'In my case...': the recruitment and recognition of prior informal experience in adult pedagogy

Educators of adults are often urged to use the prior personal experience of their students as a pedagogic resource. Students have expectations that their narratives will be heard and valued. Whether this can, or should, be achieved in a particular discipline in a course with a relatively fixed curriculum and formal assessment is the issue addressed here. This article explores programmes in Labour Law at two South African universities, using a systemic network approach to data analysis.