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The way we (should?) live now: research, social policy and lived experience in an ageing society Tilda Gaskell University of Dundee, Scotland, UK Paper presented at SCUTREA 34th Annual Conference, University of Sheffield, UK. 6-8 July 2004 Introduction The fact that the population is becoming progressively older, that we are experiencing a relentless demographic shift, is regularly cited in government statistics with varying degrees of apprehension. Older people are becoming more socially visible and, whether perceived as a problem or as an economic asset, this social group is forming a progressively larger proportion of the population with an ever greater influence on the economy and the democratic process. Projections suggest that the ageing of society will continue, and that the proportion of the very old will increase. In Britain this has fuelled fears that rising numbers of people will become dependent on the state, while at the same time the proportion of the population that is economically active will fall. As a result the government is keen to find ways to reduce or delay agerelated dependency, and this has resulted in a series of policy initiatives that are supported by research. The current labour government has made much of the rhetoric of education and lifelong learning as a means by which to bring about social change and improvements in health – an approach which Basil Bernstein has memorably described as ‘the missionary position of New Labour’ because, he argues, it is not education, but symbolic control through the creation of a ‘totally pedagogised society’ that is proposed by lifelong learning (Bernstein, 2001, p.365). The prevention of dependency is used to justify increased intervention in the management of old age. Education, in the guise of lifelong learning, has been employed to bring about change as proposed by policy. Education is a means of informing and changing behaviour (as in health promotion); of developing skills (for instance computer literacy), and is also seen as a way of increasing social cohesion through the provision of community based adult education for older people. This paper will explore the links between government funded research and the (re)education of older people. Adult education and social change Throughout the twentieth century adult education has been assigned to many and diverse tasks, and has been used as a vehicle for the advancement of shifting social objectives. These have varied from those that support collective values and programmes of community and liberal adult education, to those that encourage individualism and development of the self-steering capacities necessary in a self-help enterprise culture (Fieldhouse, 1996). The health of individuals and populations has been a consistent feature. In the early twentieth century educational programmes SCUTREA Proceedings 2004 1 instructed mothers in the arts of hygiene and infant nutrition; today emphasis is given to the provision of information and training to encourage self-responsible health behaviours. The English White Paper on Health Saving lives our healthier nation (Department of Health, 1999) emphasises the provision of ‘health skills’ (which will ‘help people to help themselves and others’) and ‘parenting skills’ - for example Sure Start for parents and carers of ‘the most disadvantaged children’. Similar programmes of skills training are proposed for older people. In addition a strategy for developing ‘expert patients’ to ‘help people manage their own illnesses’ through education is proposed, with older people specifically targeted as those most likely to suffer from prolonged chronic disease (Department of Health, 1999, p.3). The importance of linking different areas of policy, such as health, education and environment is highlighted as a means to achieve change. In a study commissioned by the 1993 Carnegie Inquiry into the Third Age Schuller and Bostyn make a clear connection between participation in education and improvements in health amongst people over fifty (Schuller and Bostyn, 1992). In a later paper, although they caution against implying a causal link between provision of educational opportunities and reduction in dependency amongst older people, they state that while ‘access to adult education may not of itself be sufficient, ... it may play an extraordinarily cost effective part in preventing or postponing dependency in various forms’ (Schuller and Bostyn, 1996, p.91). Several reports and other documents have been published since which link learning with health, and particularly with health in older age (see, for instance, Dench and Regan, 2000; Carlton and Soulsby, 1999). Other frequently quoted benefits of engaging in education or learning in older age are those concerning ‘quality of life’ and social cohesion. It is suggested that education can contribute to improvements in these spheres which will have a generally life-enhancing effect and enable people to maintain social and physical independence where they might otherwise have become reliant on the state. Over the last five years government funding has been used to initiate and support cross-disciplinary research into ageing and old age. The findings of research undertaken as a result of this funding has had, and will continue to have, a marked effect on social policy; on attitudes towards old age; and on the affective experience of becoming older in Britain today. Two programmes of research will serve to illustrate this trend: one of these has learning as its focus (The Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning), while the other (The Growing Older Programme) is primarily concerned with old age. In 1999, the Department for Education and Skills established a research centre with a remit to ‘investigate the full range of benefits that learning brings to both the individual learner and to society as a whole’ (www.learningbenefits.net/home.htm p.1 [23/03/04]). This organisation – The Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning - is charged with contributing towards what is