An early reflection that stood out for us was that the learning environment has a powerful influence on learning, motivation and retention of learners. In fact, what learners described was a community of learning. Our findings provided a list of environmental elements they felt were vital. They strongly and repeatedly stated that an environment, which provided opportunities to develop relationships, was important in supporting and promoting learning. They made it clear that a safe, comfortable and non-judgemental environment where they could learn from and support each other in their learning was needed and highly valued. Comments, such as "my mind is so relaxed", "I hear other ways of thinking" and "I open up" suggest that the environment plays a vital role in the development of learner identity.
Learners talked about the social aspects of a positive environment where they developed relationships not just with learners but with practitioners. Learners valued environments where they could develop mutual respect, trust and self confidence. Comfortable, safe and relationship-intensive environments that recognized and encouraged learners to address personal issues also had the potential to reduce or address barriers to learning such as shyness or past negative school experiences or traumatic experiences. Learners said that caring and expert tutors made a large contribution to the environment. The exposure of learners to people of other cultures within the programs appears to also help build cultural awareness and tolerance. Successful relationship-building within the program may in turn potentially influence the building of relationships for learners outside the program.
Our findings are consistent with recent research (Hannon, 2003; Manning, 2003; Turner, 2001). Learners described themselves as being very involved in the environment, almost being wrapped up in a culture of learning. They were not just "acquiring" skills. What they said about the environment has prompted us to extend our view on how knowledge is created and how learners learn: learning is a social practice. As one researcher has said, "Knowledge is not only held in an individual's head. It is distributed among the community of knowledge users and is embedded in the detail of authentic practice." (Grieve, 2003, p. 42.)
This suggests a need to develop a more complex understanding of these environmental dynamics and raises some interesting questions.