AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BRAIN SCIENCES
STORMING
LIFELONG LEARNING
Val Bissland
Senior Studies Institute, University of Strathclyde,
March 1999
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
promoting the values and goals of lifelong learning through funding, co-ordinating
research and development. Its agenda centres on the challenge of individual motivation
and involvement.
The aim of the competition was to bring to the current lifelong learning debate original
Dr C. Brookes, The Lifelong Learning Foundation, PO Box 98, Sale, Manchester M33
2UJ
STORMING LIFELONG LEARNING by Val Bissland is one of the four expanded titles
from the competition. Val Bissland is a lifelong learning tutor and personal
development trainer who runs classes and seminars on memory enhancement,
accelerated learning skills, cognitive behavioural training, NLP, and career and life
planning.
2
Copyright c 1999 Val Bissland
STORMING LIFELONG LEARNING
INDEX
Abstract 4
Introduction 5
Metacognition 12
Memory Skills 16
Mind-Body Connections 19
Summary 23
Identifying Preferences 25
Accelerated Learning 26
Neuro-Linguistic Programming 30
Conclusion 38
3
References 39
Abstract
Recent insights into how our brains work have revealed that highly effective and
enjoyable ways of learning are within the grasp of people of all ages. This augers well
for lifelong learning. Learning throughout our lives is increasingly important in a rapidly
changing world with the blurring of boundaries between work and leisure, the prospect
of more career changes for many people, generally less employment but longer lives.
New information, new learning, and changing roles and interests are three
avenues of investigation in this essay to tease out new directions in lifelong learning.
Information from the brain sciences has revolutionised our understanding of the
chemical pathways of the mind/body system that control learning, health and
wellbeing. Mental fitness is a concept that is explored and, like physical fitness it
functioning.
However lifelong learning can only thrive within a social matrix that values it. We now
have the power to change the texture of our experience. The question is how to achieve
this, not only for all our young people and people in paid work, but for sizeable
marginalised groups, who can then feed back their energy into sustaining their own
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worlds which is in everyone's interest. Therein lies the challenge of creating a lifelong
INTRODUCTION
Life does not consist mainly or even largely of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of
thoughts that are forever blowing through one's mind.
Mark Twain
Jean Piaget's observation that intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do,
mirrors an ancient Chinese proverb that those who want to do something find a way. The
evolution of human history is about people with inventive minds finding ways and leaving a
legacy of knowledge, ideas, values, beliefs, stories and discoveries to ongoing generations. In a
multicultural world the starting point for each of us is determined by dominant societal,
institutional and situational processes over which we have no control, but through the process of
learning we develop our minds and self awareness in relation to our own culture.
Then we can respond by accepting, adapting, changing or creating new ideas, and even
influencing others. Our big flexible brains and their 'storm of thoughts' make all this possible, and
scientific research over recent years suggests that better learning is within the grasp of people of
all ages. This makes the prospect of lifelong learning an energising, lifeenhancing pursuit with the
potential to radically change the texture of personal experience at work and at leisure, in families
and in communities, and in the process create a highly participative and inclusive society whose
citizens can cope well with economic, political and cultural change.
New Orientations
This extended essay 'storms' recent insights into the brain's organisation from the perspective of
how this knowledge contributes to our understanding of the best ways to learn, what will motivate
us to learn all our lives and why this is not just desirable, but an imperative in today's changing
world. Experts who know more and more about less and less, are recognising the
interconnectedness of different fields of knowledge, and are communicating with one another and
collaborating as never before to bring their synergy to bear on reallife problems. Yet the practical
implications of the discoveries of cognitive neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists and molecular
psychologists have not yet filtered down uniformly into educational practice.
5
Perhaps this is not surprising in a profession steeped in psychometric testing, grading procedures
and the transmission model of teaching where information passes from teacher to learner, and of
course, the nature of formal education systems is such that they are often slow to respond to new
ideas. However a radical reorientation of teaching practice, towards a constructivist model (Dart,
1997), where learners actively form their own representations, select material relevant to their
needs, work cooperatively, become aware of metacognitive thinking and adopt a deep approach
to learning, is underway. It cannot be resisted, ignored or simply not recognised any longer in the
light of recent developments.
Adults especially, with their store of life experience and prior knowledge are ideal candidates for
the new studentoriented bottomup learning. It certainly means changing the teacher's role from a
giver of information to the more challenging task of facilitator of learning, but it is a paradigm shift
that needs to be hastened if lifelong learning is going to appeal to the many rather than the few. A
more egalitarian and useful concept than intelligence is mental fitness a culture of success for
everyone (Cusack, 1995). This concept will be explored throughout the essay and is the 'glue' that
holds together many disparate and diffuse ideas.
New information, new learning and changing roles and interests
These are the three avenues of exploration to try and tease out dimensions of lifelong learning.
There is not a smooth trajectory through this 'storm of thoughts'. Selection and integration are
features of the way we lead our lives and reflect, as well as create, who we are. If there is a unifying
thread it is a kind of persistent practicality a desire to put the new knowledge to work. It is a post
modern perspective which rejects the notion of an hierarchical ordered universe with people in
measured control of their destiny. Individuals have to deal with global consequences that are
unpredictable, ephemeral and heterogeneous. It is a world with an endless labyrinth of
possibilities, an infinite number of different and confusing routes with paths crossing, rejoining
and coming from many different directions. I hope the ideas I have assembled are helpful in the
development of your own perspective although our thoughts will inevitably diverge in some
important ways.
I begin by examining how new research in the brain sciences, aided by computer technology, has
opened up realistic possibilities of a true learning revolution. Each section is broken down into
advanced organisers with a brief overview and added footnotes for specialist terms, where
appropriate.
_____________________________________________________________________
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SECTION 1
NEW INFORMATION
OVERVIEW
The vast fund of new information on the brain indicates that you either use it or
lose it and using it well sustains both body and mind.
New information is divided into:
new knowledge brain structure and function in terms of a system of neuronal
networks and multisensory perceptual channels
memory skills memory brain sites and strategies for reviewing, registering,
retention and recall
All brain functions are inexorably bound up together and operate as a complex
holistic body system with the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.
_____________________________________________________________________
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The Human Brain
'The most important thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and science'
Albert Einstein.
Nothing in the known universe comes close to matching the complexity of a human brain with its
100 billion brain cells or neurons. Each brain cell is a thousand times more powerful than a
megabyte computer and has thousands of branching connections to other cells making a neural
network1 of a million billion connections. This is so large that it outnumbers the number of particles
in the known universe. In the fifties scientists thought we only used about 50% of our brain's
potential but discoveries of the past few years have pushed that figure down to less than 1%
(Buzan, 1995)!
While healthy brains lose some cells as they age, the loss is not dramatic and is limited to very
specific areas (Goldman, 1996). So the myth of diminishing brain capacity has been scotched and
we need have no more worries about the effects of dying cells! In fact, rather than losing brain cells
as we get older we can usually extend our neural connections. Neurons are spidery things that
have a cell body and thousands of appendages that can either receive (dendrites)2 or send (axons)3
electrochemical impulses to and from other nerve cells across synaptic gaps 4. The interconnectivity
between brain cells is the power that allows us to make new associations and continually add to
them all our lives. Our thoughts and actions are the traffic of these signals between cells.
