“Living in the dark…” European voices about work
Every unemployment statistic has a human story behind it. Here, four young Europeans talk about their relationship to work. Of the crushing lack of future prospects. Or, in abundance of work, of the voluntary decision to work less. “Just scraping along” Maria Salzano, 26, Naples, Italy Master in Biotechnology, unemployed I am Maria, 26 years
A Nordic perspective on youth unemployment
This article was originally published in Elm's predecessor media, LLinE. Introduction Youth unemployment has increased dramatically all over Europe since the financial crisis of 2008 although at different levels and speed in the individual countries. Rising youth unemployment in particular creates a strong feeling of urgency among all political leaders. Experience shows that young people
Need of enhancing core skills: the Greek case
In Greece, strong families may replace those social networks that might be helpful for employment. Source: Wikimedia Introduction Youth unemployment in Greece has increased dramatically the last four years (2008-2012). From 1985–2008, the rate of unemployment was between 25%–35% and was steadily higher than the EU19 average (OECD, 2009, p.12). However, in 2012 the unemployment
Promoting resilience in times of social and economical crisis: A critical agenda for lifelong learning
In the midst of serious youth unemployment in many parts of Europe, it feels reasonable to ask how can lifelong learning policies and practices best equip youth to thrive in the 21st century? While recognizing the complexity and multi-dimensionality of this question, in my editorial, I propose resilience as a pivotal lifelong learning agenda.
Reflecting design learning in collaborative development – towards integrative teaching practices in Finnish teacher education
research. How does one define the concept of design learning in education? And what kinds of teaching and learning activities form the basis for an integrative learning process?
Mainstreaming innovation in Europe- Findings on employee innovation and workplace learning from Belgium
Innovation mainstreaming refers to the inclusion of employees in the innovation process. This article asks how “mainstream” innovation is in Belgian firms. Innovation seems to be an elite driven process although workplace learning would be a strong lever for employee innovation. The EU is striving for an “Innovative Union”. Various case studies already hinted that
Public sector innovation: value creation or value loss?
This paper explores the value dimension of public innovation in the light of practitioners’ values and asks why there seems to be a clash between innovation imperatives and workplace practices in the public sector. The paper contributes to the research on public innovation from a practice perspective by providing evidence from an ethnographic field study
Creative and innovative competence as a task for adult education
This article was originally published in Elm's predecessor media, LLinE. Innovation is recognized as a key factor in economic competitiveness. Adult education is confronted with demands that it should foster creativity. But can these skills be developed through education? The knowledge about this is limited because the field has been dominated by easy conceptualisations and
How do we learn in learning laboratories? In pursuit of the optimal learning arena
This article was originally published in Elm's predecessor media, LLinE. Steen Høyrup investigates learning labs as learning arenas supporting empowerment of employees and innovative learning. Labs facilitate transformational learning to a high degree, but cannot create all the learning conditions necessary to foster transformational learning. The present article investigates learning labs constructed and used as
Closing the gap between evidence-based and common practice -Workplace innovation and public policy in Europe
The Lisbon strategy largely ignored the workplace. Europe 2020 risks doing the same. At the same time, the launching of a EU-wide Workplace Innovation Network is promising. This article approaches workplace innovation from a European policy viewpoint, documenting the current innovation policy environment member states have to build upon. The authors also draw lessons for
