Abstract:

The healthcare sector stands on the threshold of huge changes. Digitalization will demand new ways of providing healthcare services. Employees in healthcare need to learn and acquire new competence to be able to do their job and to contribute to the continuous development of the sector. The importance of work-integrated learning is confirmed as a utility for both individuals and organizations. Work-integrated learning is seen as situated implying that the learning outcome depends on the learning environment and the learning affordances available at the actual workplace. Affordances provided by the workplace have proved to be salient as a base for learning. The qualities of the affordances will shape a potential for learning through everyday activities as well as more intentional guided practices. When facilitating work-integrated learning both tacit knowledge, implicit and unconscious learning and learning environments more or less structured with learning in mind, may represent a challenge.

The requirements for work and demands for learning are in constant change. The aim of the study was to explore how employees can best learn and what factors influence how the employees’ elect to engage in learning at the workplace.

The methodological approach was qualitative and the findings originated through analysis of discussions in focus groups . A team of researchers jointly facilitated the discussions and the analysis of data from the focus groups. Managers and employees representing different municipalities and different departments of the healthcare services participated in the groups. The study is part of an ongoing longitudinal study conducted in public healthcare services in municipalities located on both sides of the southern border between Norway and Sweden.

The findings indicates that the employees need to make sense of the learning affordances to get motivated to engage in work-integrated learning. The employees acquire learning to be facilitated through different learning activities, analyzed in light of Sfards’ (1998) metaphors of acquisition and participation. Need for learning about the use of certain technologies are an example of the acquisition metaphor. The employees’ call for more general knowledge about innovation and collaboration with different stakeholders and interests will be related to the metaphor of participation.

Keywords:

Digitalization, Healthcare Services, Work-Integrated Learning, Workplace affordances, Employees' engagement, Acquisition Metaphor, Participation Metaphor.