Life based learning – a new framework for capability development in vocational education and training (VET)
The research team comprised: Maret Staron, Robby Weatherley and Marie Jasinski
I don’t really need to describe the environment
that we work and learn in. We all know that it is increasingly complex, turbulent
and diverse, and that this is a feature of the era that we are moving to – the
Knowledge Era. But how will this impact on the way that we work and learn?
What new models of learning do we need to embed in our workplaces?
In researching these issues for the past year, the research team of which I was a part, found that the boundaries between work and learning are increasingly blurring, that we need to have more positive and holistic approaches in the workplace, and that there is a need for a greater balance between creativity (and intuition) and logic (and standardisation). Some areas that we re-examined included the fundamental importance of values, the metaphor of learning ecologies for working and learning in the Knowledge Era, and ways of building on organisational learning through business wisdom. These aspects and others have been fully explored in the research report that is now available – titled Life Based Learning: A strength based approach for capability development in vocational and technical education.
Throughout the research, it became evident that some key shifts needed to occur in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in relation to learning and development. These included the need to build on the potential of work based learning, to re-examine aspects of professional development and to challenge our mind sets. What the research found was that:
- capability development is the new emphasis for working and learning in VET
- life based learning is a contemporary framework for capability development
- a strength based orientation to capability development is most effective for change.
The aim is to improve business results through the creation of rich learning environments that support adaptable, adept and responsive individuals and groups in the workforce.
1 Emphasising capability development
During the research, we chose to adopt the term ‘capability development’ rather
than ‘professional development’, as it seems a better fit for
the business context of the Knowledge Era. Capability development encompasses
professional development and offers a broader range of approaches and strategies.
It also reclaims the importance of people and the human aspect, as well as
reinforcing the importance of business imperatives. Many (but not all) see
professional development as a more restrictive term, involving ‘professional
groups’ and
a range of training activities.
However, capability development is not easy to define and is easier to recognise than measure (Stephenson et al 1992). As Stephenson says, it’s more about a person’s confidence in applying their skills in changing and complex situations than in the mere possession of those skills. Stephenson sees the following as the essence of capability:
Capable people have confidence in their ability to:
- take effective and appropriate action
- explain what they are about
- live and work effectively with others
- continue to learn from their experiences
as individuals and in association with others, in a diverse and changing society (Stephenson et al 1992, p. 2).
Capability development engages us in all aspects of our business, including technical and ICT, relationship building, context, structures and systems, skills and resources, culture, leadership and values, and redevelopment. It is about supporting us in being confident, capable, connected, curious and committed learners, who interact with our environments so that we are in dynamic balance between life and work, taking effective and appropriate actions at work.
Capability development...is about supporting us in being confident, capable, connected, curious and committed learners, who interact with our environments so that we are in dynamic balance between life and work, taking effective and appropriate actions at work.
Being in dynamic balance with the various environments in which we live and work ensures we are better able to fulfil our potential, expand our work challenges, take responsibility for our choices and contribute to relationship building, sustainability and resilience within our organisations. The framework that best supports this is life based learning. It is a plausible and contemporary framework for capability development in the Knowledge Era.
2 Life based learning
What life based learning proposes is that learning for work
is not restricted to learning at work. The premise underpinning
life based learning is that all learning is interrelated, so it is not easy
to separate learning at work from the other types of learning adults do.
Learning is a multi-dimensional experience and we engage in a lot of learning
other than professional development. Much of this ‘extra-curricular’ learning
influences our thinking and our work practices.
Through life based learning, we acknowledge multiple sources of learning that open up opportunities for developing our capability. The challenge is how to recognise, capture, support and utilise this more open-ended approach for the benefit of both the individual and the organisation.
2.1 Progressing familiar models
Life based learning integrates and progresses two dominant models that have influenced the design of learning and development for VET practitioners: the expert-centred model and the work based learning model. In the expert-centred model, the ‘teacher’ is the holder and imparter of knowledge. The work based learning model is project-focused: learning is facilitated and knowledge is constructed through processes such as action learning. Both models have informed many professional development methodologies to date.
Life based learning substantially shifts the discourse about professional development by moving beyond the allegiance to work based and expert-centred learning. However, rather than abandoning these familiar models that have provided much good service for ‘the next big thing’, life based learning honours their legacy, retains what works and draws out their potential by placing them into a more contemporary framework. This allows a pathway for growth.
However, life based learning is different from lifelong learning, which is the ‘process of acquiring knowledge or skills throughout life via education, training, work and general life experiences’ (DEST Glossary). While lifelong learning is about a learning continuum and an ongoing acquisition of knowledge and skills, life based learning is more about the source of learning, acknowledging the person’s entire learning contribution and recognising the different ways in which learning is significant to the individual. The uniqueness of life based learning is its specific focus on capability development in the Knowledge Era and its contribution to achieving a business outcome. In other words, lifelong learning is ‘learning forever’ and life based learning is ‘learning from life’.
Life based learning: Building on and integrating potential
2.2 Life based learning – integrated and holistic
No matter why, where, what, when, how, or who you learn
with, the impact of that learning is not linear, separate or confined to
discrete contexts such as work or not work.
The challenge and goal for capability development is to identify what activates
this motivation or desire to learn, then make this explicit and nudge it
along. Activation of this energy will require a diverse range of strategies.
As portrayed in the two figures below, the shift is from a perspective where work has traditionally been seen as separate from leisure, family and personal life to one where, more realistically, they merge and allow for a more integrated or more holistic approach that acknowledges the realities of adult learning.
