Non-traditional Students and Practical Wisdom: A Perspective from a Practitioner-Researcher

Abstract

The purpose of this Chapter is to explore how practitioners can value and develop the capacity of students to draw upon their own practical wisdom. Practical wisdom (or phronesis) is a process of deliberation based on the desire to act in the best interests of the self and other people.

The stories told by ‘non-traditional’ students, are analysed through narrative inquiry revealing the ways in which they deliberate about their education∗. This study uses narrative as a means of capturing experience and it is argued that the ability to narrate our own experience is integral to the development of phronesis. The conclusions drawn from this Chapter are not easily turned into generalisations or ‘truths’ as they are contingent on the contexts in which the narratives are produced. Narrative is a representation of experience which is mediated by the social and cultural positions of the narrators and their audiences. This Chapter illustrates how some students are adept at using their practical wisdom; making courageous decisions to leave their careers and re-enter education in order to improve their lives for themselves and their families. However, it also highlights how there were also critical moments where, fear, frustration and anxiety impeded the practice of phronesis.

The implications for those of us who work with ‘non-traditional’ students are that we should think about strategies that encourage them to deliberate well for themselves and others; where instances of phronesis are encouraged and celebrated rather than curtailed. The value of this approach is that it aims to promote the capacity of wise deliberation in students and educators, so they become wise and active agents in helping construct positive educational experiences for themslevles and others.

∗ ‘Non-traditional’ students are those who have ‘unconventional’ learning histories and may have come to learning later in life.