Community and learning: Contradictions dilemmas and prospects

Renshaw, Peter D. (2003) Community and learning: Contradictions dilemmas and prospects. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 24 3: 355-370.

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Author Renshaw, Peter D.
Title Community and learning: Contradictions dilemmas and prospects
Journal name Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education  (ERA 2012 Listed)    (ERA 2010 Rank A)   Check publisher's open access policy
Publication date 2003-12
Sub-type Article
DOI 10.1080/0159630032000172533
Volume number 24
Issue number 3
ISSN 1469-3739; 0159-6306
Start page 355
End page 370
Total pages 16
Editor Martin Mills
Victoria Carrington
Place of publication London, U.K.
Publisher Routledge
Language eng
Subject 330109 Assessment and Evaluation
Abstract In this article I reflect on learning and community and their joint deployment. 'Community' evokes images and feelings of security and comfort ('us' and 'ours'), while 'learning' evokes a sense of progress and confidence in overcoming obstacles - a lifelong and somewhat breathless journey these days. We learn every day, but what is worthwhile learning? What types of communities are worth learning towards? Such crucial considerations can remain unexamined because these words are so beguiling - every one can agree that learning communities are worthwhile. Together these terms have provided a powerful contemporary discourse for different educational reform agendas. Recent proponents of 'learning communi ties' have drawn upon sociocultural theorising of learning initiated by Vygotsky and others in the early 20th century. I suggest that this recent deployment of sociocultural learning theory is opportunistic and reflects an effort to resolve certain endemic pedagogical dilemmas related to how inclusion/exclusion is negotiated, how diversity/uniformity is reconciled, and how membership of a learning community is managed over time. I suggest that our role as learning and/or community theorists is principally to critically reflect on what types of learning and communities are worth striving towards.
Keyword Community
Learning
Sociocultural learning theory
Q-Index Code C1
Q-Index Status Provisional Code
Institutional Status Unknown

Document type: Journal Article
Sub-type: Article
Collections: Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) - Collection
School of Education Publications
 
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Created: Fri, 21 Dec 2007, 10:59:21 EST by Thelma Whitbourne on behalf of School of Education