The care-takers had learnt how to undertake their current roles by a combination of formal and informal learning. Each newly appointed caretaker is formally assigned to a more experienced colleague who guides them through key duties, such as cleaning and keeping records of damage to the property, through an informal process of “Mentoring and coaching” (one of the key categories of informal learning identified by Taylor, Evans and Mohamed). In addition caretakers periodically undertake one day training in such areas as health and safety, manual handling and “dealing with violent people”. Abdul Nazif emphasized the importance of skills acquisition through work experience:
“I didn’t know how much was involved in cleaning, until I got this cleaning job, it’s not an easy thing, its complicated, there’s chemicals, water, amounts, substances, how you do what you do, when you do it, the temperatures effect, there’s certain things you have to really get to know, of course, you learn from experience.”
The majority of learners emphasized the
advantages of undertaking a course in the
workplace. In stressing the advantages of
learning with colleagues in a familiar setting,
Bob Murphey also revealed that such sessions
allow for a considerable degree of informal
learning based on the mutual support and
exchange of knowledge on the part of the
learners: “everybody’s in the same situation as
me, and we all try and like help one another out
like if we can, as well as Malcolm, so yeah its
quite good… you know them so its not too bad,
you’re not frightened (of) asking for help in
front of the people.”
For Ryan Taylor the
course allowed many employees to challenge
the tendency to equate learning with education
at school: “a lot of the attitude from the guys in
the workforce was er… well I’m too old to go
back to school and they got that impression
about adult learning, its like going back to
school and some guys have that impression but
once they actually did it it was quite different.”
Several of the learners who were interviewed
in-depth felt the course had improved their use
of literacy in the workplace. Trevor Woodford
maintained that the course had improved his
capacity to fill in reports: “before (I was) just
guessing where it went really. Its sort of the
same for me but it’s a lot better now I know
where to put things”
. Trevor also asserts that
he is: “A lot better at writing letters, and we
even done a… how to talk on the phone, speaking
on the phone to someone, or making a
complaint.”
He gave the example of writing an
email to the council complaining about the
tiles in his kitchen: “without putting it nastily I
wrote a decent sort of email to them and I got
a reply back with the same sort of manner I
wrote the email in. Whereas before I suppose I
wouldn’t have even bothered you know.”
During the course of follow up in-depth interviews
in 2007, Trevor Woodford revealed that
he had taken on a more supervisory role as a
caretaker and had proceeded to undertake various
computer courses at the local civic centre.
He regarded the course as being useful in
preparing him for the next stage of his career as
an estate officer which would entail more
office administration and contact with contractors:
“when I do move on I’ll have the confidence
to do it.”
. The course had therefore
generated the potential for various informal learning opportunities; and by boosting his
confidence the course had encouraged Trevor
to apply himself to higher level roles in which
he would develop the requisite skills through
on the job experience. Trevor would also
engage in self-directed learning by referring
back to his course notes in response to specific
tasks at work: “if I’m doing something that was
related to that course then I would look at my
notes to help me”
.