The Importance Of Contextuality For Learning

To say that informal learning is contextual can seem like a pretty bland statement. For one thing, it can seem like stating of the obvious. Of course, all learning, indeed all human activities, occur in a context, so what is new? As well, context can seem to be a catchall idea for something that is too complex to unravel. The fact that we have a single general word to represent context suggests that it is a single thing. Yet, when looked into more closely, context is something that is multifacetted, very diverse and very complex. Hence the feeling of blandness induced by blanket and undiscriminating applications of the term ‘context’. In this and the next chapter, we establish some of the multiple bases for viewing learning as inescapably shaped by context, and we elucidate the diversity and complexity of context. We then introduce the key notion of ‘nesting of contexts’ as a way of dealing with this diversity and complexity.

In its simplest formulation, context refers to the surroundings in which learning occurs and the possible influences that these surroundings have on what is learnt. As this chapter develops, it will become apparent that there is much more to context than this simple formulation suggests. However, relying on this simple formulation, much literature on learning leaves only a secondary role for context, thereby denying that it significantly affects learning. The various arguments can be appreciated by considering the following, three views of context (drawn from Hager & Smith 2004). The role of context in shaping learning gradually becomes more influential across these views.