Education and the politics of learner identity debated

Research around the critical issue of learner identity in education will be debated at an innovative conference as part of Edge Hill University's 125^th anniversary.

Education and the Politics of Identity is the second annual conference to be hosted by the University's Centre for Learner Identity Studies on Friday 18^th June, which will discuss the latest findings and theories in this area of work.

Any learner's motivation to learn, achieve and aspire to self-development is a fundamental product of who they believe themselves to be and how they feel about that belief. The conference explores and critiques the contexts that give rise to who, or what, learners conceive themselves to be, and the teaching and learning conditions that can affect identity formation and transformation.

Keynote speakers on the day include Dr Flora Macleod from Exeter University, who was one of the Project Directors of the ESRC Learning Lives Project who will be presenting her paper rethinking learner identities: young women's expanding horizons. Professor Ken Spours from the Institute of Education in London who was one of the Directors of the Nuffield Review, a six-year independent review of 14 to19 year old education and training from October 2003 to September 2009. Ken will be giving a presentation entitled 14 to 19 learner experiences in the 14 to19 phase: reflections from recent research.

There will also be a number of other issues discussed on the day including technology and enhanced learning, issues around social networking sites such as Facebook, therapeutic education and student teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning

Fiona Hallet, Centre for Learner Identity Studies Coordinator, said: "Learners can be of any age and in any location - from three year olds in a nursery to our own staff undergoing changes in identity from school teacher to university academic. Factors such as gender, religion, spirituality, place, environment and social class all impact enormously on how individuals learn. This conference brings together scholars whose research examines or critiques the socio-cultural context that gives rise to the diversity of learner identities, and the pedagogical conditions that affect and determine identity formation and transformation."

There are still a few places left on the conference which takes place at the Ramada Hotel in Southport. If you would like to attend it is £30, please email nicola.leslie@edgehill.ac.uk.