ABSTRACT
In this book we draw together two educational and social scientific traditions which have been important in the development of theories of learning from experience, and which have often been in conflict with one another. The first of these is that tradition of human relations training, counselling and adult learning which has its foundation in humanistic psychology and which has developed particularly strongly in North America. This has in recent years become the dominant paradigm in relation to learning from experience in formal settings. Concepts such as self-directed and lifelong learning and an emphasis on the individual learner have characterised the discourse of this tradition. The second tradition has developed in the context of collective social movements and political action. It focuses more on groups than on individuals. It draws on continental European thought, such as that found in critical social theory, and on the values and practices of participatory action research which have developed in third world countries as well as newer currents of feminism and anti-racism. Social structural features of experience and constructs such as power and oppression feature more than the psychological or the personal.
