Abstracts - Earli

KN2 130 August 2007 12:30 - 13:30Room: KonferenciaInvited PaperResearch on workplace learning: Approaches, findings and challengesPäivi Tynjälä, University of Jyväskylä, FinlandChair:Frank Achtenhagen, University of Gottingen, GermanyThe presentation reviews research on workplace learning first at a general level and second interms of students’ work-related learning. It is divided into three parts. The first part analysesdifferent research paradigms of workplace learning; the second part presents recent researchfindings; the last part puts forward challenges for future research. Although the history of researchon workplace learning is short, the amount of research has increased enormously during recentyears. The relationship between work and learning is a phenomenon that has attracted researchersfrom a range of disciplines from pedagogical and psychological approaches to organisationalstudies and management research. This has resulted in diversity of concepts, models and theories.Thus, the concept "learning" refers to processes taking place at different levels, from that ofindividuals and groups to communities of practice and organisations. The most recent extensionsare the notions of network learning and regional learning. Altogether, fundamentally differentphenomena have been the foci of workplace learning studies: individual development, knowledgeacquisition, participatory processes, organisational and cultural transformation, innovation... Themain reasons for this expansion are the rapid change of society and working life during the pastfew decades as well as transformations in conceptions of learning. Using the participationmetaphor to illuminate the nature of learning has been typical although the cognitive paradigm andthe acquisition view also are present in research. Furthermore, the increased use of the knowledgecreation metaphor suggests that learning at work is increasingly seen as an innovative activity.Although workplace learning differs remarkably from learning in educational contexts there aresome similarities between school-based and work-based learning, and in certain respects thesedifferent forms of learning are coming closer together. Different models of organising workexperience for students as a part of formal education programmes are presented and analysed.– 470 –