Introduction

A. Background

The impetus for this piece is based on a presentation I gave to the Manitoba Association of Workplace Educators and Consultants (MAWEC) in March 1999, as part of the Workplace Education Practitioners' Think Tank coordinated by MAWEC and sponsored by the National Literacy Secretariat. The original question MAWEC asked me to respond to was "How can workplace educators prepare to serve their clients' needs?".

I wanted expand the thinking on this original question by getting the perspectives of a small number of colleagues who had been working in the field for the last 10 years or more. I thought that talking to people who had started at the beginning of the development of the field, could deepen and enrich the thinking about where we have been, where we are and how we need to develop in the future as workplace educators. As such this discussion provides "food for thought" rather than illustrate a representative sampling of workplace educators. I wanted to talk to colleagues who had played a variety of roles in workplace education, worked in diverse contexts, and could hold the big picture as well as be firmly rooted in the practical. It also seemed prudent to include colleagues from other countries in this discussion. As such, this conversation includes workplace educators from Canada, the US and the United Kingdom.

B. What is Workplace Education?

Workplace education is used here as a generic term to describe workplace literacy programs that address the reading, writing, numeracy, second language learning and basic computer needs of the work force. Educational programs that address these needs may be job-specific, or a combination of job-related and non-work related, and they may be for any member of the work force.

They may take place on or off site in various formats. They may be offered by the union, jointly with management or in the community. Adult educators or peer trainers may deliver them.