NOTE: This document is provided for historical purposes only.
Susan Moir, University of Massachusetts Lowel
MS. STOCK: Today, Susan will speak on the Construction Occupational Health Project's approaches to Ergonomics Awareness Training and the need for Popular Education methodologies in our effort to educate workers for ergonomic change. Susan.
MS. MOIR: I'm not going to talk about that. Thanks, Laura. Since I got here yesterday, I have had many conversations with people. I'm wearing this lovely presenter's button and people ask you what you're going to say, and I say, "Well, I'm going to speak on Popular Education." And people say to me, "What do you mean by Popular Education?" So I decided that's what I'd talk about, "What do we mean by Popular Education?" How many of you here either train and/or deliver training? Can I see a show of hands? That's most of you.
In about two minutes, you are either going to write for a minute or talk for a minute. Who would rather write? Say, aye. (Chorus of Ayes.)
MS. MOIR: Who would rather talk? (Chorus of Ayes.)
MS. MOIR: Okay. We're going to talk. Popular Education goes by many names. Some of these names, you may have heard, liberatory education, education for transformation, education for change, learner centered education. Nina Wallerstein and Merry Weinger in the special issue on training of the "American Journal of Industrial Medicine" from 1992, use the term "empowerment education." The goal of this type of education is critical thinking in order to make change.
Do not confuse these methods with what are generally called, participatory methods or the flipchart and marker methods to keep trainees interested and involved.
Popular Education often incorporates the use of flipcharts and markers, but it is greater than that. It is actually designed for learners to make change at work.
Do not confuse these methods with adult learning techniques which are again part of these methods. There is a great body of information out there on how adults learn, little of which has gotten to the health and safety community, and it is important for us to know about it. Some of the panelists have referred to one principle of adult learning theory. Adults learn better by doing than by listening.
Now, what's your favorite thing here today? Sitting and listening to us talk or doing the activities that people have suggested for you? Show of hands. Who would rather sit and listen to us talk? Okay. That's four. Who would rather actually be involved in the learning by participating? That's almost everybody. You are also workers. When we train workers, we must never forget we are workers. What we like, they will like.
Popular Education methods are based on adult learning technique. They're based on participatory technique, but they are much more than that. They are techniques that are designed to cause people to actually make change, fundamental changes in the working relationship, the power dynamics in the workplace. These methods assume that learning is not just the acquisition of facts and it is not just the interesting and entertaining acquisition of facts, but it is the ability to use knowledge to change our environment. If ergonomics is the movement, Popular Education may be the medium.
Now, because the other panelists have each demonstrated Popular Education technique for you, I will get to lecture on the Theory of Popular Education. Duh -- I won't do that. I'm going to show you a technique, and you're going to get to talk. Where is my training egg timer? Everyone has one of these I'm sure, the trainer's one minute egg timer. You all have these, right? Steve you don't have one?
MR. GUTMANN: Oh, sure.
MS. MOIR: But when I'm done, you could have mine. You can buy them for twenty-five cents at the Children's Museum, any Children's Museum. Okay. Here's what we're going to do. This is a technique that's called Think, List and we're going to call it Talk. I was going to use Think, List, Write, and I thought Kate was right. You've been sitting too long, and it's after lunch. So what I'd like you to do is you're going to end up talking to one or two people closest to you for about a minute while I set up and get ready to do something else. I have only 10 minutes, and I'm giving you one of them.
MS. MOIR: Here's what I'd you to do. Just for a second, close your eyes, and I want you to picture your workstation. I want you to picture the workstation that you most commonly work at, the place where you generally do most of your work. Visualize that for a second, up and down and back and forth.
MS. MOIR: Now, mentally, make a list of the things about that workstation that might injure you. Just go through it quickly and make a quick mental list. Okay. Now, what I'd like you to do is for one minute -- my magic one minute trainer's egg timer -- I'd like you to speak to someone near you, one or two people. You can do this in groups of two or three. And I would like you to tell each other how your workstation might cause you musculoskeletal injury.