Language
As you read this, millions of cells are firing as they process the symbols on the page recognising
letters, words, grammar, semantics, meanings and values, and relating the content to information
already stored in memory. The majority of people do this effortlessly, and because we learn to read
as children we take it for granted without realising how phenomenal this human ability is. When
computer scientists tried to model everyday language they literally hit a brick wall because of the
unexpected complexity of word meanings in social context. Like a brain, a computer has a memory
and can solve problems by means of tiny components working together in complicated firing
1 Neural networks are the connecting circuits in the brain. Each neuron can communicate with
anything between 2,000 and 200,000 others. Out of their interactions arises the phenomenon of
human consciousness.
2 Dendrites (Greek word for tree) form a spiky fringe around the cell body allowing each cell to
receive signals from more than 100,000 others.
3Axons are the nerve fibre projections from the brain cell that transmit impulses to the dendrites of
other neurons. They can even extend for as much as 3 feet the equivalent to a kite with a 40ft tail!
4 Synapses are the tiny gaps at the terminals of the axons across which electrochemical signals
travel a system we share with all other animals from the jellyfish up.
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patterns but it is basically a box of on/off switches. Compared to the speech performance of a
five year old with, on average, a 5000 word vocabulary, even the most powerful computer is puny.
The average reading speed of a adult is around 200 words a minute, but through training this can
increase to 1000, and top reading speeds of an incredible 20,000 words per minute are possible by
suberbly trained expert readers. This illustrates two points the untapped potential we have
between our ears is almost limitless, and although computers are wonderful tools for advancing
our understanding, in terms of handling task complexity a brain is in a different league altogether.
Other Brains
Insects, birds, reptiles and mammals have the same basic brain cells as we do, the only difference
being their number and organisation, but as the spectacular wildlife documentaries of the recent
times have revealed, they have a range of different and often equally amazing capabilities. A bee
can, among other things, communicate, dance, learn, defend its community, adapt to gravitational
forces and detect the difference between millions of scents. Computer analysis of a skylark's song
reveals that it composes as many as twenty different Mozartlike symphonies in a day. Mammals
have complex social systems, share human emotions (even laboratory rats respond to affection),
have highly developed reasoning powers and a range of most intricate communication systems
that we have scarcely begun to understand. We often forget that an anthropocentric view5 of the
natural world is a very limiting one.
Human Neural Networks
These have such unfathomable capacity that many neurophysiologists, cognitive scientists,
information theorists, perception and memory psychologists have abandoned the biocomputer
metaphor. Certainly, a baby arrives in the world neurologically prewired with a staggering
database of instructions but it learns new information ten thousand times faster than any machine.
A computer needs a programme with information put in by an operator in an orderly way.
However the world does not contain neatly organised pieces of information just waiting to be
picked up by the brain. We know the brain has to impose its own boundaries on the world and
actively construct concepts and categories. For example, Eskimos are said to have around 40 words
to describe what Europeans would simply call 'snow'. Are there really 40 different sorts of white
frozen water or do Eskimo brains make these distinctions? Before the brain can make a
representation of an object it has to decide if it exists and organise incoherent impressions into
structured categories. (Edelman, 1993) According to this theory we learn complex skills through
the brain reinforcing those connections acknowledged by our value system a form of neural
Darwinism. Exactly how this happens is a subject of much research but it certainly takes place
very rapidly.
5 Anthropocentrism means viewing everything in terms of human values and humankind as the
ultimate creation.
9
Diversity
The more that is discovered the more amazing the picture of human consciousness becomes and
the more scientists have yet to uncover. The crucial thing to appreciate is that there is no 'correct'
description of the world, as the way it is perceived and coded depends very much on the brain that
is doing the job. Diversity of perceptions and sensations is a feature of thought processes and
unlike computers, our actions are suffused with values, predilections, and some goal to be
satisfied. This means that even the highest level, abstract kinds of thinking are based
fundamentally on feeling. This theory also allows for one of the most striking attributes of the
human brain its imagination.
Even although neurochemical activity is considerably less by the time someone is in their eighties
or nineties, resulting in reduced capacities of processing, speed and working memory, the effect on
thinking is relatively slight (Slater, 1995). Positron emission tomography6, for example, indicates
that the brains of healthy people in their eighties are almost as active as those of people in their
twenties. So provided there is no pathology and we exercise moderately, have a nutrient rich diet,
ply our brains with new and varied knowledge, have purpose in our lives and good social support,
we have the capacity to compensate for agerelated biological changes and respond creatively with
logic and emotion, thinking and feeling.
The Cerebral Cortex
The key to the brain's awesome power lies in the most evolutionary advanced part of our brain
the cerebral cortex the 2mm wrinkled outer coating which, spread out flat, would cover
approximately four A4 sheets of paper. The bulkiness of the brain, in fact, comes from the myelin
sheathes that insulate the 'wiring' connecting different parts. In the late 60s Roger Sperry's
discovery that the two hemispheres of the brain had different dominant functions was a major
6 PET (Positron Emission Tomography) is noninvasive brain scanning enabling researchers to
examine the structure of living brains in action, seeing on screen electrochemical activity as
memories are activated.
10
breakthrough, with the left brain specialising in language and mathematical logic (the 'academic'
brain) and the right brain concerned with creative activities such as rhythm, music, colour and
pictures (the 'metaphorical mind'). However both sides are connected by a network of 300 million
neurons with information racing between the two halves.
7 Gestalt is seeing something as a whole rather than breaking it down into parts.
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Metacognition
Tell me and I will forget
Show me and I will remember
Involve me and I will understand.
Confucius
Insights into the how we learn have been around for a long time and good teachers have
intuitively appreciated the benefits of multisensory learning. Our early learning history probably
determines our habitual thinking patterns which are as unique as our signatures. However a great
proportion of learners have been disadvantaged in the traditional system where learning through
verbal transmission is the norm. It is estimated that only 25% of people are strongest in the
auditory mode, with 35% strongest in the visual mode and 40% in the kinesthetic mode. Most of us
can identify a particular thinking style that helps us to learn (Markova, 1991).
However this does not mean we are trapped in a kind of learning 'straightjacket'. By becoming
more selfaware and reclaiming dormant mind capabilities we can become confident in our own
experiences, and think, learn and communicate more effectively using all our senses to accelerate
our learning. It certainly helps if our teachers and tutors facilitate the process by recognising that
people learn differently and therefore set into motion a whole range of learning activities.
'When teachers use games and activities, emotion and music, relaxation, visualisation, role play, colour, and
learning maps, learning becomes a joyful, stressfree event.'
Rose & Nicholl, 1997.
Multiple Chance Learning
That we all possess to varying degrees multiple intelligences is a theory that has tremendous
potential for 'multiple chance' learning (Gardner, 1993). Formal schooling tends to concentrate on
linguistic and mathematical 'ways of knowing' as well as some visual and spatial learning, and
standard IQ8 tests are reasonably good at predicting performance in these. However they are not so
good at predicting success in the real world. This is why fierce controversy rages about their
failure to identify people who later display flair and high intelligence in their chosen careers, and
others with high IQs who end up giving very mediocre performances. The conclusion many draw
is that IQ tests only measure the ability to perform well in IQ tests.
