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Introduction: need for learning in times of demanding challenges
This paper examines the potential for workplace learning from uncertainty and explores the characteristics of work situations that can be understood as uncertain, as well as how workplace learning can contribute to handling these situations. This study was conducted in the field of care work as a representative field for discussing workplace learning related to uncertainty.
Amid the backdrop of multiple pressing demands, there is heightened attention from both the political and public spheres to provide adequate, accessible and sustainable quality care for older people [European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), 2022]. In most Western countries, the elderly care sector struggles with financial constraints and lack of health-care workers on the one hand and an aging population and a growing number of older people in need of complex care on the other (Ellström and Ellström, 2018; Lundmark et al., 2020). This complicated combination has been described as a “care crisis” (Hansen et al., 2022; Tronto, 2013; Wrede et al., 2008) and is creating pressures for the continuing professionalization and quality development of elderly care.
A wide range of organizational, managerial and educational initiatives have been launched in response to this care crisis (Kamp and Hvid, 2012). However, when it comes to enhancing competences at the workplace, it remains unclear what types of learning activities yield the most successful results in elderly care (Hauer et al., 2017). While the dominant learning strategy in this sector is lecture-based training for selected staff (Dewing, 2010), care workers prefer and appreciate learning from and during daily work routines (Choy and Henderson, 2016; Ellström et al., 2008). Hence, while learning in elderly care is mostly facilitated as something that takes place away from the workplace and is taught through training sessions or study days (Dewing, 2010), practice-based learning experiences have been identified as critical for care workers to gain expertise to ensure delivery of quality care (Choy and Henderson, 2016).
These contextual characteristics underscore the significance of adopting a workplace learning approach that directly engages with work tasks and is integrated into the workday as both structured and incidental processes. Incidental learning is frequently referred to as informal learning to distinguish it from formal learning occurring...