Employability and Work Life History

Henning Salling Olesen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Elaborating the notion of employability, this chapter presents reasons for applying life history interviews to the data collection and its analysis. It initially advances a concept of learning that is based in adult learners’ lifelong continuous experience in everyday life. Within this framework is progressed an account of how work life history interviews enable a longitudinal elaboration and understanding of individuals’ learning histories that complements the cross-case focus on specific forms of transitions adults have to negotiate across their working lives. Following this, the presentation and discussion of three examples of (work) life histories. The next section elaborates the particular contribution of individual work life histories to the analysis of employability: They give a holistic picture of real people and they make visible how learning is integrated in an identity process. The final section addresses the societal effects of learning under the concept of competence development. It is pointed out that dominant concepts of competence tend to fail in recognizing the subjective aspect of competence development which is based in life experience and can be illuminated in life histories. Finally, some consequences for practice and policy of the life history analysis are briefly outlined.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProfessional and Practice-based Learning
EditorsS. Billett, H. Salling Olesen, L. Filliettaz
Number of pages25
Place of PublicationSingapore
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media
Publication date2023
Pages101-125
ISBN (Print)978-981-99-3958-9
ISBN (Electronic)978-981-99-3959-6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
SeriesProfessional and Practice-based Learning
Volume35
ISSN2210-5549

Keywords

  • Acceleration
  • Adaptability
  • Competence
  • Employability
  • Experience
  • Identity
  • Interviewing
  • Learning
  • Learning arenas
  • Life history
  • Life history interviews
  • Psychosocial approach
  • Subjectivity
  • Transitions

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