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The aim of this report is to assist with the development and implementation of effective mentoring for workplaces. Its conclusions are drawn from an investigation of the use of guided learning strategies on five workplaces over a six month period, during which period some key principles and practices, which should assist in making workplaces effective learning environments, were identified. The research methodology is described and findings offered. Show less

This paper proposes bases for conceptualising a workplace pedagogy. Its central elements include three levels of guided participation at work comprising: everyday participation at work; guided learning for work; and guided learning for transfer. Together, these levels of guidance and the sequenced access to workplace activities represent the superstructure of this pedagogy. However, its foundations are located in the access to activities and guidance the workplace affords. The prospects for learning through guided participation are formed by the support and sponsorship afforded by the workplace, and how workers decide to engage with the workplace. Consequently, the bases of a workplace pedagogy cannot be restricted to the intentional and unintended experiences that learners are afforded through guided learning. It also needs to account for how workplaces invite access to activities and guidance, and also how individuals participate in activities and engage with the guidance that workplaces afford. Together, these bases for learning through work edge us closer to a comprehensive workplace pedagogy.

Published abstract.

The volumes of collected papers are indexed at TD/TNC 64.287, and individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 64.288 to TD/TNC 64.354. Show less

This publication contains the transcripts of interviews conducted as part of the project, which was funded by the Training Initiatives Branch of the Office of Vocational Education Training and Employment Commission (VETEC), Queensland. The project was an evaluation of three modes of vocational skill development currently being used in Queensland. These modes are: the Formal pre-employment; Integrated; and On-the-job modes. The project provided some broad guidelines for use in the design, implementation and evaluation of these modes of skill acquisition. See also the project report at TD/TNC 46.21. Show less

This paper reports a study which investigated the use of three instructional strategies used to secure the development of conceptual knowledge in the workplace. Previous research had concluded that everyday participation in work practice provides opportunities for individuals to access and secure vocational knowledge and procedural knowledge whereas the development of some forms of conceptual knowledge (understanding) was consistently reported as being limited. The strategies described were trialled in small hospitality settings. Show less

This chapter critically discusses guided learning processes and outcomes within the context of vocational education and training (VET). The author suggests that vocational practice is socially constructed, thus VET should incorporate social learning methods. Guidance introduces a learner to knowledge that may be otherwise inaccessible. The author outlines implications for curriculum development by considering curriculum goals and participatory practices. Implications for teaching and learning are outlined with the aid of a case study in which guided learning is used by an experienced worker to introduce a new employee to the practices of the workplace. The complete volume is indexed at TD/TNC 77.461; individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 77.462 to TD/TNC 77.472. Show less

This paper proposes a basis to understand the learning of working knowledge through work practice referred to as co-participation at work, comprising reciprocity between the affordance of workplace activities and guidance, and how workers elect to engage with work practice. The contributions workplaces afford workers learning are through the structuring of learner’s access to workplace activities and guidance. The invitational qualities of the workplace determine the kinds of goal-directed activities that are provided in which to learn (to know), the distribution of access and support for participation at work. Individuals’ engagement in work activities influences the construction and reinforcement of their working knowledge as they draw upon and transform their ways of knowing about work through their participation. Recent accounts of relations between mind and social practice have strengthened the concept of interdependencies among doing, knowing and learning, and social practice. Other accounts acknowledge the complexity and problematic nature of these relations. The engagement in work and what is learnt are shaped at the intersection between the evolving practice of the workplace and individuals’ ways of knowing which are founded in their ontogenies. Work practice is constituted through historical, cultural and situational lines of development. Moreover, as workplaces are contested individuals’ participation and knowing is shaped by the particular kinds of affordances extended to each worker. Within workpractices, categories of activities and interdependence have been identified and used to identify social practice in terms of: (i) what will be learnt through participation; and (ii) how workplaces afford and distribute opportunities to participate.

Entries containing the full list of the papers from this conference may be found from TD/TNC 67.61 to TD/TNC 67.64. Entries for individual papers may be found from TD/TNC 67.65 to TD/TNC 67.100 and from TD/TNC 67.501 to TD/TNC 67.541. Show less

This paper draws on a series of studies of workplace learning experiences to identify and illuminate a set of reciprocal participatory practices that constitute bases for workplace pedagogic practices. These practices are, on the one hand, how workplaces afford opportunities for individuals to participate in the workplace activities and interactions from which they initially learn, refine and extend what they have learnt. These affordances distribute the opportunities for what and in what ways individuals are invited to learn in the workplace. On the other hand, is the degree by which individuals elect to engage in the workplace and learn. Underpinning this engagement are bases of identity, self and subjectivity, that shape participation in and learning from social practices such as workplaces. These reciprocal premises are explored and elaborated drawing on data from studies of learning in contemporary workplaces. In particular, an investigation of three workers over a period of six months is used to illustrate and illuminate these reciprocal practices.

Selected papers from this conference are indexed from TD/TNC 77.35 to TD/TNC 77.50 and from TD/TNC 77.215 to TD/TNC 77.218. Show less

This paper suggests that research into learning processes in informal or natural settings should become a priority for higher education in Australia, and that learning processes based in the workplace may provide the most likely opportunity for the development of vocational expertise. It is asserted that the utility of research into workplace learning provisions is premised upon two quite distinct rationales. Firstly, workplace learning provides an opportunity for access to skill development which meets the needs of both employers and employees; secondly, recent research into sited-cognition and authentic activities, as part of a developing body of research into learning, stresses the value of knowledge derived through social interaction in specific domains as a basis for the development of robust and transferable knowledge. Further research is required to link this work with industry training. The paper concludes by suggesting areas of research that will be needed to explore the potential of the workplace as a learning setting. Show less

Recently the meaning of lifelong learning has been transformed by economic imperatives from a focus on securing personal development to individuals’ maintenance of their vocational practice throughout their working lives. This paper proposes an account of learning at work as a component of individuals’ development across their lifespan. It argues that learning throughout working life is an inevitable product of everyday thinking and acting, shaped by the work practices in which individuals participate. However, the quality of learning is contingent on the kinds of activities individuals engage in and the guidance they can access. These contributions are referred to as the activities and interdependencies afforded by the workplace. Continuities and discontinuities in development through working life can be understood in part by patterns of participation in these social practices. Yet there is tension between individuals’ interest in participation and the affordance of the work practices in which they act. It is proposed that, although able to regulate their participation, ultimately individuals’ ability to maintain their vocational practice is constrained by the way workplaces afford opportunities for engagement and interactions.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

In this paper, the author examines factors that affect the process of learning in workplaces. The focus is on how workplaces provide opportunities for learning and how individuals choose to take part in learning activities and with support and guidance supplied by the workplace. These dual bases for participation at work (co-participation), and the relations between them, are key to understanding the kinds of learning that workplaces are able to provide. Consequently, the disposition of the workplace to provide opportunities for employees to take part in work activities and reap the benefits of both direct and indirect support, are key determinants of the quality of learning in workplaces. These workplace opportunities are important to the learning outcomes of both structured workplace learning arrangements such as mentoring, and the learning accessed through daily participation at work.

The volumes of collected papers are indexed from TD/TNC 69.351 to TD/TNC 69.353. Individual papers are indexed from TD/TNC 69.354 to TD/TNC 69.445. Show less