What matters is not how smart you are but how you are smart' , Howard Gardner.
8 IQ is universally recognised as a person's mental age determined by a test result divided by their
chronological age and the ratio multiplied by 100
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Harvard education professor Howard Gardner maintains that it is a crucial blunder to assume IQ
is a single fixed entity. His contention is that we have a repertoire of skills for solving different
kinds of problems in different settings. Using insights from neuroscience (especially the work of
Sperry and Edelman) as well as psychology, philosophy and history, and studying gifted people,
child prodigies, experts, people from different cultures and ordinary folk, he proposes a theory
that we have five distinct intellectual competencies in addition to the scholastic verballinguistic
(reading, writing, communicating), logicalmathematical (reasoning systematically and
calculating) and visualspatial (thinking in pictures, visualising a result).
There is musical intelligence the ability to sing, compose music or appreciate rhythm and jingles
(e.g. composers, song writers); bodilykinesthetic intelligence empowering body movement (e.g.
athletes, mountaineers), the ability to skilfully use your hands to solve problems (e.g. technicians,
surgeons) , create objects (e.g. builders, sculptors) or create ideas and emotions (e.g. actors, orators,
mime and dance artists); interpersonal intelligence form good relationships, social competency,
empathy and sensitivity to others' goals and desires (e.g. religious leaders, counsellors,
salespersons); intrapersonal intelligence self analysis and introspection with the ability to make
plans and set goals (e.g. philosophers); and finally naturalist intelligence to be able to tune in to
nature for the purpose of hunting, farming, conservation or observation. (Sometimes called
intuitive intelligence.) Charles Darwin is a supreme example of someone with this finetuned
intelligence. Another illustration is the Aboriginal initiation ritual when a young man spends a
sustained period alone in the bush and rapidly learns how to survive.
The Hardwired Brain
These five additional intelligences are rarely acknowledged in our educational system with visual
spatial aspects often on the margins as well. A normal brain is hardwired to use all intelligences,
but because each brain has its own unique architecture and neural networks, different intelligences
combine and interact in uniquely creative ways. If the educational system only heeds verbal
linguistic and logicalmathematical competencies this makes the going tough for many students
with a difference dominant intelligence, especially as most teachers themselves are strong in the
verballinguistic and logicalmathematical spheres and often fail to appreciate that the problem is
something other than lack of 'intelligence'.
We must challenge a system that results in huge proportion of children leaving school
undereducated and demotivated with the belief that they have little talent for learning. Many
continue to believe this all their adult lives unless lucky enough to have an experience that restores
faith in their own ability. The growing number of mature students at university who go on to
considerable achievement in their chosen fields bear witness to their mental fitness. And in later
life, Open University students in the 60 to 65 age band who gain degrees have been shown
13
consistently to produce the best course results of all age groups (OU Older Adult Research Group,
1993).
All this confirms the findings of scientists that we can train our brains to become more finelytuned
instruments as we go through life. The evidence about brain potential proclaims loudly that the
deficit model of learning is failing many, and that unless a serious problem exists each of us has the
basic brain power to learn well in our own unique ways using all our intelligences. This calls for a
radical reappraisal of the underlying assumptions at the heart of our educational system.
Learning How To Learn
This ability is now recognised as a major step towards unleashing the brain's potential. By
developing an understanding of how to store new knowledge effectively, access it efficiently and
use it creatively we can overcome assumed insurmountable handicaps or unquestioned
limitations. This requires metacognition, understanding the 'language of the brain', how we
organise our perceptions, thinking processes, emotions and performance. It is a frame over which
we can stretch the canvas of our experience. How do we know we know? We can know rationally
by thinking about them and checking them out with what else we know. We can know by our
senses and checking with objective experiments or thirdly, we can know metaphorically and
depend on an intuitive grasp of situations.
With world knowledge said to be doubling every two to three years the memorisation of hard facts
is less valuable than knowing how and where to gather facts, taking the initiative, making
decisions, developing our natural talents and inventing imaginative solutions to problems. After
all, a double click on the mouse can gain Internet access to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and a
whole lot more. In other words, developing the ability to take control of our own brain power is
the foundation of lifelong learning. In almost every occupation people who are not upgrading their
knowledge and skills are falling behind. Indeed a likely scenario next century is for individuals not
only to have many career moves, but to have two or three total career changes. Therefore being
able to identify the organisational, sorting and creative languages of your mind and learn how to
learn fast are not optional, addon bonuses for the privileged few but a mental fitness programme
for everyone.
Genes
To quote geneticist David Suzuki, 'The really important genes are not the ones which tell us what to do,
but the ones which give us the ability to change behaviour in response to our environment'.
This implies the whole evolution of the higher mammals is about genes handing over control to
the brain. Certainly a growing body of evidence supports the theory that the more the brain is
14
stimulated the more it will achieve at any age, and the brain sciences have given us strategies to
move off and accelerate quickly into top gear.
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15
Memory Skills
If you keep on saying things are going to be bad,
you have a good chance of being a prophet.
Isaac Singer
Not many people profess to having a good memory and yet our memories do an incredible job in
storing all the information we need to operate as independent and social beings all our days. What
people usually mean is that they cannot access their memory store and recall exactly what they
want when they want it. Research increasingly suggests that we can take steps to improve recall.
Only in cases of irreversible damage is it a hopeless scenario, such is the compensatory power of
the brain.
However there are two tiny structures above the brain stem 9, the hippocampus and the amygdala
that are critically involved in memory processing. They are the sorting station and gatekeeper for
new memories and are part of the limbic system10 which needs a constant supply of oxygen to do
its job. If this is cut off bilaterally by a severe stroke for example, the person, provided their
perceptual skills and previous memories are intact, will be trapped in a time warp unable to lay
down new memories. Such sad cases of amnesia have provided many insights into how memories
are formed and where they are located in the brain. It is, in fact, one of the most researched fields
although notoriously difficult to study.
A Reconstruction
However we do know that categories of things are stored together at different places e.g. names of
natural items such as trees are separate from the names of botanists, and nouns are separate from
verbs. Also different sense memories are scattered all over the cortex. So recalling the memory of a
dear aunt the sound of her voice, the feel of her skin, the smell of her perfume, the image of her
smiling, the taste of her homemade tablet is a reconstruction a whole brain activity. This
knowledge has implications for multisensory learning using your eight intelligences. Memories
become permanent when the information is registered strongly using all senses and involving
strong emotions.
An interesting model of memory by neurologist M. Grossman of the University of Pennsylvania
uses the apt acronym W.I.R.E.S :
9 The Brain Stem is a tapered 3in. section where the brain meets the spinal cord. It regulates many
bodily functions that happen without conscious effort such as breathing and digestion.
(Sometimes it is referred to as the reptilian brain.)
