Jun 8, 2026 · 38 min · 13 segments
According to Dr Tessa Forshaw, Faculty Director of the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Workforce Learning and Innovation Initiative, workplace learning has never been more important. It's also…
Tessa ForshawGuestRoss DickieHost
Matt MellaHostUm, according to the World Economic Forum, 59% of the global workforce is going to need retraining by end of the decade.
Um, you argue that workplace learning has never been more important, but that it's also at increased risk.
So I think, I mean, it's never been more important because if, you know, es- ostensibly like 6 in 10 people [laughs] need to completely retrain or, or reskill, um, uh, really within the next few years, then I think, uh, we need to have better structures and systems that can support them to do that.
So it's become, uh, more important purely from a sort of a demand perspective.
And I think from a social consequence perspective, if we don't support people to do this, the potential impact to them and their livelihoods is really, um, really significant.
... is silly because it sort of mis-equates like learning with content instead of, you know, learning as a neurobiological process, and content as being one possible way of, um, enacting or supporting that process.
And the second reason is because a lot of these tools that are being built, um, uh, a- and are trying to be, you know, deployed rapidly, are designed for speed and efficiency, and they're designed with that sort of content, um, piece in mind.
And as I'm sure you both know from having listened to, um, prior episodes, you know, learning takes effort.
Like, we are literally connecting, um, uh, existing neurons by digging deep meaningful grooves between them to strengthen the connections, and you can't do that by just like, you know, having a quick chat with an app or something.
[laughs] So, um, yeah, that's I think my c- my tension that I'm feeling right now.
Um, according to the World Economic Forum, 59% of the global workforce is going to need retraining by end of the decade.
Um, you argue that workplace learning has never been more important, but that it's also at increased risk.
So I think, I mean, it's never been more important because if, you know, es- ostensibly like 6 in 10 people [laughs] need to completely retrain or, or reskill, um, uh, really within the next few years, then I think, uh, we need to have better structures and systems that can support them to do that.
So it's become, uh, more important purely from a sort of a demand perspective.
And I think from a social consequence perspective, if we don't support people to do this, the potential impact to them and their livelihoods is really, um, really significant.
... is silly because it sort of mis-equates like learning with content instead of, you know, learning as a neurobiological process, and content as being one possible way of, um, enacting or supporting that process.
And the second reason is because a lot of these tools that are being built, um, uh, a- and are trying to be, you know, deployed rapidly, are designed for speed and efficiency, and they're designed with that sort of content, um, piece in mind.
And as I'm sure you both know from having listened to, um, prior episodes, you know, learning takes effort.
Like, we are literally connecting, um, uh, existing neurons by digging deep meaningful grooves between them to strengthen the connections, and you can't do that by just like, you know, having a quick chat with an app or something.
[laughs] So, um, yeah, that's I think my c- my tension that I'm feeling right now.
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