The Learning Self E-Book

Mark Tennant

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 302

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

The Learning Self This new book from the award-winning author of Psychology and Adult Learning puts the spotlight on the kind of learning that brings about significant personal change. Tennant explores the techniques, processes, and practices educators can use to promote learning that leads to change and examines assumptions about self and identity, how we are formed, and our capacity for change. The Learning Self addresses the different concepts of self and how they frame our understanding of personal transformation. The book opens with an exploration of the key concepts of self, identity, and subjectivity. The remaining chapters fall into two distinct groups. The first comprises chapters dealing with different versions of the self: The Authentic or Real Self, The Autonomous Self, The Repressed Self, The Socially Constructed Self, and The Storied Self. Tennant's aim in each case is to analyze the issues that each conception of the self presents and to comment on the implications for learning for personal change. The second group of chapters--Knowing Oneself, Controlling Oneself, Caring for Oneself, and (Re)creating Oneself--analyze general interventions to change the self. Although the focus in these chapters is on techniques and methods, the author highlights the versions of the self being promoted in their use. Throughout the book, Tennant posits that individuals can be agents in their own self-formation and change by understanding and acting on the circumstances and forces that surround and shape them.Educators, he argues, must be open to different theoretical ideas and practices while simultaneously valuing these practices and viewing them with a critical eye.

Leseprobe

Contents

Preface

About the Author

Chapter 1: Introduction

The Self

Identity

Subjectivity

Chapter 2: The Authentic or Real Self

Biology and the Self

Living an Authentic Life

Chapter 3: The Autonomous Self

The Nature of Autonomy

Autonomy as a Psychological Attribute

Promoting Autonomy Among Learners

Chapter 4: The Repressed Self

The Unconscious

The Divided Self

Self and Society

Psychoanalysis and Education

Chapter 5: The Socially Constructed Self

Self and Others

The Social Organization of the Life Span

The Self in Context

Learning to Be Through Participation in Communities of Practice

Chapter 6: The Storied Self

Self-Narration

Narrative Interventions

The Self as Relational

Postmodern Critique of the Psychological Self

Continuity and Coherence in the Self as a Normative Ideal

Chapter 7: Knowing Oneself

Facing Up to Yourself

Self-Knowledge as an Ongoing Process

Reflection on Experience

Knowing Others as a Route to Self-Knowledge

Chapter 8: Controlling Oneself

Delayed Gratification

Strategies for Resisting Temptation

Popular Self-Help Literature and Self-Control

Chapter 9: Caring for Oneself

Taking Care During the Passage of Change

Meditation as an Exemplar Self-Care Practice

Self-Reflexivity and Care for Others

Chapter 10: (Re)creating Oneself

Change at the Margins of Life

Change in Everyday Life

Positive Psychology and Change

Learning Designs for Personal Change

References

Index

Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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S. Ashton excerpt in Chapter Two from “Authenticity in Adult Learning,” International Journal of Lifelong Education, 2010, 29(1), Taylor & Francis, Ltd., reprinted by permission of the publisher (Taylor & Francis, Ltd., http://tandfonline.com).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tennant, Mark.

The learning self : understanding the potential for transformation / Mark Tennant.—First edition.

pages cm.—(The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-39336-9 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-118-20674-4 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-20675-(ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-20676-8 (ebk.)

1. Transformative learning. 2. Learning, Psychology of. 3. Adult learning.

I. Title.

LC1100.T46 2012

370.11'5—dc23

2011047499

The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series

Preface

This book examines the kind of learning that brings about significant personal change. It is concerned with the various techniques, processes, and practices used to promote such learning, and their embedded assumptions about self and identity, how we are formed, and our capacity for change. As Foucault reminds us, “The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning” (quoted in Martin, 1988, p. 9). The techniques, processes, and practices, which entail a great deal of “self-work,” have been referred to as “technologies of the self” (see Foucault, 1988b; Tennant, 1998). My interest in this subject is both academic and professional. My academic interest has been forged through my grounding in psychology, supplemented by my exposure to various critiques of psychology, especially the charge that it is a discipline and practice that functions to normalize people in a way that serves the interests of contemporary social and economic circumstances. My professional interest comes from a career in teaching in which I have formed the view that success as a teacher depends squarely on one’s sense of self and professional identity. I agree with Palmer (1998) when he says, “My ability to connect with my students, and to connect them with the subject, depends less on the methods I use than on the degree to which I know and trust my selfhood—and am willing to make it available and vulnerable in the service of learning” (p. 10). No doubt this applies generally across the helping professions as well as to those who have management or leadership roles in their workplace. As a teacher, I have also come to realize that “any understanding of human learning must begin with the nature of the person” (Jarvis, 2005, p. 1; see also Jarvis, 2009). It is the whole self that is engaged in learning in the sense that learning encompasses the social, emotional, cognitive, and bodily dimensions of selfhood (see Jarvis, 2005; Illeris, 2002, 2005). But of course selfhood is a highly contested concept, and assumptions about selfhood cannot be entirely separated from the methods we use as teachers, advisers, counselors, or managers—indeed, such assumptions are arguably embedded in our everyday practices.

The purpose of this book is, first, to explore how different conceptualizations of selfhood serve to frame our understanding of personal change and, second, to elucidate the various processes or “technologies of the self” adopted by teachers and others in the helping professions to promote learning for personal change. I argue that the various interventions in the name of personal change contain within them explicit or implicit theoretical perspectives, which pose essentially different questions and cast the issues in different ways. However, there are two common issues that reoccur across all theoretical perspectives and practices. The first concerns whether we can participate in our own self-formation, the limits of this, and the extent to which our selves are socially and culturally constituted. The second concerns whether we can speak of coherent, continuous, and stable selves, or whether we should be properly speaking about fragmented, divided, and discontinuous selves.

