Freelance Adult Educator Professionalization in a State-led Institute - a Case Study of Professional Learning as Praxis

The Singapore Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) system, established in 2004 by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA), serves as the blueprint for the Continuing Education and Training (CET) sectors across industries. In the WSQ System, the ubiquitous deployment of freelance adult educators (FAEs) in the CET sectors as a primary resource in national workforce development demands that the professionalization of the FAEs be a priority. This study is set within the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL), a division of WDA, mandated to actualize this professionalization. The study employs an action research case study methodology and seeks to establish whether professional learning as praxis through action research can support the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of FAEs. To this end, it addresses three core aspects of the IAL’s initiative: (i) to understand the challenges encountered by the FAEs in utilising digital technology as part of their professional development; (ii) to understand the FAEs’ working culture within IAL; and (iii) to understand the impact of an educative relationship between the researcher, as a manager, and the FAEs engaged by IAL. In relation to these three aspects, the study finds that: (i) the FAEs acquired digital competency when it added value to their training competency; (ii) the FAEs did not readily engage in peer professional exchanges as part of a professional development initiative; and (iii) developing an educative relationship lent support that benefitted the IAL’s professional development initiative. Of equal importance, the study demonstrates that adopting an insiderresearcher position yields valuable and enlightening insights into the symbiotic relationship between practitioner research and management and the potential of management-led action research to enhance the formulation and implementation of organisational change for corporate improvement. The final chapters reflect on and explore such a potential from the positions of the freelancers and the practitioner researcher