Review
Perspectives into learning at the workplace

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Abstract

The article presents a thematic review of the recent research on workplace learning. It is divided into two main sections. The first section asks what we know about learning at work, and states four propositions: (1) the nature of workplace learning is both different from and similar to school learning; (2) learning in the workplace can be described at different levels, ranging from the individual to the network and region; (3) workplace learning is both informal and formal; and (4) workplaces differ a lot in how they support learning. The second section focuses on workplace learning that is related to formal education. Different models of organising work experience for students and the challenges of creating partnerships between education and working life are described. It is concluded that the worlds of education and work are moving closer each other and that the integration of formal and informal learning is an essential prerequisite for developing the kinds of expertise needed in response to the changes taking place in working life.

Introduction

Traditionally the concept of ‘learning’ has been related to formal education, whereas its use in the context of work is a relatively new phenomenon. Interest in workplace learning has expanded since the beginning of the 1990s, and currently the research in this area is both wide-ranging and interdisciplinary. The reason for this expansion is the unprecedented rapid change in society and working life that has taken place during the past few decades. The rapid development of information and communications technology, the growing production of knowledge in the economy, increasing internationalization and globalization as well as changes in occupational structures and in the contents and organisation of work have challenged not only educational institutions but also work organisations to develop new ways of ensuring that the level of competence of the workforce meets these challenges. Thus, continuous learning has become important both for individuals operating in the learning society and for organizations competing in international markets.

Recent research on the outcomes of education, particularly at the tertiary level, has shown that there is a gap between the knowledge needed at work and the knowledge and skills produced through formal education. Eraut (2004a) classifies the types of knowledge which vocational and professional education programmes claim to provide as follows: (1) theoretical knowledge, (2) methodological knowledge, (3) practical skills and techniques, (4) generic skills and (5) general knowledge about the occupation in question. He states that although most of these types of knowledge are described as transferable, there is little evidence on the extent to which methodological knowledge, generic skills and general knowledge about an occupation are acquired by students and about the chances of theoretical knowledge and practical skills being subsequently transferred into the workplace. Empirical studies support Eraut's critical view. Two separate studies on university and polytechnic graduates with 2–10 years work experience produced surprisingly similar findings: both university and polytechnics graduates found their working life skills inadequate, and the majority of them stated that they had learnt the necessary skills at work, and not during their formal education (Stenström, 2006; Tynjälä, Slotte, Nieminen, Lonka, & Olkinuora, 2006). Later on in this paper I will show that the development of vocational and professional expertise requires the integration of different types of knowledge and interaction between theory and practice, and that the development of the workplace as a learning environment both for employees and students is important to ensure the continuous development of competence. This requires close collaboration and partnership between education and work.

At the end of the last decade Anna Sfard (1998) put forward two metaphors of learning to describe how the research community had understood the phenomenon of learning: The acquisition metaphor sees learning as a process of knowledge acquisition, while the participation metaphor emphasises that learning takes place by participating in the practices of social communities. Paavola, Lipponen, and Hakkarainen (2004) presented an additional metaphor of learning, knowledge creation. In this view, learning is seen as the creation of new knowledge. Learning is considered a social process, as in the participation view, but the aim of participation is not to socialise people into existing practices, but to develop new practices. In this way the knowledge creation metaphor integrates the cognitive and social aspect of learning.

