Towards new learning networks

Abstract

In this paper, we argue that we need to move away from the institutionalised logic of the school as factory, to the network logic of the learning community. Indeed, we need to move beyond the concept of extended schools - whereby schools extend the range of services they provide towards a notion of extending learning, whereby learning institutions rethink the possibilities around what can be learnt, where learning can happen and who is involved in the learning process. What this paper implies is that it will not be possible to personalise education whilst maintaining a conception of learning as happening only in certain places, under certain assessment regimes and involving certain people. Instead, we suggest that rather than continuing to build a system based upon the megastructures of schools, universities and a national curriculum, we need to move to a system organised through more porous and flexible learning networks that link homes, communities and multiple sites of learning.