How Dutch employees experience freedom of learning for work

Theo Van Dellen,Ina Heidekamp

doi:10.1007/s11159-015-9524-7

Abstract

This article focuses on the perceived freedom of Dutch employees to embark on workplace learning in terms of whether they feel it is “voluntary” or “compulsory”. The paper is based on the findings of a large international explorative survey carried out by the Workplace Learning (WPL) Research Network (RN2) of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Lifelong Learning (LLL) Research Hub. The comparative study focused on employees’ quest for “freedom of learning for work”. This paper reports on the Dutch part of the research, the quantitative results of which seem to indicate that the freedom of learning for work is not as important to Dutch employees as might be expected. In a second phase, to investigate employees’ experiences of work-related learning in more depth, the Dutch researchers added a follow-up qualitative study, involving one-on-one interviews. In order to triangulate the results of the quantitative and qualitative research phases, the authors then added a mixed-methods sequential explanatory analysis. They assessed the quality of the collected data in both distinct phases by identifying converging results, which are useful for refining our understanding of learning for work. The paper draws both on rich insights into workplace learning based on this research as well as on theoretical literature which refers to concepts like motivation, subjectivity, work identity and agency in connection with the quest for freedom of learning.

Highlights

For some years Asian and European researchers of the Workplace Learning (WPL) Network of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Lifelong Learning (LLL) Research Hub1 have studied to which extent workplace learning opportunities are more fruitful when motivation is positive and learning participation is voluntary and not compulsory (Chisholm, Lunardon, Ostendorf and Pasqualoni 2012)
The paper is based on the findings of a large international explorative survey carried out by the Workplace Learning (WPL) Research Network (RN2) of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Lifelong Learning (LLL) Research Hub
This paper reports on the Dutch part of the research, the quantitative results of which seem to indicate that the freedom of learning for work is not as important to Dutch employees as might be expected

Summary

Introduction

Asian and European researchers of the Workplace Learning (WPL) Network of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Lifelong Learning (LLL) Research Hub have studied to which extent workplace learning opportunities are more fruitful when motivation is positive and learning participation is voluntary and not compulsory (Chisholm, Lunardon, Ostendorf and Pasqualoni 2012). This issue of experiences with learning for work, including workplace learning (WPL) and work-related learning (WRL), is of particular interest in the Netherlands, because compared to other European countries (OECD 2012), Dutch employees invest less of their working life – in total 0.6 years – in formal and nonformal training and development (WRR 2013). Dutch investment in formal education which leads to qualification is relatively lower (OECD 2012). These figures recently led two ministers in the Dutch government (Bussemaker and Asscher 2014) to call for a stronger learning climate, in particular in middle and higher vocational educational institutions. A real learning climate is characterised by employers and employees who are motivated and flexible to learn and to invest in themselves to keep their knowledge and skills on track (ibid.)

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