Internes Kolloquium mit Prof. Dr. Stephen Billett

Integrating innovations and learning at work

Das IBW lädt die Angehörigen des IBW zum internen Kolloquium mit Prof. Dr. Stephen Billett ein.

Die Anmeldung erfolgt direkt über Tomas Kaqinari.

Integrating innovations and learning at work

University of Basel – 22^nd January 2025 - 14-16h

Stephen Billett, Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University

Much innovation at work, by tradition, arisen through workers’ everyday activities and interactions in response to occupational tasks and challenges (Hoyrup et al., 2012). Yet, that process of innovation is both dependent on and interdependently is generative of learning (Billett, 2012). Hence, innovation and learning co-occur through and at work. However, the generation of innovations and learning are often viewed, discussed and theorised separately, despite evidence of their co-occurrence across human history (Epstein, 1998, 2005). This presentation draws on two investigations undertaken in small to medium size enterprises in Singapore and how the processes of innovation were initiated, supported, enacted and evaluated, and the reciprocal learning that arose. The first study conducted in precision engineering and aged care identified the centrality of proximal and local factors that afforded opportunities for workers to engage in identifying and initiating innovations in these work settings (Billett et al., 2021). The second investigation focused on seven small to medium size enterprises who produce goods and provided services and from across a range of industry sectors. Building on the findings from the first study, it was possible to identify three distinct kinds of innovations (i.e. strategic, work practice and procedural) that were being enacted in these workplaces and the distinct kinds of engagement and interactions associated with their initiation, authorisation and enactment across these enterprises. What these instantiations of innovations at work indicated is that there were distinct zones of potential development arising from these different kinds of innovations and workers involvement and engagement in them (Billett et al., 2022).

References

Billett, S. (2012). Explaining innovation at work: A socio-personal account. In S. H. Pederson (Ed.), Employee-driven innovation: A new approach (pp. 92-107). Palgrave-MacMillan.

Billett, S., Tan, J., Chan, C., Chong, W. H., & Keat, J. (2022). Employee-driven innovations: Zones of initiation, enactment and learning. In W. O. Lee, P. Brown, L. Goodwin, & Andy Green (Eds.), International Handbook of Education Development in Asia Pacific. Springer.

Billett, S., Yang, S., Chia, A., Tai, J. F., Lee, M., & Alhadad, S. (2021). Remaking and transforming cultural practices:  Exploring the co-occurrence of work, learning and innovation. In K. Collin, V. Glaveanu, S. Lemmetty, & P. Forsman (Eds.), Creativity and Learning: Contexts, Processes and Impact (pp. 219-244). Palgrave McMillan.

Epstein, S. R. (1998). Craft Guilds, Apprenticeship, and Technological Change in Preindustrial Europe. The Journal of Economic History, 58(3), 684-713.

Epstein, S. R. (2005). Transferring technical knowledge and innovating in Europe 1200-1800

Hoyrup, S., Bonnafous-Boucher, M., Hasse, C., Lotz, M., & Molller, K. (Eds.). (2012). Employee-Driven Innovation: A new approach. Palgrave-McMillan.

Professor Stephen Billett 

Dr Stephen Billett is Professor of Adult and Vocational Education at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. After a career in clothing manufacturing, he was a vocational educator, teacher educator, professional educator and policy work in Queensland. Since 1992, he has researched and published widely in fields of learning for occupations, vocational education, workplace learning, work, higher education and conceptual accounts of learning for occupational purposes. He was a Fulbright scholar (1999), National Teaching Fellow (2009-11), ARC Future Fellow (2011-16) recipient of honorary doctorates from Jyvaskala University, Finland (2013), University of Geneva (2020) and University West, Sweden (2024), elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia (2015), research fellow at Oxford University (2019-22), adjunct professor at University of Stavanger, Norway (2019-23) and University Vast, Sweden (2019-2023). His current projects focus on: the standing of vocational education, integration of work experiences to promote employability, alignments between learning and innovations at work, resilience in healthcare workers, worklife learning, continuing education and training, developing adaptability through internships in Singaporean post-secondary educational institutions, wisdom in practice and widening access to mature ages students. He is the founding and editor in chief of the journal Vocations and Learning, and the Professional and practice-based learning book series.

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