1. Dr. Max Mustermann Referat Kommunikation & Marketing Verwaltung Birgit Luger, Sebastian Anselmann and Regina H. Mulder Institute for Educational Science University of Regensburg Contact: birgit.luger@uni-r.de Informal learning activities of older trainers at work

2. Background and Research questions Demographic development  Population ageing  Growing demand for qualified workers  Participation in formal training decreases with increasing age  Demand for lifelong learning Research questions (1)What learning activities are carried out by older trainers? (2) What are the differences in the answers concerning learning activities of older and younger trainers?

3. Older trainers -Chronological age (Kooij et al., 2008) -Health, motivation, work experience -People in their second half of working life (OECD, 2006) -till 39, younger trainers -between 40 and 44 medium group -over 45, older trainers

4. Theoretical Background: Informal learning Four components of informal learning (Mulder, Harteis &Gruber, 2009) 1.Intention, deliberative or reactive 2.Type, cognitive or physical 3.Setting, individual or social learning 4.Context of learning Learning activities are carried out to solve a cognitive conflict (Piaget, 1965), cognitive processes or observable behavior.

5. Definition of informal learning (at work) Informal learning is a process, that can be deliberate, reactive or implicit, that leads to competencies (and not to formal qualifications). It happens individually or socially, outside organized learning settings. It is influenced by individual characteristics and characteristics of the context (job and organization).

6. Instrument Semi-structured interviews 1.Context: Questions concerning their workplace 2. Learning activities: “Please imagine that a client shows up after he joined your training/ workshop/ course. He criticizes the content and structure of the course” “How would you act?” “Why did you act that way?” 3.Individual factors: Questions concerning career, future development, age

7. Sample -22 trainer -Younger (N=10) and older (N=12) trainers -In-company (N=11) and freelanced (N=11) trainers -12 of them female, 10 male Data collection - Transcription of the recorded interviews - Length: between 19.01 and 93.37 minutes - Qualitative content analysis - Category system as basis

8. Category system ReactiveDeliberative IndividualSocialIndividualSocial Cognitive Activity is not observable, spontaneous and carried out without social interaction Activity is not observable, spontaneous and carried out with social interaction Activity is not observable, planned, carried out without social interaction Activity is not observable, planned, carried out with social interaction Physical Activity is observable, spontaneous and carried out without social interaction Activity is observable, spontaneous and carried out with social interaction Activity is observable, planned, carried out without social interaction Activity is observable, planned, carried out with social interaction

9. Analyses 1.Reported answer: “…well one can say that you get more perspectives then and that one can compare the perspectives afterwards and what is important of course to come to a common opinion within the group”. 2. Paraphrase: “asking colleagues to get to a socially shared opinion”. 3. Cluster: “Asking colleagues and supervisors”.

10. Results: Cognitive learning activities of older trainers (N=12) Category Learning activities (paraphrases)Quotes Cognitive, deliberative, individual Reflecting about critical situations or problems. (10) Reflecting about possible solutions. (8) Reflecting about information or prior knowledge. (2) Reflecting about own acting or own possibilities. (2) Reflecting about involved persons. (2) “And then I think about strategies how to argue in the discussion.” “I reflect about it first, reflect where the problem comes from.” Cognitive, deliberative, social Reflecting about persons who can contribute to the solution. (2) “I thought of colleagues who told me about the way they handled it.” Cognitive, reactive, individual Direct insight related to the situation. (1)“During the conversation I realized I couldn’t deal with the way of the leadership.” Cognitive, reactive, social --

11. Results: Physical learning activities of older trainers (N=12) Category Learning activities (paraphrases)Quotes Physical, deliberative, individual Research on the critical situation. (6) Give feedback to the criticizing person. (5) Arrange a meeting with the criticizing person. (2) “And then I bought the book and I taught myself how to run this program. If this won`t work I invite the person to a personal meeting to discuss all the circumstances.” Physical, deliberative, social Discussion with colleagues and supervisors. (12) Discussion with external person (expert). (8) Search for solutions with colleagues and supervisors. (3) “Well, of course I ask my colleagues, there are always different points of view to discover.” Physical, reactive, individual Direct discussion with the criticizing person. (30) Direct solving of the problem. (6) Direct obtain of information. (1) “I talk directly to the person who is in charge for this and tell him, that this won`t work.” Physical, reactive, social Directly talking to colleagues and supervisors. (3) Directly talking with all involved persons. (1) “But we have to tell the boys immediately that their behavior wasn`t acceptable and will automatically lead to serious consequences.” “I go to my supervisor and we discuss the problem and its features.”

