The article, presents the authors' learning through the trawling through 1000 articles on continuous learning. Ten themes are presented.
Of interest is that young people are particularly interested
in continuous learning opportunities. This bodes well for the future but is
also a telling indicator of the increased precarity in the workplace. There is
no longer a guarantee of ‘jobs for life’ and people need to continually keep up
with the play to keep themselves current and marketable. Who pays for this continual learning is not detailed. As it is, in the current neo-liberalist environment, individuals tend to pay for their post compusory school, pre-work learning. This is followed by professional development or on the job training as provided by some employers. Individuals seeking to shift their skill sets often then pay for their 'extra' learning themselves via MOOCs or other sources of learning. Organisations are pragmatic and will only fund training they deem relevant to their requirements. Individuals, to keep up with the play, therefore need to continually upskill, either formally or informally and company or self-sponsored.
The authors also connect the above to the need for people to
be continually learning as being driven by the knowledge economy and constant
change. Change also involves not just learning the same old thing again, but
requires unlearning and relearning.
Three themes revolve around the role of organisations to support
life long learners and the need for learners to take responsibility for their
own learning. Continuous learning is seem to be essential to career success and
job security is predicated on being keeping up the skills etc. to remain
employable.
There is promotion of the concept of ‘continuous learning
platforms’ which are predicted to disrupt current learning approaches. This is
to meet the future which is defined by the authors as being open, continuous
and embedded. See Digital McKinsey Practice for greater detail.
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