Personal Agency and Epistemology at Work

Abstract

Drawing on studies of learning in workplaces, this chapter discusses the central role of individuals' agency and epistemology to their participation in and learning through work, and the remaking of work practices. Learning through work is proposed as being the process and outcome of a relational interdependence between individuals and the social practices that comprise their workplaces. This interdependence is necessary as neither the social suggestion nor individuals' agency alone is sufficient to secure the learning and remaking of the practices that constitute paid work. The social suggestion (comprising societal norms, practices and values, and their enactment) as manifested by localised workplace factors is never potent or comprehensive enough to project its intent or secure the faithful and comprehensive transfer of knowledge to individuals, should this be its intent. Therefore, the exercise of personal agency is required to make sense of what the immediate social experience comprising the workplace projects. Moreover, rather than merely being subjected to what is experienced immediately (i.e. in the workplace) and culturally, individuals also exercise their agency in mediating their construction of what they encounter and how they respond to those experiences. Participation, learning and the remaking of work are, therefore, active and personally and culturally transformative. Author abstract