Experiential learning and the shaping of subjectivity in the workplace

Abstract

The focus of this paper is the current development of work-based learning awards. We will relate work-based learning awards to the way in which the workplace has been constructed by contemporary reform discourses that combine elements of the managerial and the educational. These discourses emphasise the role of cultural change and the role of learning in the workplace. We will examine how the subjectivity of workers/learners is shaped by this and therefore what place, if any, ‘disciplinary’ power has in a context where the workplace is recognised as a significant site of learning and where experiential learning, through the growing importance of work- based learning awards, is seen as an important mainstream pedagogical form. Our theoretical argument is informed by the work of du Gay (1996), Rose (1989) and Miller and Rose (1990) who draw on Foucault's understanding of ‘discipline’ to argue that in the contemporary workplace the management of subjectivity is an essential element of governmentality and the central task of organisations.

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