Title: Work integration social enterprises as promoters of knowledge and workplace learning: three cases in the waste collection sector

Authors: Davinia Palomares-Montero; María José Chisvert-Tarazona; Alicia Ros-Garrido

Addresses: Department of Teaching and Scholastic Organization, Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, University of Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 30. 46010, Valencia, Spain ' Department of Teaching and Scholastic Organization, Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, University of Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 30. 46010, Valencia, Spain ' Department of Teaching and Scholastic Organization, Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, University of Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 30. 46010, Valencia, Spain

Abstract: This study explores what kind of learning, explicit and/or tacit, facilitates work integration social enterprises (WISEs), in the waste collection sector, for people in vulnerable situations. A longitudinal study based on learning trajectories was conducted from 2015-2018. We present the results for three WISEs in which 14 integration workers were observed in real work situations over a total of 31 working days. Additionally, we conducted 78 semi-structured interviews of integration workers and their pedagogical referents. We analyse what WISEs teach to facilitate workers' social inclusion and what the integration workers learn in the workplace before moving to the ordinary labour market. We conclude that deliberative knowledge plays a larger role regarding socio-labour and personal learning when WISEs prioritise their pedagogical accompaniment. However, technical learning appears linked to tacit and reactive knowledge related to work performance. The results are evident in WISEs where the personal itinerary is defined from the beginning.

Keywords: work integration social enterprise; WISE; workplace learning; explicit knowledge; tacit knowledge; learning trajectories; social inclusion; third sector; non-profit organisations; pedagogical accompaniment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKL.2022.123962

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, 2022 Vol.15 No.3, pp.274 - 291

Accepted: 15 Jan 2022
Published online: 05 Jul 2022 *

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