Bridging the Learning Divide: A Study into Adult Learning and Peer Mediation in the Workplace

As we enter the twenty-first century, it has become clear that the rapidly changing nature of our working lives, public lives and private lives requires us to engage continually in new forms of learning. It is now accepted wisdom that everyone needs to be able to learn throughout life, both to remain employable and to fulfil his or her potential. The problem has been accentuated as the United Kingdom, like elsewhere in Europe, moves rapidly towards a knowledge-based economy and it is becoming clearer that, in many communities, a significant number of adults are disengaged from learning and have poor basic skills. There are also significant numbers of working people with low basic skills and information technology skills who have difficulties in accessing learning provision. But, while there is no shortage of supply-side solutions to raising the skill levels of adult learners, there appears to be a significant problem on the demand side. It seems that efforts aimed at engaging in learning programmes those adults identified as having learning or skills deficits do not take account of how the trajectories and life histories of adults and young adult learners influence their dispositions towards learning.