Across the Australian Public Service, people are solving problems in ways that don’t always make it into formal training or organsiational memory. Much of what really drives capability remains local and tacit. As a result, valuable know-how regularly gets lost when people move roles or insitutational priorities shift.
In collaboration with the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG), The Practitioner-Led Learning project begins from a simple question: how can we take the rich practice-based expertise that already exists in the APS and make it easier to share and strengthen? Practitioner-led learning treats practitioners as active shapers of organisational capability development, where their experiences in what worked or didn’t are the foundations of a more adaptive approach to learning.
Working with senior leaders and frontline practitioners, we’re exploring how this learning currently happens, where it gets stuck, and the conditions that allow it to flourish. Together with our partners, we have designed a research project that will inform how the APSC can build a more connected and future-ready workforce.
This project builds on ANZSOG’s work to systematise PLL in the APS. Specifically, it aims to:
- Map current PLL practices and enablers/barriers;
- Examine transferable PLL models from other sectors;
- Provide scalable guidance for embedding PLL in APS systems and culture
Our approach aims to treat PLL not just as a pedagogical design challenge, but as a behavioural challenge, requiring attention to systems, norms, incentives, and attitudes.
