Holding and Opening, Cultivation, and the Play of the Work. An Interdisciplinary Inquiry Into Leading Adult Learning.

摘要

This interpretive research study was undertaken to open up a conversation about how people live in their work, particularly those who would describe the driving force behind their work as something about which they are passionate and find compelling. It focuses intentionally on the work of those who have a role in leading adult learning. The work of leading adult learning, as it is taken up in this study, relates to people gathering themselves and others around that about which they are passionate and find compelling and worthwhile. The notion of leading out into that which calls us to attention figures prominently in this research study. The idea that it is the nature of the work that makes a claim on us and beckons us to follow is significant as well.;Hermeneutic phenomenology is the philosophical tradition that informed the study's approach. It proved also an invaluable guide in the study of the experience of adult learning or learning as a way of leading and understanding. While the work of leading adult learning, as it was conceived of in this study, is not a clearly defined academic discipline, philosophical and theoretical ideas linked to work and associated with learning and leading were of interest in the interpretive process.;An exploration of the topic was achieved through an interpretive reading of the artifacts and interviews. Substantive offerings from the research were discussed as they relate to the practice or work of leading adult learning. An expanded interpretation of the work of leading adult learning emerged as the ideas of holding and opening, cultivation, and, the play of the work were established.;Five participants, from a range of work-related backgrounds including: health care, spiritual care, science, not-for-profit, the arts, business/corporate, and education were invited to talk about the meaning, appeal, significance, and complexity of their work. Their work-related affiliations extended across Canada and internationally. The initial invitation extended to participants was to create or select artifacts (e.g. talisman, image, poem, music, art, text, object, writing) that represented and spoke to the significance and meaning of their work.