In order to pay due attention to all of these pedagogical aspects, we propose using the “conceptual lenses” of identity, agency and structure highlighted by Ecclestone, Biesta and Hughes (2010, p. 1; also Ecclestone 2009) and to further supplement them with Andreas Walther’s (2015) three modes of designing transitions in an analytical way: the discursive level, the institutional level and the individual level. Brought together as analytical categories, they can serve as a valuable tool for investigating transitions. Such an analytical instrument is also applicable in the context of international comparative research – pro-vided that the states involved share the theoretical background of the object of investigation.
Using the proposed approach to investigate specific aspects of the concept of (work) transitions provides researchers with the chance to “explore transitions in different ways, depending on the emphasis they place on each or all of the concepts” (Ecclestone 2009, p. 4). Figure 1 presents an overview of the relevant categories and the elements that could support researching work transitions for planning educational actions and implementing policies at different levels.
The matrix also represents an analytical tool that can be used for comparative studies.
2 Personal translation from Biasin 2012.
Fanny Hösel & Carlo Terzaroli 136
Figure 1: An analytical tool for analyzing work transitions (Source: authors’ own elaboration from Ecclestone 2009 and Walther 2015).3
Categories Perspective of design
IDENTITY Construction of identity
AGENCY
Capacity for action STRUCTURE Contextual factors
DISCURSIVE LEVEL (normative) Designation of social situations as transitions Point of view:
researchers
Transitions defined as the shift from one condition to another that could imply changes in personal and professional identity
Actions and requirements regarding the specific (normative) life roles and the
necessary capacity to act (social expectations)
Present transitions as a process of change within the social situation;
transition as a life chance and a chance to change one’s role or status (e.g., from school to work) in different contextual and historical factors INDIVIDUAL
LEVEL Biography work within the transition Point of view:
individuals
Identity as a projection of the individual into the future, focusing on being and becoming, to point out ways in which the self is represented and understood in dynamic, multidimensional and evolving ways
Self-portrait as
“active agents”
constructing, understanding and making sense of new experiences and challenges by drawing on various resources and actions at their disposal
Explicate structural factors (class, race, gender, economic and occupational conditions) for explaining individual action;
identifying different access points to economic, social and symbolic forms of capital
3 The figure represents a heuristic instrument for analytical research of transitions, based on two typologies of categories for the analysis of transitions. We, the authors, are att-empting to implement relevant categories (the main aspects of transitions that have to be considered) and levels of analysis that represent the perspective of educational research. In this sense, for the specific context of adult education, we are adding to the classifications developed by Ecclestone (2009) and Walther (2015) on the level of educational professionals, since the aim of the research field is to provide pedagogical actions to support transitions.
Work Transitions in Adulthood 137
Categories Perspective of design
IDENTITY Construction of identity
AGENCY
Capacity for action STRUCTURE Contextual factors
INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL
Point of view:
institutions and gatekeepers
In contrast with the individual level, it consists of the process of modelling identities through externally imposed models from school, family, the workplace and more in general institutions
Actions and programmes, at the macro- and meso-level, to support (but also to structure and limit) adults facing work transitions and passing from one stage to another
Identify key social divisions that frame possibilities and restrict social mobility throughout organizations. This process is regulated and controlled by institutional gatekeepers.
PROFESSIONAL LEVEL
Support for successful transitions Point of view:
professionals in adult education
Supportive reflections of self-being,
supportive reconstructions of identity,
supportive activities to resolve the difficult tension between individual and social identity
Educational actions developed at the workplace or in other contexts through formal, non-formal or innon-formal learning processes to exercise autonomy
Understanding the global challenges of the world of work, the needs of workers facing transitions and their opportunities for new development within the labour market
After describing the categories in general, the process should proceed to collect-ing data and classifycollect-ing them with the analytical tool, in order to provide a broad insight into different dimensions of transitions and into factors to be analyzed for educational actions and policy making. This approach makes it possible to compare the results of different countries in a second step.
The first three concepts are to be understood as objects of research, classified according to research interests (horizontal). The modes of design (vertical) clarify the point of (research) view, which means that the results refer to different levels.
If you are interested in “structure” (the contextual factors), for example, you can draw data from narratives of the individual level by asking individuals for sub-jective experiences with structural factors that influence their transitions. The possibilities vary by level: you can discuss structural factors in a theoretical and normative way (discursive level), analyze the gatekeepers (institutional level) or examine the professional perspective (professional level).
Fanny Hösel & Carlo Terzaroli 138
Identity
Identity “can be defined as the ways in which the self is represented and un-derstood in dynamic, multi-dimensional and evolving ways”. (Ecclestone 2009, p. 4) In this perspective, transitions are processes of subjective transformation in which the subjects change their situations. To analyze identity within transition, it is necessary to know something about the structure of identity: “[i]dentity is […]
constructed through complex interactions between different forms of capital (cul-tural, social, economic and emotional), broader social and economic conditions, interactions and relationships in various contexts, and cognitive and psychological strategies” (Eccelstone et al. 2010, p. 9).
Agency
Another important aspect of the individual approach to transitions concerns the role of agency, which is defined as “people’s capacity to interact with others and with material conditions in order to shape their own destinies, both individually and collectively” (Ecclestone 2009, p. 5). Agency focuses on the choices and actions an individual takes that are related to personal, social and working circumstances.
