Work in “different economies” as value-creating education.

Starting with Makiguchi’s vision of education as “value creation”, we examine the meanings attributed to “value” in education and learning contexts and consider them in view of capitalist forms of production predicated on the tradable value of intangible assets. We go on to outline the competing perspectives of value creation as a humanising vehicle of personal development (pedagogy of social creation), and the biocapitalist exploitation of our increasingly commodified lives and careers (pedagogy of capital). Drawing on a series of multi-year studies exploring work and learning in different (or alternative) economies, we then present a number of illustrative examples of how women and men are transforming the act of learning in work and production contexts. We also look at forms of work in such economies and the meaning attached to them, wherein life and the relationships between living beings is set at the heart of the value creation process.