The principal aim of this study is to explore the relations between work domains and the work-related learning of workers. The article is intended to provide insight into the learning experiences of Dutch police officers during the course of their daily work. Interviews regarding actual learning events and subsequent changes in knowledge, skills or attitudes were conducted with police officers from different parts of the country and in different stages of their careers. Interpretative analyses grounded in the notion of intentionality and developmental relatedness revealed how and in what kinds of work domains police officers appear to learn. HOMALS analysis showed work-related learning activities to vary with different kinds of work domains. The implications for training and development involve the role of colleagues in different hierarchical positions for learning and they also concern the utility of the conceptualisation of work-related learning presented here.
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A model of work-related learning based on intentionality and developmental relatedness is proposed here. A shift is called for from an educational perspective on work-related learning to a non-educational perspective in which learning is construed as largely implicit and spontaneous. That is, work-related learning can happen both deliberately and spontaneously as direct or indirect result of work-related interactions. Work-related learning often occurs in messy real life situations, is influenced by various power and social relations, and results in individual learning outcomes as well as shared understandings. The proposed model can help HRD professionals better understand how learning and work are interrelated. It can also help such professionals take individual and work characteristics more carefully into consideration.
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Introduction: Learning is essential for sustainable employability. However, various factors make work-related learning more difficult for certain groups of workers, who are consequently at a disadvantage in the labour market. In the long term, that in turn can have adverse health implications and can make those groups vulnerable. With a view to encouraging workers to continue learning, the Netherlands has a policy on work-related learning, which forms part of the 'Vitality Package'.Aim: A Health Impact Assessment with equity focus (HIAef) was undertaken to determine whether the policy on work-related learning affected certain groups of workers and their health in different ways, and whether the differences were avoidable.Methods: The HIAef method involved the standard phases: screening, scoping, appraisal and recommendations. Equity was the core principle in this method. Data were collected by means of both literature searches (e.g., Scopus, Medline) and interviews with experts and stakeholders (e.g., expertise regarding work, training and/or health).Results: The HIAef identified the following groups as potentially vulnerable in the field of work-related learning: the chronically sick, older people, less educated people, flexi-workers/the self-employed and lay carers (e.g., thresholds to learning). Published literature indicates that work-related learning may have a positive influence on health through (work-related) factors such as pay, employability, longer employment rate and training-participation. According to experts and stakeholders, work-related learning policy could be adapted to take more account of vulnerable groups through alignment with their particular needs, such as early support, informal learning and e-learning.Conclusion: With a view to reducing avoidable inequalities in work-related learning, it is recommended that early, low-threshold, accessible opportunities are made available to identified vulnerable groups. Making such opportunities available may have a positive effect on (continued) participation in the labour market and thus on the health of the relevant groups.
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