10 The Limbic System is the central control panel made up of the organs wrapped round the
brainstem like a collar ('limbus' is Latin for collar). It controls physical expression of emotion and
contains the pleasure centre. It also distributes information to the cortex for storage. (Sometimes it
is referred to a the mammalian brain)
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Working memory is a holding pen for short bits of information and is situated in the prefrontal
cortex11 . (Sometimes referred to as shortterm memory.) For example, it allows you to retain
information long enough to make sense of a sentence in conversation or store a telephone number
till you dial.
Implicit memory is memory of how to coordinate movements, like driving a car and is stored in
the cerebellum12. Once it is learned it becomes automatic. (Sometimes called procedural memory or
'muscle memory'.)
Remote memory is all the information you have accumulated over time and is located all over the
cerebral cortex. (Often called longterm memory)
Episodic memory is memory of your life as it unfolds, the people you meet, the TV programmes
you have watched and everyday incidents.
Semantic memory is your store of symbols, words and their meanings.
The latest evidence shows that while we sleep information is replayed, registered and woven into
our remote memory. This is one good reason researchers believe that imaginative madeup stories
are such good ways to consciously encode information as they have a dreamlike quality that lend
themselves to easy processing.
The Social World
Think back to the baby arriving in the world with the phenomenal prewired capacity to learn and
remember. However if stimulation and encouragement are missing those abilities will most likely
atrophy or never develop properly, as we have witnessed in recent times in extreme form in
Eastern European orphanages ravished by wars, corruption and poverty. At the other end of the
life span, as we grow older we need to generate our own motivation and positive energy and use
conscious strategies to organise and review new information using all our senses well.
We know now that the brain is an organ capable of continuing structural adaption and that
previous views about the process of decline were extremely negative and deterministic. Even the
care of people with organic brain disease such as dementia is being transformed by this knowledge
11 The Prefrontal Cortex situated just behind the forehead oversees complex mental activities such
as exercising judgment, futureplanning and higherorder thinking, such as compassion, altruism
and a sense of justice.
12 The Cerebellum coordinates balance and posture incorporating a sense of the body's movement
in space.
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from a 'no cureno hope' scenario to a vision of a new culture of stimulating and quality care that
sustains personhood (Kitwood, 1997)13.
A Resourceful State
To ensure we put ourselves in a state of learning readiness we can consciously conjure up our past
successes, ask ourselves why new material to be learned is important, what we will be able to do
better if we know it, how it links to what we already know, what associations we can set up in our
minds. We can summarise it, make notes, record our summary and then listen to it and tell others
about what we have learned. We can make quickreference index cards, exercise our creativity by
making colourful illustrated learning maps, turn the information into a jingle, a rhyme, a
colourful story or a mnemonic, and take pleasure in learning by listening to music and relaxing
while it sinks in in effect putting ourselves into a semihypnotic highly receptive state. Later we
can reflect on our most effective strategies for registering, retention and recall.
What research shows is that actions such as these improve memory by setting up positive
expectations and confidence in our own ability to learn successfully, as we exercise control and
mastery over the way learning happens. When the brain is in a positive state of arousal, opiatelike
pleasure chemicals are released increasing a flow of the chemical transmitter acetylcholine,
essential for the growth of neural networks. For lifelong learning to have a mass appeal these
techniques must be made widely known either through 'learning to learn' courses for both teachers
and students, or through experiencing these methods face to face in the classroom. Without
convincing reassurance many people who have been hurt before by negative learning experiences
are just not going to take the risk. So we need a highly supportive social matrix for lifelong
learning to begin in ernest.
13 Tom Kitwood's contribution to the understanding of dementia cannot be underestimated and
anyone involved in care should read his most recent book Dementia Reconsidered .
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MindBody Connections
'Scientific revolutions are very interesting. The way they happen is that most people deny them and resist
them. And then there's more and more of an explosion, and there's a paradigm shift.'
Candace Pert, 1986
Pert's landmark work on the biochemical pathways of the brain helped to spark the neuroscience
explosion that has led to our understanding that the mind and body are one, with the same
chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) found in both. There is now overwhelming evidence that
our bodies react to suggestion not to reality and that even a broken leg mends at a rate linked to
our attitudes, hopes and fears.
Sleep, thoughts, movement, rage and even a smile reflect neurotransmitter activity which stems
from the pleasure centre deep inside the hypothalamus 14 and it drives much of our goalseeking
behaviour for good or ill. In evolutionary terms it was there long before the cortex and often
means that we can at times behave out of keeping with our intellect if the feelings are powerful
enough. Sexual feelings, as you can imagine, emanate from here and you don't have to think very
long to recall prestigious public figures whose pleasure centres have landed them in spectacular
trouble!
Brain Chemicals
Neurotransmitters are the versatile molecules that chemically connect neurons at the synaptic
gaps, and extremely small amounts subtly underlie all our moods from ecstasy to deepest
depression. Dopamine, norerepinephrine and serotonin are the primary moodelevating
neurotransmitters. These opiatelike endorphins trigger an increased flow of acetylcholine the
'lubricant' that allows neural networks to grow and memories to be captured. Listening to a vibrant
piece of music, experiencing a breathtaking sunset, sharing a joke with a friend, stroking an
animal, going for a walk on a beautiful day, hugging a loved family member, mastering something
new, are events that give us a chemical 'brain bath' which affects the activation threshold of the
pleasure centre and account for all the pleasurable sensations that accompany these activities.
If our 'feelgood' levels drop we don't like it and seek ways of redressing the balance. Some would
argue that in common with most species on earth we are addicted to pleasure which explains why
emotional appeal is so powerful and compelling. Advertisers exhibit this knowledge day and daily
and have turned promotion of their products into an art form. You only have to watch TV car
adverts, for example, to see how they seem to be about gaining access to beautiful and desirable
14 The Hypothalamus is a 'motor' of the limbic system (the 'feeling' system) which controls our
biorhythms: emotional response and behaviour, pain and pleasure, heart rate and temperature,
sleep cycles, appetite, thirst and hormones.
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people at exotic locations they are certainly not about gears and clutches! It is significant that the
limbic system not only controls emotions, but memory also.
The Emotional Brain
This phenomenon has profound implications for learning, as emotional images are more likely to
be remembered. An extreme example is recalling a moment of high drama, such as hearing about
Diana's car crash in Paris. Most people will remember exactly where they were at that moment of
truth. This is sometimes called 'flashbulb' memory a memory frozen in time by its dramatic
impact. However positive emotions play an important part in laying down memories during
everyday learning. If students find an experience fun and enjoyable they will remember the facts
more readily. Therefore collaboration, group discussion, participation, games and quizzes will
create a state of positive emotional arousal releasing a flood of 'pleasure chemicals'.
The opposite happens if someone feels under duress. The switchboard between the limbic system
and the cortex shuts down and a more primitive fear response trips in, inhibiting access to higher
brain functions. This is also the reason why some people do so badly in exams although they
perform well in class they are literally consumed by fear and their minds go blank. It also goes
some way towards explaining some of the mismatches between certain students' good
performance at university and subsequent failure at work. These people for whatever reason
cannot cope with the demands of the outside world and their negative emotions well up
preventing access to their neural networks.
