The proposed paper is one of the outputs of a four-year project “Intergenerational Learning Across Social Environments” which focuses – apart from learning in communities and workplaces – also on intergenerational learning in school environment. The central starting point is the concept of intergenerational learning. The concept of intergenerational learning focuses on learning taking place through interactions between members of different generations. This feature brings about not only transfer of certain contents from one generation to another. Intergenerational learning is perceived rather as a bi-directional process (Ramon, Turini, 2008), whose importance is growing in the light of current demographic trends in society, the need to maintain intergenerational continuity in society as a whole as well as in the component parts of its structure (an increasing attention is being paid to intergenerational learning in the workplace (comp. e.g. Bell, Narz, 2007; Glass, 2007; Patterson, 2007; etc.)).

Interaction at the level of behaviour of the individual participants is always influenced by the situational framework within which it is taking place, in our case the school context as teachers’ work environment. Drawing on Verbiest (2011), learning interactions of teachers in this environment may be understood in terms of three indicators, namely embeddedness in formal structures (how learning processes are purposefully supported and evaluated by school management), number of teachers involved in learning relations, and quality – or depth – of these processes.  

Content-wise, the paper is a follow-up to our presentation “Intergenerational Learning in the School”, presented at the ECER conference in Porto in 2014. We then presented outputs of the first qualitative research stage (using the obserview method, i.e. a method combining interview and observation) in which we identified the protagonists of situations of intergenerational learning and their degrees of involvement, who was learning from whom in intergenerational contact, what intergenerational contact consisted of and what circumstances in the workplace are necessary for it to arise.

It is these results that the second, quantitative research phase – whose results will be presented in the proposed paper – is building on. Its objective is to verify and quantify the results of the above-described qualitative survey and characterize the phenomena identified as to frequency, intensity and evaluation by the protagonists. The research questions we are asking in the paper are the following:

1. What is the frequency of situations of intergenerational learning among teachers in schools under observation?
2. What is the intensity of processes of intergenerational learning among teachers in schools under observation?
3. What conditions for intergenerational learning have been set up and how do they hinder or support learning processes among teachers in schools under observation?

Bell, N., & Narz, M. (2007). Meeting the challenges of age diversity in the workplace. The CPA Journal, 77(2), 56–59. Bergman, M. M. (2008). Advances in mixed methods research. London: SAGE. Cherri, H.CH.Y. Intergenerational learning in Hong Kong: A narrative inquiry. [online]. University of Nottingham. 2008, 352 p. [last access 2011-15-11]. Available at: http://etheses.nottingham.ac.uk/486/1/Cherri_Ho_EdD_Thesis_2008.pdf Creswell, J. V., & Clark, V. P. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. London: SAGE. Glass, A. (2007). Understanding generational differences for competitive success. Industrial and Commercial Training, 39(2), 98–103. Illeris, K. (2007). How we learn: Learning and non-learning in school and beyond. New York: Routledge. Kersh, N., & Evans, K. (2007). Competence development and workplace learning in the UK and Ireland: An overview. In L. Chisholm, H. Fennes, R. Spannring & A. Rosenthal (Eds.), Competence development at workplace learning (pp. 127–145). Innsbruck: Innsbruck University Press. Mezirow, J. (1990). Fostering critical reflection in adulthood. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Novotný, P. (2009). Učení pro pracoviště. Prostor pro uplatnění konceptu workplace learning v českém prostředí. [Learning for workplace: Scope for the applying the concept of workplace learning in Czech context.] Brno: Masaryk University. Patterson, C. (2007). The impact of generational diversity in the workplace. The Diversity Factor, 15(3), 17–22. Rabušicová, M., Kamanová, L., Pevná, K. (2011). O mezigeneračním učení. [On intergenerational learning.] Brno: Masaryk University. Ramon, A. C., & Turrini, M. (2008). Grandparents and grandsons: Poetics of an intergenerational learning experience. Barcelona: eLearning Papers. Stankovic', D. (2009). Kolegiální vztahy a zapojení učitelů do rozvoje školy. [Collegial relations and teacher involvement in school development]. Studia Paedagogica, 14(1), 52–66. Tempest, S. (2003). Intergenerational learning: A reciprocal knowledge development process that challenges the language of learning. Management Learning, 34(2), 181–200. Verbiest, E. (2011). Developing professional learning communities. Paper presented at the AERA conference, New Orleans, USA.