Stephen Billett

This paper examines how to support blue-collar workers in adapting to the growing digitalization of work. Recognizing that blue-collar workers typically possess lower levels of formal skills, the study highlights their heightened vulnerability to technological disruption and the challenges of transitioning to digitalized work environments. Using an exploratory case study of a cleaning company, the research extends career construction theory as a theoretical lens to understand how managerial interventions support worker adaptation. The findings identify a set of ten interventions. These interventions help blue-collar workers develop new competencies, adjust to digitally augmented workflows, and maintain employability in evolving job contexts. In contrast to most existing research that focuses on how blue-collar workers themselves adapt to the digitalization of their work, this study focuses on their managers, contributing to the research and practice for a more human-centered approach in supporting blue-collar workers' adaptation to digitalized work.

Most learning across the adult lifespan arises outside the circumstances of formalised educational provisions, such as taught courses, training programmes or professional development interludes. In fact, it occurs through everyday experiences as adults engage in activities and interactions in work, community and family settings. Some of those experiences are inherently educative. They provide forms of indirect guidance and support for learning and sometimes direct assistance in developing further what they know, can do and value (i.e., learning) that would not otherwise be acquired through their own discovery efforts alone. These kinds of experiences can be labelled as ‘educative’, originally coined by Dewey but re-defined here to accommodate the broader array of experiences through which individuals learn than through intentional efforts of schooling. For instance, evidence suggests that adults’ engagement and activities in community, workplace and family settings offer a range of such educative experiences. These experiences are distinct from those availed through formalised educational programmes and acts of teaching. Moreover, these kinds of experiences are distributed across a range of social, cultural and economic activities in which adults engage. They can offer support and guidance when new challenges are being faced in and across communities. The role of educative experiences is examined in the context of older adults’ learning to engage with new technologies in this review paper. It draws upon observations from work life history studies and quantitative data from the Program of International Assessment of Adult Competence. It is proposed that there are close and more distal forms of guidance and support that individuals engage with in becoming competent with new technologies that are increasingly being utilised across all aspects of economic, cultural and social life. This provides a context in which the concept of educative experiences can be appraised as a means for this kind of learning to progress.

This chapter is based on an international qualitative benchmarking exercise that took place in September–October 2023. The exercise complemented survey research which was carried out alongside and which gathered data from academic staff in Australia and the UK. Chapter 3 of this book reports on the latter piece of research. Participants in the benchmarking exercise were from eight institutions located in Nigeria, Mexico, Australia and the UK. Three questions were asked of the participants, and they were discussed in groups: Question 1 – How best can working age adults with limited knowledge of higher education provisions be informed about their entry requirements, means of engagement and potential outcomes? Question 2 – How should the entry requirements for higher education programmes be nuanced to encourage and secure engagement by working age adults? Question 3 – How should the provisions of higher education programmes be organised and enacted to make them accessible to, supportive of and securing positive outcomes for working age adults? The themes which arose from the discussion among participants included recruitment methods, the significance of local economies, the needs of industries, empowerment of mature students, the thought processes of mature students, the issue of stereotyping courses of interest to mature students, institutional support, barriers, removing barriers and data gathering by institutions. The interest in the benchmarking forum shown by participants, the inter-organisational similarities and differences and the variety of ideas that have arisen through the process indicate that there is a future role for benchmarking in the field of widening access for mature students.

This chapter describes and discusses the design, administration and results of an anonymous survey carried out between June 2023 and January 2024 titled Widening Access Mature Students in Higher Education. Two data collection hubs were set up in the UK and Australia to gather data from educators and administrators in these countries. The survey presented via LimeSurvey enabled the gathering of salient information about current practices for supporting the participation of mature students in further and higher education. The survey was aimed at education professionals who hold leadership, administrative, teaching or student support positions in higher education institutions.