• Exploring the Experiences of Lifelong Learners and Their Journeys to School: a narrative study
Author(s):
Cath Gristy (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2014
Network:
14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Format:
Paper

Session Information

14 SES 01 B, School-Related Transitions Within a Life Course Perspective (Part 1)

Paper Session: to be continued in 14 SES 02 B, 14 SES 08 B, 14 SES 09 B

Time:
2014-09-02
13:15-14:45
Room:
B326 Sala de Aulas
Chair:
Ewelina Rydzewska

Contribution

The idea of  a journey’ through education is well established and permeates discourse in education spaces and places across the world from early years settings, schools, universities and community based adult learning. The metaphor of a learning ‘journey’ through a life course is found in education policy, research and pedagogy (Turner, 1998). My own doctoral studies were permeated throughout by the idea of being on a journey, perhaps not an unfamiliar situation (Hughes and Tight, 2013).

This research project set out to explore how adults who consider themselves to be on lifelong education journeys see how decisions made about their schooling and the physical journey to school have impacted on their life course. The information gained from listening to older adults talk about their experiences in the past will be linked to a future project being developed which aims to examine the present  and to ‘back cast’ (Robinson,2003) , exploring feasibilities and implications for access to education and schooling.

In the UK, the 1944 and 1996 Education Act bestowed upon Local Authorities (the regional government structure in the UK) a duty to ensure that suitable free travel arrangements are made to facilitate the right of a child to attend their nearest school. The discourse of a right to access education continues to be heard in neoliberal market orientated contemporary education policies across Europe but is now aligned with the right to choice (Parsons and Welsh, 2006). With education budgets undergoing considerable contraction, the pressure to look for ways of reducing their school transport budgets is intensifying. The nature of school journeys across localities is changing: as a response to, for example increasing diversity of schooling options, school choice and closure of schools, especially in some rural areas of Europe (Andersson, Malmberg and Östh, 2012; de Boer and van Goeverden, 2008; Reay, 2004). Transport to school can be a key feature of decisions made by families when looking at schooling options for children, especially in areas away from urban centres. One small research project carried out in a rural community in South West England found evidence of a complex and troubling relationship between the students and their school journeys particularly for those with no choice about their mode of transport (Gristy, 2010).

This project is part of a wider project looking at the movement of students through localities and life on their way to school and other sites of education. This project aims to make a contribution to the development of understanding about how the journey from home to school impacts on school experience and future education decisions and activity. 

This small scale exploratory project has 2 main aims-

1. To listen to narratives from adults who consider themselves lifelong learners about their physical journey from home to school as a young person and how future education choices impacted on their life course.

2. To draw together these narratives and examine these journeys through a number of lenses which will examine:  the physical nature of these journeys, the social nature of these journeys and the impact of physical journeys to school on school experience.

Method

The methodological approach of this study has been informed by the work of Peter Clough, who hopes that researchers will use narrative inquiry for progressive and political purposes (Clough, 2002). Participants were sought initially from contact through a meeting with a local U3A group (Universities of the Third Age are autonomous groups of older people who come together to share and pursue learning in all its forms). Volunteers were sent a short series of questions to consider and invited to a face to face meeting in a mutually convenient public location. At this meeting, the questions have been used as a starting point to a conversation about school and lifelong education journeys. The meetings have been audio recorded and then transcribed. Contributors have also been offered the opportunity to write their stories down; again responding to the initial questions they have been sent. All participants will be invited to an event at the end of the project to look together at the research findings and how they might use these findings in their own learning journeys and communities. The focus is on acquiring ‘thick descriptions’ (Geertz, 1973) from the participants and understanding the subjective experiences of the participants from their own perspective. The analysis is following a constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006) with themes coded and re-coded during the analysis of the written and transcribed narrative accounts

Expected Outcomes

We have been surprised by the very positive response we have had to the call for volunteers and have interviewed many more individuals than we planned for. Most of the life long learners we have interviewed have been aged 70 or older and have been very willing contributors. The majority have spoken of their education with affection, which is not surprising as by definition they see them selves as life long learners. The data that have been collected so far have been very illuminating and as might be expected, reveal significant differences with findings from contemporary studies but there are also similarities. There is evidence that the majority of the learners we listened to went to school in places very close to their own home and have lived in the same locality ( a predominantly urban place) all their lives Walking was the primary mode of transport although buses and cars are mentioned too. Interestingly no-one from the group of volunteers travelled to school by bicycle. As the learners got older (especially older than 16 years), the range of transport used to get to school and colleges increases. The gender based issues which are emerging appear to suggest significant changes with contemporary experiences, with many of these older women talking about limitations to opportunities they had within and beyond school. These expected patterns for their schooling and employment were expressed both explicitly and implicitly. Class differences are emerging too, with children from more affluent families going to the local grammar schools or private schools which might be further from their home than the local government schools. There is evidence of significant control by families over the decisions made about schooling and further education. Both these findings resonate with contemporary studies (eg Morgan and Blackmore, 2013).

References

Andersson, E,Malmberg, B and Östh, J (2012) Travel-to-school distances in Sweden 2000–2006: changing school geography with equality implications Journal of Transport Geography 23. 35–43 Burgess, S, Briggs, A (2010) School assignment, school choice and social mobility. Economics of Education Review 29 639–649 Charmaz, K., (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory, London, Sage Clough, P. (2002) Narratives and fictions in educational research. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press. de Boer, E and van Goeverden, C (2008) A Comparative Exploration of Four Northwest European Countries. Transport and Planning Department. Association for European Transport Geertz, C. (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures, Hew York, Perseus Books Gristy, C (2010) Life on the edge: the role played by school in the lives of young people from a rural community in the South West of England. Unpublished thesis. Open University Hughes, C and Tight, M (2013) The metaphors we study by: the doctorate as a journey and/or as work. Higher Education Research & Development 32:5. 755-765 Morgan, R and Blackmore, J (2013) How parental and school responses to choice policies reconfigure a rural education market in Victoria, Australia, Journal of Educational Administration and History, 45:1, 84-109 Parsons, C and Welsh, P (2006) Public sector policies and practice,neo‐liberal consumerism and freedom of choice in secondary education: a case study of one area in Kent, Cambridge Journal of Education, 36:2, 237-256 Rahim, A and Nor, M (2013) Travelling to school: transportation selection by parents and awareness towards sustainable transportation. The 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Future for Human Security. 2012 Procedia Environmental Sciences 17. 392 – 400 Reay, D (2004) Exclusivity, Exclusion, and Social Class in Urban Education Markets in the United Kingdom Urban Education 2004 39, 537 Robinson, J (2003), Future subjunctive: back casting as social learning, Futures, 35:8, 839-856. Turner, J (1998) Turns of Phrase and Routes to Learning: The Journey Metaphor in Educational Culture. Intercultural Communication Studies 7:2 23-35

Author Information

Cath Gristy (presenting / submitting)
Plymouth University
Institute of Education
Plymouth

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