Evolution
This type of phenomenon is explained in this quote from Ornstein and Sobel (1987) when
discussing brain development:
' We carry our evolution inside us, within the different structures of the brain, structures built in different
eras.... each one designed to maintain stability in its organism as animals moved from the sea to land, to the
trees, to the savannahs of eastern Africa, to Fifth Avenue.'
Although we have this limitless capacity to perform well our evolutionary history is sometimes
waiting to trip us up. Therefore the systems we design have to take account of our emotional selves
and ensure that we work in harmony with our biological natures. The educational answer is a
'multisensory, multiintelligence classroom or training room with lots of colour, art, music, role play,
interaction, information on the walls and sheer novelty.' Rose and Nicoll (1997).
Such an environment is stimulating and draws out learners' natural talents and exuberance,
stimulating the release of the pleasure endorphins.
20
Positive Attitudes
There are other lifegiving biproducts that accompany the release of the 'good' neurotransmitters
the number of white blood cells in our immune system increases, cholesterol levels fall, blood
pressure drops and heart rate steadies. Studies linking psychological factors to physiological effects
have been accumulating for decades but there is now an overwhelming body of evidence that
positive attitudes and commitment protect and restore our health by flooding our system with
regenerating chemical tonics. Thoughts, beliefs and ways of reacting to problems are not
ephemeral abstractions but electrochemical events. Just as optimistic appraisals are beneficial, so
losing your temper, being cynical, pessimistic, giving up, blaming others or yourself, and believing
you have no control or are useless have deeply damaging effects.
Hans Seyle (1976) who spent 50 years researching stress posed the question: What is the cause of
death in this scenario? You pass a drunk in the street who gives you a lot of verbal abuse. You
respond in kind triggering your stress response and flooding your bloodstream with adrenaline,
increasing blood pressure and sending your pulse racing. If you are a coronary candidate the result
may be fatal. What kills you? The drunk? The insults? The wrong response?
'Fundamental to health is the way we view life, the sense of purpose we bring to it, the willingness to see
obstacles as opportunities for learning, and the space we find to give and receive warmth and respect.'
Neville Hodgkinson
(Sunday Times medical correspondent, 1988).
New Concepts
Awareness of this phenomenon has led to the study of psychoneuroimmunology which examines
the biopsychosocial riskfactor concept of illness a marked departure from germ theory. The
startling results from much of the research make a powerful case for lowcost social and
behavioural interventions to be included in the curative regimens of many patients. And if these
arguments are moved into the realms of preventative medicine they become even more
compelling, as a stimulating learning environment of the type described by Rose and Nicholl will
carry powerful health benefits.
This mindbody aspects of illness is gradually entering the mainstream of medical thinking as
scientists can clearly identify the neurochemical pathways that allow the brain to 'give orders' to
ration. Now we know that it can occur in the absence of a pill or potion and requires no deception
to produce results.
21
The main ingredient is the human belief system (Cousins, 1981). When people deeply believe they
will be helped by something, bodily changes occur from the physiological impact of that thought.
It could be a new therapy, a new learned way of coping, a new interest, a sense of control, a prayer,
a relationship or a doctor. If an inert placebo is involved, the changes still take place. If a real drug
is involved, the resulting changes are a combination of belief and pharmacological action (Weil,
1983), but the pill that we think will cure us is metabolised in a very different internal
environment (Achterberg, 1985). Developing positive attitudes is a mental fitness skill that has a
major effect on our physical wellbeing and firmly draws lifelong learning into the equation.
22
SUMMARY OF NEW KNOWLEDGE
Our 'learning biomachine'
This selective look at recent scientific advances has scattered to the wind the notion that learning
should be a painstakingly difficult process. Brains have evolved as 'learning biomachines' with
unlimited capacity for growth, and indeed human survival, especially at this point in our history,
is dependent on learning well and learning fast. Once we can organise the information we want to
remember to suit our learning style we have literally learned how to learn.
This knowledge is crucial for mobilising all our various mental fitness skills, in the same way that
we now appreciate that our physical state is profoundly influenced by exercise, what we eat, our
attitudes, our social support and our activities. By learning how to use our visualspatial, musical,
bodilykinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist intelligences as well as logical
mathematical and verballinguistic skills, a fulfilling life of stimulating and healthgiving learning
becomes a real possibility.
_____________________________________________________________________
23
SECTION 2
NEW LEARNING
OVERVIEW
The section explores several interesting learning and training ideas based on
modelling brain architecture that enable everyone to enjoy learning. These
thumbnail sketches do no more than highlight certain features of the new
paradigm.
_____________________________________________________________________
24
Identifying Learning Preferences.
OUR PREFERENCE IS THE
'ON' SWITCH FOR OUR BRAINS,
THE NOZZLE FOR THE HOSE
THAT DIRECTS OUR STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Dawna Markova, 199116
The three ways of learning visual, auditory and kinesthetic and how they combine is a subject of
endless debate in educational circles. Everyone's mind uses a favourite symbolic language for
organising thoughts, and being able to identify your conscious learning style is a bridge between
your intellect and your intuition allowing you to absorb information faster. Something effective
learners have in common is that they actively do something to ensure they are absorbing
information in the way that suits them. Some have to visualise and paint a mental picture. Others
have to describe something to themselves in a stream of words or ask questions. Others cannot
think clearly unless they are in motion or in action, or experiencing or feeling something. Our
preferred representational system is the one we are most competent using in expressing ourselves
publicly.
Visual learners like to read for themselves rather than be read to e.g. follow a map rather than
follow verbal instructions. They like to see the 'big picture' and draw up lists of things to do. TV,
films and crossword puzzles hold an endless fascination and they tend to be good spellers. Talking
quite fast and revealing emotion through facial expression is a strong characteristic, as is eyetoeye
contact with the person they are speaking to. They rarely forget a face and remember by picturing
things in their mind's eye. Often they sign off by using the expression: I'll be seeing you.
Auditory learners are likely to be highly articulate, adept at describing their own ideas, telling
jokes and recalling facts and names. They enjoy listening to stories, lectures, radio, tapes, debates
and discussions, and have very good vocabularies and expressive voices, often humming away to
themselves. Talking their way through problems or out of trouble is their preferred style. They are
very comfortable on the phone, remembering what has been said. Speak to you soon is a common
farewell.
Kinesthetic learners like active outdoor pursuits and prefer some kind of physical involvement in
what they are doing, such as manipulating objects and demonstrating how to do things. Using
expressive body language is also a powerful indicator. They like using three dimensional aids
16 Dawna Markova in her book The Art of the Possible enables you to identify your subconscious
and unconscious modalities as well as your conscious one allowing deep knowledge of your
unique learning style.
25
(index cards) to help them remember and may well use a signingoff expression such as: I'll be in
touch.
Of course, people do not fit rigidly into only one category as we have all three modalities available
to us to different degrees. However most people can see themselves more of one thing than
another. As we now know that different modalities are stored in different parts of the brain we can
consciously train ourselves to back up our learning with our other senses to lay down stronger
traces with more connections between brain cells. The outcome is sometimes referred to as
divergent thinking or radiant thinking which can produce creative and imaginative ways of
responding to challenge.
