From Overeducation to Underlearning: A Survey of Swedish Research on the Interplay between Education, Work and Learning

Policies of educational expansion are enhanced in most European countries. Little attention is, however, paid to skill utilisation at work, learning context and gender-related barriers at work. Oversupply and under-utilisation of skilled labour might create mismatch problems and frustration at the workplace. The aim of this article is to give an overview of Swedish research on the interplay between education, work and learning. The intention is also to bridge over the gap between education research and research with emphasis on learning, development and change at workplaces. Our focus in the paper is on competence supply to and within working life. Attention is also given to overeducation and underlearning and the classical question of balancing supply and demand. The paper illustrates how occupations, professions and job skill requirements change or are stable and also different obstacles and conditions for work place learning. (Contains 7 footnotes.)