Work-based learning in Canada and the United Kingdom: A framework for understanding knowledge transfer for workers with low skills and higher skills

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how knowledge of different kinds is put to work in workplace education programmes for adults with low skills and adults with higher skills. A novel framework, which has moved beyond narrow conceptions of 'transfer' to concentrate on different forms of knowledge and the ways these are recontextualised as people move between sites of learning, was used to examine three work-based programmes in Canada. The aim was to compare the Canadian results with those obtained from six work-based exemplar programmes previously analysed according to the framework in the United Kingdom. Results indicate that the seven elements in the framework hold some explanatory power across a wide variety of workforce upskilling programmes as well as across learner skill levels and at the same time help to focus in on four kinds of knowledge recontextualisations. © 2010 Further Education Research Association.

Keywords

Author Keywords

work-based learning Knowledge transfer Workers with low skills and higher skills

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Institute of Education, UCL Institute of Education, London, United Kingdom

Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Funding & Acknowledgements

Grant: 2006–20091

The second database was drawn from UK research, sponsored by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Commercial Education Trust and the UK Economic and Social Research Council 2006–20091, which focused on qualifications approximating in level to an associate degree while incorporating a significant element of work-based learning. From different regions of the United Kingdom, the exemplars drawn on for comparative purposes included: the Glass Industry Training programme; the Foundation degree in Media Practice and the Aircraft Engineering Programme. The customised management programme for senior personnel in the glass industry is a particular expression of demand-led training which exemplifies: (1) a process that meshes with the character of the industry and the needs of a particular group of managers (the upskilling and certification needs of experienced managers who have worked their way through company ranks along a traditional industrial pathway – often entering the industry straight from school); (2) a potential role for employer bodies in mediating between industry and further and higher education so as to design a learning process that uses NVQs as more than certification exercises; (3) the nature and value of skilled facilitation (based on a combination of industry and academic expertise); and (4) the efficacy of NVQs as entry routes into more formal learning opportunities.

Economic and Social Research Council, ESRC

Grant: ES/F037104/1

The second database was drawn from UK research, sponsored by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Commercial Education Trust and the UK Economic and Social Research Council 2006–20091, which focused on qualifications approximating in level to an associate degree while incorporating a significant element of work-based learning. From different regions of the United Kingdom, the exemplars drawn on for comparative purposes included: the Glass Industry Training programme; the Foundation degree in Media Practice and the Aircraft Engineering Programme. The customised management programme for senior personnel in the glass industry is a particular expression of demand-led training which exemplifies: (1) a process that meshes with the character of the industry and the needs of a particular group of managers (the upskilling and certification needs of experienced managers who have worked their way through company ranks along a traditional industrial pathway – often entering the industry straight from school); (2) a potential role for employer bodies in mediating between industry and further and higher education so as to design a learning process that uses NVQs as more than certification exercises; (3) the nature and value of skilled facilitation (based on a combination of industry and academic expertise); and (4) the efficacy of NVQs as entry routes into more formal learning opportunities.

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Work-based learning in Canada and the United Kingdom: A framework for understanding knowledge transfer for workers with low skills and higher skills

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