-
recognizing and accommodating different learning
styles
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developing and using materials that are appropriate to adults and the
workplace
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recognizing that people have personal responsibilities and time
commitments
(Adapted from McLeod, 1995, p. 16).
Generally,
union sponsored programs start with a worker-centred approach to workplace
education. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) in Learning for Our Lives: A
Union Guide to Worker-Centred Literacy defines this approach as
“education for the learner as a whole person — an individual, a
worker, a family member, a trade unionist, and a citizen (p. 23). In joint
programs, the union’s presence may ensure that personal learning goals are
incorporated in addition to work goals. While overlapping with many of the
adult education principles above, a worker-centred approach also aims for
workers to gain “more control over their lives and their jobs” (CLC,
2000, p. 23).
Steel and
others (1997) start out with three basic principles which inform all practice
and “run like threads through all that we do: 1) focus on assets rather
than deficits; 2) use a holistic approach, focusing on the whole workplace and
the whole person; 3) …inclusion and collaboration” (p. 98). These
three principles capture the essence of all approaches to adult
education.
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Partnerships between labour/workers, employers, educators and funders
structure workplace education initiatives and are
essential.
These
partners represent the essential players that must be at the table to plan,
design and deliver workplace education. Partnerships have become the mechanism
for seeking out and obtaining funding from public and private sources. In other
jurisdictions (particularly in certain US states and in Australia),
partnerships have evolved to broad-based cooperative units which include
representatives from regional training authorities, industry training councils,
local community agencies, educational institutions, employment service agencies
and other key players in work, education and training. In these partnerships,
workplace education is just one element in an integrated effort to provide
support for workers to gain, maintain and enhance their jobs as well as
increase their incomes. |