Transitions — Attributes, Essences and Distinctions

Abstract

In this chapter we identify and explore those features of transitions which are relevant to postgraduate study. These include: the transition’s structure/agency relations; its compliance capacity in relation to formal rules, regulations and norms; movement through time (all transitions are characterised by movement from one time moment (T_a)to another (T_b), and onwards to a series of other time moments (T_c to T_n)); the extent of its cultural embeddedness (this refers to factors such as duration, intensity, import, etc.); the transition’s pathologising capacity (i.e. whether and to what extent the transition is understood as a normalising and thus pathologising mechanism); its position in the life-course; its focus (e.g. learning transitions which refer to issues such as familiarity, receptiveness, assimilation, negotiation, rearrangement, formalisation, assessment/accreditation and the like); how knowledge is constructed during the transition (e.g. the development of instrumental forms of knowledge); and how the transition relates to some end-point. Finally, we focus on those characteristics of transitions which refer to moments in the development of the subjective normative authority of the learner.