Future-Oriented Learning in Workplaces and Company Training Committees
Abstract
The world of work is dynamic and emergent, demanding different approaches to learning in, through, and for work. The main focus of this paper is to address the question of how we can think differently about learning in the workplace and supporting learning. Supporting learning is a pedagogical act in its broadest sense. Given the landscape of dynamic change in which individuals and firms work, pedagogies and ways of thinking about pedagogy need to be future-oriented. We need to develop people and firms that are able to thrive in constantly changing circumstances, to be able to work with emergence. In this paper, I put forward a framework for Future-Oriented Pedagogies based on mixed methods research work completed at the end of 2023, at the Institute for Adult Learning. Specifically, I consider how the National Trades Union Congress Company Training Committees could use the Future-Oriented Pedagogies framework to ensure the quality of offerings for formal learning in workplaces and how the Future-Oriented Pedagogies framework can be used to enhance a culture of learning that goes beyond formal arrangements for learning (training, undertaking online courses or sessions, and on-the-job training).