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was emergent. For this reason, some detail that could be considered background is stilllocated within the appropriate chapter.The shaded area in Figure 3.1 describes the elements of the conceptual framework discussedin this chapter.Overview of FindingsIn his counterpoint to Bach (1997)’s industry-focus perspective on SE education, McCracken(1997) suggests that formal education provides the entrée into the discipline. A principledacademic education provides the practitioner with:• adaptability – a good education teaches you how to adapt, place new knowledge incontext and use knowledge in multiple contexts• experimentation – provides a sheltered environment for learning from your mistakes• breadth – formal education provides a breadth-first approach; with experience comesdepth• transfer skills – to future technologies.These enable the graduate to become, over a period of years after graduation, a member ofthe profession (hence assuming a level of proficiency).The objective of RE education may be stated simply: to reduce the amount of time taken tobecome a competent member of the profession.In Chapter 2 RE is revealed as a complex, creative activity, where ill-structure and opportunismfeature. This chapter examines the learning models that address the criteria notedabove. The first section of this chapter is an overview of the approaches taken to explainingcognitive processing, especially that for complex problems. The findings of this section area set of declarations which summarise the cognitive requirements for learning generally, andlearning in ill-structured domains, where higher order learning is seen as essential in orderto acquire the skills to deal with the characteristics of the domain. The issues that mustbe addressed in order to enable complex problem-solving (such as fear of failure) are alsoidentified.The next section discussed the frameworks developed as learning theories to explain howthis knowing occurs. An examination of formal learning for RE suggest insights from theliterature of learning have not had much impact. The characteristics identified: the normativeprofessional education model on which it is based, and the texts that mirror a positivist103