motivated ego (Field 2006, p. 13) especially with the onset of paid educational leave (PEL) by OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). According to Knoll (1998, p. 38), his broad and visionary manifesto aimed at portraying learning as an initiative that contributed to the optimistic phase of educational reforms and policy in the international realms. Government institutions have tried to develop instrumental policies (recurrent education) that provided practical ways of realizing lifelong education. To many adults, this program has given them competitive advantage because learning is a continuous process that brings into place assimilation and accommodation aspects of Jean Piaget’s framework of brain developmentalism. From the case study, it is evident that adult training and education cuts across all three frameworks of Kalantzis and Cope. As a result, adult learning is a lifelong process (Hyslop-Margison & Sears 2008, p. 306) that needs to be promoted because it contributes to change and thus, raising an individual’s well-being and brain development process. Through social interaction processes, adults are able to assimilate what they want to do, and when and hence, the activities outside their brain have forced them to further their studies in order to obtain a competitive advantage (Hyslop-Margison & Sears 2008, p. 308). The process of learning among the adults is that attributed to social cognitivism because it is shaped in the mind of the individual. Furthermore, their past cultural learning bases have been upgraded with changes in the society, and thus, there is a greater need for them to accommodate the changes and remain in-charge of their nature of learning. In addition, adults have the capability to make changes in their lives by interacting with those who are in the same field and sharing ideas and experiences. This helps them boost their current status and move to a level with more challenges, but with their new learning processes, their techniques and modes of handling issues changes. Their source of ability relies heavily on behaviourism aspects of stimulus-response-reinforcements, which can either be positive or negative. For example, the stimulus in the adults’ case is the need to be competitive. Also, majority of them are parents and having to study with their children in the same class is stimulus enough. Their response is motivation by the youth in terms of socializing during class work and projects. In addition, they want to show their children that education is a continuous process that should not be associated with the young only. Global transformation has enabled adults engage in the learning process that is lifelong and rewarding in future. The reinforcements present in the case study will include pay rise, improvement in living standards, and health conditions. The negative aspects are linked to those individuals with timid minds that learning is for the young and thus, discouragements are bound to be there (Boshier 1998, p. 10). Also, financial constraints and sponsors are few when it comes to adult training and education. The infrastructure of learning is linked to social cognitivism because their task is transformative in nature. Practitioners work with the learners in enable them acquire their inheritance of socio-cognitive and this helps them blend into the new system. In measuring learning, the case study shows that it relies heavily on social cognitivism since their perspective is social. Furthermore, existing recognition among the adults displays the fact that, learned information is sourced outside the brain of an individual since they vary in terms of learning and knowledge. Discussion and conclusion The authors have varied explanations on strategies, theories, knowledge, and understanding that give teachers the power to counter neo-liberal policies and have turned adults training and education into realms that promote instrumental preparation of human capital. As educators, we need to instill in learners the principle of democratic learning and also intellectual freedom and should view themselves as political agents that are dynamic. Also, the agents are attributed to give learners personal and social improvement (Hyslop-Margison & Sears 2008, p. 312). In terms of recognition and redistribution, radical adult education refers to Honneth’s theory (1994, p. 211), which is under the social development personalities as self-confidence, self-respect, and self-esteem. Hegel formulated the above self-relations according to their areas of struggle for recognition and grouped them as Family (love), Civil Society (rights), and State (solidarity). Fraser’s conceptual model concludes that, its application is perspective dualism, meaning that it co-exists to radical adult education in terms of cultural and critical orientations (Fraser 2003, p. 67). In summary, radical adult education theory manages with social recognition, a critical theory that aims at economic and political recognition and justice. Lifelong learning is one of the policies that has exploded and powered changes to the public sector. However, this policy is nested in vocationalism ideology and denotes the notion that is unproblematic as it is savvy for those individuals who consume and surf the Internet (Boshier 1998, p. 8). The vertical integration of education refers to the life-span aspect of a lifelong process of learning. This implies that education should occur from cradle to grave (throughout life). In order to remove structural barriers in this system, individuals need to pass the appropriate legislations. The attraction of lifelong education is evident since attention is considerable and constitutes powerful templates for reforms of education. Schuller and Watson agree that learning is a right of human throughout life that promotes societal vision by playing the full role in personal growth aspects and emancipation, solidarity, prosperity, responsibility to the local and global sectors. As a result, the suggested readings for this paper has contributed in showing how lifelong learning is achieved among adult education by looking at various theories and practices. References List Boshier, RW (Ed.) 1980, Towards a Learning Society: New Zealand Adult Education in Transition, Learning Press Ltd, Vancouver. Boshier, R 1998, Edgar Faure after 25 years: down but not out, Kogan Page, London. Field, J 2006, Lifelong learning: a design for the future? Trentham, Stroke-on-Trent. Fraser, N 2003, Social justice in the age of identity politics - Redistribution, recognition, and participation. A political-philosophical exchange, Versa, New York. Huttunen, R & Suoranta, J 2006, Critical and cultural orientation in radical adult Education, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam. Huttunen, R & Heikkinen. H 2004, ‘Teaching and the dialectic of recognition’, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 163-174. Hyslop-Margison, EJ & Sears, AM 2008, Challenging the dominant neo-liberal Discourse, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam. Hyslop-Margison, EJ & Welsh, B 2003, ‘The skills gay myth’. Journal of Educational Thought, vol. 37, no. 1, p. 21. McLaren, P & Farahmandpur, R 2005, Teaching against global capitalism and the new imperialism: A critical pedagogy, Rowman & Littlefield, Boulder. Schuller, T & Watson, D 2009, Learning through life. Inquiry into the future for lifelong learning. Summary, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education. Read More