Learner Centred Pedagogy Framing Authentic Identity and Positionality in Higher Education

This chapter examines the interrelationship between the learner and their authentic identity in the context of learning. This necessitates the delineation of where personhood ends and learner identity begins and lends itself to a debate as to whether the two, by virtue of their relationship are irrevocably enmeshed. Being able to explore perspectives in individual learning provides an insight into how learner centred pedagogical approaches open the door to lifelong learning via the empowerment and intrinsic motivation of personhood. It is this personhood, or character, which, once harnessed, can drive cultural transformation, processes of critical reflexivity and epistemic understanding of education as an embedded part of life and individuality, rather than a commodity simply to be acquired. Keywords: Transformation, Authenticity, Professional Identity, Personhood, Contextual, Positionality, Reflexivity, Society, Epistemology, Ontology, Meaning Making, Story Telling Truth, Verisimilitud