It may be more accurate to think of accessible learning as a strategy rather than as a set of policies and that the role of the government is to create the conditions for a learning society. I believe in the notion of strategies to promote learning through work; and technology can help to achieve this. In the 1980s an American educationalist, Donald Schon, published a significant book: ‘The Reflective Practitioner’ (Schon, 1984), where he argued that most learning done by professionals was done as they reflected upon their practice and sought ways of improving it. There is no simple answer to accessibility. Policy formulation for inclusivity for all, is fraught with difficulties. The economic agenda and social concerns are not mutually exclusive and it is common for conflict to arise when issues focus on economic benefit and social inclusion and equality.
There is a danger in accepting one theoretical position with regard to what is the best approach to learning. I can see that a range and mix of methods is appropriate, which have helped me to develop my experience – what I know – and to pose questions that reflect a deeper understanding of the issues. On the one hand, it is possible to adopt a universal perspective that treats knowledge as it if were a transferable commodity; but also there is the constructivist view that knowledge is in the heads of people. I believe it is both and it is how to develop the best of these. Arguably, the future of learning could be compromised if effort is not devoted to building consensual domains in which people from different backgrounds are able to build a great appreciation of each other’s point of view. This is hard work and takes time to get to know the way in which other people think, act and learn.