SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Conceptual and methodological
1. Our first piece of original fieldwork within the Centre has been deliberately
broad-ranging. We are not aware of other work that has focused on such a
diverse group of learners and such a diverse spread of learning effects. The first
outcome from our work is the development of a framework within which such
research can be carried out - the triangle depicted on page 10. We stress that it
is not comprehensive; rather it offers a conceptual baseline for future work, by
ourselves and others.
2. Our approach was biographical, allowing respondents to trace the trajectories of
their learning back to their early schooling and to range widely over their
learning experiences. It shows how complex the interactions of learning and life
are. This is not the usual academics’ caution, since as policy-oriented
researchers we accept the obligation to come to conclusions. But it strikingly
complements findings from quantitative work that might at first be expected to
produce much ‘tighter’ results, yet in fact similarly illustrate the difficulty of
identifying clear and simple causal effects of learning (Behrman & Stacey,
1997).
3. In addition to the conceptual triangle, we put forward a simple matrix to capture
the effects of learning, with two dimensions: from individual to collective; and
from sustaining to transforming. A very general but crucial conclusion is that
the sustaining effect of education is pervasive, operates at many different levels
and is critical to the lives of countless individuals and communities. It is the
transformational effects that often tend to be highlighted, quite reasonably, since
they are more readily visible. But our study reveals many of the ways in which
education underpins the maintenance of personal well-being and social
cohesion. It prevents or inhibits decline and, more positively, reinforces on a
continuing and usually unspectacular basis the health of individuals or
communities, to an extent that is largely unrecognised or at least left deeply
implicit.
Initial education
4. Initial education has a variety of effects, beyond the crucial effects on
subsequent life chances and earnings well documented elsewhere. We find a
rather weaker than might be expected relationship between success at school
and enjoyment, with several instances of people enjoying school in spite of
gaining no qualifications, and conversely of people achieving well but leaving
with a distaste for education. This may have implications for policies relating to
widening participation: one could predict an increase in the numbers of those
we call ‘trudgers’, who acquire qualifications but no enthusiasm for learning.
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