Copenhagen, September 2000
Working paper for the ERDI Expert Seminar on Flexible Learning in New Environments - Contents and Contexts.

Daily life is hardly a new environment for learning. It has from old times been the tribe, the family, the immediate social environment that has formed the learning context for the members as a whole, and especially for the new generations; and the contents have been defined by the actual level of knowledge - what was necessary in order to survive, what could eventually make life more convenient and pleasant and which ideas made it possible to understand their existence. To state that daily life represents a new forum of learning would thus be wrong.

But still one can claim that there is something new going on. The novelty is based on the fact that - as for Denmark - the Ministry of Education now focuses on the learning that occurs in daily life and as a leisure time activity as a part of the 'lifelong learning' concept, which is given official attention at the same level as learning in the educational institutions, learning at the working place and virtual learning.

At The Danish Research and Development Center for Adult Education we are at present carrying out a study (including extensive documentation) for the Ministry of Education dealing with what - as a working title - is called LIVA. The four letters in LIVA represent the four learning environments that, as a whole, covers adult life in our part of the world.

'L' / Life: covers learning in daily life and in leisure time activities

'I' / Institutions: covers learning in the educational institutions

'V' / Virtual: covers virtual learning or technology supported learning (ODL)

'A'/ 'Arbejde' covers - in translation - learning at work.

One could also say that LIVA covers every awake minute in a person's life - and maybe also what happens in your dreams! For therapeutic reasons one is said to learn a lot from one's dreams.

Asleep or awake, working time or recreation time, participating in formal or informal learning situations, following a course in the evening for fun or because you need it in your job - or maybe you actually spend working hours at your job attending a course. For example learning how to operate the latest software for the computer - it can happen at work or it can happen at home. Trying to solve a conflict between two youngsters - it can be a professional challenge or it can be your own children that need some parental guidance. Vague or fluid limits make the distinctions between the different learning environments difficult.

Learning in daily life and in leisure time activities is closely connected to the idea of folkeoplysning (peoples enlightenment) as we know it in the various forms of organization in Denmark: The evening schools, the Folk High Schools, activities for children and young people etc. These environments are accepted forums of informal learning and their contribution is considered a necessity in relation to working life and in societal life in general. Increasingly, interest is directed towards integrating the informal learning into the formal learning in the educational institutions as well.

The Danish parliment has this past May passed a complex of bills on Adult Education, the so-called Adult Education Reform. The reform is based on three main principles:

Relevant and high quality posibilities of continuing and supplementary education must be available to all adults

The adult education offered must be defined at well-described and comparable levels

Bridging between different educations and levels of education must be made possible and facilitated.

Life and work experience of the adults is supposed to play an important part in determining the contents, presentation and profile of formal adult education. The perspective of adult education has thereby undergone a change. The focus is placed on the participants or learners - in contrast to focusing on the teacher. Taking this into account the learning environment will change character and the teacher will have to redefine his or her role. The main interest is not the processes of teaching, but the processes of learning. Being familiar with the Danish educational system and its ideas, one could question if this really is a change or something new. A broad concept of learning has been allowed and accepted in the informal educational system from the days of Grundtvig and has, as such, deep roots in our educational tradition. The crucial point of change is that the system of formal education actively must include the knowledge the learners have, based on their experience in daily life and work life. The learner gets credit, literally speaking, for the knowledge and competences gathered in 'real life'. In real life or daily life the individual finds oneself in situations that are not intentionally aimed at learning, but still learning takes place. One could say that you cannot avoid learning - from the minute you, as a new born, open your eyes, life is one long, uninterrupted learning proces. Life itself is a perpetual learning environment. Such a broad definition is not very operational - and therefore in our study we break up the issue in some key questions:

I The concept of Learning - what does it mean to learn?

II How to define the context of daily life and leisure time?

III Which environments offer learning in daily life and leisure time?

IV Which contents are learned in daily life and leisure time?

Our task in the LIVA-project is to use a drag-net for catching what learning is all about in the different spheres of life. We are going through a vast amount of theoretical litterature to grasp a concept of learning. Many scientists in the field of pedagogics and psychology have made contributions to an understanding of what is going on when an individual or a group of people is involved in a learning process. The contributions are primarily from the world of formal education and mostly aimed at improving the teaching processes. Many schools have developed over time in different countries based on very different scientific approaches.

Recently a number of attempts to synthesize the various approaches have come to light in Denmark. What they have in common is the notion of learning as a multidimensional process. The following dimensions and their internal relationship are all to be taken in consideration if you want to understand the process of learning:

The following figure illustrate the positions:

The many theoretical contributions to defining the concept of learning are positioned in the span between the different dimensions.

It is being pointed out that workbased learning has gotten an increasing amount of attention in research and development, while learning in a virtual context still is a relatively open field.

What is learned in daily life and in leisure time activities has hardly been analyzed in terms of learning. To analyse learning in daily life and leisure time activities calls for an interdisciplinary approach. Research from a number of fields are called upon - just as it is the case when you focus on learning at work and learning in educational institutions.

While learning theories of course are relevant for understanding learning in the sphere of daily life, the field of socialization, in general and also specialised according to familylife, work, life-modes and social heritage are essential for understanding this kind of informal learning.

As most theoretical approaches state that learning differs in different contexts, a major point of discussion is whether one should attempt to define specific learning processes for this sphere. How does it influence the learning process that the activity you involve yourself in is based on inclination and pleasure rather than on duty? Will the notion of how one learns and what one learns in the sphere of daily life define a special learning profile?

Defining the context of daily life and leisure time

Given the framework of LIVA, which implies a distinction between learning in institutions, learning at work, learning by use of the virtual medias and the learning taking place in daily life and leisure time, one needs to have definitions of the different spheres.

