In this book, the authors explore and clarify the nature of postmodernism and provide a detailed introduction to key writers in the field such as Lacan, Derrida, Foucault and Lyotard. They examine the impact which this thinking has had upon contemporary theory and practice of education, concentrating particularly upon how postmodernist ideas challenge existing concepts, structures and hierarchies. Usher has also published, with Bryant, Adult Education as Theory, Practice and Research (Routledge, 1989). Edwards has published, with Thorpe and Hanson, Culture and Processes of Adult Learning...

In this book, the authors explore and clarify the nature of postmodernism and provide a detailed introduction to key writers in the field such as Lacan, Derrida, Foucault and Lyotard. They examine the impact which this thinking has had upon contemporary theory and practice of education, concentrating particularly upon how postmodernist ideas challenge existing concepts, structures and hierarchies. Usher has also published, with Bryant, Adult Education as Theory, Practice and Research (Routledge, 1989). Edwards has published, with Thorpe and Hanson, Culture and Processes of Adult Learning...

Until relatively recently, adult learning in the UK was largely recognised as being situated mainly within the LEA adult education centre, university extra-mural departments and the WEA. However, this picture has changed. The major change has been a shift from 'education' to 'learning' as the key organising concept. A greater range of settings are now recognised as sites producing learning, and alongside this has grown a debate about the purpose and form of study within adult learning. This has led people to question both the concept of adult learning and the boundaries of its provision.
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The 'learning society' is not a new idea, although its popularity has grown in recent years with the suggestion that lifelong learning is a condition for economic competitiveness in a global economy, replacing the earlier conception of it as a condition for democratic citizenship.
This reader, designed to accompany Module E827 of the MA in Education, critically examines the demographic, technological, economic and cultural challenges which have led to interest in the idea of a learning society, and explores their policy and practical implications for lifelong learning. It also...

Flexibility has become a central concept in much policy and academic debate. Individuals, organizations and societies are all required to become more flexible so that they can participate in the ongoing processes of change involved in lifelong learning.
This book explores how the notion of a learning society has developed over recent years: the changes that have given rise to the requirement for flexibility, and the changed discourses and practices that have emerged in the education and training of adults. With the growth in interest in adults as learners, (primarily to support economic...

Flexibility has become a central concept in much policy and academic debate. Individuals, organizations and societies are all required to become more flexible so that they can participate in the ongoing processes of change involved in lifelong learning.
This book explores how the notion of a learning society has developed over recent years: the changes that have given rise to the requirement for flexibility, and the changed discourses and practices that have emerged in the education and training of adults. With the growth in interest in adults as learners, (primarily to support economic...

Guidance and counselling in the context of learning is an area that is growing rapidly and attracting a lot of interest within the field of education. This reader presents a range of different perspectives - those of the user, practitioner, professional, manager, policy-maker and academic. By offering these various tales, the book aims to encourage a more beneficial interchange of dialogue between the people involved, whether they be in the role of the counsellor or the counselled.
Written for a new module on the Open University's MA in Education - E839

Educational policy is often dismissed as simply rhetoric and a collection of half truths. However, this is to underestimate the power of rhetoric and the ways in which rhetorical strategies are integral to persuasive acts. Through a series of illustrative chapters, this book argues that rather than something to be dismissed, rhetorical analysis offers a rich and deep arena in which to explore and examine educational issues and practices. It adopts an original stance in relation to contemporary debates and will make a significant contribution to educational debates in elucidating and...

This book is the first to offer a philosophical and linguistic analysis of rhetoric and discourse as deployed throughout education. It draws upon the work of Foucault, Derrida and Lyotard to investigate rhetoric in the classroom; in learning mediated through new communication technologies (e.g. the Internet) in professional development; in policy documents; in institutional management and leadership and in education research itself. It will be a key resource for those conducting research into discourse in any branch of education.

In recent years there has been increasing interest in issues of space and spatiality in the social sciences and humanities generally, if less so in the study of education. This lack of interest is surprising given the importance of space and time in the organization of teaching and research. This collection examines the significance of space.