Work in the Future is Continuous Learning

Abstract

In the modern, constantly changing work environments, continuous learning is more important than before. The ways of learning are changing, because a great deal of on-the-job learning takes place outside the traditional forms of education. Learning in working life is also changing: instead of competences of individuals developing through training courses, learning is increasingly becoming a continuous, community-based activity. The Finnish TYYNE project (Työelämä oppimisympäristönä – Working life as a learning environment) focused on working life as a future learning environment. The study dealt with the multidimensional relationship between working life and learning. The key premise for the study was that multi-faceted, extensive and continuous learning will be the most essential aspect of all work in the future. Information processing and new learning are almost without exception involved in all current and future professions - including those that are usually not considered knowledge-intensive. Work in the future will clearly be community-based in nature, and expert tasks conducted alone are already vanishing. High standard competences of individuals will be important in the future as well, but individual expertise will need to be related to the collective competences of the work community.