Search Results for
"learning"

All thought and talk about learning involves the use of metaphors. Whilst metaphors aid our understanding of things by suggesting novel insights, they can also mislead if too much is read into the supposed likenesses. Acquisition and transfer are easily the most popular metaphors used to understand learning. This article argues that these metaphors commonly mislead when we take them to mean that learning is located inside of learners, and, hence, that the individual is the appropriate unit for understanding learning. This article discusses the strengths and limitations of the alternative metaphors invoked in some more recent theories of learning, metaphors including participation, construction/re-construction, and becoming. A consideration of these alternative metaphors reveals the multi-facetted nature of learning. It also highlights important kinds of learning, by groups, teams or communities, learning that are not plausibly located inside of individuals. Any rich account of professional practice needs to encompass the roles of both individual and group learning.

This article discusses the career biographies of four individuals in transition. They were responding to the challenges of engaging in work-related learning, re-shaping their careers and their career identities. The four cases were selected from a larger sample of fifty participants in a five-year longitudinal, qualitative case study, which has evaluated the effectiveness of career guidance and counselling in supporting the career transition and development of adults in England. They have been chosen because they illuminate different patterns of responses associated with career change. In particular, they demonstrate the value of education-based or work-based learning in helping individuals not only update their skills, knowledge and competences but also to keep a positive disposition towards learning. Whilst access to opportunities for learning and development is important, it is also clear that some individuals are much more pro-active than others in taking advantage of opportunities. In contrast, others perceive themselves to be more constrained by circumstances, which can lead to disengagement from learning and development. Reshaping careers, learning and identities is a daunting challenge for individuals and career guidance and counselling can play a role in facilitating attempts to construct a new coherent career narrative that help drive these processes.

Purpose - This paper aims to report findings from a North East (of England) study co-financed by the European Social Fund and the learning and Skills Council to explore the issues around the provision of vocational training for women in Northumberland, focusing on the construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors. The aim of the research was to investigate the extent to which current vocational training provision is adequately meeting the needs of both women learners and employers in Northumberland. Design/methodology/approach - The research consisted of a survey of learning providers in Northumberland and the immediate surrounding areas; interviews with local and regional policy makers, practitioners and service providers; interviews with local employers based in the construction, engineering and manufacturing sectors; and finally, focus groups and interviews with a range of women across the county. Findings - First, the research implies that the social and cultural context of Northumberland and the wider North East region is an important factor in explaining the position of women in non-traditional occupations in Northumberland. The research also implies that at present careers in the construction, engineering and manufacturing industries are not being promoted effectively to young people, particularly within schools. Finally, at all levels there is a clear need for the various agencies responsible for promoting non-traditional occupations to women to work together more effectively. Originality/value - This paper is of value to employers, policy makers and service providers seeking to encourage more young women into non-traditional occupations, particularly within Northumberland and the North East region. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

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This article investigates the experience of individual learners who have been allocated learning support in the further education system in England. The particular focus is on interviewees' constructions of their emotional and psychic experiences. Through the adoption of a psycho-social perspective, learners' tendency to 'idealise' their learning support workers is understood as a strategy for coping with the anxiety generated by a range of previous experiences. The implications for policy-makers are discussed. © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 SES.

The paper considers apprenticeship as a model of education that both teaches technical skills and provides the grounding for personal formation. The research presented is based on long-term anthropological fieldwork with minaret builders in Yemen, mud masons in Mali and fine-woodwork trainees in London. These case studies of on-site learning and practice support an expanded notion of knowledge that exceeds propositional thinking and language and centrally includes the body and skilled performance. Crafts - like sport, dance and other skilled physical activities - are largely communicated, understood and negotiated between practitioners without words, and learning is achieved through observation, mimesis and repeated exercise. The need for an interdisciplinary study of communication and understanding from the body is therefore underlined, and the paper suggests a way forward drawing on linguistic theory and recent neurological findings. It is argued that the validation and promotion of skilled practice as 'intelligent' is necessary for raising the status and credibility of apprentice-style learning within our Western systems of education. © 2008 SES.

Exploring the unique challenges of vocational education, this book provides simple and straightforward advice on how to teach English Language Learners in today's Career and Technical Education programs. The authors' teaching framework and case studies draw from common settings in which career and technical educators find themselves working with ELLs-in the classroom, in the laboratory or workshop, and in work-based learning settings. By integrating CTE and academic instruction, and embedding career development activities across the curriculum, readers will gain a better understanding of the challenges of teaching occupationally-oriented content to a diverse group of learners in multiples settings. © 2009 Taylor and Francis. All rights reserved.

This article outlines an illuminative evaluation study of the work-based module in a vocational qualification in Animal Health offered for the paraveterinary industry by a distance education institution in South Africa. In illuminative evaluation, a programme is studied by qualitative methods to gain an in-depth understanding of its ‘instructional system’, its intended teaching arrangements, as well as its ‘learning milieu’, the actual sites of learning interaction. This results in a rich description of the programme that allows ‘matches’ and ‘mismatches’ between the instructional system and learning milieu to be uncovered. In this study, this approach provided useful information relevant to the quality assurance of the module, and also generated significant insights about the design and delivery of work-based learning in vocational qualifications in general. © 2008, © 2008 SAGE Publications.

Purpose: Radiography degree programmes are coming under increasing pressure from the community to ensure that graduates have not only the necessary academic development but also the practice-based skills. This study aims to establish a method of monitoring students' progress towards, and ability to meet, academic and professional competences throughout a radiography programme. Methods: Questionnaires were designed for students and academic staff to determine the stages and standards of progress of competence development, and to inform the review process of the current assessment tools throughout the programme. A literature search identified the appropriate pedagogy as a basis for devising the method. Another questionnaire was distributed to overseas radiography institutions to gain insights into other assessment practices to validate the framework. Results and discussion: It was established that years of study rather than semester periods were appropriate to allow students to meet the standards. Discrepancies were noted in the expectations between academic staff (higher expectations) and students (more realistic) in terms of the pace of development expected. As students progress at different rates, and do not experience the same clinical exposure, their ability to meet expectations may differ and so both sets of expectations were combined as a range of criteria. A multi-dimensional assessment approach should be adequate to gauge students' progress but time and resource effectiveness has not yet been addressed. The portfolio was identified as the pedagogy capable of integrating all the competence assessment tools, linked by reflective writing, to gather individual outcomes into a whole, and form a holistic framework. Outcome: The portfolio framework will initially run as a voluntary activity and standards of progress corresponding to the students' stages will be delivered to participants in advance. Participants will be required to select materials and reflect on these, as evidence of development. Faculty members will provide support and feedback to students and oversee the whole process. © 2007 The College of Radiographers.

The aim of this study is to identify dimensions of on-the-job learning styles that can create an awareness among employees and offer them opportunities for the improvement of their on-the-job learning. In order to be able to select relevant dimensions, we propose four criteria: dimensions should: (a) concern activities and behaviour; (b) be changeable by learners; (c) be applicable to the workplace context; and (d) be uni-dimensional. After reviewing the literature in light of these criteria, we conclude that employees need to be aware of four core dimensions of on-the-job learning styles: (a) whether they are reproductive or developmental learners; (b) whether they tend to learn alone, from others, or with others; (c) whether they are holistic or analytical learners; and (d) how they engage in reflection (e.g. the depth of reflection). © 2008 International Association of Applied Psychology.