Research Domain: Group Two - Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR)

Title of Project: Education as Research/Research as Education: Labour and Workplace Reorganizations 1993-1997

Start Date: April 1, 1997
Partner Co-Investigators: Dr. D'Arcy Martin (CEP), Jorge Garcia-Orgales (UFCW)
Student Researcher: Peter Sawchuk (OISE/UT)

This study is in the process of documenting informal learning, and the linkage between nonformal and informal learning processes around the issue of workplace reorganization amongst unionized workplaces in Ontario, Canada. The research has drawn on previously untapped archival sources with the Ontario Region of Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada as well as qualitative research (including personal interviews and focus group sessions) amongst engaged local labour leaders, union representatives, educators and researchers.

Specifically, our research informs the interaction between the interaction between union education programs, union-based research programs and worker informal learning practices by focussing on key union locals in which these processes can be adequately documented. The theoretical perspective of the project remains the same with its roots in the historical materialist educational traditions.

The research will make a direct and immediate contribution to future policy decisions regarding the use of education research and nonformal learning in the context of the ability of local unions to make use of these in terms of informal learning. In keeping with the team's grounded theory' approach, specific themes in keeping with the topic will continue to emerge and become more clear as the research proceeds.