1 Workplace learning
Theories of workplace learning draw on socio-cultural theory and are broadly Vygotskian.
Vygotsky highlighted the role of social interaction within a ‘culture’ – this could be a country’s culture, the culture of a family, or a workplace culture – and created the term ‘socio-constructionism’. He believed that an individual’s learning and development depend on interaction with others, and that a culture provides individuals with ‘tools of the mind’ – ways of thinking – to help them form a view of the world. The research of Hodkinson and Hodkinson (2004) focuses on workers as individual learners, and how the individual is influenced by the wider culture of the workplace. Drawing on socio-constructionism, they suggest that there are four interactive dimensions of workplace learning:
- a worker applies prior knowledge, understanding and skills
- the workplace culture influences the ways in which a worker co-constructs and establishes opportunities for learning
- a worker’s dispositions (habits of mind, or attitudes) contribute to the culture and ethos of the workplace
- a worker’s identity is shaped by belonging to the workplace community.
Activity 1 Dimensions of workplace learning
Make notes on each of the four dimensions listed above and how you think they are relevant to you and to your work role. Use the following questions to aid your thinking:
- What prior skills, knowledge and understanding do you bring to your current role?
- How does your work context influence the ways you create or access opportunities for your own learning and development?
- How does your thinking and behaviour influence the life of your workplace?
- How does the community of the workplace (people, practices, relationships) influence how you see yourself?
Discussion
As you reflected on these four questions, you may have identified learning that was informal and ‘accidental’, and learning that was formal and intentional. Intentional learning in the workplace is usually triggered by the identification of a gap in knowledge or skills. But workplaces sometimes also provide opportunities for unplanned learning that may or may not be immediately applied. As you reflected on the four questions, you probably also identified workplace learning that was imposed on you by others, and workplace learning that you felt motivated to do for yourself.
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