The historical development of the different spheres can be approached from numerous professional and ideological angles. Physical and natural environment, technological level, power structure, religion - all are important factors in analyzing how a given society at a given time has defined human activity. The conditions are different under feudal and democratic rule. The conditions are very different in traditional agricultural and industrial production. Throughout time the balance between work and leisure time has changed - leisure time could be considered a relatively new sphere as such. The balance between work and institutionalized learning has changed - and virtual learning is a phenomena of the recent network society.

The setting of the household or family as a stronghold and the major forum for socialization and learning how to live your life is generally agreed upon, though the increasing participation rate of women in the labour market has changed the role of the family considerably and also made general socialization an institutionalized task .

Despite the family being weakened as an institution and emptied for purposes, we still assume a lot of learning is going on - both for children and adults - in the time one spends with the family. Beyond the family-based learning, daily life learning also comprises what is learned in activities of more or less formalized character that the individual chooses to invest time and energy in when off from work and not attending a formal educational institution.

What kind of daily life the individual leads, how much time that can be considered 'free time' and which leisure time activities he or she involves themselves in, and thereby what kind of learning the individual is subject to, depends on a large number of variables: age, gender, family status, neighbourhood, ethnic status, religious status, working status, type of job, level of education, level of income and general social status.

Each trait has an impact on the individual learner's motivation, capability and outcome of the learning processes that, with or without intention, are a part of daily life and leisure time activities.

The number of examples one could list illustrating environments that offer learning possibilities in daily life and leisure time are endless. As an individual or as a group you are in effect exposed constantly. Whether the environment is operating with an intention of offering learning possibilities or not varies considerably. Often the degree of formal organization of the activity will indicate whether the learning possibilities are intended or not.

When one or another association , e.g. the scouts, an evening school or a sports club, offers activities for children or adults, the aim also includes a learning perspective. Not as in educational institutions as the main goal, but as an implicit factor and consequence of the activity. Often it will be a part of the reason for parents letting their children getting exposed to these environments - the wording will then be more in terms of upbringing or giving the offspring an educational experience. The values being lived out in these environments represent a prolongation or supplementary contribution to the socialization in the family.

An example of a very conscious application of this understanding is seen in a recent collaboration between The Danish Guide and Scout Association and a number of the larger business and public coorporations - in banking, consulant engineering, the public postal service and the Danish police force. The title of the project is 'Responsibility 2000'. The so-called College for leadership got formed on the initiative of the scout association. The companies were interested because they saw the scout association having success with motivating volunteers on the basis of values. The companies wanted to learn how to communicate values in an organisation and the scout association in return wanted to get a clearer understanding of how their methods actually work. Both parties evaluate the activities, courses and discussions to be an advantage and a fruitful experience in their future work.

In a study of another branch of the popular enlightenment in Denmark - the so-called evening schools - one of the major results was the emphasis the participants, as well as the associations behind the activities, put on the social element in the courses. As a part of their everyday life a lot of Danes get out in the dark, rainy winter nights to meet other people. They of course learn something about the topic of the course, whatever it might be, but the fact that you meet other people with another background than your own is considered very important. You hear something about other peoples attitudes and view of things and thereby you learn a lot and get an understanding of the world around you. Social competences some would call it.

When you expose yourself to new experiences: a foreign country, a television programme or a new aquaintance you set yourself in a learning position. It is your intention to get something out of it - you will be learning something. The value of this type of learning is recognized when e.g. travelling abroad counts as plus points for admission to higher education. Up to now in certain fields one has seen more applicants than openings at the Danish universities. The majority of the students gets accepted on the basis of a grade average, which is redefined each year, but a number of applicants get accepted on the basis of alternative prequalifications, e.g. courses at a residential folk high school, work experience or travelling abroad. In this situation learning in daily life has got an instrumental function towards entering institutional learning. And in presenting your curriculum vitae when applying for a job, some kind of international experience often is considered a major plus, be it from studying abroad, working abroad or backpackhiking down through the Far East.

The learning contexts just described offers a wide range of skills, qualifications and competences. What they have in common is being of a general, diffuse nature. In contrast to specific learning goals listed in a well-defined school curriculum or qualifications listed in a job profile, the learning required to live your life and acquired in daily life is to a large extent self-evident. Only it's absence would make you notice it. This truism means that it rarely has been described in clear terms and consequently it is very difficult to measure. But still it is of the utmost importance to the individual and to society as a whole.

In theories of socialization a major point is that you are massively exposed to a norm. An authority based on age and/or education guides you in conceiving the norm and the expectations. From the best of motives the parent brings up the child and the teacher educates the student - adult or child. The labour market, commercial interests and mass media influence you for various reasons. The authority is more subtle, but not less powerful and efficient in shaping ways of life and attitudes. What is learned in daily life exists between the lines and is not generally made subject to learning theories as such.

A certain type of vocabulary is used for the learning in daily life and leisure time activities: Upbringing, socialization or education in the sense of 'Bildung'. It is to know the unwritten rules and how to read the codes of a given society. The code can be of a practical or moral kind, ethical, political or esthetical kind. The learning is essential for understanding yourself as an individual and as a part of a social context. As the social context will vary the contents will vary.

Your thoughts and desires and how you conduct yourself is very different for, for example, a Danish urban teenager boy and his Grandmother of 80 living in the countryside: Language, eating habits, choice of TV programmes, choice of music, hopes for the summer vacation, ideas of proper written communication, political engagement, view on level of order and tidiness - and knowledge of how to clean, ideas of a how to spend a good night with the friends. These two versions of daily life will have very little in common as they have been subjects to very different learning possibilities.