Young people, The School and Learning Outside The Classroom

Author(s):

Tapio Aittola

Conference:

ECER 2010

Network:

19. Ethnography

Format:

Paper

Session Information

19 SES 04 B,

Paper Session

Time:

2010-08-25

16:00-17:30

Room:

U40 SALI 4, Metsätalo

Chair:

Sofia Marques da Silva

Contribution

I have together with my colleagues studied since late 1990's in “Education and cultural modernization” –project the characteristics of late modern youth and ambivalences between the school and other life spheres and problems of so-called consumeristic socialization young people in Finland. We want to enlarge the concept of learning in order to make possible to include various kind of student experiences from their life world to this concept. According to Thomas Ziehe this kind of learning can be named as unconventional learning; that will take place in spheres like media, hobbies, and consumption, work and peer relations. Learning is also happening outside school in new contexts and something that has been learned out there returns into school. Moreover, we have analyzed some problems of the consumeristic socialization process which seems to driven young people into increasing egocentricity and self-referentiality. This kind of subjectivization process, viewing the world solely from one’s own perspective creates problems for the young people in their socialization into a multicultural world. We have mixed the study of youth cultures to the educational studies which makes possible to cross the borders of these theoretical perspectives. One of the main sources have been the analyses of cultural modernization (Ulrich Beck and Thomas Ziehe), which enables to analyze student experiences in societal, cultural, institutional and individual levels. In analyzing youth cultures in late modernity we have used Nordic as well as British and German studies (Martin Baethge, Johan Fornäs and Paul Willis). We have also used cultural studies of Education have in analyzing relations between young people, popular culture and critical pedagogy (Henry Giroux, Douglas Kellner and Peter McLaren).

Method

In our empirical projects we unite theoretical and empirical approach to get a grasp of the structures everyday learning experiences and action processes of the everyday life world of young people. Methodologically this means the use of abductive reasoning (C.H. Peirce) and hermeneutical reconstruction (Combe and Helsper). These methodological tools enable the unification of theoretical analyses, empirical observations and everyday experiences. We have used in our empirical studies different kinds of qualitative data: short time ethnographic observations within school institutions (Atkinson, Coffey, Delamont), open ended student writings and questionnaires, description of school metaphors, single and group interviews of students and teachers, group discussions of teachers, photographs and video tapes in school settings.

Expected Outcomes

It seems to be very difficult for the school system to take into account the consequences of cultural modernization and individualization. Young people bring youth culture into classroom, with the result that meeting friends and spending time together has bocome more important than teaching and learning. The increasing popularity of computers and new media have caused that the school has lost its monopoly over transmission of new knowledge. Young people have reported that many learning processes have shifted outside the school: to leisure time activities, working, media, shopping, meeting peers and family life. Within these spheres young people have learned knowledge, life-skills, values and action competencies which could not readily be obtained within school settings. However, the school could actively search these spheres for points of contact for pedagogic activities. Everyday learning is characterized by lack of planning, informality, and learning from one’s mistakes. The school, by contrast, is able to produce pre-planned and cumulative learning experiences in which learning is connected with larger cognitive structures. Consumeristic socialization process easily leads to subjectivization and egocentrism that can create problems for successful socialization, because cultural modernization is leading to a situation in which new minority groups continuously emerge in society.

References

Aittola, T. 1998. Reflections on Learning in everyday life in: A. Bron, J. Filed, E. Kurantowicz (Eds.) Adult Education and Democratic Citizenship II. Krakow: Impuls publishers, p.103-119. Aittola. T. 2000. Possibilities of Informal Learning Inside and Outside School. Teoksessa: Peter Alheit ym. (Eds.) Lifelong learning inside and outside schools. Collected papers vol 1. Roskilde: Roskilde university press. s. 186-198. Atkinson, P. & Coffey. A. 1996. Making Sense of Qualitative Data. London: Sage. Baethge, M. 1989. Individualization as hope and as disaster. In: K. Hurrelmann & U. Engel (Eds.) The social world of adolescents. New York: Walter de Gruyer, pp. 27–41. Beck, U. 1986. Risikogesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Fornäs, J. 1995 Cultural Theory in Late Modernity. London: Sage.. Giddens, A. 1998. Living in a Post-traditional society. In: U. Beck, A. Giddens & S. Lash. Reflexive modernization. Cambridge: Polity press. pp. 56-107 Giroux, H. 2006. The Giroux Reader. Londo: Paradigm. Larsson, S.1996. Vardagslärande och vuxenstudier. Teoksessa: P.-E. Ellström,B. Gustavsson & S. Larsson (red.) Livslångt lärande. Stockholm: Studentlitteratur, s. 9-28. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. 1991. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Perss. MacLaren, P. 1996. Critical Pedagogy and Predatory Culture. London: Routledge. Merriam, S. B. & Clark, C. 1993. Learning from Life Experience. What Makes it Significant? International Journal of Lifelong Education 12, 2, s. 129-138. Willis, P. 2003. Etnographic imagination. Cambridge: Polity press. Ziehe, T. 1999. Zeitvergleiche. Jugend in kulturellen Modernisierungen. Germany: Juventa. Ziehe, T. (1995). “Good enough strangeness in education” In: T. Aittola, R. Koikkalainen & E. Sironen (Eds.) “Confronting strangeness”. University of Jyväskylä, Department of Education – publications 5, pp. 17–28.

Author Information

Tapio Aittola

University of Jyväskylä

Department of Education

Jyväskylä

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