learning at work: worlds within worlds professor lorna unwin institute of education university of...
TRANSCRIPT
Learning at Work: Worlds Within Worlds
Professor Lorna UnwinInstitute of EducationUniversity of London
The workplace as a site for learning
• Learning in the workplace arises from everyday workplace activity plus specific need (e.g. technological change)
• Learning can be deliberate, unplanned, individual or collaborative, incidental, productive, subversive
• Workplace context shapes the learning environment
Workplace Context
• Competitive product markets - target and cost driven
• Government/sector Regulation• Dynamic climate - change/flexibility • Short-term business goals may
conflict with long-term workforce development
Employer Diversity
• Employers vary as much as learners in terms of motivation, aspiration and values
• Some employers have limited managerial/business expertise
• Organisation of work (levels of discretion, involvement in decision-making) has major impact on opportunities for learning
Employer Apathy/Realism?
If you don’t like my peaches, don’t shake my tree.
(Kansas City Blues)
Van Driver’s Story
• devise efficient route for day• choose product line to suit each ‘drop’• negotiate prices • arrange product on shelf • waste control• find new customers• maintain existing customer loyal• Calculate, record and collect money• feedback field intelligence to directors
Expansive Environments
• Learning key to success and sustainability – embedded process
• Dual Worker-Learner Identity• Shared pride in organisational
output • Older workers pass on skills,
knowledge and tacit understanding
Restrictive Environments
• Learning regarded as ‘events’ – separate to everyday workplace activity
• Fast journey from learner to productive worker for trainees/apprentices
• Workers restricted to limited job roles – minimal boundary crossing
• Knowledge management confined to elite few
Role of Managers
• Key to maintenance and sustainability of learning environment
• Understanding their drivers and pressures
• Feedback key motivator for employees• Forms of managerial support need
building into model of learning- mentors, coaches, appraisers/reviewers
Points for Discussion
• Employers need help to create more effective learning environments
• Greater emphasis must be placed on the relationship between learning and the way work is organised
• Need for policies that take a more holistic view of skills development – greater connection between enhancing individuals’ skills and the quality of the contexts in which they will develop and apply them
For more information
‘Learning as Work: Teaching and Learning Processes in the Contemporary Work Organisation’ is an ESRC funded project (2003-2008) directed by Alan Felstead, Lorna Unwin, Alison Fuller and Nick Jewson
• http://learningaswork.cardiff.ac.uk