The question is, describe to someone near you how your workstation might cause you musculoskeletal injury. Oops, you've got 45 seconds.
MS. MOIR: Okay. Time's up. What did we do? I'm going to have to hold this up, because I don't think you're going to be able to hear me.
The first thing you did from a Popular Education point of view, is you explored what's called the "generative theme". A generative theme, we talked about your workstations. We talked about injuries to your body. What is a generative theme? It gets at something that "generates" people. Something that gets people moving, thinking about the issues, wanting to learn. So that's the first thing you did by thinking about your body and your workstation.
Secondly, we began the process of analysis or critical thinking. You began to explore your workstation and how it would injure you. You began to do critical thinking.
Thirdly, you just touched the cusp of action. The first component to action is a social relationship with somebody who shares these generative themes with you. A social relationship and a collective experience is the first experience to action. Generative themes, critical thinking and action are three essential components to Popular Education.
These components of Popular Education are being used in ergonomics training by people all the country. I'm sure many of you are doing this. Basically, all over the country we're asking the same four questions.
First we ask, "What hurts?". And we're doing Risk Maps and Symptom Surveys. We're asking people what hurts in their bodies. How many of you were doing this? Raise your hands. A lot of you. We don't know each other. Have we ever met before? No, but we are asking the same question in our training. "What hurts?" This is a generative theme.
The next thing we're asking is "Why does it hurt?". We're looking at risk factors, and we're doing job analysis. And then we're saying, how can it be fixed? Those two questions, why does it hurt, and how can it be fixed?, lead to critical thinking and analysis skills.
And then we're asking, "why aren't you fixing it?". When asking that question, we're talking about power relationships at work and taking action.
People all over the country are doing ergonomics training based on these questions, in two hour units and in much longer units. For operating engineers, bus drivers, carpenters, vocational educational teachers, immigrant factory workers, nursing home workers, garment workers, office workers, hospital workers -- anybody want to add anybody? All over the country, people are doing this kind of training.
Now, what does it mean that a group of progressive women, (and it is mostly women who have developed this training), who have never met each other are doing the same training all over the country. Well, it's probably some linear relationship with feminism and the Viet Nam War.
But other than that, there is another more important reason why this is happening, a much more important reason. There is a history to this training method. These ideas came out of Brazil in the 1960's. Paulo Freire synthesized this method in Brazil drawing on adult learning theory that went on in other areas including the United States and Europe. Popular Education in Brazil was part of the liberation movement there. The method moved to Mexico. From Mexico, it came to the United States. Many of the trainers using Popular Education can trace the method back to the same four or five people from Mexico.
We all learned similar techniques. Who does Risk Maps? Have we ever met before? We have never met before, but we're all doing Risk Maps. We're all doing the same techniques and asking the same questions.
These techniques are essential to promoting change and reducing ergonomic problems at work. Ergonomics cannot be taught any other way. It cannot be taught any other way or it's not ergonomics training. Because the experts are the workers. The injuries are inside their bodies. They're not coming out of the ventilation system. The injuries are in their bodies. They know what we need to know. They have the potential for acting on ergonomics. We're providing training not only to reduce injury rates, but in order to build the base for an Ergonomics Standard. We must use these techniques, and we must not dabble in them.
And finally, I would like to say, these are methodologies. They are as scientific as epidemiology and industrial hygiene. I say to NIOSH, do you fund epidemiological studies that are conducted by people who have absorbed epidemiology as they've gone along through life? No, you don't. OSHA, do you accept sampling results from people who are using sampling methods that are 15 years, 20 years, 30 years out of date? No, you don't. Training is a science. It is a skill that must be learned. And we must do training that is soundly based in methodology, and we must do that at the ERC's and at the OSHA Training Institutes.
I'd like to say just one more thing. In this room from 5 to 7 tonight, a loose network of people who are doing this kind of training and have found each other in the last couple of months are going to come here to have an informal discussion and demonstration of some of these techniques. If you'd like to come by either to stay for the two hours or to put your name on the mailing, please come. We're going to be here from 5 to 7.
Thank you very much.
