A Model of Individual and Organisational Unlearning

Within the learning literature, both at an individual and an organisational level, there is increasing mention of the term unlearning as distinct from learning. It could be claimed that whilst not using the specific term, writers in the adult learning field have been using this concept for many years. This paper explores unlearning in terms of its relationship to the well known literature on adult learning and types of knowledge, how unlearning is reported to occur within these different levels of knowledge, and finally the link to the individual change and transition literature. This analysis and synthesis of the literature in the broad areas of adult learning, knowledge and change presents some clear indications for the required focus of future research, and provides an introductory model.