From learning contexts to learning lives - Studying learning (dis)continuities from the perspective of the learners

Oct 15, 2026

Digital education reshapes the time-space boundaries traditionally tied to distinct learning settings, challenging how “learning context” is conceptualized in educational research. This article advances an empirically grounded discussion contrasting self-contained notions of context with the emerging idea of “learning lives,” capturing the dialectical link between continuity and transformation in life processes. Participant ethnography at an arts-based community primary school traces learners’ experiences through a theater project across school and home settings, and compares analytical categories across these boundaries.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

I. Introduction

II. Setting the Problem, or the Problem of Setting

From learning contexts to learning lives: Studying learning (dis)continuities from the perspective of the learners Alfredo Jornet [a.g.jornet@iped. uio. no](a.g.jornet@iped. uio. no) University of Oslo Ola Erstad [ola.erstad@iped.uio. no](ola.erstad@iped.uio. no) University of Oslo Abstract As digital technologies continue transforming the time and space boundaries that traditionally had been ascribed to different educational settings, the very notion of learning context also is being challenged in educational research literature . In this article, we contribute to this debate by offering an empirically grounded discussion on the contrast between customary notions of context—which emphasize self-containment—and the emerging notion of learning lives—which aims to capture the dialectical relation between continuity and transformation that characterizes life processes . We draw from empirical materials collected through a participant ethnography at an arts-based, communityoriented primary school, where we follow the learning lives of school community members as they participate in a theater project, moving between the school and the home settings . Our analyses compare conceptualizations and analytical categories that emphasize“context” and the associated “boundaries” with conceptualizations and units of analysis that emphasize the fluid and boundless character of learning and living across settings and time . Keywords Learning lives, Context, Arts-based Education, Creativity Jornet, A. & Erstad, O. Digital Education Review-Number 33, June 2018-[http://greav.ub.edu/der/](http://greav.ub.edu/der/ 1)[ 1](http://greav.ub.edu/der/ 1) I. Introduction If we had to choose a term that would best characterize the socio-cultural and discursive turn that has taken place in educational and learning research during the last four decades, the notion of (cultural) context would certainly be an appropriate choice . Most if not all researchers today agree that the (social, cultural, material) context needs to be accounted for as being part of the equation of learning. It is widely accepted that “all human behavior must be understood relationally, in relation to‘its context’ (Cole, 1996, p. 131) . Yet, what this precisely means in methodological and analytical terms “has been a source of continuing disagreement and confusion” (p. 131) . The situation is more complex today, as the growing prevalence of digital technologies continues transforming the time and space boundaries that traditionally have been ascribed to different educational settings (Kumpulainen & Sefton-Green, 2014) . The very usefulness of the notion context as analytical category is being challenged. As a recent volume puts it, “the question emerges about how we understand a learning context, when the learning is not necessarily bound by a specific set of institutional relationships and structures” (Edwards, 2009, p. 2) . In the latter volume, the question, “life as a learning context?” is raised in an attempt to emphasize the cross-contextual nature of learning in today’s (Western) societies and to challenge views of context as container, suggesting instead an inquiry into the myriad of learning opportunities that everyday life opens. Yet, many of the notions that have been developed for that purpose continue to put the emphasis on the self-containment of contexts, focusing, for example, on cultural boundaries and the learners’crossings thereof (Akkerman & Bakker, 2011) . Less often do we find discussions of what a context may be in the terms that would be proper to characterize life’s processes, of how the transversal and fluid aspects that characterize being alive (Ingold, 2011) may inform learning research and practice when what we face is an unbounded learning landscape . What type of insights and research opportunities do become available with a discourse that shifts the focus away from bounded contexts and crossings thereof, and which takes the p

FAQs

What debate does the article contribute to regarding learning context?

It contrasts customary self-contained notions of context with the emerging notion of “learning lives,” focusing on continuity and transformation as life processes.

How is the empirical evidence collected in the article?

Through participant ethnography at an arts-based, community-oriented primary school, following learning lives as members take part in a theater project across school and home settings.

What is the main shift in analytical focus proposed by the authors?

The shift moves from viewing learning in terms of bounded contexts and crossings to analyzing learning and living as fluid, unbounded processes across settings and time.

Oct 15, 2026

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