Natasha Kersh

The significance of individual biography in workplace learning

Abstract In this paper we address a perceived gap in the workplace learning literature, for there is very little writing which successfully integrates the issues of individual learners into predominantly social theories of learning. The paper draws upon data from four linked research projects to address this problem. Following an analysis of the theoretical problems and a possible solution, the paper identifies and discussed four overlapping individual dimensions to workplace learning. They are: workers bring prior knowledge, understanding and skills which contribute to their learning; the habitus of workers influences the ways they co-construct and take advantage of opportunities for learning at work; the dispositions of individual workers contribute to the co-production and reproduction of the workplace culture; and belonging to a workplace community contributes to the developing identity of the workers themselves.

Recognition of tacit skills and knowledge: sustaining learning outcomes in workplace environments

The part played by tacit skills and knowledge in work performance is well recognised but not well understood. These implicit or hidden dimensions of knowledge and skill are key elements of “mastery”, which experienced workers draw upon in everyday activities and continuously expand in tackling new or unexpected situations. This paper, based on the ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Network on Workplace Learning, argues that it is important to understand better how tacit forms of key competences can contribute to sustaining learning outcomes in different types of learning environments.

Self-Evaluation of Tacit Skills and Competences of Adult Learners : Facilitating Learning Success and Work Reentry

This paper is based on the project “Transnational methods and models for self-evaluation of personal competences,” carried out as a part of the EU-funded Research Network, which has been investigating how tacit forms of personal competences in the education, training, and work reentry of adults, with particular reference to the self-evaluation of such competences, have begun to play an increasingly prominent role in education and training in response to the labor market demands posed by postindustrial society. Within the research network, scientists have been working closely with practitioners in an attempt to develop innovative transnational methods for self-evaluation that support adult learners in recognizing their personal skills. While this paper focuses primarily on the context in the United Kingdom, collaboration within the European network has also allowed the study’s researchers to draw on findings and experiences from seven participating European countries. In this paper, we summarize the work undertaken so far on the project and also discuss some of the study’s emerging findings and conclusions.

The challenge of establishing sustainable workplace ?Skills for Life? provision in the UK: : organisational ?strategies? and individual ?tactics?

Drawing on longitudinal data from the ESRC-funded ‘Adult Basic Skills and Workplace learning’ project (2003–2008), together with recent findings from research undertaken under the auspices of the LLAKES research centre (Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies), this paper seeks to explore the key factors that facilitate and inhibit sustainable ‘Skills for Life’ (literacy, numeracy and English for speakers of other languages) workplace provision in the UK. We draw on the metaphor of a social ecology of learning to explore the inter-relationships between individuals and groups at policy and organisational level and combine this with Michael de Certeau’s theoretical work on quotidian social practices in order to cast light on the diverse ways in which ‘Skills for Life’ provision has been put to use by learners. The paper argues that the ‘Skills for Life’ national strategy has generated a complex ‘ecology of learning’ at policy level, whereby a byzantine and shifting funding landscape, with its concomitant bureaucracy and strong emphasis on target-bearing qualifications has militated against long-term sustainable provision. Those organisations that have managed to sustain provision have generally succeeded in integrating ‘Skills for Life’ courses within a broader ‘ecology of learning’ whereby there is both support and formal recognition for such provision within the organisation as a whole.

Employee-Driven Innovation Amongst ‘Routine’ Employees in the UK: The Role of Organizational ‘Strategies’ and Individual ‘Tactics’

Governments worldwide seek to upgrade the ‘basic skills’ of employees deemed to have low literacy and numeracy, in order to enable their greater productivity and participation in workplace practices. A longitudinal investigation of such interventions in the United Kingdom has examined the effects on employees and on organizations of engaging in basic skills programmes offered in and through the workplace. Through the ‘tracking’ of employees in selected organizational contexts, Evans and Waite (2010) have highlighted ways in which the interplay between formal and informal workplace learning can help to create the environments for employees in lower-grade jobs to use and expand their skills. This workplace learning is a precondition, a stimulus and an essential ingredient for participation in employee-driven innovation, as workers engage with others to vary, and eventually to change, work practices.

Facilitating learners' motivation and competence development in the workplace: the UK context

The paper draws on the role and importance of motivational factors for learners’/employees’ competence development in the context of vocational education and workplace learning. Learners’ motivation is considered to be an important ‘driving force’ of the learning process in the area of work-based learning. The paper focuses on the factors that may facilitate the links between the college and workplace settings, considering in particular those factors that may stimulate learners’ motivation towards competence development and workplace learning.

Competence Development and Workplace Learning: Enduring Challenges in the Interplay of Policy and Practice in the UK

UK policies for post-school education and training have continued to focus, in the twenty-first century, on the significance in modern societies of human capital, lifelong learning and work. The competence development of individual workers is expected to play a crucial role in employability and adaptability to economic shifts and changing demands in extended working lives. The nature of competence and its various configurations, as well as the contexts where it could be developed and exercised, continue to be debated as research evidence accumulates on the processes and practices of competence development in large-scale programmes that have been implemented nationally. Because of its complexity and strong dependence on the context where it is applied, the concept of competence has been interpreted and conceptualised in a variety of ways. The meanings given to competence in everyday life, in vocational education and training settings and in academic settings are quite different. What is more, the meaning is likely to change over time. This chapter critically reviews developments and identifies some enduring challenges in the interplay of policies and practice in competence development and workplace learning in the United Kingdom, drawing on examples from contrasting occupational fields.

Exploring working places and self-generated learning spaces: concepts, perspectives and cases from the United Kingdom

The article focuses on the notion of the learning space at work, particularly considering the relationships between work, learning, human agency and space. The issue of recognising working spaces as contexts for learning has received much attention in the educational debates of the past twenty years across a number of countries worldwide, and in particular, in Asia and Europe (Chisholm et al, 2012). The interpretation of the workplace as a site only for work and job-specific training has been changing, and workplaces are now being acknowledged as sites for learning in various configurations. The article draws on the notion of the learning spaces at work, looking specifically at their structure, meaning and affordances in different settings. In order to explore ways in which workplaces are experienced as learning spaces the study employs the photo-participatory method. The method has enabled practitioners to articulate what a learning space means for them, in ways that contribute to both visualization and reflection. The cases, considered in this article, demonstrate the way individuals construct their own working spaces, discussing their particular strengths and limitations. The research has suggested that different types of learning spaces (such as institutional or independent sector settings) may play a significant part in enhancing the learning processes, motivations and attitudes of employees within their workplaces. The article considers views and perspectives from both independent specialists and institutional teachers and researchers specifically reflecting on how the concept of space influences their professional and personal development as well as life chances within the workplace and beyond.