Book Review: Lifelong Learning for Capability

In Lifelong Learning for Capability, Cairns and Malloch present a compelling and timely exploration of human learning with a central focus on capability.The book offers a significant reconsideration of the purpose, theories, models, and approaches to human learning, set against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving and unpredictable world that influences formal educational settings and informal learning experiences.A core question underpins the book: Why do humans learn?The authors' answer, grounded in humanistic and existential basis, is Learning to Be.This idea is further clarified throughout the book, culminating in proposing two notable frameworks: the Four-Dimensional Learner and the Capability Learning Model.These frameworks may provide a roadmap for developing competent and capable individuals in an unpredictable future.Chapters 1, 2, and 3 lay the groundwork for the book's central arguments.In Chapter 1, the authors define human learning as "a process of change in an individual or group through active interaction with their surrounding environment" (p.5), emphasizing it as a holistic, purposive, and social activity.This is followed by a review of several psychological theories related to motivation, needs, meaning searching, and awareness.Chapter 2 provides a more detailed and critical examination of learning theories from historical, philosophical and psychological perspectives.Chapter 3 focuses on human learning issues, including consciousness, places, metaphors, neuroscience, artificial intelligence (AI), and pedagogy.These issues are interconnected and deeply relevant to the ontological and technological changes shaping the twenty-first century.Chapters 4 and 5 introduce and elaborate on the book's central ideas.Chapter 4 discusses the dimensionality of the learner as "an active holistic being" (p.56).Deriving from the concepts of Capable Learner and Capable Society, the authors propose the Four-Dimensional Learner, which consists of four dimensions: Lifelong (temporal), Lifewide (breadth), Lifedeep (depth), and Lifetech (technological).Notably, the newly introduced fourth dimension of Lifetech, is considered essential for empowering learners to function effectively in this era of technology explosion-marked by developments in machine learning, AI, and the Metaverse-or the so-called emerging Industrial Revolutions 6.0, which seeks deep integration of humans and technology, challenging human being and learning in our foreseeable future.Chapter 5 delves into the distinction between Competence and Capability.The former focuses on measurable skills acquired by an individual.At the same time, capability is a more holistic concept of both current competence and future actions dealing with unpredictable and unfamiliar learning contexts.Therefore, capability means far more than independent cognitive skills; it has three basic elements: Ability, Self-efficacy, and (societal) Values.The book's core argument, the Capability Learning Model, is presented in a two-dimensional diagram (p.90).In this diagram, the horizontal axe represents learning contexts, and the vertical axe represents learning tasks ranging from familiar to unfamiliar, thus creating four ideal-type positions of capability.Among these, the 'Z Zone' (independent capability) is crucial, as individuals have to deal with uncertain problems in unfamiliar contexts, becoming self-efficacious capable learners who move beyond the competence approach of passive acquisition of dependent knowledge.Chapters 6 and 7 contribute to lifelong learning in formal and informal places, respectively.Chapter 6 focuses on learning in formal places, tracing the meaning of "schooling", "education", and "curriculum", all of which have undergone substantial transformation since the early modern era, from