The introductory chapter highlights the renewed focus on the self in contemporary life. It explores the key concepts of self, identity, and subjectivity and their meanings and functions in the academic literature. The remaining chapters fall into two distinct groups. The first group comprises chapters dealing with different versions of the self: The Authentic or Real Self, The Autonomous Self, The Repressed Self, The Socially Constructed Self, and The Storied Self. My aim in each case is to analyze the issues that each conception of the self presents and to briefly comment on the implications for learning for personal change. In the first part of The Authentic or Real Self I evaluate the arguments and empirical evidence suggesting that our biological inheritance is the source of our real self. In the second part I explore the conceptualization of the authentic self as being true to our general nature as human beings. In The Autonomous Self I trace the meanings given to autonomy and its preeminence in the psychological and educational literature as a goal that is a marker of both psychological health and individual empowerment. The Repressed Self presents key concepts in psychoanalysis, such as the unconscious, the divided nature of our mental life, and the sacrifices made by the self in order to participate in civilized life. I also provide a treatment of the implications of psychoanalysis and its applications to education. The Socially Constructed Self looks at theories of the self that argue that we are world-open—that is, our biological nature is such that we are open to being constructed by our social milieu (this includes changes to both our sense of self and our cognitive capacities). The final chapter in this group of chapters, The Storied Self, deals with a range of theories that use narrative as their explanatory tool, from the psychologically oriented theory of McAdams to the postmodern sociological theory of Rose and Foucault, who shift from narrative to discourse. The second group of chapters—Knowing Oneself, Controlling Oneself, Caring for Oneself, and (Re)creating Oneself—analyzes some very general interventions to change the self. Although the focus in these chapters is on techniques and methods, I also am interested in the versions of the self being promoted in their use. As a result some of the material dealt with in earlier chapters is applied to an analysis of these techniques and methods. My overall approach is to link theorizations of self and identity with practices for self-formation and change that are advocated in the educational, therapeutic, and popular literature.

A consistent theme in the book is that individuals can be agents in their own formation and change by understanding and acting on the circumstances and forces that surround and shape them. In addition, I argue that those of us involved in education for personal change need to be critical of our own practices and their rationale. And we need to be open to different theoretical ideas and practices, valuing them while at the same time having an irreverent and critical stance toward them.

The reader looking for a systematic treatment of various theories of the self and their educational implications will be disappointed—it is not that type of book. Instead I invite readers to engage critically with theory and then to put themselves into practice, rather than putting theory into practice (to paraphrase Collins, 1991, p. 47). In this way theory is seen as interacting with practice. Also, I do not subscribe to the view that there is a one-to-one relationship between theory and practice in the sense that a particular teaching method or technique is unique to a particular theory. Rather there are different ways to implement any given method or technique, and embedded within any given implementation are assumptions about the self and its capacity for change. For example, the use and analysis of personal diaries as a method of learning can be done from a psychodynamic, humanistic, critical, social constructionist, or postmodern perspective. It all depends on what type of content is being generated and what type of questions are being asked.

This book has its origins in an article titled “Transforming Selves,” which appeared in the Journal of Transformative Education (Tennant, 2005). Much of this work was completed while I was a visiting professor at Columbia University, and I thank Professor Victoria Marsick for generously hosting me at Columbia. I also thank my wife, Susie, who has been a constant in my life as a friend, lover, mother to my children, and companion for over thirty-four years.

Sydney, Australia

January 2012

Mark Tennant

About the Author

Mark Tennant is an emeritus professor of education at the University of Technology, Sydney, where he has held the positions of dean of the University Graduate School and dean of the Faculty of Education. His academic focus has been on developing a critical understanding of psychology in its application to pedagogy, with an emphasis on postschool contexts. Mark has published widely and was the recipient of the Cyril O. Houle Award for Literature in Adult Education for his book Psychology and Adult Learning. His other books include Learning and Change in the Adult Years (with Philip Pogson) and Teaching, Learning and Research in Higher Education (with Cathi McMullen and Dan Kaczynski). He has had a number of appointments as a visiting professor in universities in Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Mark obtained his PhD in psychology from Macquarie University in 1983.

Chapter 1

Introduction

A number of features of contemporary life have arguably led to a more intense focus on the self and our capacity to understand, manage, and shape our “selves.” We have been increasingly invited to “serve ourselves” as consumers of supermarket products, fuel, banking, travel, entertainment, and even education. Such self-service provisions are supported by rhetoric of personal choice, individual freedom, self-fulfillment, and initiative. In the contemporary workplace too there is a demand for innovative, flexible, multiskilled, and entrepreneurial workers who have a capacity to self-regulate, monitor their performance, be reflexive, and align themselves with the strategic goals of their organization. There are also increasing numbers of independent workers who do not have organizational allegiances but who are conscious of building their portfolio of skills to maintain their position in the labor market—those who can be described as “entrepreneurs of the self” or “portfolio workers” (Gee, 2000). More broadly, rapid social and technological change; the growth of the knowledge society; and global economic, ecological, and health issues collectively point to the need for significant adaptation, flexibility, and a capacity for personal change. One could go further and argue that contemporary life is characterized by uncertainty and dislocation as people find that their anchoring points for identity and their expectations of life trajectories are challenged and disrupted. Clearly, maintaining a singular, unchanging “self” is unlikely to lead to a satisfying and successful life. Instead, we are told, we need to be able to change in response to the changing circumstances in which we find ourselves.