Workplace Learning

This article explores the strengths and weaknesses of Lave and Wenger's concept of 'legitimate peripheral participation' as a means of understanding workplace learning. It draws on recent ESRC-funded research by the authors in contemporary workplace settings in the UK (manufacturing industry and secondary schools) to establish the extent to which Lave and Wenger's theories can adequately illuminate the nature and process of learning at work. The new research presented here, which was located in complex institutional settings, highlights the diverse nature of patterns and forms of participation. Case study evidence is used to identify individual and contextual factors which underpin and illuminate the ways in which employees learn. The paper argues that whilst Lave and Wenger's work continues to provide an important source of theoretical insight and inspiration for research in to learning at work, it has significant limitations. These limitations relate to the application of their perspective to contemporary workplaces in advanced industrial societies and to the institutional environments in which people work. These complex settings play a crucial role in the configuration of opportunities and barriers to learning that employees encounter.

Objective  To develop a model linking the processes and outcomes of workplace learning.

The use of competency frameworks as a basis for workplace learning initiatives is now relatively commonplace in organisations. This is reflected in the emphasis given to competencies in the HRD literature. However, the terrain of the competency discussion is somewhat ill‐defined. This article attempts to define the context within which the value of competencies as a basis for workplace learning can be considered and discusses the philosophical and epistemological perspectives found in much of the literature. Competency definition and competency measurement issues are explored, as is a range of other issues concerning the value of competencies in a workplace learning context. The article concludes that, in the interests of clarity, consistency and reliability of measurement, consensus needs to be reached on the basic parameters and definition of competency.

Abstract This article critiques some assumptions shaping the current discourse on workplace learning. It proposes that these assumptions restrict how workplace learning is conceptualised and discussed. Principally, describing workplace learning environments and experiences as ‘informal’ and that ‘informal learning’ occurs in workplaces constrains understanding about how learning occurs through work and, consequently, the development of a workplace pedagogy. As with educational institutions, in workplaces there are intentions for work practice, structured goal-directed activities that are central to organisational continuity, and interactions and judgements about performance that are also shaped to those ends. Therefore, describing learning through work as being ‘informal’ is incorrect. Instead, the structuring of workplace activities has dimensions associated with learning directed for the continuity of the practice, which also often has inherently pedagogical qualities. Moreover, the unqualified description of learning environments as being either ‘formal’ or ‘informal’ suggests a situational determinism. Instead, learning is proposed as being interdependent between the individual and the social practice. The core tension in this relationship is that between those needs for the continuity of the work practice and individuals' needs to realise their personal or vocational goals. It is proposed that considerations of learning, learning in workplaces and the development of a workplace pedagogy need conceptualising in terms of participatory practices.

This book is based on research that was carried out as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme's (TLRP's) Improving Incentives to Learning in the Workplace Research Network. This Network was made up of five projects, each with its own specific research focus, that explored concepts relevant to workplace learning, such as situated learning, communities of practice, apprenticeship as a model of learning, informal learning and tacit skills. The book is aimed at examining learning within the socioeconomic context of the workplace, focusing on its inherent tensions and unequal power relations. It is presented in three parts. 'Part I - the issues' contains: Workplace learning: perspectives and challenges / Karen Evans and Helen Rainbird (pp.3-23). 'Part II - the findings' contains: Expansive and restrictive learning environments / Alison Fuller and Lorna Unwin (pp.27-48); Applying the expansive-restrictive framework / Alison Fuller and Lorna Unwin (pp.49-67); Learner biographies, workplace practices, and learning / Karen Evans and Natasha Kersh (pp.68-94); How individuals influence workplace practices, and how work can change worker dispositions and identities / Phil Hodkinson and Heather Hodkinson (pp.95-115); Workplace learning: the direct and indirect impact of policy interventions / Helen Rainbird (pp.116-133); The direct and indirect impact of policy interventions: case studies from the research / Anne Munro and Peter Senker (pp.134-159). 'Part III - conclusions' contains: Improving workplace learning: an integrated approach / Phil Hodkinson and Helen Rainbird (pp.163-175).