Work
based: learning as separate stratas
Life
based: learning as an integrated and interconnected ecology
What life based learning makes explicit is that individuals have knowledge, skills and attributes that may not always be visible or recognised by organisations, but that significantly contribute to organisational achievements and relationships. Life based learning acknowledges the importance of personal values and foundation truths and their profound effect on work and culture.
The life based learning model has a number of key characteristics. The deliberate focus on characteristics rather than strategies recognises that individuals, groups and organisations will make their own judgements and decisions about how to proceed with embedding new ways of working, learning and knowing within their organisation. What the characteristics provide is a base from which these judgements and decisions can be made.
The key characteristics of life based learning are that it:
- Emphasises capability development
- Promotes a strength based orientation to learning
- Recognises multiple sources of learning
- Balances integrity and utility
- Shifts responsibility for learning to the individual
- Shifts the role of organisations to that of enabler
- Acknowledges that contradictions are strengths
- Invests in developing the whole person
- Acknowledges human dispositions as critical
- Appreciates that change is qualitatively different.
While these 10 characteristics are described in a list form, it must be emphasised that their true strength is in their relationship as an interconnected whole rather than as discrete units.
A holistic and interconnected perspective of the key characteristics of life based learning
2.3 Life based learning: a model for capability development
Life based learning offers us a unique perspective on learning and working
in VET. It forms the basis of the capability development model for VET in
the Knowledge Era. In embracing the expert-centred and work based learning
models, it aims for a total effect that is greater than any one approach
could offer. It articulates explicitly what many VET practitioners are intuitively
engaging with already. In doing so, it better serves the needs of working
and learning in the dynamic VET environment.
Life based learning is a model for performance, growth and opportunity. It is adaptive, self-facilitated, based on reflexive practice and uses any strategy appropriate to the task. These strategies can be sourced from an expert centred model, a work based learning model or through life experience. There are three distinguishing features of life based learning:
- an emphasis on a strength based orientation rather than strategy
- explicit recognition of underpinning foundation truths and values, including trust, mindfulness, generosity, consideration and tolerance and
- acknowledgement of the learner as a ‘whole’ person who accesses many sources of learning.
Within any organisation or business, the three models co-exist. Sometimes there will be a blend of all three; sometimes there will be a preference for one over the other. Like any model, life based learning will change over time as people engage with it more fully and shape it to the needs of their own contexts. We look forward to how it will develop.
The figure below outlines the distinguishing features of the three models and shows how life based learning builds on the potential of expert-centred and work based learning to promote capability development in VET.
3 Strength based orientation
The research has led us to propose that we need to adopt a strength based
(rather than a deficit based) orientation to capability development in a
life based learning context. Strength based approaches displace nothing that
has gone before. If established practices are fit enough to adapt to the
changing environment they will survive. They will stand and fall on their
ability to adapt.
Many established strategies are already strength based. The opportunity is to build more mindfully on those strengths. Depending on the baseline practice, this could be a fine adjustment or a significant shift. The advantage of building on established practices is their familiarity and immediacy. With familiar strategies, the investment is not in learning something new, but in deciding to do something new – shifting the orientation to reinforce a strength based approach.
At a number of national forums and workshops that we conducted, many people related strongly to this. The message they gave us was that all it takes is the decision to have a go and that there is a starting point for everyone. It also gives people a marker for recognising excellence in existing practices and identifying factors for success. The established practices that they identified as strength based included action learning, communities of practice, coaching and mentoring. However, such strategies themselves were not seen as the strength. What matters is how they are implemented.
While in our experience, many people have been encouraged and enthused by the potential of a strength based orientation, they were also grounded in the realities of working life and therefore recommended a balanced approach as the wise path. As a participant said in one of the national Action Planning Forums:
'At the end of the day, we probably can’t walk away from a focus on problem analysis and intervention. There are dysfunctional situations that need to be addressed. This looks to be powerful but may not be a universal tool.'
3.1 Emerging strategies
While established strategies could be ‘refreshed’ by an emphasis on strength, a range of approaches that use a strength based orientation have been designed and are rapidly gaining recognition. They align well with the life based learning model and include, but are not limited to, conversations, Appreciative Inquiry (AI), talent management, disruptive technology and positive deviance. They are part of a diverse approach to capability development in the Knowledge Era. However, with the exception of conversations, these strategies were not as familiar to many in the VET sector. The research report provides a detailed description of these strategies.
A critical factor and essential characteristic of strategies for capability development is that they are based on a thorough understanding of the life based learning model. It is important to appreciate the theoretical base and to use the strategies wisely and with good judgement, otherwise the integrity of the life based learning model is lost. In addition, the research uncovered a number of foundation truths and values and these are presented in the research report as the new constants, the bedrock on which established and emerging strategies are built.
In conclusion
Life based learning focuses on development rather than training, on designing
and self-responsibility rather than direction and conformity, and has the
potential to build on the best in VET.
Capability development strategies, whether current or as yet emerging in the VET sector, need to reflect the characteristics of life based learning, incorporating a strength based orientation. As one participant wrote in one of the National Action Planning Forums:
'If the right environment is provided for people to flourish, capability development will be the outcome rather than the primary focus. In other words, build the right environment and the capability will flow from that.'
How to apply life based learning depends on context. There is no one way forward, no one approach. Organisations and business need to determine which enablers will best support rich learning environments in their context. They also need to work with their learners to ensure their growth and ongoing adaptability and resilience in these times of uncertainty, diversity, unpredictability and opportunity.
References
MITCHELL J, Henry J & Young S 2001, A
new model of workbased learning in the VET sector
STEPHENSON J & Weil S (ed) 1992, Quality in Learning: A capability approach in higher education, Ch1, Kogan Page, London
Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) Glossary
Also see
Life based learning: A strength based approach to capability development | A-Z Resources for the full research report, companion document, related information, papers and readings
