1. Generating Knowhow in Later Life
Helen Kimberley, Bonnie Simons, Seuwandi Wickramasinghe
Brotherhood of St Laurence
Imagining Social Equity Conference
Melbourne Social Equity Institute
Melbourne 28 February and 1 March, 2014

2. Overview Aim and context of the study Understanding knowhow
Perceptions of later life
Research findings
What knowhow is valued?
Strategies for acquiring knowhow
Enablers of new knowhow
Generating knowhow

3. This study
An investigation of what knowhow is needed in later life and how such knowhow is generated.

4. The context Social, economic & technological change
Plethora of choice in a market economy
Individualisation of responsibility
Risk
New capabilities needed to live a life one has reason to value
Sen’s Capabilities Approach – Capabilities (opportunities or freedoms) for living a life one has reason to value
At any given moment a person has available a range of functionings, what they can be and do, which may be adequate or inadequate to their life situation right then
However they are likely to be insufficient to navigate the changes internal and external on their journey through later life
They need new capabilities to live a life they have reason to value

5. Understanding knowhow
Knowing that and knowing why are the cognitive aspects
Knowing how is often tacit or invisible
Acquiring knowhow may be intentional or incidental, conscious or unconscious
Tacit knowledge cannot be reduced to a specific set of rules
Only becomes visible when a person encounters a new situation – Burns
Schugurensky
Self-directed learning – intentional and conscious
Incidental learning – unintentional but may become conscious – no previous intention to learn but a realisation that learning has taken place
Socialisation (incidental learning) – unintentional, internalisation of values, attitudes, behaviours, skill etc that occur during everyday life - No a priori intention / no awareness of learning

6. Perceptions of Later Life
Physical limitations and health
Gradual transition
Changed responsibilities and new opportunities
Identity

7. What knowhow is valued? Practical and technical Health and wellbeing
Social and emotional wellbeing
Maintaining independence
Philosophical

8. Strategies for acquiring knowhow
Cumulative knowhow
Storytelling and information exchange
Self directed enquiry and structured learning

9. Enablers of new knowhow
Personal attributes
Social contacts
Access to information

10. Capabilities & knowhow
Basic capabilities
Personal attributes
Internal capabilities
Cumulative knowhow
External capabilities
Access to information/social contacts
Combined capabilities
interplay of internal and external capabilities
Nussbaum
Basic capabilities- (personal attributes) immutable capabilities a person is born with. This means a person’s potential, which may or may not be developed in later stages of life,
Internal capabilities- (cumulative knowhow) capabilities a person develops throughout life (e.g. a younger person will usually have a different capability set than an older person),
External capabilities- either freedoms or choices given, or constraints or limits imposed by a person’s social environment, and
Combined capabilities- the interplay of internal and external capabilities (or the lack of them).

11. Enabling capabilities
Older adults’ capabilities to generate knowhow depends on their external and combined capabilities
Opportunities for their development depends on the freedoms or choices given, or constraints or limits imposed, by their social environment

12. Accessing information
Direct access to information
Standard & traditional means such as media, publications, ‘old’ technologies, adult education
Access using ‘new’ technologies
Smart phones, tablets, computers, internet and other technologies to come
Eg skype – personal/telehealth

13. Information intermediaries
Older adults often lack technology skills
Facilitators and interpreters may be needed at the information interface who
Understand the need for information
Retrieve, filter, translate it in the context of the individual
Contribute to turning information into knowhow capabilities
Godfrey & Johnson 2008
Access can be improved by engaging older adults and their networks of friends, family, neighbours, carers, volunteers and social and community workers
Older adults gain help, information & advice from people in their support networks – and give information & advice to others
As mediators, people act at the information interface – understanding the need for information, retrieving, filtering and translating it in the context of the individual so they can gain meaning from it

14. Social contact Older adults are often socially isolated
Generation of knowhow demands social capital especially
Bonding capital
Bridging capital
Linking capital
Bonding capital – relations among family members, close friends, neighbours and other ‘closed’ networks
Bridging capital – connects people and assists access to resources and opportunities across networks – including information intermediaries
Linking capital – the capacity of individuals or groups to access economic, social and political institutions and services of their community
The measure of a just society is that opportunities are available for people to develop capabilities individually and communally

15. Generating knowhow Access to information
If the measure of a just and equitable society is the opportunities available to develop capabilities, essential to generating knowhow in later life are opportunities for
Access to information
Access to information intermediaries
Above all
Social capital

16. Thank you