Work based learning
Every day, in the normal course of work, we are learning. We solve problems, encounter new situations, and figure out ways to reapply the things we already know. This learning is often spontaneous and unconscious. However, it is no less valuable than the learning done in formal situations.
Work based learning is the process of making our work related learning both conscious and deliberate. It is also about:
- making links between the learning needs of the individual and the strategic needs of the organisation
- finding ways to apply the learning in our work
The term work based learning has different meanings in different contexts. The variety evident among the definitions that follow suggests that no universally accepted meaning has yet emerged.
• Work based learning: Programs for both secondary and postsecondary students that provide opportunities to achieve employment-related competencies in the workplace. Work-based learning is often undertaken in conjunction with classroom or related learning, and may take the form of work placements, work experience, workplace mentoring, instruction in general workplace competencies, and broad instruction in all aspects of industry. (ANTA glossary)
• Learning gained from work experience that involves the development of programme content from work roles. Based on the principle that learning, wherever it takes place and provided that it can be assessed, can be used to provide credit towards the achievement of academic awards. (University of Birmingham)
• Learning that occurs at the job site. Examples would be job shadowing, internships, apprenticeships, and cooperative work assignments. (Jackson State Community College)
• Work based learning is that which benefits the individual, the work group and the organisation. It is achieved mostly through work related activities and can be directly applied to improve current or future work outcomes.
Another complicating factor is the fact that, since the early 1990s, work based learning has been the preferred model of staff development in the VET sector nationally. If you’ve been involved in a Reframing the Future or LearnScope program, you’ll be very familiar with this approach which was adopted because it seemed to offer the dual benefits of professional and organisational development. Work based learning in the VET staff development context embraces a range of different methodologies and techniques, including facilitation, mentoring, action learning and communities of practice.
Many consider work based learning to be an umbrella term that includes a wide range of learning strategies. The strategies that an individual might use will depend on the learning style of that individual, the nature of the skills or understandings that are being developed, and the context in which the learning is taking place. Some of the strategies that might be used by members of a work based learning team include action learning, mentoring, seminars, focus groups, problem-based learning, reflection, critical and/or strategic questioning, and many others.
Perhaps the most critical element of work based learning is the application of the newly acquired skills or understandings. This is where the value of work based learning is realised.
Websites
Participation and continuity at work: A critique of current workplace learning discourses.
According to Billett, there is no such thing as informal learning: all
learning takes place within social organisations of communities. For example
learning at work is structured by the formal arrangements of the workplace.
He argues that it is misleading and unhelpful to describe learning in workplaces
using assumptions drawn uncritically from practice within educational institutions.
These assumptions typically include beliefs about the superiority of qualified
teachers and written curriculum documents.
Key components and responsibilities for a work-based learning program
Several essential key components must be in place for work-based learning to be successful. It is the responsibility of the work-based learning coordinator and the administration and faculty in an educational institution to make sure that these components are in place for students, no matter which work-based learning model on the continuum is used. Each of these components will vary according to the selected work-based learning model. Job shadowing, for instance, would not require as in-depth an educational training agreement or training plan as a youth apprenticeship program, but appropriate documentation would be needed for the job shadowing experience to be of educational value.
The policy environment of work-based learning: Globalisation, institutions and the workplace
'Work-based learning is not a development that comes into being out of thin air. An innovation of this kind is a motivated development, born of a politics that needs to be made visible and analysed. This can be done from a number of perspectives. This paper examines the policy environment of post-compulsory education that has encouraged recognition of the workplace as a primary site of learning.'
Work-basedlearning.org
'The Work-Based Learning Project is designed to provide the research, best practices, tools, tips, and learning communities to help you design and implement effective work-based learning programs. It is designed to meet the needs of employers, unions, workplace educators and trainers, and officials at the state and local levels responsible for workforce development.'
Work as the curriculum: pedagogical and identity implications
The end of the twentieth century has seen rapid changes in the economy of higher education accompanied by a dramatic increase in innovative curriculum developments. Amongst these are the beginnings of a shift of interest from the relatively well ordered traditional disciplines towards the unruly domain of professional practice and trans-disciplinary knowledge, where increasingly work and workplaces are becoming key sites of and sources for the academic curriculum.
Australian Training Products
ATP provides an excellent series of printed resources on work-based learning.
Reframing the Future
A range of publications relevant to Australian VET and work-based learning are available free through this site.
Publications
HONEY, Peter 2003, Improving the quality of workplace learning, Training Journal, UK.
Peter Honey takes a look at three ways in which workplace learning
can be enhanced.
WAGNER, R, Childs, M & Houlbrook, M 2001, Work-based Learning as Critical Social Pedagogy, Australian Journal of Adult Learning 41, No 3.
In this paper the authors argue the case for work-based learning to be recognised as a legitimate pedagogical approach.
See Also
Getting value from workplace training & learning | eZine February 2007
Employability skills - research papers & resources May 2007