Anh Hai Le

This chapter focuses on how tertiary education can effectively support the development of capacities for wisdom in practice at both the commencement of individuals’ working lives and for their continuing development across them. In making its case, this chapter draws on 42 recent interviews with working age adults acknowledged as being highly effective in the occupational practice (i.e. wise workers) to gain insights into how these capacities might be developed through tertiary education provisions in both the shorter and longer term. Furthermore, insight into what constitutes wisdom in practice—derived from other chapters and accounts of how this capacity develops—provides bases for examining how tertiary education experiences might be most effectively oriented and enacted toward achieving this outcome. An analysis of the interview data offers evidence and support for making deductions about these outcomes. The assumption here is—based on the findings presented in previous chapters—that such qualities are unlikely to be fully developed within the confines and duration of initial tertiary education programs. Their development requires prolonged engagement and participation in decision-making within the specific field of practice and in social environments where these capacities are enacted. However, importantly, tertiary education programs can provide starting points from which higher education students and graduates might progress. Moreover, beyond the development of capacities at the commencement of working life, there is prospect here for informing about how tertiary education provisions might assist the continuing professional development of individuals with extensive working life experience. Programs for such individuals can be framed by the requirements of what has been found to constitute wisdom in practice and how it has been developed according to the experience of the 42 informants and former research about pedagogies for developing wisdom.

This chapter discusses how learning to be wise in practice arises through the range of educative experiences that individuals encounter, engage with and from which they learn. It presents findings from an analysis of the interview data from individuals who were identified as being exceptional in their paid work activities. These informants provided accounts of their learning and development over the course of their lives, discussing the experiences they had at work and their learning through educational provisions in institutional and/or workplace settings, and from other encounters. The analysis focused on the informants’ experiences reported and are perceived or deducted to be aligned with the development of wise practices in problem-solving and effectively responding to challenges and demanding situations at work. The findings highlight the importance of personal engagement in occupational practices and the affordances (i.e., invitational quality of opportunities) provided by and interactions with peers, colleagues and other encounters in workplace, educational and community settings. While the development of practical wisdom was reported as being highly individualised, there were often features that converged in the informants’ careers. These included (i) learning by doing/exposure; (ii) learning from experience; (iii) reflection on practice; (iv) problem-solving; (v) learning from mentors and role modelling; (vi) learning from others/different perspectives; (vii) listening and observation; (viii) on-the-job; and (ix) educational provisions. The informants were from a range of social and cultural backgrounds, and occupations and had experienced diverse work life transitions (including a change of job or career). Yet, they were committed to active and intentional learning and development of work processes. Such personal commitment and personal engagement enabled them to develop profound understanding and effective practices of the professional environment in which they worked and its problems.

This chapter reports the findings of a thematic analysis of what constitutes wisdom in practice, informed by relevant literature and premised on interviews with 42 informants whose occupational performance was held to be exceptional, ranging from highly specialised professionals, through to individuals who lead organisations and associations, as well as practitioners engaging in both public and private sector enterprises. From these sources and data analysis, it is claimed that individual cleverness or expertise alone is insufficient basis for wise practice. Instead, engagements and interactions with others within and beyond the field of their immediate practice are required. Hence, not only are personal and situational qualities central to the defining superstructure that explains wisdom in practice, but their interdependence. Building on these premises, both personal and situational qualities of wisdom in practice are identified. Beyond competence with their occupational domain of knowledge, personal elements comprise: (i) personal engagement and interest; (ii) situational awareness; (iii) critical of self and being curious; and (iv) engagement with others. Hence, these personal qualities are not wholly intra-psychological or intra mental but are shaped by individuals’ personal domains of knowledge from engagement with the world beyond the skin. The situated elements are: (i) what is known, can be done and is valued situationally; (ii) elements of localised practice specificity; (iii) extra personal; and (iv) generating legacies that are deemed worthwhile and lasting. Yet, importantly, not all these elements are essential in all instances or possess the same levels of explanatory power.

This chapter discusses the role of collaboration as an essential feature of wisdom in practice. Almost universally, the informants reported that individual or personal qualities and capacities alone are insufficient for being wise in practice. This is because so much of what they came to know, were able to do and valued was a product of collaborations with others. The examples provided by the informants emphasise the established meaning of the word collaboration as ‘labouring together’. It was through interactions and co-working that their abilities to engage in ways that generated worthwhile and lasting practices. Within a paradigm focused on engagement in social practice and culturally derived practices referred to as occupations, those collaborations can be characterised as being both internal and external to instance of practice. That is, internal to the specific situational practice or occupational field, on the one hand, and on the other hand, beyond the specific situation and field. For both were identified sets of practices premised upon interactions with others. These interactions can be considered in terms of the degree by which individuals reflect what was afforded them through internal engagements and their interest in engaging with them. So, dualities between affordances and engagement are exercised here with some of these collaborative processes reflecting a balance between what was afforded and individuals’ engagement with them. In all, this chapter elaborates the basis for and central role that both internal and external collaborations play in generating Wisdom in practice and its exercise.

Personal beliefs, values and dispositions shape individuals’ thinking and acting and those associated with what constitutes wisdom is no exception. Drawing on the interview data from 42 informants, patterns of responses were identified associated with what constitutes that wisdom, its learning, and the collaborations that characterise it and the beliefs and values of those who were deemed to be wise in practice. Repeatedly, across the informants’ data were references to sets of beliefs or values that influence their approach to occupational practice, its exercise and decision-making that were associated with wise practice. Six kinds of personal beliefs that shaped their approach to occupational practice were delineated. These comprised i) family upbringing and influence, ii) social beliefs that arose from their communities and shaped how they view the world and engaged with it, iii) trust and honesty as central to wise action, iv) religious and self-belief shaping what constitutes wise action, v) given the importance of collaboration, the need to exercise respect for others in work and adopting ethical approaches to work, and vi) work or occupational-related activities as being central for effective engaging both internally and externally in achieving the goals of wise practice. These qualities are elaborated in this chapter to indicate what might constitute exceptional qualities of both the personal qualities of wise practice and the ability to exercise wisdom in practice, as a more collective concept.

Given the complexity of the phenomena comprising wisdom in practice, approaches to understanding how it might best be investigated need to be carefully considered and justified. This includes the kinds of data to be gathered, from whom and for what purposes, and how these data are analysed, conclusions drawn and deductions generated. Consequently, this chapter sets out the description of several approaches and justification of the overall method and procedures used for data gathering and their analysis in this book. The analysis was conducted in three distinct ways drawing upon different but reconcilable orientations and approaches. There was, firstly, a theory-driven thematic abductive analysis was undertaken to see how the data aligns with an existing construct of wisdom, the Holistic Wisdom Model. This involved using its core concepts and premises, while also comparing and seeking features that do not comply with that construct. Then, the second line of the analysis was undertaken using a praxeological approach to discourse organisation. The approach taken combined principles of discourse analysis with a conceptual framework for investigating the relations between discourse and action through a range of interconnected theoretical perspectives. Lastly and thirdly, a hybrid approach of inductive and deductive thematic analysis of the interview data was conducted. This analysis was conducted to offer a fresh approach to considering what constitutes wisdom in practice, its learning, bases for collaboration and its relationship with individuals’ personal values, using a detailed analysis of their utterances.

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.