12. Learning activities of older trainers Summarizing  23 different learning activities were reported  7 different cognitive and 16 different physical learning activities  not mentioned: cognitive, reactive, social activity  hardly mentioned: cognitive, reactive, individual activities  Focus of answers directly on critical situation and possible solutions

13. #Older (N=12) Medium Group (N=4) Younger (N=6) 1Direct discussion with the criticizing person. (30) Direct discussion with the criticizing person. (7) Discussion with colleagues and supervisors. (20) 2Discussion with colleagues and supervisors. (12) Feedback to the criticizing person. (6) Search for a solution with colleagues and supervisors. (6) 3Reflecting about critical situation / problem. (10) Direct solving of the problem. (3) Reflecting about critical situation / problem. (5) 4Reflecting about solution strategies. (8) Search for a solution with colleagues and supervisors. (3) Reflecting about solution strategies. (5) 5Search for information concerning the critical situation. (6) Reflecting about solution strategies. (2) Discussion with all the involved persons. (5) Results: Age differences in reported activities

14. Differences in the answers of older and younger trainers Older trainers Talking to the criticizing person, directly initiate a solution Younger trainers: Discussing with others (colleagues or supervisors) Quotes (younger trainer): “Therefore I meet with my supervisor, in order to get feedback from her. She told me, that I would be able to manage the upcoming tasks. So she supported me that way” “After that one would discuss the situation in the team, so one could see how colleagues think about it.”

15. Reasons for reported activities Older trainers -Former experiences with similar situations -Authority -Knowledge about their own abilities Examples: “Now, I can assess a situation quite well. I know what to do to be successful.” “Ähm, I have to be the authority at my workplace.” Younger trainers -Need to communicate and share their decisions with colleagues and supervisors -Feel insecure -Rely on experience of authorities Examples: “Usually it is a little bit of insecurity. This will be clarified by my supervisor.” “Then I rely on the opinion of my supervisor to see what`s possible.”

16. Implications and further research  Differences in reported activities and different reasons for activities: Support of learning at work should be different  Important factors for older trainers: experience, self-efficacy  Results of this study as basis for development of questionnaire and to generate hypotheses

17. Thank you for listening! Contact: birgit.luger@uni-r.de

18. Sample MaleFemaleN YoungOldYoungOld In-company-trainers232411 Freelancer234211 Total466622

19. Cognitive ActivityPhysical Activity Reactive Intention Individual Setting Direct thinking of differences in between the participating persons. (1) Direct thinking of critical situations. (2) Direct insight related to the situation. (1) Direct discussion with the criticizing person. (40) Direct solving of the problem. (9) Direct obtain of information. (3) Direct articulation of possible solutions. (4) Social Setting Direct thinking of colleagues who experienced comparable situation. (1) Directly talking to colleagues and supervisors. (7) Directly talking with all involved persons. (3) Searching for solutions with all involved persons. (1) Deliberative Intention Individual Setting Reflecting about critical situations or problems. (12) Reflecting about possible solutions. (21) Reflecting about information or prior knowledge. (7) Reflecting about own acting or own possibilities. (3) Reflecting about involved persons. (2) Research on the critical situation. (18) Arrange a meeting with the criticizing person. (3) Give feedback to the criticizing person. (14) Design a databank or draw notes. (5) Social Setting Reflecting discussions with colleagues about possible solutions. (1) Reflecting if a discussion would be useful. (1) Reflecting about persons who can contribute to the solution. (3) Discussion with colleagues and supervisors. (40) Discussion with participants of the training. (4) Discussion with external person. (8) Search for solutions with colleagues and supervisors. (12) Search for solutions with participants of the training. (4) Cluster of reported learning activities of older and younger trainers (N=22)

20. Frequencies - cognitive (58) and physical activities (181) - reactive (77) and deliberative activities (162) - individual (152) and social (87) activities Cognitive activities “ reflecting about possible solutions” (21), reflecting about critical situations or problems” (12) and “reflecting about information or prior knowledge” (7) Physical activities “direct discussion with the criticizing person” (40), “discussion with colleagues and supervisors” (40) and “research on the critical situation” (18).