This book seeks to advance understandings of and approaches to supporting and sustaining working age adults’ learning across lengthening working lives and inevitable transitions they encounter and are required to negotiate. It is founded on the processes and findings of a three-phase practical inquiry into worklife learning and its implications for workplace and educations’ practice conducted in Australia over a three-year period commencing in 2019. Diverse perspectives and orientations were utilised in approaches to data analysis and renderings from the data, thereby opening up the analysis of these complex phenomena to different lines of interrogation, questions and analytical approaches. It elaborates more fully understandings about the processes of adults’ learning and development across their lifespan of adulthood referred to as working life, and what factors and contributions supported that learning. This book also attempts to reconcile a coherent view about development across the work lifespan, and how that can be supported by education provisions, workplaces, communities, and by the adults themselves.
Author(s): Stephen Billett, Henning Salling Olesen, Laurent Filliettaz
Series: Professional and Practice-based Learning, 35
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 347
City: Cham
Series Editor’s Foreword
Preface
Structure of Edited Monograph
Acknowledgements
Contents
Part I: Worklife Learning and Employability
Adults’ Worklife Learning
Understanding Worklife Learning
Lifelong and Worklife Learning
Worklife Learning
Worklife Learning Premises
Project Informing This Monograph
Orientation of and Perspectives on Elaborating Worklife Histories and Worklife Learning
Part I Contributions
Part II Contributions
Part III Contributions
Key Findings
Negotiating Transitions
Kinds of Learning to Be Negotiated
Provisions of Support and Guidance
Promoting Worklife Learning
References
Policies and Practices for Sustaining Employability Through Worklife Learning
Securing Goals of Employability Across Working Life
Worklife Learning and Employability
Being Employable
Sustaining Employment
Securing Advancement
Transitioning to New/Other Occupations
Ways of Supporting Employability
Achieving Goals of Employability: Evidence from an Australian Investigation
Government
Education Institutions
Workplaces
Working Age Adults
Situating These Contributions
Guidance and Support
Government Subsidies and Incentives
Engagement in Occupational and Workplace Related Learning in Work Settings
Engagement in Occupational and Workplace Related Learning Within Educational Settings
Policy and Practice Implications for Sustaining Employability Through Worklife Learning
References
Part II: Elaborating and Investigating Worklife Learning
The Imperatives of and for Worklife Learning: A Review
Learning Across Working Life to Sustain Employability
Learning and Development Across Lifespan and Life Course
Adult Learning Across Working Life
Recent Interest in Lifelong Learning
Learning Across Working Life
Educative Experience
Mediating Working Life
Practices and Strategies to Best Sustain Employability Across Working Life
Adult and Lifelong Education Policies
Educational Institutions’ Practices
Work-Integrated Education (WIE)
Interactions with Alumni
University Career Centres (UCCs)
Graduate Employment and Universities: Potential Maximisation Mode
Workplace Practices and Worklife Learning
Working Age Adults’ Practices
Promoting Lifelong Learning to Sustain Employability Across Working Life
References
Investigating Learning for Employability: Method and Procedures
Learning Across Working Life to Sustain Employability
Securing and Sustaining Employability Through Worklife Learning: An Australian Investigation
Phase 1: Accounts of Worklife Learning
Phase 2: Verifying and Elaborating Findings Through Survey
Phase 3: Advancing How Worklife Learning Promotes Employability
Ethics and Dissemination
Limitations
Summary
References
Seminars and Conferences
Chapters in This Book
Employability and Work Life History
Employability as Understood Through Work Life History
Interviewing: Producing Empirical Data
Learning, Experience, and Subjectivity
Transitions
Three Examples
Salim’s Journey
Carson’s Journey
Ingrid’s Journey
Holistic Intersectionality
Continuity and Identity Developments
Life-Long Learning and Competence Development
Learning Arenas
Guidance and Competence Assessment (Recognition of Different Forms of Learning)
References
Indigenous Australian Peoples and Work: Examining Worklife Histories
Introduction
Approach to the Research
Research Findings
Working to Make a Difference for Mob
Readiness
Agency
Resourcefulness
Authentic Mentoring and Advocacy
Racism at Work: The Underlying Theme
Concluding Remarks
References
The Trajectories of Worklife Transitions
Worklife Transition
