Social foundations of lifelong learning: a Habermasian perspective

ABSTRACT

The idea of learning rooted in behavioural psychology has become dominant in the field of teaching and learning for several decades. Even though it has been widely used in formal education it is inadequate for informing lifelong learning policies and plans. In this paper, first I critique the psychological foundation of learning and in the second part, drawing on Habermasian conceptualisation of three structural components of the lifeworld (culture, society, and personality), I conceptualise the three components as the social foundations of learning: learning as cultural reproduction, learning as social integration and learning as socialisation. In the context of the UN’s declaration of ‘lifelong learning’ as one of the Sustainable Development Goals, this paper will be useful for developing policies to address challenges faced by individual countries at cultural, societal and individual levels.

KEYWORDS:

• lifelong learning
• lifeworld
• Habermas
• social foundation of learning
• psychological foundation of learning
• education policy

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The word ‘members’ refers to individuals who belong to a particular society. As Habermas appeals for using both lifeworld and system for a more comprehensive understanding of social evolution the term ‘members of the lifeworld’ or ‘lifeworld members’ refers to the members of a society that are being studied from the lifeworld perspective.

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Kapil Dev Regmi

Kapil Dev Regmi is a lecturer at the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. His PhD research focused on the relevance of lifelong learning policy for the economically poor countries of the global south. He has published several peer-reviewed papers that inform policy makers working at national level and supranational organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) regarding the development of contextually specific educational plans and policies for underprivileged people and their communities.