Navigating the Future of Work: Challenging Age Stereotypes in Digital Learning and Redefining Cvet from an Organisational Perspective
Demographic change will have a significant impact on the labour market, with an increasing shortage of available labour becoming a prominent issue in the future. At the same time, digitalisation is changing work processes and skills requirements, with the process of learning itself becoming increasingly digital.
It is imperative that continuing vocational education and training (CVET) is made available to old(er) workers in order to support them and ensure their employability. However, the way in which the transition to digital learning environments affects both old(er) workers and their training activities remains unclear.
Methodology
Against this background, the present study focuses on the implementation of digital CVET. In addition to the organisational perspective, the configuration of digital training provision is also a key area of investigation.
For this reason, a situational analysis, supplemented by hermeneutic techniques, is used, in which the phenomenon of ageing is recognised as a distributed practice. In order to analyse the perception of the interplay between digital technologies and age(ing) in the context of digital CVET, 36 experts in digital learning were interviewed. The experts were drawn from three companies and represented the fields of HR, IT, education and development. The age-related images in the interviews were identified and their emergence and development was reconstructed as the result of a socio-material practice.
Results and Summary
Initial findings suggest the existence of a stereotypical image of age(ing) which manifests itself in a number of ways, including the neglect or exclusion of old(er) workers from digital CVET due to perceived deficiencies in their (technical) skills. The study therefore sought to identify strategies for competency-based, age-appropriate digital learning in the workplace environment. This was achieved through a critical analysis of age-related images and their origins in socio-material practice.