described as ‘evidence based policy’. The results of research into social, economic and personal effects of learning are expected to provide ‘robust evidence about the scale of these effects and the costed benefits to the public purse’ (www.learningbenefits.net/ResProgPh3summary.htm p.3 [23/03/04]). The Centre has three areas of research interest: health and well-being of individuals and communities; social capital and social cohesion; and families and parenting. SCUTREA Proceedings 2004 2 Research so far published supports the view that there is a positive correlation between education and health in older age (Hammond, 2002). This is both in terms of current participation and also educational level achieved throughout life. An earlier study similarly concluded that a range of positive benefits could be attributed to participation in learning (Dench and Regan, 2000), while Schuller et al (2002) place particular emphasis on the concept of the ‘sustaining’ effect of education. It is suggested that continuing to engage with learning, either formally or informally, helps to maintain health, positive self-esteem and social cohesion, and delays or prevents declines in personal and community well-being. In 1999, The Growing Older Programme or GO was established by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) with the aim of defining the meaning of ‘quality of life’ as it affects older people, and also investigating ‘how the quality of people’s lives can be extended’ (Walker, 2000, p.1). Quality of life is explored through twentyfour projects that focus on the definition and measurement of the concept of quality of life; on inequality; on technology and the built environment; on healthy and productive ageing; on family and support networks and on activity and participation amongst older people. Each project has developed a perspective on quality of life, on how it affects their particular topic area, and has suggested policy implications as a result of their findings. Only one project concerned itself specifically with learning and education in older age, however, as the foregoing discussion suggests, the accomplishment social change, the management of social policy and the construction of collective social identity is strongly associated with learning and educational initiatives. Policy into practice Social policy affects the everyday life of citizens through restrictions and opportunities for social action that are the result of the directives, financial, housing, and health legislation, and the educational programmes sanctioned by governments. Thus social policy can be said to establish a curriculum for everyday living in that it organises knowledge about society within a framework that describes ideal and deviant models of social life. The mandate of social policy is to ameliorate conditions that are to the detriment of this ideal. Humes and Bryce (2003) suggest that ‘evidence informed policy’ is predicated on a positivist belief in the efficacy of systematic research to uncover and explain physical and social reality. Such an approach they argue obscures underlying ‘powerful political forces’, and the existence of what Foucault describes as the ‘regimes of truth’ that shape fundamental beliefs about truth and reality in a given society (Foucault 1980, quoted in Humes and Bryce, p.179). Thus evidence based policy effectively reproduces the political agenda and defines what it is possible to know. The nature of pedagogic processes, their effect on the shaping of mental structures, and their influence on cultural production and reproduction is the constant theme of Bernstein’s theory, and he argues that enactment of social policy has pedagogic implications whether or not the policy area is directly concerned with education. Bernstein defines pedagogy as ‘a sustained process whereby somebody(s) acquires new forms or develops existing forms of conduct, knowledge, practice and criteria from somebody(s) deemed to be an appropriate provider and evaluator’ (Bernstein, 2000 p.78 [n]). Bernstein’s concept of pedagogy and pedagogic identity provides a means SCUTREA Proceedings 2004 3 through which to explore the relationship between social policy and the construction of an identity for older people in contemporary Britain. Pedagogic identity is that part of self-identity which enables a person to locate and understand their place in the social order; it is an identity that belongs to a given social group as well as to the individuals within that group. The processes by which the aims of the state become internalised as pedagogic identity are described by Bernstein in terms of policy driven curricula reform which transmits the bias and focus of government in a form that becomes internalised by both transmitters and acquirers of pedagogic knowledge. A set of positions is constructed that represent the ideological perspective contained within each pedagogic identity. The most important of these are presented as contrasting pairs: retrospective and prospective and market and therapeutic pedagogic identities. Briefly retrospective pedagogic identities sustain past narratives of social organisation (for example in terms of religious or national characteristics) while prospective pedagogic identities recontextualise past narratives in forms that encourage ‘engagement with contemporary change’ (Bernstein, 2000, p.68). Market pedagogic identities are instrumental and describe the commodification of knowledge and the internalisation of belief in a knowledge economy. Therapeutic pedagogic identities, by contrast, develop the notion of a narrative of the self and the ongoing enterprise of constructing the self as a personal project. Social policy is translated into lived experience when it shifts from the strategic and research papers that produce legislation and contribute to debate, into the commonsense cannon of practitioners and recipients. This occurs through the production of secondary texts including media reports, training manuals, information leaflets and direct interventions (Rose, 1998). Pedagogic identity is the filter through which policy can