Shaping Futures: Learning for Competence and Citizenship / Edition 1

by Karen M. Evans

Overview

First published in 1998, this volume draws on studies of real-life experiences in the status passage to adulthood and argues that policies must be based on more holistic analyses of social dynamics. Karen M. Evans recognises that the time taken to reach adult status has lengthened in all the industrialised countries. At the same time, the risks for young people trying to 'make their way' have increased. How are they experiencing the new circumstances? What kinds of preparation and support do they need to become full citizens? What roles should education, training, work and the community have in providing this? As well as providing learning support, they must include measures which help to change the social and material conditions which stretch many young people beyond their capacities to cope unaided and which can defeat and ultimately exclude.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138352124
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/07/2020
Series:	Routledge Revivals
Pages:	157
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.62(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Figures vi

Acknowledgements vii

Preface viii

Introduction 1

1 Education, work and citizenship: beyond the work-related curriculum 5

2 Effective workers, good citizens? Legacies of the past 25

3 Gaining the competitive edge? 43

4 Opportunity structures and status passages: metaphors for transitions to adult life 59

5 Winners and losers in transition 79

6 Competence and citizenship: which versions are required for times of critical social change? 105

7 Back to the future: from transferable skills to educated attributes 121

Bibliography 137

Editorial Reviews

Explores the intersection of the concepts of competence and citizenship in the context of modern British education. The overall thesis is that the workplace should no longer drive developments in post-compulsory education, as the dominant source of values, standards, and curriculum. The author examines how rightist politics came to emphasize minimalist notions of citizenship and competence, and how that emphasis affected structures of opportunity and risk experienced by young people. The author argues for a "maximal" understanding of the goals of education which derives from broad frameworks providing learners with the means for interpreting experience and for acting in a broader social world. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

’This outstanding book is a refreshing change from so much half-aware writing about preparation for work or preparation for life. This book is full of meat from the author’s own researches and experience in Britain, in other European countries and North America; but it is also enriched by research partnerships across the continents. It opens our eyes to present actuality, but still more to the future already beckoning young adults personally and occupationally.’ Edmund King, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of London, UK ’...brief yet concise...Evans is successful both in provoking the reader to ask important questions surrounding citizenship and competency and in identifying some of the broader factors for supporting rather than inhibiting young people’s transitions into adulthood and the workplace.’ Journal of Youth Studies

From the Publisher