Work-Learning and Transition as Socio-personal Practice
Negotiating the Socio-personal Practice of Worklife Transition
Examining Worklife Transitions
Five Forms of Worklife Transition Trajectory
1: Incremental Steps
2: Spinning Plates
3: Project Management
4: Carousel
5: Full Renovation
The Value of Transition
Conclusion
References
Worklife Transitions: An Australian Investigation
Securing Learning Across Working Life
Worklife Transitions: An Australian Investigation
Worklife Transitions
Changes Initiating Transitions
Factors Supporting Transitions
Impact of the Transition
Perspectives and Experiences About Worklife Transitions
References
Part III: Elaborating and Investigating Worklife Learning to - An Australian Case Study
Learning Across Working Life: Educative Experiences
Supporting, Guiding Learning Across Working Life: Educative Experiences
Educative Experiences Across Working Life
Enhancing Educational Experience
Educative Experiences
Life History Interviews: Capturing Educative Experiences
Kinds of Educative Experiences
Sources and Contributions of Educative Experiences
Educative Experiences in Prospect
References
Learning Across Working Life: A Product of ‘Personal Curriculum’
Learning Across Working Life: A Pathway of Experiences
Conceptual Bases of Personal Curriculum
Pathways of Experiences: An Australian Investigation
Intentions of Personal Curriculum
Enactment of Personal Curriculum
Personal Curriculum of Adults’ Pathways of Experiences
References
Literate Practices in Worklife Histories, Transitions and Learning
Introduction
Conceptualising Literacy in Relation to Worklife Experiences
Literacy, Literate Practices and Literacy Events
Literacy Events and Worklife Experiences
Methodology and Empirical Approach
Situational Characteristics of Literacy Events
Gender
Migration Experience
Time of Life
Context of Literacy Event
Semiotic Characteristics of Literacy Events
Language Involved
Nature of Literacy Events
Language in General
Oral Language
Written Language
Teaching and Learning
Other Sorts of Literacy Events
Learning Involved in Literacy Events
Affordances and Engagement
Availability of Resources
Self-Construction of Resources
Lack of Resources
Absence of Resources
Engagement
Learning Outcomes
Language Competence
Work-Process Knowledge
Academic Knowledge
Everyday Practical Knowledge
Social Knowledge
Knowledge About Self (Identity)
Agency and Roles Involved in Literacy Events
Role of Agents
Level of Agency
Expression of Agency
Taking Actions
Using Opportunities
Reflexive Thinking
Perception of Self
Emotions
Contributions to Transitions
Conclusion
References
Worklife Learning: Contributions of Tertiary Education
Rationale for Tertiary Education to Support Worklife Learning
Australian Tertiary Education System
University Provisions
Vocational Education and Training Provisions
Role of Tertiary Education to Sustain Employment and Employability: Evidence from Survey Data
Sample
Engagement in in Intentional Learning Associated with Employability Goals
Learning for Emerging Changes
Different Ways of Learning
Provisions Supporting Lifelong Learning
Role of Tertiary Education in Lifelong Learning: Evidence from Worklife Narratives
Contributions of Tertiary Institutions in Supporting Adult Workers’ Lifelong Learning Across Worklife Transitions
References
Learning Across Working Life: A Case from Australia
Learning Across Working Life to Sustain Employability
Worklife Learning: An Australian Investigation
Learning Across Working Life
Kinds of Learning
Processes of Learning
Differences by Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Groups
Differences by Gender and Age
Differences by Gender and Age Within the CALD Cohorts
Within Australian Born Non-Indigenous Group
Within the Indigenous Group
Within the English-Speaking Background Group
Within the Non-English-Speaking Background Group
Support
Perspectives and Experience About Learning Across Working Life
References
Practices and Strategies to Support Worklife Learning: The Australian Context
Strategies and Practices to Sustain Employability Across Working Life
Adult and Lifelong Education Policies
Policies and Practices for Worklife Learning: An Australian Investigation
Practices and Strategies to Promote Lifelong Learning Across Working Life
Policy and Practice for Government
CALD Groups’ Perspectives
Gender Groups’ Perspectives
Age Groups’ Perspectives
Practices for Education Institutions Their Programs and Educators
CALD Groups’ Perspectives
Gender Groups’ Perspectives
Age Groups’ Perspectives
Practices for Workplaces
CALD Groups’ Perspectives
Gender Groups’ Perspectives
Age Groups’ Perspectives
Practices for Working Age Adults
CALD Groups’ Perspectives
Gender Groups’ Perspectives
Age Groups’ Perspectives
Practices and Strategies to Promote Lifelong Learning to Sustain Employability
Appendix A
References
Index