Many scholars in the field of workplace learning have emphasised that the mainstream conceptualisations of learning which have been developed in the context of school learning are not transferable to the analysis of workplace learning. For example, Hager (2004) emphasises the need to develop workplace learning research from its own starting points. He distinguishes between what he calls the standard paradigm of learning and the emerging paradigm of learning. According to him, the standard paradigm is based on the following major assumptions: focus on mind, interiority and transparency. The first point, focus on mind, refers to understanding learning as an individual cognitive process through which mental structures are improved and accumulated. The second point, interiority, is related to the first one by separating mental life from the outside world. The most valuable form of learning is focused on thinking rather than action. The third key assumption of the standard paradigm, transparency of learning, implies measurable learning outcomes and the assumption that non-transparent learning producing tacit knowledge is somehow inferior. By contrast, the emerging paradigm characterises learning as action in the world. The change learning brings about takes place not only in the learner's mind but also in the learner's environment. Thus, the main outcome of learning is the creation of a new set of relations in an environment. On this view, learning is seen as inherently contextual (see also Hager, 2005). If we compare the metaphors of learning and the paradigms presented by Hager we can see that the acquisition metaphor matches Hager's depiction of the standard paradigm, while the participation and knowledge creation metaphors are compatible with the emerging paradigm. Hager points out that while the acquisition paradigm has decisively shaped educational systems, learning at work is difficult to fit into this standard way of conceptualising learning. In contrast, workplace learning, for the most part, belongs to other categories than intentional learning and the acquisition model (see, Hodkinson & Hodkinson, 2004). Therefore, the ideas contained in the emerging paradigm seem to offer a better approach to understanding and describing workplace learning. Indeed, the participation metaphor has frequently been used in recent research to illuminate the nature of learning at work (Billett, 2004; Collin, 2005; Fuller, Hodkinson, Hodkinson, & Unwin, 2005; Fuller & Unwin, 2003). Also, the increased use of the knowledge creation metaphor implies that learning is being seen more and more as an innovative rather than reproductive activity (cf. Jarvis, 1992). In particular, learning in the workplace can be often characterised as creating new modes of action, new practices, new procedures and new products.

In research, learning can be analysed on several levels. The learning of individuals is the traditional and most typical and everyday way of thinking about learning. However, in the workplace context individual learning is just one form of learning. In addition, we can speak about the learning of groups, the learning of communities, the learning of organisations, the learning of inter-organisational networks and even the learning of regions. As a consequence of the plurality and multilevel nature of learning, the research in the field has expanded from pedagogical and psychological studies to multidisciplinary research efforts involving fields such as adult, vocational and higher education, labour studies, organisational research, economics, management studies, economic geography and so on. Given this enormous spread of research it is not possible in a single article to cover the field completely. Instead, the aim of this paper is to give a general overview of current research on workplace learning.

When we talk about learning in the workplace we should not to make the mistake of assuming that the workplace is a unified environment for all learners. Instead, we should recognize that people's situations and organisational positions with respect to working and learning in the workplace differ. Workplaces in different fields have different working cultures and learners in the workplace come from different age groups, different educational and professional backgrounds and different positions in organizations. Furthermore, an important challenge for workplace learning is that, to a growing extent, workplaces provide a learning environment not only for their regular employees but also for students coming from institutions of vocational and higher education. Accordingly, this article is divided into two main sections: in the first section I survey workplace learning on the general level, concentrating on the characteristics of learning related to work activities in work communities and work organisations, while in the second section I focus on the kind of on-the-job learning that is related to formal education and examine the challenges facing work and school organisations in their joint efforts to produce and develop a competent workforce.

Section snippets

Section I: What do we know about learning at work?

In this section I present four main observations pertaining to workplace learning: (1) the nature of workplace learning is at the same time both different from and similar to school learning, (2) learning in the workplace can be described on different levels, (3) workplace learning is both informal and formal, and (4) workplaces differ widely in how they support learning. Each of these propositions will be elaborated and discussed in further detail.

Section II: On-the-job learning and formal education

In the previous section my focus was on workplace learning in general, on the questions of who learns at work, how learning takes place and how workplaces differ in providing learning opportunities. In the following section the focus is on a special kind of workplace learning, that is, learning related to apprenticeship and trainee programmes, work-related projects for students or other forms of practical workplace training as part of formal education and the gaining of qualifications.

Conclusions

In this paper I have examined the nature of workplace learning from different perspectives. First, I described the differences between learning at school and learning in the workplace, emphasising the informal, incidental, experiential, social, situated and practice-bound nature of the latter. I also gave consideration to the criticism that emphasising workplace learning as purely informal and incidental neglects the fact that many workplace practices are inherently pedagogical (see, e.g.

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