ДепартаментАдминистрация и управление
Private world(s): Gender and informal learning of adults.
Private world(s): Gender and informal learning of adults.
Elmira Bancheva and Mariya IvanovaИзследвания
Научни редактори: Joanna Ostrouch-Kamińska (University of Warmia and Mazury, Poland), Cristina C. Vieira (University of Coimbra, Portugal)
Издател: Rotterdam: Sense Publisher
"A very rich collection of strong papers ... the book contains a huge amount of wealth for all educators concerned with gender ... I strongly recommend this book to all those concerned with adult learning -- and also to those concerned with gender roles in schooling and further/higher education."-- International Review of Education, May 2016
This book is the third production from the ESREA Gender network and, once more, an opportunity to let the readers discover, or to know more, for a better understanding of questions related to gender and adult learning. It shows how researchers can be deeply involved in this specific field of adult education. The notion of informal learning has already been treated as a chapter in the 2003s book, but it becomes central and relevant in this new book considering the growing complexity of our society.
The editors insist in their title on “private world(s)” but the content of the book proves that informal learning processes, aside the self, are combined with contextual opportunities, which have been chosen or not. Their introduction remains what has to be known about the concepts of gender and informal learning. The contributors enlighten the debate with their geographical diversities all over Europe, but also with their theoretical systems of reference and the social contexts that have been analyzed.
PART III: (Non)Formal Contexts of Informal Learning
- Informal Learning in the Workplace: Gender Differences pp 157-182
Elmira Bancheva and Mariya Ivanova
The results from the study show that there is interplay of individual and organizational factors influencing learning in the workplace. There are also differences in perceptions about workplace learning between women and men. In terms of frequency of use of various informal activities, women most often seek opportunities to engage in social networking as well as learning from their own mistakes, while men are more likely to reflect on their own knowledge and experience. As for the personal factors that stimulate motivation of the investigated practitioners to engage in informal activities – for females, a key factor is their personality; for male it is their professional interest in the work as well as job satisfaction. But does this mean that such types of individual engagement and proactivity at work are linked with individual self-esteem which is impacted by feedback from managers and job designs which convey trust in workers as competent people? The critical question is whether the organizational environment and culture enhances or inhibits learning of women and men? The amount and quality of learning within an organization are heavily impacted by the context or the environment in which learning occurs. People learn about work through workplace culture, from the artefacts, shared meanings and interpretations of events, and from what is valued and rewarded. Culture shapes members’ perceptions, behaviors, thoughts, and feelings about their environment, and informal learning contributes to the acquired knowledge needed to be successful at work.
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