Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Lave et al (1988) suggested that learning is more than simply receiving a body of factualknowledge; learning is a process that involves becoming a different person with respect to possibilitiesfor interacting with other people and the environment. The individual is no longerthe same individual with new skills, but is a new person who has become more enculturatedinto the practice, negotiating meanings based on experiences as a student.Several characteristics have been identified for the apprenticeship model (Jordan, 1987):• work is the driving force – the progressive mastering of tasks is appreciated, not as astep towards a distant, symbolic goal (eg a qualification), but for its immediate valuein getting the work done• apprentices start with skills that are relatively easy and where mistakes are less costly• learning is focused on (physical) performance. It involves the ability to do rather thanthe ability to talk about something• standards of performance are embedded in the work environment. What constitutesexpert execution of the task is obvious, and judgements about the learner’s competenceemerge naturally and continuously in the context of the work. The apprentice ‘ownsthe problem’ of moving on to the acquisition of the next skill• teachers and teaching are largely invisible, with learning based on observation.Although the workplace is seen to have a number of strengths as a learning environment (Billett,1996): activities are authentic and goal-directed; learners have access to guidance – bothclose assistance from experts and ‘distant’ observing and listening to other workers and thephysical environment; they are engaged in everyday problem solving, and intrinsic reinforcement(ie internal satisfaction in making sense of new stimuli) is usual, one assumption madewithin this model is that workplaces are good learning places. However, evidence on informalon-the-job training and employers’ training investment patterns suggest that workplaces arenot good learning places for the young or the less educated (Scribner and Sachs, 1990; Tan,1989). Unless work-based apprenticeships are deliberately designed for learning, they havepotentially serious deficiencies. Limitations identified include (Billett, 1996): the constructionof inappropriate knowledge; a lack of sufficient or more challenging authentic activitiesand reluctance of experts to participate, or restrictions on their assistance. An additionallimitation addresses a difference in goals, methods, ideals and strategies between businessenterprises and learning institutions, based on productivity and survival versus learning andprofessional growth (Harris et al, 2000).142