Mediating worklife learning and the digitalisation of work

Abstract Competence in contemporary working life requirements is increasingly aligned with electronically mediated tasks and work roles: ie, the digitalisation of work. This alignment necessitates workers learning and utilising the conceptual knowledge and ways of working needed for this work. This knowledge is often distinct from and displaces workers' existing ways of knowing, which threatens their competence and sense of self. Yet, it can be difficult to access, learn and practice, requiring it to be mediated through interventions making it knowable. For working age adults, this often needs to occur through work activities for efficacy and practical reasons. These worklife learning issues are discussed here from a cultural psychological perspective, drawing on studies of contemporary work and human cognition, considerations for how these forms of knowledge can be made accessible and their processes of knowledge construction be supported. Four key propositions are advanced: (a) this knowledge needs to be made accessible to be engaged with and learnt; (b) that can often best occur in work settings; (c) workers' occupational subjectivities need accommodating; and (d) electronically mediated forms and artefacts offer means to make that knowledge accessible and support its learning. Hence, learning, work and digitalisation are reciprocally aligned in promoting both the initial and ongoing development of workers' capacities. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic? The knowledge required for work constantly changes. Digitalised work has changed the requirements of much work and many occupations. Conceptual and symbolic knowledge are required for competence in digital kinds of work. Many studies have illustrated the impact of digital technologies across a range of occupations and industry sectors. What this paper adds? An elaboration of how the knowledge to be learnt and ways of knowing have changed in digital work. Considerations of the implications of the changes for worklife learning (lifelong learning). The importance of digitalised artefacts mediating access to this knowledge through symbolic representations. Implications for practice and/or policy Working age adults need to be able to access the kinds of knowledge required for digitalised work. Worksites and work practice are potentially the optimum circumstances for accessing and learning this knowledge across working life. The ability of this knowledge to be represented symbolically is a key basis for workers ongoing learning of digitalised work requirements. Digital technology offers means for the conceptual representations to be made accessible.