This paper is set in the context where there is a policy emphasis on teacher learning and development in a number of countries as a means towards school improvement. It reports on a longitudinal research project about the workplace learning of English secondary school teachers, carried out between 2000 and 2003. This was part of a Teaching and Learning Research Programme network of projects looking at learning in a variety of workplaces. The paper contrasts some key features in the teacher development and workplace learning literatures, which highlight different understandings of learning—as acquisition, participation and/or construction. We argue that insights from the literature and the research, including insights from other projects in the network, enhance our understanding of teacher learning. The paper describes some of the main ways in which experienced teachers learn, and then identifies three dimensions which interact in influencing the nature of that learning. The dimensions are: the dispositions of the individual teacher; the practices and cultures of the subject departments; and the management and regulatory frameworks, at school and national policy levels. Based upon the findings, we argue that current policy approaches to teacher development in the UK are over‐focused on the acquisition of measurable learning outcomes, short‐term gains, and priorities that are external to the teachers. They also assume and strive for impossible and counterproductive universality of approach. Instead, our findings suggest that teacher learning is best improved through a strategy that increases learning opportunities, and enhances the likelihood that teaches will want to take up those opportunities. This can be done through the construction of more expansive learning environments for teachers. We examine briefly some barriers to this approach, and give some suggestions of what could be done.

Recent years have seen significantly increased interest in learning at the workplace as partial or full compensation for vocationally‐oriented education and training in schools and educational institutions. In this general enthusiasm, former scepticism about workplace learning would seem to be buried deep under layers of modern management slogans. However, the well‐known limitations inherent in this learning framework cannot be talked out of existence, and there is an urgent need for insight and tools capable of distinguishing between the genuine possibilities in the area and how to establish fruitful interaction between workplace learning and educational learning. It is, first and foremost, a matter of viewing learning from the perspective of the learner, because adults are not very inclined to learn something of which they cannot see the point on the basis of their own life situation. As a grounding for this, a contemporary and comprehensive learning theory is needed. The outline of such a theory and an example of how it can be used are presented.

This article about workplace learning examines the relationship between, firstly, individual learners positions and dispositions, and secondly, their working and learning within the workplace community and practices. Drawing on research with secondary school teachers, it presents case study accounts of two teachers from the same school to illustrate the significance of these relationships. In order to understand these relationships from a broadly participatory perspective, the article then presents a theoretical discussion, extending Lave and Wenger's work on communities of practice, through the use of Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and field. It concludes that such a combination offers a valuable means of understanding these relationships, in a wider social, economic and political context. It is necessary to offer an account of learning for work which acknowledges the independence of individuals acting within the interdependence of the social practice of work. (Billett, 2001, p. 22)

Purpose – This study aims to examine workplace learning and job satisfaction in small, commercial US banks.Design/methodology/approach – Survey data collection with correlational procedure.Findings – The study found a statistically significant relationship between the workplace learning variables and the job satisfaction variables.Research limitations/implications – Furthers the linkages between the opportunities for learning in the workplace with how satisfied employees are with their jobs. Also establishes the importance of informal and incidental learning, rather than formal learning.Practical implications – Emphasizes the need for managers to make learning opportunities available to enhance overall job satisfaction. In addition, helps place the need for expenditures on non‐formal learning, not just formal learning where all the money is usually spent.Originality/value – Few studies have looked at the role of workplace learning in small businesses. Very few have linked workplace learning to the things ...

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the presence of learning conditions for non‐formal and informal workplace learning in relation to the characteristics of the employee and the organisation he or she works for.Design/methodology/approach – The questionnaire developed by Clauwaert and Van Bree on learning conditions was administered to 1,162 employees of 31 different organisations. An explorative factor analysis was performed to reduce the number of variables and to look for underlying constructs in the data. Second, a series of analyses of variance were calculated in order to be able to compare the factors in different kinds of groups of employees.Findings – The authors concluded that for the five learning conditions that were identified in this research, different kinds of groups of employees have different chances for non‐formal and informal learning. These learning conditions are “feedback and knowledge acquisition”, “new learning approach and communication tools”, “being co...