Accelerated Learning
The application of accelerated learning which excites me most is a programme that will teach you how to
learn and thereby reach your true potential. I want to see everyone acquire the tools and motivation to
realise their dreams as I have seen the incredible impact this learning revolution has had on people's lives.
Colin Rose 17
Gradually over the past ten to fifteen years various educators have been transforming the
theoretical knowledge of brain scientists into accessible strategies for learning. 18 Accelerated
learning is 'fast track' learning. However it is no gimmick but a process that can become a lifelong
habit to enhance retention of information. Basically you just do more of what comes naturally to
you, going with your own learning rhythms, as discussed above. Accelerated learning has been
tested and evaluated independently and shows spectacular success, not only in mainstream
educational establishments, but in schools for people labelled 'learning disabled' and in high
powered business environments.
17 Colin Rose is founder of Accelerated Learning Systems in the UK and coauthored Accelerated
Learning for the 21st Century (1997). Vital reading for anyone who wants to learn how to learn and
put this knowledge into practice imnediately, either as a tutor or learner.
18 Quantum Learning by B.DePorter (1992) Expert instruction on how to get into Accelerated
Learning by head of a college in the USA which runs learning how to learn classes for all ages.
26
GOOD FEELINGS
PRODUCE THE ENERGY
TO FUEL OUR TRIP
THROUGH
LIFE
The following highlight accelerated learning's six principles.
• Take in information in your preferred learning style and then reinforce this through the other
senses. Then you will have a written or pictorial image of the key concepts, spoken or heard
them and have made index cards for filing all of which help you to organise the material
meaningfully.
• Use your multiple intelligences so the whole brain is activated. This can involve reading, talk,
logical explanation and flowcharts, making effective notes such as learning maps, visualising,
comparing notes with other people, asking questions, making up rhymes, jingles or
mnemonics, moving round the room and pinning up some pictures or key ideas, taking time
out just to sit quietly and reflect on how the material fits in to what you know, remembering
that failure leads to success.
• Demonstrate your new learning in a way that suits your learning style. For example, make a
tape recording to listen to later, sketch a learning map from memory or help someone else to
learn.
• Review the new information by discussing with a learning partner how this new learning fits
in to your life and experience. Read over your notes before going to bed to allow your
unconscious mind to sort them out.
27
The 'big' picture
Any learning session should begin by identifying what you already know. People are often
surprised at the things they have absorbed from newspapers or magazine articles or TV
programmes. This primes the areas of the brain where related knowledge is stored and gives a
feeling of confidence about building on it. Also it highlights gaps and generates questions that you
want answered. The next stage is to grasp the 'big picture'. If this is personal learning flip through
the book or the programme and look at the index, the foreward, the beginning and end, and speed
reading anything that catches the eye to get the gist. Next try to extract the central theme and as
you read, question why this is worth reading and what you want to learn from it.
This structure still applies if you are facilitating a learning programme. What do your students
already know? What would they like to know more about? What are the most interesting features
of the programme? What is your perspective? All these preliminary procedures are not just ice
breaking activities they serve the function of orientation, so that learning is put in a familiar
context. While your description will be adequate for auditory learners, an overhead summary slide
will help visual learners and a handout will please those who like to do something such as
underlining or circling key points.
Constructivism
Still too many teachers and tutors position students in passive roles that inhibit taking control and
taking risks. This is the key to enthusiastic motivation that doubles the amount of information that
can be absorbed. Constructivism is now central to theories of learning, from primary schools to
undergraduate courses (Howe, 1998), with emphasis on goal orientation, the progressive
elaboration of knowledge by personal activity, social and collaborative interactions, individual
feedback on problemsolving, and reflection on learning (Dart, 1997).
Learning maps play a key role and no description of accelerated learning would be complete
without a brief sketch of this way of thinking that revolutionises retention and recall, and
enhances understanding. Tony Buzan, President of the Brain Foundation, introduced the idea of
Mind Maps in 1974 in the publication Use Your Head. Since then he has produced a stream of
books developing Mind Mapping19 into an extremely powerful creative tool integrating left and
right brain activities, reflecting the architecture of neuronal networks.
19 The Mindmap Book: Radiant Thinking by Tony Buzan (Reprint 1997) A comprehensive guide
to Mind Maps a revolutionary method of accessing intelligence, using and improving memory,
concentration and creativity in planning and structuring thoughts at all levels.
28
Mind Maps
To make a mind map start with a blank sheet of paper in horizontal format and put the central
concept in symbolic form in the centre. Draw numbered thick branches leading off from this with
key words printed neatly along them, using lots of colour, symbols and sketches to make the map
memorable, arty and fun to do. Branches split off into thinner subbranches and connect to other
linking ideas.
There are many applications from rough notetaking at a lecture to later notemaking, when time
goes into making the map neat, clear, colourful and well organised. They are useful for making a
record of a meeting, planning a course of action, learning a language, studying for exams and
problemsolving. You can mind map a chapter of a book, a whole book, a whole course even by
using a large sheet of paper and pinning it on the wall. The key words trigger ideas and time is not
wasted reading vast quantities of text to revise. Reviewing is done in regular short bursts every
hour, every day, every week, every month, every three months and so on, so that vast amounts of
information that would just disappear from your memory bank are continually being reactivated
along with associations.
_____________________________________________________________________
29
NeuroLinguistic Programming
THINGS TURN OUT BEST
FOR THE PEOPLE
WHO MAKE THE BEST OF THE WAY
THINGS TURN OUT.
Art Linklater
Over the last decade or so endless books have been written on how to accomplish personal,
professional and business success based on what we know about thinking and organisational
skills. However the two people who laid the groundwork of neurolinguistic programming are
Americans Bandler and Grinder whose initial work was carried out in the context of family
therapy, based on ideas of psychologists Perls, Erikson and Satir. Bandler and Grinder's book (The
Structure of Magic, 1975) sets out to identify language patterns that obscure meaning and cause
misunderstanding through the imprecise uses of words and phrases. They correct such woolly
thinking by reframing the initial sensory experience, based on the premise that our experience of
the world is filtered through our beliefs, interests and preoccupations, with unhelpful patterns
often personally and culturally ingrained.
NLP methods are quick and effective (sheer magic in fact!) in changing negative thinking patterns
and generating constructive internal dialogue. This led Bandler andGrinder to modelling patterns
of excellent communication by successful people and their ways of thinking. Some new forms of
NLP analyse very sophisticated and complex interpersonal behaviour.
Sometimes NLP is called 'software' for the brain because it allows people to 'reprogram' their
thinking and establish new helpful thought patterns. There are numerous versions although
practitioner jargon can be baffling. However the strategies of NLP undoubtedly help people to
change selflimiting beliefs, set positive outcomes that are within their control, be clear and specific
about what they want using all their senses (what they will hear, see and feel), while at the same
time, encouraging flexibility to keep negotiating and building bridges to others till they reach their
goal.
