The aim of this article is to describe what is significant for youth learning in late modern
society, as seen in relation to learning in childhood and in adulthood. It starts by outlining
a modern understanding and theory of learning as comprising a cognitive, an
emotional and a social/societal dimension. On this basis it is pointed out that what
especially characterizes learning in youth is that it is always connected to and marked
by the process of identity development. However, the concept of identity has also
undergone profound changes in late modernity. Therefore the article concludes by
suggesting the term ?self-orientation? as the central concept of contemporary youth
learning processes. |