Transcript Rethinking the workplace as a *learning space*

Rethinking the workplace as a
‘learning space’
Reflecting on what research tells us
works in the workplace
Building on Anglo-Canadian
collaborations:
Maurice Taylor
University of Ottawa
and
Karen Evans
University of London
What we already know
(published and available):
• Persistence and incremental learning bring
results.
• Potential of collaborative pedagogies for
bridging between functional and situated
knowledge and skills.
• Workplace cultures and practices impact on
adult learning.
• Need for teacher sensitivity to workplace roles
outside programmes
• ‘Use it or lose it’ – use of skills in practice
Judith Swift (Unionlearn):
‘Employer engagement is an issue . . . Learners
will need more time to develop these broadbased skills [English and Maths] than employers
may have been used to with Skills for Life
programmes.’
•Without sufficient workplace support to
meet challenges ‘confidence declines and
with it motivation to learn’ (Eraut on
learning in the workplace.)
Thinking about the workplace as a
‘learning space’ emphasises:
• The immediate setting of day to day work
activities (micro-system).
• concurrent settings e.g. courses accessed through
workplace; home &family; (meso-system).
• Institutional policies, procedures and cultures
that influence a person’s work setting (exosystem).
• Overarching institutional and labour market
factors/cultural values (macro-system).
•
See Kolb and Kolb 2005; Evans et al 2006; Kersh et al 2012 .
Focusing on work as a learning space
brings into view:
• The importance of
developing the ‘formalinformal’ learning
interplay
• The role of virtual
learning in changing the
boundaries of learning
spaces
• Supporting learning in
and through work:
• Rethinking ‘self-directed
learning’
• The role of ‘social capital’.
• Significance of coaching .
Formal-Informal:
Developing the
Interplay
•
•
•
Formal program participation – catalyst for informal learning
Synergetic and connective
“it was like employees were re-awakened to their own learning capabilities as a result
of the program and this provided a different viewpoint about their own workplace
and their jobs”
Types of ‘Informal Learning’
1) Observing from ‘Knowledgeables’
2) Practising without Supervision
3) Searching Independently for
Information
4) Focused Workplace Discussions
5) All potentially supported by
effective mentoring and coaching
Some factors that increase
formal-informal learning
interplay:
1) Trigger events – company ethos of quality
performance; safety concerns
2) Attitudes towards lifelong learning- curiosity,
creativity, imagination
3) Inner recognition – personal and work benefits
• Informal learning not primarily motivated for
monetary rewards or up-ward mobility
• “spurred on by a need for the challenge or a variety in the everyday
work routine”
TRIANGULAR RELATIONSHIPS between
• Agency – and motivation
to be active in learning;
• Confidence: ‘knowing that
you can’ and
• Quality of opportunities in
the workplace
• See Evans and Waite 2009
-
Going beyond SFL: Examples
1. Coopers’
• Coopers provides for a
range of formalized
learning within the
company structure but
also accords official
space for the
opportunities for
informal learning
(observation of other
employees, sharing of
ideas in ‘huddles’) .
Coopers
• Worked well:
• Virtual learning
accessed through
Learning Centre leads
into supported self
directed learning.
• Feeds into ‘huddles’
reviewing work
practices and
development
opportunities
• Could have worked
better:
• Involvement of
employees with the
least skills, who tended
to be left out and left
behind.
(avoidance of huddles)
. Thorpton Local Authority
• The local authority
formally allocates more
experienced colleagues
to guide recently
appointed caretakers,
but the mentoring
process is largely
unstructured and
informal.
Thortons Local Authority /ctd
• Worked well:
• Formal course (English)
increased confidence on the
part of employees which led
to further courses as well as
informal learning
opportunities (through the
taking on higher level roles
that also entail “hands on”
learning).
• Could have worked
better:
• Involvement of
supervisors
• Mentoring and coaching
support needed to be
more systematic –
missed opportunities
Thorpton’s Local Authority ctd.
• Care should be taken not to confuse strategies for ‘getting by’
at work with informal learning. Supervisors taking preemptive or ‘circumventing’ action over tasks involving literacy
skills can create a vicious circle of employees’ over-reliance
(on supervisors to fill in forms, for example). This misses the
opportunities for practice and coaching support and
reinforces underlying skills deficiencies instead of helping to
solve them.
HLN Engineering
• the learners’ motivation
for engaging in the
course was
underpinned by a high
value placed on
learning for its own
sake (and its relevance
for other aspects of
their lives)
• The course was means
of ascertaining the
formal level (or
“classroom level” ) of
their numeracy skills
which had been quite
highly developed
through practice in the
workplace.
Weapons Defence Establishment:
(WDA)
• The levelling out of
management structures
within the Weapons
Defence Establishment
has increased the
significance of both
formal and informal
learning opportunities
• The successful “IT and
English” courses at this
organization were
tailored to ‘delegation
of responsibility’
priorities of the
organization.
• Potential benefits in pay
and promotions
Visible and Invisible
Learning which is
largely
invisible:
Learning from colleagues and
customers
Through trial and error and
critical incidents
Searching out opportunities
and resources
Visible
learning:
Courses
Time-tabled
activities
Evidence extends existing frameworks
for understanding informal learning and
the scope for adults to seek out
learning activities at and through work.
Beginning of a learning opportunity –
often less self-directed; active learning
increases with encouragement
More complex notion of self-directed
learning – relationships among
employees, context and opportunities
support or impede active learning
Importance of newly acquired
confidence in recognising informal
learning opportunities
Towards a more complex notion of active and ‘selfdirected’ learning at work that factors in relationships,
contexts and opportunities
• We know that adult English and Maths
learners develop the readiness and social
resources for further learning….
• New findings on how social capital co-evolves
with human capital to develop more confident
use of the ‘learning spaces’ at work and
beyond (SSHRC Taylor et al, 2013).
Management of the learning space
goes beyond ‘programme delivery’.
Crucial role of support provided by
supervisor and co-worker
relationships;
Management of the learning space
involves training managers, learning
representatives, working with
providers.
Some sources:
• Evans, Kersh, Waite articles in Journal of Education and Work,
2012; in Transfer – European Review of Labour and Research,
2010;
• in Changing Spaces of Education (Routledge 2012); in Sage
Handbook of Workplace Learning, 2011 and Helve and Evans
2013 book, Tufnell press.
• Taylor and Evans in Literacy and Numeracy Studies 2009;
Journal of Adult and Continuing Education; 2010; Journal of
Research in P-C Education 2011; Taylor et al in press 2013
publications.
• Wolf and Evans Improving Literacy at Work, Routledge 2011.