become lived experience as individuals learn to recognise and respond to sources of pedagogic communication that support a given discourse which becomes accepted as the natural order of things. Learning to age Research into human ageing in the west has produced models based on the concept of ‘adjustment’ which refers to qualitative values regarding morale and general measures of life satisfaction (Coleman, 1993). Two models in particular have been influential in shaping popular understanding of the ageing process, these are the functionalist models of disengagement and activity theory. Briefly disengagement theory is based on the belief that individuals begin to withdraw from the mainstream as they become older, thus preparing themselves and society for the final withdrawal signified by death. Activity theory, on the other hand, suggests that the management of old age is best achieved by encouraging the preservation of attitudes and levels of social engagement associated with middle age. Both are based on a normative model in which the ability or otherwise of an individual to adjust to the social, physical and psychological changes associated with ageing can be measured (objectively or subjectively) as either successful or unsuccessful. Later research has questioned the original survey used to support disengagement theory, and activity theory has also been strongly criticised as idealistic and culturally biased (Blaikie, 1999). Nevertheless these two models have become dominant in the west, and the latter model, activity theory, is favoured in policy-making and in SCUTREA Proceedings 2004 4 research. Dominant models ‘limit the kinds of questions [that can be asked] and the forms of discourse within which insights may be expressed’ by research (Humes and Bryce, 2003, p.179) and may thus become self-perpetuating. The theme of successful and less successful ageing is repeated in much of the literature although it appears in a number of different guises: for instance ‘positive ageing’, ‘ageing well’ and ‘active ageing’ versus negative and passive responses to ageing. Throughout this body of work there is an implied set of values that presents active as good and passive as bad. Peace et al. (1994 p.109) ask ‘[A]re we dominated by a western perspective where “activity” is a sort of fetish of our time and culture, a culture in which secular values have largely replaced religious and spiritual ones?’ Thus, in terms of the secularisation of society, activity theory can be seen as a successor to the western (protestant) work-ethic which constructs work and activity (including education) as morally good, and idleness as wicked or at least dangerous. Models of successful ageing based on continued social engagement and the semblance of perpetual middle age have had considerable influence on policy and practice in the fields of social and health care, and also in relation to the provision and practice of education for older people. Education for older people is thus represented as a good in itself, promoted variously as socially functional, or as a desirable commodity which can be purchased. Following Bernstein, I suggest two different models for the construction of pedagogic identity in older age, both of which sustain a socially desirable model of ageing as self-reliant and self-fulfilled. I have named these the pedagogic identities of selfactualisation and self-maintenance. Both identities are defined as prospective pedagogic identities in that they project an identity which utilises the past as a resource for making sense of the present. The pedagogic identity of self-actualisation tends towards a psychologised model of ageing as part of a continuum of development, representing older age as a period of opportunity. By contrast, the pedagogic identity of self-maintenance derives from a medicalised model in which ageing is represented as a period of decline that can be alleviated through the adoption of appropriate actions and attitudes. I have described these pedagogic identities as separate from one another for clarity, but it should be emphasised that they often overlap, and of necessity incorporate other, possibly earlier, pedagogic identities. For instance research into links between adult learning, improved selfesteem and physical health suggests that self-actualisation supports selfmaintenance (Dench and Regan, 2000). Both identities serve to uphold a model of citizenship that is at once autonomous and responsible, reflecting the shift towards an individualised enterprise culture that began in the late twentieth century. Research carried out for the Wider benefits of learning centre emphasises the value of education in the prevention or amelioration of ill-health and cites ‘initiatives such as Prescriptions for Learning [which] point the way to creative collaboration between education and health services’ (Schuller et al, 2002, p.5). In Prescribing Learning James makes the case for linking education and health in terms of the previously cited White Paper Saving Lives: our healthier nation (Department of Health, 1999), and also in terms of research that links low levels of educational achievement and participation with poor health. She describes a series of schemes which use learning SCUTREA Proceedings 2004 5 as an aid to the recovery or maintenance of good health, and suggests that the government’s aim of improving the health of individuals and communities can met by working with marginalised groups, providing opportunities for social contact and ‘engaging them in a dialogue about their health and learning needs, which is dynamic and empowering’ (James, 2001, pp.14-15). In this vision learning is promoted as an unquestioned good, and government aims are similarly unquestioned. This raises the possibility that ‘the fact that individuals are treated as though they can acquire and understand the implications of new information about their well-being becomes ... a justification for reducing the resources that are made available through public services’ (Field, 2000, p.111, original emphasis). The construction of the pedagogic identity of