Learning and Work and the Politics of Working Life: Global Transformations and Collective Identities in Teaching, Nursing and Social Work

Large scale changes in work and education are a key feature of contemporary global transformations, with a pervasive politics that affects people’s experiences of workplaces and learning spaces.

This thought-provoking book uses empirical research to question prevailing debates surrounding compliance at work, education and lifelong learning, and emphasises the importance of debate and dissent within the current terms and conditions of work. Examining a number of types of work, including teaching, nursing and social work, through a transnational research space, the contributors investigate how disturbances in work both constrain and enable collective identities in practical politics.

Structured around three main themes, the book covers:

• Disturbed work: with cases of occupational reform in nursing and vocational teaching in Finland and re-regulating work in Australia
• Disturbing work: examining contested occupational knowledge in German school to work transitions, paraprofessional healthwork in the UK, social work in Finland, and mobilising professional expertise in US Community College faculty and Australian adult literacy
• Transforming politics: negotiating an ageing workforce in Germany, young adults moving through identities and careers, building a politics of ‘we’ through a global book project

An enlightening collection of international contributions, this book will appeal to all postgraduate students, researchers and policy makers, in education, work, and lifelong learning.

Terri Seddon is Professor of Education at Monash University, Australia, and Director for Work and Learning Studies.

Lea Henriksson is Docent in Social Policy and an Academy of Finland Research Fellow at the University of Tampere, Finland.

Beatrix Niemeyer is Docent (PD) in Educational Science and Senior Researcher at the Institute of Vocational Education, University of Flensburg, Germany.