interesting work and open education - alan tait
DESCRIPTION
Alan Tait is Director of International Development and Teacher Education at The Open University, UK This presentation was delivered as part of his keynote speech at the 2014 EDEN Annual Conference in Zagreb. http://www.eden-online.orgTRANSCRIPT
EDEN 2014 1
Interesting work and Open Education
Alan TaitProfessor of Distance Education and
Development The Open University UK
EDEN 2014 2
Employment, unemployment and Open Education: from labour to work
Summary
• Challenges of work in life• Threat from unemployment• Poor quality work• The Precariat• Demography• More of the same?• The moment to rethink?
• The obligations of educators• The potential of the Open
Education movement
EDEN 2014 3
Unemployment Europe 2013Eurostat 2013
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Unemployment_statistics
EDEN 2014 4
Unemployment Europe 2013
• Country average E28, 11%• Country range 5-27%• 26.8 million people unemployed• More than entire populations of Netherlands
and Austria
EDEN 2014 5
Youth unemployment Europe 2010-2012http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Unemployment_statistics
EDEN 2014 6
Youth unemployment Europe 2010-2012
• Country average 23%• Range of countries 8-58%• 5.5 million young people unemployed• More than entire population of Finland
EDEN 2014 7
Unemployment Europe by educational level 2012http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Unemployment_statistics
EDEN 2014 8
Educational attainment and unemployment
Unemployed with• Primary and lower secondary 4%-42%• Upper secondary 3%-28%• Tertiary education 2.5%-18%
EDEN 2014 9
Threat and promise of machine intelligence revolution
• ‘Much routine brain-work will be computerised, as happened to clerical skills. Middle income jobs could hollow out far further. The outcome could be still more polarised incomes, with a tiny group of winners at the top and a vastly larger group struggling below.’
• ‘In 2012 ..the top 1% of Americans earned 22% of all incomes’
Martin Wolf Financial Times February 5 2014, reviewing Brynjolffson E and McAfee A, The Second Machine Age
EDEN 2014 10
Impact of unemployment
• Anxiety• Depression• Bad health habits (e.g. smoking, alcohol and other
substance abuse)• Low self-esteem• Increased suicide• Increased general mortalityLynn M, Sandifer R and Stein S 1985Jefferis J et al 2010Mathers C and Schofield D 1998Yur’yev A et al 2010
EDEN 2014 11
Miserable experience in the workplace
• 40% of employees are ‘not engaged in the workplace’
• Impact on happiness and wellbeing• Impact on productivity and innovation• http://mashable.com/2013/11/24/job-satisfaction
EDEN 2014 12
Top and bottom occupations
Top have• Authority• Role supporting people• Income level• Skill• Stability
Bottom have• Lack of autonomy• No care for people• Low social respect• Lower wages• Short contracts• Unpleasant working
conditions
EDEN 2014 13
The Precariat: the working poor
• Low security• Low wages• Job not career• ‘Flexible’ in negative
senses• ‘disposable’
EDEN 2014 14
Employment and unemployment in Europe: NOT business as usual
Health: long term damage Social conflict: anomie
EDEN 2014 15
What is to be done?
Increase routes to livelihood
How must open education contribute?
Change nature of work
EDEN 2014 16
Increased routes to livelihood
• Europe as sustainable for employment in world economy
• Skills and knowledge to create ‘world class economy’
• Skills and knowledge to support individuals in innovation and job applications
• Work that supports health and wellbeing
EDEN 2014 17
In work: instrumental and developmental attitudes
• Adam Smith: work as toil. Rest as desirable state
• John Ruskin and William Morris: work as craft• Friedrich Engels: work as fulfilment• Taylorism: work for majority as ‘operatives’• What vision for work in 21st century?
EDEN 2014 18
From labour to work: can we change?
Worker as object • Labour • Job• Operative • Low skill• Routine • Wage • Short term contract• Precarité• Poverty in old age• Others’ purposes• Alienated • Object
Worker as subject • work• Vocation• Craft and skill• Autonomy • Knowledge • Career• Stability• Salary• Pension• Lifelong learning• Professional• My purpose• Subject
The transition to the digital world: what help can it give?
EDEN 2014 19
EDEN 2014 20
A new landscape: from Distance and e-learning to Open Education
• Scale• Flexibility• From informal to formal learning• From paradigm of ‘long’ to ‘short’
programmes• Pedagogic innovation• Mobile learning
EDEN 2014 21
Open Education: the new landscape of innovation
• Values led• Anti commodity• ‘free’• Inclusion• Radical disruptive potential
MOOCs and OER’s: new models for learning
Passion and demand for learning is hugeCurrent model of Higher Education is unsustainable
Qualifications not completed (50% Baccalaureate completion in USA)
Crisis of confidence re price and valueTechnology and on-line learning could offer different
solutions
22EDEN 2014
EDEN 2014 23
Skills and Open Education: advantages not disadvantages
• Learning , not apart from but in life and work• Investigation• Virtual teamworking• Management of online discussion• Curating of e-resources• ICT supported presentations
EDEN 2014 24
Open education: radical potential
• Compelling attraction of learning• Scale: only Open Education has capacity• Learner success• Skills for personal lives, citizens, creators of
livelihood• To become subjects not objects in society and
economy
EDEN 2014 25
The vision for interesting work and open education
• Would include• Education for All: not privileged minority• not just the ‘salariat’ and their children• Affordable or free• At scale• Compelling and high quality• Relevant for livelihood and development• Fit for mobile learning• With employers as social partners• work in life• learning in life• To make people subjects not objects
EDEN 2014 26
What can we do?
• Will EC projects make enough impact?• Need national interventions• Go to senior management within our
organisations and institutions• Promote livelihood as policy priority for education• Go to employers, trades unions, and governments• They all need vision for learning and work in life• Task force for EDEN?
EDEN 2014 27
Interesting work and Open Education
• Educational innovation for the crisis in Europe
• Your vision!• Your actions!
Athene and Nike