Applications
It has been adapted for use in many contexts where people feel they do not have enough control
over their lives. For example, Back on Track courses (Clark, 1997) for unemployed people over 50
based on NLP have been operating throughout the UK, to remotivate and reorientate people to
plan and develop strategies to deal constructively with their unemployment. Many people gain
stronger selfbelief and confidence in their own ability to perform well at interviews, at retraining
30
or to become self employed, while others find they have better motivation simply to make each
day's job search more purposeful.
Cognitive behavioural training (CBT) has also been used successfully in this context (Proudfoot,
1997) which is based on many of the same principles identification of common thinking errors,
analysis of automatic thoughts, goalsetting, time management, techniques to gain access to deeper
levels and dimensions of attributional thinking. An evaluation of this particular progamme
showed that participants benefited from improvements in general psychological wellbeing as well
as finding jobs.
Personal Development Courses
NLP is widely used in the context of personal development courses, such as assertiveness training,
where the language of passive and aggressive people often reflects poor self esteem and false
beliefs about their own and other people's worlds. New constructive thinking patterns and better
ways of communicating can be taught very quickly using experiential training. The improved
reactions from other people on the receiving end immediately feed back into better self image and
a stronger feelings of competence.
The main communication challenges for most people are confronting others with their behaviour
and dealing with their reactions, giving and receiving criticism, overcoming self consciousness,
controlling emotions, setting limits, being taken seriously, gaining cooperation and speaking
publicly. These are powerful personal skills to develop and NLP provides some very effective
tools.
Learning how to organise your perceptions, thinking processes and behaviour in ways that lead to
success is highly motivating and incorporates awareness of the advantages of cueing into others'
thinking styles. We often talk about the pleasure of being on the 'same wavelength' as someone
else. But by being able to consciously adapt to another's wavelength we establish speedy rapport,
strong empathy and effective collaboration. These communication skills demonstrate a type of
mental fitness that is increasing valuable in today's world and is certainly vital in a
teacher/student environment if learning is to be fast and effective.
31
New Interactive Learning Aids
There is little doubt that information technology will have a huge impact on learning opportunities
in the near future. It is perfectly possible that students will log on at virtual colleges or universities,
sit in on virtual lectures with the uptodate multimedia teaching aids, visit virtual libraries
anywhere in the world, meet fellow learners at virtual student unions, attend a virtual summer
school, email their assignments to tutors and cap it all by sitting their exams in virtual assessment
halls (Howe, 1998). This mindboggling scenario is already happening to some extent. (The new
University of the Highlands and Islands is very computerdependent and the OU has piloted a
virtual summer school.)
Distance learning has been around for a long time but IT is set to bring a new dimension that is
already impacting on mainstream education. Simple economics will make networking the best
option in schools and other institutions although the interpersonal and social aspects will have to
be addressed, particularly at both ends of the age spectrum, with young people at a formative
stage and older people appreciating the interpersonal nature of learning. Students will be able to
log on at any time of the day or night, listen to a prerecorded lecture when it suits, stop and start it
at will, learning fast and learning cheaply, and receive individualised tutor feedback. With this
type of learning each student's awareness of knowing how to learn will be crucial to success. In
terms of lifelong learning, IT is set to play a powerful role in opening up access to vast numbers of
new learners.
32
SECTION 3
CHANGING ROLES AND INTERESTS
'We see a series of shifts over time aimed at substituting inclusion for exclusion,
achievement for failure, opportunity for good fortune, diversity for uniformity, a mass for
an elite, the many for the few, and pleasure where there is currently dread.'
An extract from the first report of the National Advisory Group for Continuing
Education and Lifelong Learning, Fryer, R. 1997.
33
LIFELONG LEARNING
It is important to put lifelong learning in context to evaluate why it has entered the vocabulary of
the movers and shakers of policy during this decade. The issue was first raised in Britain by
educationalist Basil Yeaxlee (1929) during the prevailing mood of social reconstruction after the
Great War (CrossDurant, 1987). His concept rested on integrating learning and living at work, at
leisure and in the community from the cradle to the grave along lines set out by the American
philosophical foundingfather of lifelong education, John Dewey (1902). Yeaxlee saw adult
education as a vehicle for creating a harmonised world and a more democratic lifestyle, but with
the separation of liberal adult education from technical and evening classes in 1924, the idea
became dormant until UNESCO revived it the 1970s as a European response to change and
uncertainty.
A survival concept
However in the 90s the metaphor of lifelong learning has become a 'survival concept for the 21st
Century' (Longworth & Davies, 1994). At the first global conference on the topic in Rome in 1994
(The European Lifelong Learning Initiative) it was defined in much the same terms set out by Yeaxlee
70 years previously as a process of human development, resulting in positive, confident and
creative people, both at work and at leisure, old and young, gifted and handicapped, developed
and developing, family and friends. In other words, it was an holistic allembracing 'lifestyle'
concept rather than an economicallyinspired one a response to the impact of the major global
political and social upheavals that have changed the nature and patterns of work, life, leisure and
learning. The changes that the world faces at the end of the century include the explosion of
information & knowledge, environmental pressures and, in Europe, an exponential increase in the
number of people over 50 unemployed or left paid work , and a decrease in the number of younger
people.
New Options
Recent governments have produced various documents on lifelong learning, including Lifetime
Learning, DfEE 1996 & The Learning Age, DfEE 1998, to suggest the value of a selfimprovement
culture with new options, advice and support so that everyone has opportunities for fulfilment
and a job. The first Undersecretary of State for Lifelong Learning has been appointed but despite
all the fine words the real focus seems to be on lifelong earning rather than learning in other
words, the creation of a flexible, highlytrained, multiskilled workforce to generate wealth and
meet the demands of a global market in a world experiencing rapid technological, economic and
demographic change.
Although these instrumental objectives meet important economic imperatives and address the
juggernauts of global challenge and change, they ignore the needs of vast numbers of citizens
34
older people (especially older women), ethnic minorities, poor people and the physically and
emotionally vulnerable. Their learning needs are just as vital if they are to acquire the knowledge,
attitudes and skills to cope with life in the 21st century and not be marginalised by the limiting
attitudes that have excluded them to varying degrees from mainstream learning opportunities.
Economic and social factors
Social exclusion is recognised as an evil in a civilised society, but with 15% of the UK population
living in poverty according to a recently published United Nations Development Programme
Report (Johnston,1998), the choices open to around one in five in the population are severely
limited. The report uses the traditional measure for poverty the proportion of the population
living on less than half median male earnings along with three additional yardsticks longterm
unemployment, life expectancy and illiteracy, broadening the concept to include poverty of
capabilities and poverty of opportunities. The illiteracy statistic is quite shocking and damning,
with 21.8% of British 16 65 year olds 'functionally illiterate', indicating difficulties filling in a
benefits form or writing a cheque. With other studies showing correlations between educational
status and health, such a situation has farreaching implications for the national economy.
In fact, viewed from purely an economic perspective it spells longterm financial suicide to have a
policy of just 'propping up' this vast deprived sector, and from a social perspective it is grossly
inequitable. But it is at a personal level that real injustice is taking place. People who are not
encouraged to develop their potential are often sentenced to an existence on the margins. This is a
woeful waste of human resources, stripping people of self esteem, confidence and sometimes even
their health, and reducing them to the status of 'a burden' rather than a resource for their families
and for society. Therefore lifelong learning must be more than an instrumental framework for
bolstering workplace skills.
