Emerging conceptualisations on professional agency and learning

Abstract

This chapter provides an evaluative summary of the major contributions from the first section of this book, comprising conceptualisations on professional agency and work-related learning. The evaluation focuses on the differences, similarities, and strengths of the approaches and conceptualisations touched on. The focus is, first of all, on how the core meanings of agency and the agentic perspective are understood. Secondly, the approaches are addressed according to their view of how the contextual aspects of working life relate to agency. Thirdly, attention is given to the practical conclusions deriving from different understandings of agency. The present chapter thus elaborates how these understandings relate to work-related learning, and to the development of work practices. It further discusses the implications of the different conceptualisations of agency for future research, and for the development of agentic practices at work, with attention given also to life-long career construction. On the basis of the summary, the chapter seeks to identify the most important gaps in current knowledge. These will require research on agency in work-related learning, and on individual lifelong career construction.