LEARNING AS OLDER WORKERS IN THE
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITIES: A SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACH
Maria-Cristina Migliore
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Explaining why older workers do not participate
in vocational learning
 Contesting the individualistic view of vocational
learning in the European Union’s perspective
 Discussing how motives for learning can be seen
as related to workplace with a socio-cultural
perspective
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Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
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THE EUROPEAN UNION’S
CONCEPTUALIZATION OF LEARNING
Definition based on the setting: informal, nonformal and formal learning
 Extended to include couching and counselling
 Development of competences
 Little mention of the key issue of motivation: why
people should participate to LLL?
 Motivation is mentioned in the key competence of
“learning to learn”. It is not clear how motivation
develops.
 Learning is seen as an individual endeavour.

Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
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Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
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Cultural historical activity theory (CHAT): a materialistic
approach developed by Vygotsky and Leontiev.
Learning is a cultural and social process of mastering and
internalizing/externalizing symbolic and material artefacts,
in carrying out activities with other individuals
The centrality of the object-oriented activity in our relation
with the world: every activity, in the mind and world, finds
its origin in a motive/object and it is directed by this
The participation in collective activities generates the
subjectivity (hierarchy of motives)
The motive for learning is related to the engagement in an
object-oriented activity. Engagement = correspondence
between personal sense of motives and activity motives.
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WHO ARE THE OLDER WORKERS
I refuse the model of cognitive decline as
neglecting contextual and historical aspects
 I refuse standard social-psychological and
organizational models which conceptualize
contexts as external dimensions to the subjects
 I accept the contribution from the educational
gerontology:
 a) which points out the dis-homogeneity of the
population of older people
 b) which refers to the process of growing older as
a process of making sense of their past life
experiences as an element to interpret their
engagement with the present (Moody 1990).
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Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
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STRATEGIES OF PRODUCTION
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Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
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If object-oriented activity is pivotal, then it is
necessary to elaborate more what workplaces are
nowadays.
In the sociological literature: different strategies
of production with related different ways of
working.
Mass production, flexible specialization, lean
production, customization, …
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WORKPLACE ORGANIZATIONS:
DIFFERENT DEGREES OF AUTONOMY
Strategies of production
Relation between conception and
Typology
execution
Craft
Process enhancement
Co-configuration
Type 1 (more potentially engaging
Conception&Execution
tasks)
Pragmatic collaborations
Mass production
Flexible mass production
Modular systems
Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
Flexible specialization
Type 2 (less potentially engaging
Conception#Execution
tasks)
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND DESIGN
 How
Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
do strategies of production relate to
older workers engagement in learning?
 How do their subjectivities play in
engaging in learning?
 Two case studies in the North-West Italy:
mass production and flexible
specialization
 Discursive interviews and constant
comparative method of analysis
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FINDINGS
 In
Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
the mass production. Engagement
made of complaints about work and
superiors. Would like to learn about parts.
Subjectivity-motives: organization,
quality.
 In the flexible specialization. Learning as
an activity deeply embedded in working:
coping with variability, creating tricks,
enhancing processes. No need for formal
vocational learning. Subjectivity-motives:
being professional, autonomy, passing
knowledge.
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FINDINGS DISCUSSION (1)
Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
What is important for older workers is related to
the type of work : organization and quality in the
mass production (lack); being professional and
passing the knowledge in the flexible
specialization (plenty).
 The role of the past experiences and the meaning
attached to them: retrocession or difficulties in
advancement in the mass production > hope in
changes; continuous professional development in
flexible specialization even when there had been
discontinuities > preparing for retirement.
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FINDINGS DISCUSSION (2)
In the standard approach vocational learning is linked
to the skills and competencies required at work.
 This research reveals motives for learning linked to
the object of OWs’ working activity and its meaning for
them.
 In mass production they develop needs and motives for
learning, linked to their engagement and complaints in
activity which has problems in the globalized context;
 In flexible specialization they have already developed
thier professional knowledge in practice and theory.
They feel as experienced workers with no problem of
employability and willing to share their knowledge
with colleagues.
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Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
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CONCLUSIONS
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Ires-Piemonte (Institute for Economic and
Social Research of Piedmont)
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The richness of the workplace as source of meanings,
needs and motives for learning, opportunities for
workplace learning.
The personal engagement of older workers in working
and learning is linked to their experiences and the
meanings of these latter.
The European Union could enhance its strategy on
learning in later life by putting more emphasis on
industrial policies in the frameworks devoted to
lifelong learning.
It is through activities that people develop, so EU
should care after the type of activities supported as a
way of caring about the development of people.
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