Work as Enquiry

takes the position that enquiry is central to the whole work-learning enterprise – the Complex World. This strand invited examples of facilitated enquiry in professional, organisational and work-related settings and seeks to understand how these approaches might be used to enrich the higher education context.

Learning for a complex world requires us all to be able to evaluate our experiences in ill-defined situations, to undertake purposeful enquiries for routine sense-making and to inform professional judgements. Many organisations now say they place a higher value on individuals who can learn and respond to change than on successful graduates with evidence of good disciplinary knowledge. Established professionals appreciate the need to adopt an attitude of enquiry in relation to their practice – to continue learning. Knowledge and understanding of the world changes and we will always encounter new, challenging and complex problems.

Some questions that might help us explore work as enquiry

• How are different forms of enquiry facilitated in professional, organisational and work-related settings and (how) can these approaches translate to higher education contexts?
• How can higher education integrate the loosely specified experiences of contextualized, authentic enquiry with the defined structures of an outcomes-based curriculum?
• Can enquiry connect knowledge-based theories with complex workplace practices? What helps and what hinders these processes?