In this view, agency outlines “the choices and actions [people] take within the op-portunities and constraints of history and social circumstances” (Elder 1998, p. 4).
Walther’s (2015, p. 47) individual level describes a similar concept, referring to how the subject copes and deals with transitions, including his or her strategies of management. In this perspective, the result of “doing transition” (in a normative view) is of less interest. It is much more important to look for the motivation in terms of biographical capacity to act. With this in mind, we can talk about biog-raphy work during the transition. It is therefore understandable that the manage-ment of transitions is strictly linked to potential learning processes, such as the development of required skills and the integration of role requirements into the subject’s self-conception.
Structure
Together with the concept of agency mentioned, it is the category of structure that has built the framing concepts of modern sociology as part of the so-called structure-agency debate (Ecclestone et al. 2010, p. 11; Raithelhuber 2013, p. 101).
It is generally agreed that all agency is affected by structural factors like class, race, gender and economic and occupational factors. Moreover, the aspect of structure must also be taken into account (see Figure 1); indeed, labour market character-istics play a relevant role in influencing work transitions and career development.
Work Transitions in Adulthood 139
That is why “many researchers argue that it is not possible to understand agency and identity without an account of how they are shaped, constrained and some-times determined by the material conditions and normative expectations of dif-ferent structural factors” (Ecclestone 2009, p. 6).
Institutional regulation and the gatekeepers’ level
This category concerns the institutions and how they regulate transitions. In con-trast to the category of structure, which primarily describes the framing circum-stances, this level stresses the importance of gatekeepers’ regulatory measures.
Such regulations consist of legal, organizational or ritualized conditions that have to be fulfilled and are controlled by gatekeepers (Behrens and Rabe-Kleberg 2000).
In the formal sphere, gatekeepers can be found in companies’ human resources departments as well as in the educational and social sectors. But there are also informal actors, maybe with differing resources and intentions, such as parents and peers (Behrens and Rabe-Kleberg 2000).
Discursive level
The discursive level broaches the issue of transitions, which means the identifica-tion and the problematizaidentifica-tion of social situaidentifica-tions as transiidentifica-tions (Walther 2015). In such a discursive way, transitions are addressed as a change of state, role or status by ordering them into a chronological sequence and marking them as biographi-cally significant and far-reaching. The concept of status passage approaches the intended meaning.
Professionals in the adult education level
According to these elements, the analysis could focus on the level of profession-als in adult education, with the aim of providing an in-depth study of transi-tions for implementing educational actransi-tions for supporting work transitransi-tions (see Paragraph 2). In this sense, professionals should take into account all complex dimensions and factors, presented above, that could influence and undermine adults’ transitions in their career pathways. This complex analysis reveals the interrelation of multiple elements that characterize adults facing transitions; in fact, the analytical tool reveals different aspects of identity, agency and structure at different levels for the implementation of educational actions (at the micro-level) and of policies and strategies (at the meso- and macro-levels). Therefore, the point of view of professionals in adult education, which aims at produc-ing support and transformation for adults facproduc-ing transitions, should take into
Fanny Hösel & Carlo Terzaroli 140
account the composite framework (and different points of view) that can be identified for those facing changes in their work careers.
Conclusions
Societal transformations at the mega- and macro-levels directly affect the lives of individuals, transforming their life paths and work conditions and forcing them to face multiple transitions during their lives. Moreover, the transformations of the economy and the labour market – whether they consist of increased flexibility, instable contracts or changes in the method of production – also impact adults’
career pathways. In this perspective, the research in adult education aims not just at analyzing factors that characterize adults’ work transitions, but at planning, implementing and providing supportive educational actions to bolster adults in those phases and prevent critical situations. In this sense, the analysis of transitions reveals different dimensions and levels in which the adult is involved. Any action (whether at the individual level or at the policy level) should consider many as-pects of the phenomenon, to accompany and direct adults during work transitions, focusing on their identity and agency and also taking into account the structural factors in play; in fact, “it is only possible to understand transitions through a focus an agency and identity together with an account of how these are shaped, constrained and sometimes determined by the material conditions and normative expectations of different structural factors” (Ecclestone et al. 2010, p. 12).
Utilizing these various considerations, this paper has presented arguments and methodological instruments for a deep and comprehensive analysis of work tran-sitions for designing and implementing policies at the institutional level through international comparison. Comparative studies of work transitions (among coun-tries or regions, or between other types and levels of institutions) should consider more than a simple juxtaposition of specific measures, for while such a juxtapo-sition may serve as a good analytical exercise, we believe that it cannot reveal the broad and complex dimensions of personal, social and societal aspects that strongly influence an adult facing a work transition. Instead, the analysis should be capable of studying different dimensions and gathering data to create a broad framework of what individuals are facing, establishing both the implications for their lives and the context in which the change is taking place.
Our work has therefore tried to focus on this methodological issue to provide an analytical tool for academic research on work transitions. Since our final aim as researchers and professionals in adult learning and education is to develop educa-tional actions that bolster adults’ passage from one stage to another, we hope that our work can deepen our field’s understanding of this level of analysis. Analyzing
Work Transitions in Adulthood 141
the impact of different aspects and levels in adults’ (work) transitions could prove especially useful for professionals in adult learning and education, helping them to implement educational, supportive actions that always take account of the complexity of society, work and career pathways and the impact of those factors on adults that are “navigating difficult waters” (Cedefop 2014) of transitions.
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