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Drawing on findings of a qualitative study exploring the learning processes of individuals working in environments characterised as enterprise cultures, this paper proposes a conceptualisation of work knowing as co-emergence, at the intersection of invention, identity and environment. This conceptualisation is based upon an ecological theory of learning called ‘enactivism’, which holds that human beings, natural objects and cognition emerge together as intertwined systems. This theory appears useful in the examination of work knowledge produced by a growing number of individuals who are entering the ranks of the self-employed, becoming entrepreneurs in the new economy. Three dimensions of enactivist theory in particular are argued to hold heuristic value for understanding knowledge production and subjectivity in the new world of enterprise. First, that knowledge unfolds in systems, whereby cognition co-emerges with environment, individuals and activity. Second, that understanding is embedded in the conduct and relationships among systems and sub-systems, rather than the minds of individual actors. Third, that learning is continuous invention and exploration, linked to disequilibrium experienced in systems. These three dimensions are illustrated with examples from the learning experiences reported by those negotiating the world of enterprise.

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This paper is part of a special issue of ‘Studies in continuing education’ containing articles derived from a recent conference on ‘working knowledge’ held at the University of Technology, Sydney, in December 2000. The conference paper by the author is indexed at TD/TNC 67.85. Show less

This article is part of a volume, edited by Tara Fenwick, which provides an overview of and introduction to the current themes within research into the sociocultural understandings of work-based learning and working knowledge. These perspectives examine how learning is interrelated with the systems in which people work. The articles range from broader analyses of the contexts and purposes of learning to more specific learning theories. The pedagogical roles and approaches for adult educators practising in the workplace are discussed. Articles are indexed from TD/TNC 70.197 to TD/TNC 70.204.

As an overview of contemporary scholarship in workplace learning using sociocultural perspectives, this article outlines selected themes in this literature and offers questions emerging from their debates for researchers and educators.

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This paper critically examines popular discourses of pedagogy circulating in adult education theory and practice: pedagogy as (heroic or nurturing) person, as prescriptive strategy, as political purpose, and as situated practices. I argue that the problematic conceptions and desires can be identified across these discourses that lead to orientations of control and discipline, animated by moral essentialism, in the teaching-learning relation. In an effort to conceptualise more open, generative and compassionate orientations, two interconnected forms of pedagogical relations are explored: ethical and ecological. Ethical relations are examined as ongoing coping: appropriate responsiveness in the immediate, reminiscent of Levinas’ ‘caring encounter. Ecological relations have to do with attunement to biological as well as social, political and cultural interconnectivity: the ongoing co-specification of elements improvised in complex systems, The concluding implications for educators encourage a movement to less grand and totalising, more local and contingent orientations - ‘poorer’ pedagogies. The paper is theory driven, drawing from complexity theory and pedagogical writers aligned with local, ecological conceptions of teaching and learning.

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The last 15 years have seen much conceptual and methodological innovation in research on education and learning across the lifecourse. This innovation was initially fuelled by the growing influence of conceptual framings often named as either post-structural or postmodern. As part of and also in response to the influence of post-structuralism and postmodernism in the social sciences, there have emerged and developed a further range of conceptual and methodological framings which are more relational, system and practice-focussed. Several of these framings work with a non-linear understanding of causality and embrace unpredictability in the world and undecidability in people’s understanding of it. They also challenge any notion of a strong boundary between the social and natural sciences. This book explores the most significant four of these framings, how they are being taken up in research in education and learning across the lifecourse, as well as their possibilities and limitations: (1) complexity science; (2) cultural historical activity theory (CHAT); (3) actor-network theory (ANT); and (4) spatiality theories. The book is illustrated throughout with examples drawn from educational contexts across the life courses, including schooling, post-compulsory education and training, educational policy, workplace and community-based education in North America, the UK, and Australia. The contents are: Why sociomateriality in education?; Emergence and perturbation: understanding complexity science; Complexity theory in educational research; Contradiction and expansion: understanding cultural historical activity theory; Cultural historical activity theory in educational research; Translation and network effects: understanding actor-network theory; Actor-network theory in educational research; Spatiality and temporality: understanding cultural geography; Spatial theory in educational research; Sociomaterial approaches: contributions and issues for educational research. Show less