Professional Learning Through Everyday Work: How Finance Professionals Self-Regulate Their Learning

Abstract

Professional learning is a critical component of ongoing improvement and innovation and the adoption of new practices in the workplace. Professional learning is often achieved through learning embedded in everyday work tasks. However, little is known about how professionals self-regulate their learning through regular work activities. This paper explores how professionals in the finance sector (n-30) selfregulate their learning through day-to-day work. Analysis focuses on three subprocesses of self-regulated learning that have been identified as significant predictors of good self-regulated learning at work. A key characteristic of good self-regulation is viewing learning as a form of long-term, personalised self-improvement. This studyprovides a foundation for future policy and planning in organisations aiming to encourage self-regulated learning.

How health professionals regulate their learning in massive open online courses

“…The different sub-processes of self-regulated learning are of course highly inter-connected, with evidence from quantitative studies using self-report instruments to measure these sub-processes indicating that they are strongly correlated (Littlejohn et al, 2016b, Milligan et al, 2015) in different populations. Bringing together the four sub-process described here, some clear patterns of learning emerge that illustrate their inter-relationship.…”

“…Participants who completed the survey instrument, and who identified as healthcare professionals (n = 126), were invited to take part in a semi-structured interview designed to explore their self-regulated learning in the MOOC using a script developed iteratively over a number of studies (Milligan et al, 2013, Littlejohn et al, 2016b, Milligan and Littlejohn, 2014a, Littlejohn et al, 2016a). Relevant questions are included in the Section 3 below, with the full interview script available online (Milligan & Littlejohn, 2014b) .…”

Government Workers’ Stories about Professional Development in a Digitalized Working Life

“…Today, this range includes both the informal and unintended activities (e.g., observing, listening) of the workplace as well as formal and intended ones (e.g., guiding, mentoring, courses) (e.g., Cheetham and Chivers 2001;Collin, Van der Heijden, and Lewis 2012). Thus, the current view is that professional development and learning are achieved through participation in everyday work activities, and the responsibility for learning has shifted from the training department to the professionals themselves (e.g., Billett 2015;Billett and Noble 2017;Littlejohn et al 2016;Poell et al 2018).…”

“…Additionally, social support in the form of social interaction with other individuals to discuss work-related problems and challenges is needed in a workplace that supports learning (Fisher et al 2018). Finally, it is also acknowledged that professional learning is a reciprocal process that combines the affordances of a workplace -such as resources, materials, and people-with the individual's ability and motivation to engage with what is afforded (e.g., Billett 2015;Littlejohn et al 2016). Thus, how workers coordinate their professional development depends on both the sociocultural conditions of the workplace and on the workers' motivation, beliefs, ideals, interests, goals, competencies, work history, and personality (Eteläpelto 2017; Goller and Harteis 2017).…”

The Role of Professional Learning in Addressing Global Challenges: Tensions and Innovations Associated With AMR

“…Although the organization of work sets the conditions for learning, it is the interaction of the learner with the environment that determines learning (Tynjälä, 2008). Professionals, therefore, have to be active agents, self-regulating their own learning, particularly where they are working at the boundaries of knowledge and cannot rely on courses to expand their knowledge (Littlejohn et al, 2016b). This dialectic relationship between work and learning is important, therefore as we argue in this paper it is critical to consider work practices and learning processes together at the same time within the context of the work environment, rather than treating these factors as separate.…”