Workplace 'learning' and adult education: Messy objects, blurry maps and making difference
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This article reviews diverse representations of learning evident among published accounts of workplace learning across fields such as adult education, human resource development, management and organisation studies. The discussion critically addresses the question of how to mediate a multiplicity of definitional, ideological and purposive orientations. The argument here is that the issue is not perspectival, but ontological. The critical problem lies in mistaking learning as a single object when in fact it is enacted as multiple objects, as very different things in different logics of study and practice. Particularly in the contested arena of work as a site of economic conflict and production, learning needs to be appreciated as a messy object, existing in different states, or perhaps a series of different objects that are patched together through some manufactured linkages.
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CHAT embraces the concept of distributed learning, i.e., knowledge construction through interactions between living beings.
“As such, it embraces the concept of distributed learning ie knowledge construction through interactions between living beings.14,15”
From Cultural Historical Activity Theory for Studying Practice-Based Learning and Change in Medical Education (2021) · cites this paper as [14]
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- Authors
- Fenwick, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Stirling (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Fenwick, Tara
- Venue
- European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults
- Published
- 2010-09-25
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 79-95
- ISSN
- 2000-7426 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2019284298
- Cited by
- 52
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 9.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Pedocs (German Institute for International Educational Research) (submittedVersion)
- peDOCS
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Innovative Education and Learning Practices
- Social Sciences › Education › Adult and Continuing Education Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Organizational Learning and Leadership
- Keywords
- workplace learning, adult education, human resource development
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