Overview

Education prepares people for productive working lives. This is one of education’s key social roles. The types of work available in society influence the type of education that is considered most suitable. This chapter describes three main ways of organising work that have emerged since the beginning of the modern, industrial era: ‘Fordism’, ‘post-Fordism’ and ‘productive diversity’. It examines the main dimensions of each of these forms of work: technology, management, workers’ education and skills, and markets and society.

Named after Henry Ford, inventor of production-line manufacture, ‘Fordism’ is a model of work in which the production process is divided into simple tasks, management is authoritarian and hierarchical, and uniform products are mass produced for mass consumption. For this kind of arrangement of work, didactic teaching is generally appropriate and sufficient.

The concept of ‘post-Fordism’ speaks to the gradual and uneven changes in the organisation of work in the later part of the 20th century, moving towards automation, multi-skilling, teamwork, horizontal communication and increased human interaction in the workplace. This form of work is, by and large, better served by authentic education.

The concept of ‘productive diversity’ signals changes currently taking place in the organisation of work in what is now widely known as the ‘knowledge economy’. These changes locate value in human skills, relationships, culture, knowledge and learning. People with different skills, life experiences and interests are likely to find themselves working together. When such organisations negotiate their internal differences well, they also relate more effectively with clienteles and networked associates, both locally and globally. Representing an optimistic view of the near future of work, people who are going to work in this kind of workplace are best served, we suggest, by transformative education.