Women's informal learning experiences at work : perspectives of support staff in an educational institution

Abstract

Definitions and concepts of learning in the workplace have evolved considerably in the last two decades in response to significant changes impacting most workplace environments throughout the industrialized world. Comprehensive definitions of learning at work go beyond an emphasis on improving performance to consider the workplace as a social environment which can be structured to enhance or thwart adult learning and development. A wider and more socially relevant range of approaches to workplace learning are emerging.

By focusing on learning as a process rather than a product, this study attempts to gain a deeper understanding of the daily informal learning experiences among a group of clerical and secretarial workers. Through interviews and a qualitative research approach it examines the meanings these women attribute to their workplace learning experiences. It explores some of the ways in which women's unique learning capabilities interface with a particular environment.