The wider social context of learning: beyond the classroom door

This paper draws attention to the complexity of students’ lives, their interactions with teachers, pointing in turn, to the ways in which learning is ‘negotiated’. In comparison with British schools and universities, little is known about what goes on in colleges of further education (tertiary colleges). This study reported here followed the ‘journeys’ of 45 students and 27 teachers over a two year period in colleges in Wales. It recorded the various twists and turns of what went on day-to-day, as revealed from a range of data, some provided by the participants, others from first-hand observation. The purpose of doing this was to improve our understanding of learning processes in further education and to add to knowledge of the relationships between learners and teachers and to the sorts of learning outcomes this gave rise to. Taken together, the data provide detailed insights into students’ and teachers’ lives, illuminating aspects of their life histories and individual career and learning journeys