Opening access
to quality
social science
in Africa
New from HSRC Press
We are living through a daunting yet fascinating period in which the global economy increasingly challenges the accepted dichotomies between home-life and work-life, between employment and unemployment, paid work and unpaid work. This calls for an analysis of how knowledge is generated in workplaces as diverse as the factory, the field, or the street. It raises questions about the forms of learning involved; how they articulate with one another and what practical and theoretical implications this has. In this book, 34 leading scholars from 10 countries challenge established understandings of lifelong learning and work, with several arguing that ‘work’ and ‘lifelong learning’ need to be ‘turned inside out’ through a rigorous critique of underlying power relations and practices that shape learning/work possibilities. In various ways, all the chapters are infused with imaginings of alternative futures that prioritise social justice and sustainability for the majority. Learning/Work will appeal to all those who are grappling to understand and implement learning/work critically within demanding times. Professor Linda Cooper is a Senior Lecturer in the Higher and Adult Education Studies Development Unit (HAESDU), in the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She is also convenor of the Adult Education Programme at UCT and chair of UCT’s Adult Learner Working Group. Professor Shirley Walters is Professor of Adult and Continuing Education at University of Western Cape (UWC) where she is the director of the Division for Lifelong Learning. She is also the Chairperson of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).
Learning / Work
Turning work and lifelong learning inside out
Linda Cooper & Shirley Walters (eds)
Editor Information
“A provocative counter-narrative to knowledge economy discourses and their easy conflation of work with learning and life. These authors plea for the worker and the possibility of democratic work, in a rich collection that is particularly salutary at this time of increasing anxiety and cynicism about the global workplace.”
Professor Tara Fenwick, University of British Columbia, Canada
“This volume puts the politics back into the research field of work and learning, particularly a politics which really acknowledges 'work' outside the formal economy, and which takes into account the global and the local as a dialectic. It will be essential reading.”
Professor Miriam Zukas, University of Leeds
“Decent work and quality life for all is the underlying sentiment expressed through this important book on learning/work, which foregrounds the interests of workers.”
Gino Govender, Director, Ditsela, South Africa
“I encourage practitioners and scholars across the education and training system to engage with this text enthusiastically to take learning at work to new heights.”
Samuel Isaacs, CEO, South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)
384pp · R 240.00 · 978 0 7969 2283 0 · September 2009
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