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URI [dataset] UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES SCHOOL OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES Centre for Research on Ageing THE CONTRIBUTION OF INFORMAL LEARNING TO SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT IN LATER LIFE by JOANNA KATE WALKER 0000-0002-4468-9837 Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2019 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES SCHOOL OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES Centre for Research on Ageing THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE CONTRIBUTION OF INFORMAL LEARNING TO SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT IN LATER LIFE by Joanna K. Walker This thesis concerns the spiritual learning and development that can take place in older age. It proposes that informal learning is integral to an experience of ageing involving a spiritual dimension. The research areas in which this gerontological study is located are multi-disciplinary, adding the novel perspective of adult lifelong learning to the growing subject of spirituality and ageing. Research questions investigated the nature of spiritual learning and its development in later life and the ways in which older people saw spiritual development as related to being older. I aim to offer an account of the various ways in which spiritual learning and development occur, and how they relate to the experience of ageing. An interpretive, qualitative methodology was adopted to give primacy to older people’s accounts of their spiritual learning and development, involving a two-stage design of 3 focus groups and 23 individual interviews with respondents aged 60 to 92. Research participants were independent, community dwelling members of networks that offered spiritual and religious engagement in a 30-mile area within Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex. Transcribed interview material was the subject of thematic and narrative analysis. Findings based on older people’s understanding and meaning of their spirituality indicate that spiritual change and development takes place in later life through informal learning, for which I propose a process model as an alternative to stage-models of later-life development. By interpreting spiritual development as a kind of adult learning and seeing this phenomenon in a life-course context, I am able to apply my findings to various ways of being spiritual to today’s changing cultures of ageing and spirituality. This application includes a re-consideration of spiritual ‘dwelling’ and ‘seeking’ as ways in which spiritual learners build their spiritual narratives and express them in spiritual practice. Spiritual ageing was recognised in three main ways, in terms of later life as continuity, as a new life-course phase, and as an episode in life-as-story. Table of Contents Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... i Table of Tables ............................................................................................................ vii Table of Figures ............................................................................................................ix Research Thesis: Declaration of authorship ...................................................................xi Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 What is spiritual learning in later life and why research it? ...................................... 1 1.2 Research questions .................................................................................................. 4 1.3 Overview of thesis ................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2 Spiritual learning and development in later life: literature review .................. 9 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 9 2.2 Introductory observations on literature ................................................................ 10 2.3 Spiritual learning and development in later life .................................................... 12 2.3.1 Religion and spirituality ........................................................................... 13 2.3.2 The search for meaning and purpose ...................................................... 15 2.3.3 Ways of being spiritual ............................................................................ 17 2.3.4 Spiritualities of practice ........................................................................... 18 2.4 Lifelong human development theories and models .............................................. 20 2.4.1 Examples of theories and models of human development..................... 21 2.4.2 Influential models of spiritual development ........................................... 23 2.5 Adult learning in spiritual learning and development ........................................... 28 2.5.1 Informal learning: incidental and self-directed ....................................... 30 2.5.2 A model for informal learning ................................................................. 34 2.5.3 Processes in informal adult learning ....................................................... 35 2.5.4 Informal learning in life-course context: transition and transformation 37 Chapter 3 Spiritual development’s relationship with ageing: literature review and conceptual framework ................................................................................ 41 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 41 i Table of Contents 3.2 Spirituality, development and ageing ................................................................... 41 3.2.1 Mature spirituality ................................................................................... 45 3.2.2 Conscious ageing ..................................................................................... 47 3.3 Contexts for spiritual learning and development: changing cultures ................... 48 3.3.1 Cultures of ageing .................................................................................... 49 3.3.2 Cultures of spirituality ............................................................................. 52 3.4 Conceptual framework .......................................................................................... 54 3.4.1 Spirituality and its development ............................................................. 55 3.4.2 Conceptions of spiritual development .................................................... 57 3.4.3 Later life spirituality................................................................................. 58 3.4.4 Informal learning and spirituality ............................................................ 59 3.4.5 Adult learning responses: modelling spiritual learning in later life ........ 61 3.4.6 Conclusions on literature review and conceptual framework ................ 62 Chapter 4 Methodology ............................................................................................... 65 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 65 4.2 Understanding social reality using qualitative methods ....................................... 66 4.2.1 Ontology .................................................................................................. 66 4.2.2 Epistemology ........................................................................................... 69 4.2.3 Reflexivity ................................................................................................ 71 4.3 Trustworthiness and ethical considerations ......................................................... 73 4.3.1 Validity, reliability and generalisation ..................................................... 74 4.3.2 Ethical considerations and approval ....................................................... 76 4.3.3 Ethical issues in researching spiritual development in later life ............. 77 4.4 Overview and justification of research design ...................................................... 78 4.5 Focus group discussions: stage 1 design ............................................................... 81 4.5.1 Recruitment: focus groups .....................................................................