self-maintenance can be observed in health promotion materials such as those which provide information and advice on diet, activity levels and the eradication of undesirable health behaviours. Considerable emphasis is currently being given to health education and health promotion campaigns which routinely make judgements placing moral value on the actions of individuals: increasingly a healthy life is perceived as virtuous life. Meanwhile persisting in behaviour deemed unhealthy, such as smoking or being fat, is to be personally and socially irresponsible. By linking health to virtue, death and disease have become the ‘wages of sin [and] medicine has become a quasi-religious crusade against the sins of the flesh’ (Fitzpatrick, 2001, p.6). Fitzpatrick argues that the whole concept of preventative medicine is in fact flawed because eventual death cannot be prevented – only postponed. Older people are at a particular disadvantage in a medicalised world that equates death with failure. The pedagogic identity of self-actualisation encourages the adoption of a positive outlook, and activities that support personal development, social cohesion, group identity and networking. As commercial enterprises become aware of the huge number of potential customers there is a growing niche market for education, travel, social activities and magazines for older consumers. Government policy encourages close working between different departments, and some of this work focuses on selfactualising activities, especially in relation to information technology. In an imaginative example the Scottish Arts Council initiated a project which provided experience of, and training in digital art forms; as a result several participants enrolled in computing classes at the local library (Scottish Arts Council, 2002). The concept of ‘challenge’ is often invoked to support a self-actualising approach; for example The Discovery Award Association, modelled on the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, presents images of challenge, achievement and adventure appropriate and desirable for older people: Over fifty? Take up the challenge. More and more people are accepting the challenge – an exciting and rewarding adventure for anyone aged fifty or over, regardless of state of health or even disability ... The challenge is to discover: new strengths and hidden talents, new interests, new life in old interests, new and interesting people, the satisfaction of doing something for others as well as yourself, the joy of unexpected achievement. (Discovery Award leaflet, undated) The style of this example is typical of contemporary constructions of successful ageing: to age successfully is to be visible and active; what then is the outlook for the SCUTREA Proceedings 2004 6 inactive, the very old and the poor? These hidden people form an underclass within a group, which for all the rhetoric, is in fact at the margins of our youth-obsessed culture. Research that links education and learning to positive health outcomes defines old age as a deficit condition and has the effect of directing policy towards instrumental, outcomes focussed provision which further exaggerates the gap between the ‘two nations’ of old age identified by Titmus fifty years ago (Titmus 1955, quoted in Phillipson, 1998, p.68). References Bernstein B (2000) Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity. Theory, research, critique (revised 2nd edition), Lanham Maryland, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. Bernstein B (2001) ‘From pedagogies to knowledges’ in A Morais, I Neves, B Davies and H Daniels (eds) Towards a sociology of pedagogy. The contribution of Basil Bernstein to research, New York, Peter Lang. Blaikie A (1999) Ageing and popular culture, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Carlton S and Soulsby J (1999) Learning to grow older and bolder, Leicester, NIACE. Coleman P (1993) ‘Adjustment in later life’ in J Bond, P Coleman and S Peace (eds) Ageing in Society. An introduction to social gerontology (2nd edition), London, Sage. The Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning (2004). Available at: www.learningbenefits.net (27/03/04) Dench S and Regan J (2000) Learning in later life: motivation and impact, Institute for Employment Studies, Department for Education and Employment Research Report RR183. Department of Health (1999) Saving lives: our healthier nation. Available at: www.archive.official-docum.gov.uk/document/cm43/4386/4386-fw.htm (31/08/03) Field J (2000) Lifelong learning and the new world order, Stoke on Trent, Trentham Books. Fieldhouse R (1996) ‘An historical perspective on future developments and diversity in British adult education’, SCUTREA Conference Proceedings. Fitzpatrick M (2001) The Tyranny of health: doctors and the regulation of lifestyle, London, Routledge. Hammond C (2002) ‘What is it about education that makes us healthy? Exploring the education-health connection’, International Journal of Lifelong Education, 21, 6, pp.551571. Humes W and Bryce T (2003) ‘Post-structuralism and policy research in education’, Journal of Education Policy, 18, 2, pp.175-187. James K (2001) Prescribing learning. A guide to practice in learning and health, Leicester, NIACE. Peace S, Slater R and Victor C (1994) ‘Activity and Environment’ in An Ageing Society; K256; Block 2, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Phillipson C (1998) Reconstructing old age, London, Sage. Rose N (1998) Inventing our selves. Psychology, power and personhood, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Schuller T and Bostyn A-M (1992) The Carnegie inquiry into the third age. Research paper 3. Education and training in the third age, Dunfermline, The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. Schuller T and Bostyn A-M (1996) ‘Learners of the future; preparing a policy of the third age’ in P Raggett, R Edwards and N Small (eds) The learning society. challenges and trends, Routledge, London. Walker A (2000) ESRC Growing Older programme. Newsletter Issue 1 (Summer), Sheffield, ESRC Growing Older Programme. SCUTREA Proceedings 2004 7