Lifelong learning – new research shows how deep the impact can be on hard-to-reach lives

“When people talk about lifelong-learning, they often associate it with outcomes such as skill acquisition and employability,” says Dr Mick Hill of Northumbria University’s School of Health, Community and Education Studies.

“In this study however we attempted to capture evidence of less tangible, secondary gains such as friendship, social support, health, well-being and social capital. What we found was overwhelmingly positive, with almost all the people we assessed saying they that they’d experienced personal growth as a consequence of participation.”

The research study looked at people engaged in various lifelong learning projects in a town in North East England (Chester-le-Street). The projects included educational programmes, specific-skills training, on-going support and remedial interventions in the health field (including mental health), locality-based neighbourhood projects, and organisations providing a mix of all these interventions.
 
The study participants were generally so-called ‘complex learners’: those whose learning is made more difficult by the existence of concurrent health issues or caring responsibilities, or by virtue of having ‘faulty’ prior learning experiences.

“We undertook both focus groups and individual narrative interviews,” says Dr Hill. “Thematic analysis of the focus-group data revealed participants gaining a positive sense of identity and belonging while also showing strong evidence of personal growth to the extent that it enabled participants to make positive choices when facing challenging life circumstances. Many participants identified the pivotal role of provider organisations in giving their lives a sense of purpose and meaning.

“In general I would characterise the life stories related by the participants as ‘narratives of success’ which emphasize positive identities, health improvement, well-being, and, in some cases, educational success.  Although this study was exploratory nature, we would suggest that the benefits outlined above had the therapeutic potential to improve people’s mental and physical health.

“While it is argued that governments typically emphasise the economic benefits of learning and view success in terms of skills, competences and employability, we would suggest that success measured in relation to these indices is perhaps misplaced. The benefits for individuals, families and communities identified here are not perhaps easily couched in the language of measurable ‘outcomes’. However, the health gains are real, tangible and often life changing, as can be seen from the narratives we collected.”