Gendered Choices: Learning, Work, Identities in Lifelong Learning (Lifelong Learning Book Series, 15) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9400706464 ISBN 13: 9789400706460

Publisher: Springer, 2011

Synopsis

This important book breaks new ground in addressing issues of gendered learning in different contexts across the (adult) life span at the start of the 21st century.  Adult learning sits within a shifting landscape of educational policy, profoundly influenced by the skills agenda, by complex funding policies, new qualifications and the widening/narrowing participation debate.  The book is unique in highlighting the centrality of gendered choices to these developments which shape  participation in and experiences of lifelong learning.  

Gendered Choices critically examines the continued expansion of a skills-based approach in areas of lifelong learning, including career decisions, professional identities and informal networks. It explores key intersections of adult learning from a gender perspective: notably  participation, workplace learning and informal pathways.

Drawing on research from a range of contexts, Gendered Choices demonstrates that for women the public/private spaces of work and home are often conflated, although the gendering of ‘choice’ has largely been ignored by policy makers.

The themes of the book bring together some of these critical issues, explored through the multiple and fractured identities which constitute gendered lives.  The book addresses these in an international context, with contributions from Canada, Spain and Iran that provide a wider international perspective on shared issues.

About this title

Review

From the reviews:

“This research contributes to the debates surrounding the value society places on youth and gender specific worth. ... Gendered Choices, provides great insight into the policy issues that support the dominant culture and its consideration of women as autonomous in their decision making, participation, and identify in education and lifelong learning. ... Classes centered around feminist theory, adult learning development, and international and comparative education would be greatly served by this collection of thoughtful and thorough essays, research articles and political commentary.” (Brenda Firestone and Perdeta Bush, Sex Roles, Vol. 67, 2012)

“This book ‘reflects a variety of approaches to gender-sensitive research’ ... in lifelong learning. ... A very stimulating collection of essays which deserves to be read widely and reflected on beyond the academic world of lifelong learning – especially by policy-makers.” (Alan Rogers, International Review of Education, Vol. 58 (3), 2012).

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 9400706464
• ISBN 13: 9789400706460
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 280
• Editor: Jackson Sue, Malcolm Irene, Thomas Kate