Workplace Learning

LIFELONG LEARNING IN THE WORKPLACE

CHRISTOPHER KNAPPER

We live in times of unprecedented technological and social change that have profound implications for the nature of work, the workplace and our working lives. Adaptability to shifting circumstances and readiness to learn new workrelated knowledge and skills have become almost more important than competence at the tasks for which we were hired. Workers must now be able to deal not just with issues for which they were trained, but also to tackle unique problems that have never been faced before. This has major implications for educational institutions, for employers and for workers, and has led to calls for an emphasis on lifelong and life-wide learning. The idea that we continue to learn throughout our lives, in all facets of our lives, and from a wide range of resources, not just at school or university or in formal courses. This paper explores the different ways we learn in and from work and the factors that influence our effectiveness as lifelong learners. It is argued that lifelong learning in the workplace is a mutual responsibility shared by educational institutions, workers and employers.

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istorically we have made rather clear distinctions between places where people learn (schools, universities) and those where we earn our living. The notion of special places for learning is deeply rooted in nearly all cultures, and the creation of the formal school is the first of Ashby’s four educational “revolutions” that transformed our ability to learn and produce great advances in civilisation (Carnegie Foundation, 1972)1. Yet human beings learn throughout their lives and in almost all situations - at home, in their leisure activities and at work. We start learning even before birth, and we continue until senility. Some of this learning is incidental and largely unconscious (for example finding out about our spouse’s idiosyncrasies, or discovering a new route to work), but a large amount of learning is

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