Theorising Vocational Learning: learning cultures & cultural learning

Theorising Vocational Learning: learning cultures & cultural learning Phil Hodkinson University of Leeds, UK VET & Culture Conference Gilleleje Kursuscenter, 2006

Acknowledgements • Based upon the Transforming Learning Cultures in FE (TLC) research project (2000 – 2005) • Funded by the UK Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC), as part of its Teaching & Learning Research Programme (TLRP) • Based upon a draft paper, co-written by Phil Hodkinson, Gert Biesta & David James • Thanks are also due to other members of the research team: • Graham Anderson, Helen Colley, Jennie Davies, Kim Diment, Denis Gleeson, Wendy Maull, Keith Postlethwaite, Tony Scaife, Michael Tedder, Madeleine Wahlberg, & Eunice Wheeler

Problems with understanding learning in VET • focus on either individual learning or on learning as participation • context of learning either defined narrowly (classroom) or very broadly (VET system) • inadequate focus on power relations • separation of learning in work & college • informal & formal learning are split • ‘link’ seen as learning transfer or theory application

Factors influencing learning in FE • Positions, dispositions & actions of students • Positions, dispositions & actions of tutors • Location and resources of the learning site • Course, assessment & qualification specifications • Time tutors & students spend together & their interrelationships • College management • Funding & inspection body procedures & regulations, & government policy • VET system • Wider vocational & academic cultures • Social class, gender, ethnicity, employment opportunities, nature of work, social & family life, the perceived status of FE, etc.

Deeper Conceptual Needs 1). Holistic understanding of learning • Combine mind, emotions & body (embodied) • Combine individual & social • Combine structure & agency 2). Understanding of scale • Learning is the same at all scales • Different scales highlight different aspects/issues • Need to use several scales, rather than one 3). Integrate theory of learning cultures with cultural theory of learning

Learning Cultures • A way of understanding a learning location as practices constituted by actions, dispositions & interpretations of participants • Learning culture stands for the social practices through which people learn. • All places have learning cultures • Learning cultures enable and constrain learning

Learning Cultures (2) “In our view, learning is not merely situated in practice – as if it were some independently reifiable process that just happened to be located somewhere; learning is an integral part of generative social practice in the lived-in world.” (Lave and Wenger 1991, p.35)

Learning culture as field of force • ‘Field’ indicates a dynamic system, in which people and practices are positioned relationally • The relationships (or ‘forces’ in the field) are as important as the ‘things’, even though they might be less visible. • Pay attention to mutual interdependency in a field: If we change one thing, everything else changes. • Metaphors of market and game • Centrality of power relations

Learning Culture as field of force (2) • A learning site may have clear boundaries, but the learning culture/field does not • Fields overlap & interrelate: e.g. the field of FE and the field of an occupational sector • All fields intersect with the field of power • Students & tutors are active participants, they contribute to the field of force: the (re)production of the learning culture • The field of force can be understood at different scales

Cultural Theory of Learning • Individual learning is embodied & social • Individuals learn through participation in a range of learning cultures • That is, they have learning lives before, after & alongside participation in a specific learning culture (e.g. college or work) • Individuals are differently positioned & have differing capitals within any learning culture

Dispositions & Habitus • People develop embodied dispositions towards all aspects of life, including learning & work • These dispositions can be seen as social structures operating through the person • Dispositions are often tacit, but can be conscious • Dispositions can be deeply ingrained, but can & do change • Dispositions enable & constrain learning

Learning as Becoming • Through life, people change • They learn through becoming, & become through learning • What people learn becomes part of who they are • Learning as becoming can be highly significant, or trivial

Horizons for learning • Learning cultures enable & constrain learning • Dispositions enable & constrain learning • Learning is not located in the person or in the learning culture, but in the horizons for learning: • the relationships between these two

Implications for VET • Do not think about learning transfer, & of learning outcomes as products • Learning does not transfer – people move • Improve learning partly by improving learning cultures • make them more expansive • make them more synergistic • Separate out judgements about learning effectiveness and the value of learning

Implications for VET (2) • There can be no universal solutions to VET/learning problems • “There are enormous differences in what and how learners come to shape (or be shaped into) their identities with respect to different practices. … Researchers would have to explore each practice to understand what is being learned, and how”. (Lave, 1996, p161-162) • For every complex problem there is a simple solution – and its wrong.

Theorising Vocational Learning: learning cultures & cultural learning