Others must have a share of resources if learning is to meet the wider social aims stated boldly by
David Blunkett in his introduction to The Learning Age.
'Learning enables people to play a full part in their community and strengthens the family, the
neighbourhood and consequently the nation. It helps us fulfil our potential and opens doors to a love of
music, art and literature. That is why we value learning for its own sake and are encouraging adults to enter
and reenter learning at every point of their lives as parents, at work and as citizens.'
A Learning Culture
Evidence of change to a learning culture is extremely patchy although there are beacons of light
and models of excellence on which to build. The State of the Nation Campaign for Learning/Mori
Poll, 1996 found that 95% of adults and 93% of children think you are never too old to learn.
Therefore an antipoverty overall strategy along the lines of the UN social summit in Copenhagen
is a pressing need as structural poverty is a barrier to learning for a significant percentage of
people. Many have not the surplus cash to pay for classes let alone buy a computer.
35
Initiatives like New Deal, the national minimum wage, improved benefits for families and poorest
pensioners, the University for Industry with its flexibility and dissemination of good practice, are
steps in the right direction, but how we create a literate (and now a computerliterate) society has
to be addressed specifically with a timetabled plan of action (Age Concern England, 1998).
Minority groups should certainly be part of the consultation process and with no single
educational institution committed to learning across the total age spectrum (Coffield, 1998) it falls
on government to coordinate the lifelong learning culture.and pay more than lip service to
opportunities for all.
We cannot afford in human or economic terms to fail one in five people at the very minimum, and
in terms of potential higher quality of life, probably nearer a third of the population. The latter is
the proportion that has never been involved in learning since leaving school, either through
evening classes, college or training courses, or open learning (MORI,1996), many because of
'learning shutdown' after deadly negative feedback from school. Information on how to make
learning exciting, enjoyable, exploratory, cooperative, creative, interdependent, personalised,
accelerated for everyone is not a secret although sometimes it may seem so. However more
teaching will only be part of the solution as more and more people will have to learn
independently and in ways that are embedded in work and other life contexts.
Accredited learning
The way lifelong learning operates currently is to direct resources to workbased accredited
learning at the expense of other nonvocational schemes. 'More of the same' is not good enough to
meet the challenge of creating a learning culture for all and blockages in the system need to be
rooted out. A major blockage is the government preoccupation with readiness to work when the
changing nature of work the lack of continuity, career changes, selfemployment, early
retirement, more free time and less paid jobs means that boundaries between work and leisure
are blurred. In effect, learning should be available to all who want to benefit from it and are ready
to do so.
Carers, mentors and volunteers, for example, have an important impact on the economy and their
rights and needs as learners should be recognised. As life expectancy increases more people in
their 50s, 60s and 70s are engaged in these active roles and benefit greatly from supportive
training. Many are the very people who never enjoyed learning under the old regime. We owe it to
them to redress the balance and provide a taste of accelerated learning in the direction they wish to
go. Such intervention has multiple benefits in raised self esteem and recognition of their own
capabilities and brain power.
New insights
36
New knowledge of experience, of instinct, of intuitiveness and of imagination cannot be taught but they can
be learned. Sir Graham Hills, 1997.
In creating insights into new fields of useful knowledge relevant to their lives and activities, it
allows people on the margins to rejoin society, and be valued for their contributions. Equally
importantly, it helps to sustain health and wellbeing. Knowing what we now know about the
mindbody connection the question should be: Can we afford to exclude older people, people with
disabilities and ethnic minorities from access to lifelong learning? A quote from a volunteer guide
in the Dairy of 1000 Adult Learners says it all:
'My life is now full of work, bringing up a new family of interested visitors. My future looks busy, no time
to sit doing nothing, too many things to find out, and also so many friends to keep me looking forward to the
future.' D.Harvey, Senior Studies Institute
And when it comes to very elderly people the effects of learning can have even more dramatic
effects. Pilot studies in residential homes teaching word processing to facilitate life history writing
have demonstrated that even 80 and 90 year olds lap it up with enthusiasm (James, 1996). Current
scientific studies into Mental Fitness acknowledge that people who are mentally active lead well
adjusted lives, but more work needs to be done in this country to demonstrate forcefully this vital
link between learning and health.
A Learning Culture
How ready is the public to move from an enterprise culture to a learning culture? A major hurdle
may be that taxpayers are not prepared to pay if it looks like more layers of expensive 'education'.
While pouring endless resources into the health service 20 meets with great approval, giving
universal free entitlement to lifelong learning would be fiercely contested as a luxury . An eminent
surgeon in his recent retiral speech 21 after a long and successful career, made two linked statements
that doctors rarely express publicly:
'The world is obsessed with medicine' and 'Technique is taking us beyond common sense.'
As this discourse relates, people engaged in learning have a greater chance of staying well,
independent and out of hospital. This surely is a more imaginative way of tackling soaring health
bills and social costs, funding rehabilitation and counselling. Preventative medicine is the best
medicine. In the light of what we know about the mindbody connection is it not time we took
seriously the idea of preventative learning to stop the waste of lives and human resources?
20 In September 1998 Health Secretary Frank Dobson pledged 8 billion pounds for new buildings
and equipment at the Labour Party Conference to the sound of rapturous applause.
21 The words of Professor Dan Young reported in The Herald by medical correspondent Alan
MacDermid (1.10.98)
37
CONCLUSION
A learning culture will offer massive benefits apart from economic regeneration. The spinoffs will
be social cohesion and citizenship that underpin a civilised, pluralistic and inclusive society with
increasing tolerance and acceptance of differences. It will be a culture with easy access to
information in all public places with computer networks readily available, much as access is now
standard for disabled people in new buildings. Lifelong learning will then become a natural
activity that informs our society, operating for people at all stages of their lives.
Jacques Delors stated in 1996 that not only must lifelong education adapt to changes in the nature
of work, but it must also constitute a continuous process of forming whole human beings.
Learning is indeed a natural human activity and the education done in institutions is only a small
part of the story. However to create a society where the vast majority value, support and engage in
learning as a matter of course, will require a paradigm shift in the perception of what can be
changed at individual, institutional and societal level, perhaps through fruitful coalitions among
the voluntary, education and business sectors. Brain scientists have revealed our untapped
potential, each one of us with our million million brain cells. We have lots of signposts about how
to use them well and creatively, and now we have new opportunities through technology, the
changing nature of work and leisure, and longer lifespans.
Lifelong learning waits like a fleet of ships in harbour. Many global hazards lie in wait ready to
sink it without trace, but I am reminded of the saying: Ships are safe in harbour but that is not where
ships are meant to be. It is time for real changes to be activated in learning, teaching and universal
opportunity so that people at all levels and stages can pursue their dreams and build their mental
fitness with enthusiasm, confidence and optimism, making lifelong learning a reality, and a fairer
and sustainable world a more distinct possibility.
38
REFERENCES
STORMING LIFELONG LEARNING
Achterberg, J. (1985) University of Texas in Justice, B. Think Yourself Healthy (1989) p 320, London, Thorsons
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