Workplace pedagogic practices : Participation and learning

This paper advances conceptual tentative bases for understanding workplace pedagogic practices. It proposes that whether arising through everyday work activities or guided learning in workplaces, learning is shaped by workplace participatory practices. This learning is held to be co-participative: the reciprocal process of how the workplace affords participation and therefore learning, and how individuals elect to engage with the work practice (Billett 2001b). In order to make a space to understand workplaces as learning environments it is necessary for them to be discussed and conceptualised on their own terms. Describing learning through work as ‘informal’ is negative, imprecise and denies key premises about participation in and learning through work. Access to workplace activities and guidance, and the distribution of opportunities to participate are structured by workplace factors. Much of this structuring has intentionality associated with the continuity of the work practice through participants’ learning. Workplace experiences (activities and interactions) are, therefore, not ‘adhoc’ or ‘informal’, they are a product of the historical, cultural and situational factors that constitute the work practices and its enactment, and individuals’ engagement in those practices. These factors shape the activities, goals and interactions afforded by the work practice and how individuals construe and learn through them Learning is conceptualised as arising inter-psychologically through participation in social practices such as workplaces. It is not reserved exclusively for or peculiar to particular experiences. However, particular kinds of experiences (e.g. routine or non-routine activities) are likely to have particular learning kinds of learning consequences. However, learning through participation needs to be considered critically. Although intersubjectivity (shared understanding) is seen as an important goal in the development of vocational practice, it offers a limited conception of goals for learning, as it is largely reproductive. The appropriation of individuals’ knowledge through workplace practices needs to be seen in terms of its worth and adaptability, not just its salience at time and place of learning. Therefore, in considering the kinds of processes adopted and outcomes arising from participatory practices in workplaces a critical stance is warranted. Learning through work This paper discusses and proposes bases for understanding workplace participatory practices as learning experiences that are constituted in the activities and interactions, in which individuals engage. It aims to contribute to a larger project of developing a workplace pedagogy. Learning through participation in a social practice, such as in workplaces, is described in Vygotskian (1987) derived sociocultural theories of learning and development, as being an inter-psychological process -those between the individual and social partners, artefacts, symbols and the physical environment. That is, learning occurs as a product of interactions within the social world from where the knowledge to be learnt is sourced (Scribner 1985, Rogoff 1990, 1995). The knowledge required for vocational practice has its geneses in historical, cultural and situational sources (Billett 1998). It does not emanate from within individuals. Therefore, this knowledge must be accessed through social sources. However, the knowledge required for work performance is not always easy to access as it may be hidden and also there are impediments that inhibit learning as workplaces are far from benign environments. A key focus then becomes how individuals’ or cohorts of workers participate in workplaces and how opportunities for participation and, therefore, learning are accessed. This includes the kinds of activities individuals are able to engage in and the interactions they can access through these experiences. It seems that regardless of whether the contributions to learning through everyday work activity or those from guided learning in the workplace are being