As part of the work of the Critical Pedagogies research group within MIE, we are organising a one-day research seminar, provisionally entitled 'Critical Pedagogy in Workplace Learning', to take place on Monday 22nd May
in the Ellen Wilkinson Building (AG3/4).
A great deal of knowledge is both generated and applied in workplaces, from giant corporations which pump billions into research and development, all the way to the smallest of enterprises, learning how to build a customer base,
manage finances or attend to ethics. An instrumental view of workplace learning can define it as 'training', in which workers are directed in various ways to fulfil goals defined higher up the hierarchy of the organisation, and a consequent
programme of education outlined and implemented. And sometimes this is an effective approach, but it is only one facet of the diverse ways in which knowledge is disseminated through a workplace. Workplaces are social settings, in
which people come together to fulfil shared learning needs, and develop practices. The 21st century worker, in the great majority of enterprises (including those once seen more as ‘manual’ jobs) is now afloat in an ocean of data,
information and knowledge that they will be expected to monitor, process and share in diverse ways.
Are notions of pedagogy, and/or learning design, appropriate within workplace settings? What are the ‘architectures’ of learning, information flow, capital generation and exploitation? How is authority distributed over learning, how does
learning and the notion of 'professional development' connect with professional autonomy? How do broader factors such as new information technologies, big data, neoliberalism, or the rise of right-wing xenophobic politics, potentially
affect how knowledge can be formed, valued and communicated in and across organisations and communities? Among others, these are questions that might drive a more critical view of the workplace learning process.
If these are topics relevant to your research and you would like to present something about your work at this seminar, please drop me a line and send a short abstract by Monday March 13th to drew.whitworth@manchester.ac.uk.
This invitation goes out to all researchers in MIE from professors to PGRs. We intend the seminar to be fairly informal, so are open to suggestions of various kinds of sessions from full research papers to short work-in-progress notes
(Pecha Kucha perhaps).
Or, just pop the date into your diaries. More information on the programme of the session will follow in due course. Please also feel free to disseminate details to others in your social network who you feel might be interested
(the seminar will be free and open to all though we will be asking people to register in advance for catering purposes and there will be a limit on numbers).
Yours,
Drew Whitworth
