Reconstruction of a Learner Self: A Phenomenological Study with Youth and Young Adults Post-Incarceration

Date
2011-04-02
Authors
Nelson, Rhonda
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Publisher
University of Regina Graduate Students' Association
Abstract

The presentation will focus on a study aiming to understand the phenomenon of self as learner among older youth and young adults who have not been successful within the regular education system and who have experienced significant at-risk outcomes, with one being incarceration. It will explore the degree to which these individuals perceive themselves as learners differently after they have accessed a portfolio learning process that has been used as part of Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR). With an emphasis on the portfolio learning process as a vehicle that has the potential to promote personal change, its use in the study is aside and apart from a formal PLAR intent to foster post-secondary credits. Rather, it is more the experience of the how of personal change that can be facilitated by the portfolio learning process that is of interest. The extent to which individuals can be assisted to become more aware of how they construct knowledge, recognize the sources of their ideas, and become more adept at reconstructing knowledge based on new experiences and reflection - to begin to see themselves not only through the lenses of their prior experiences but through reflection on those experiences - is at the heart of the study. For individuals who have risk factors active in their lives that predispose them to criminal activity, the portfolio learning process is explored for its potential to increase their understanding of how they came to be who they are and give them the freedom to imagine how they might be should they choose some other way of being or doing.

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Keywords
Youth, Crime, Identity, Intervention, At Risk
Citation