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University of Bolton

UBIR: University of Bolton Institutional Repository

Education: Journal Articles

Education

2003

Work-based learning programmes and social

capital.

Terry Hyland

University of Bolton, t.hyland@bolton.ac.uk

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Education at UBIR: University of Bolton Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Education: Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of UBIR: University of Bolton Institutional Repository. For more information, please contactubir@bolton.ac.uk.

Digital Commons Citation

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WORK-BASED LEARNING PROGRAMMES AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

Terry Hyland

Faculty of Arts, Science & Education

Bolton Institute

Chadwick St.

Bolton BL2 1JW

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Abstract

The twin pillars supporting contemporary lifelong learning theory in Britain – and also

to some extent in the US, Europe and Australasia (Field & Leicester,2000) – are the

development of vocational skills for economic competitiveness and the fostering of

social inclusion and cohesion. Clear and direct links are made between inclusion

and economic prosperity in the ‘vision of a society where high skills, high rewards

and access to education and training are open to everyone’(DfEE,2001,p.6).

However, although this policy does, to some degree, represent a break with the

rampant neo-liberalism of the 1980s and 1990s in Britain (Hyland,2002) –

underpinned by ‘third way’ values which emphasise ‘economic efficiency and social

cohesion’ (Giddens,2000,p.78) – the concept of economic capital always takes pride

of place and there is a real danger that the social capital objectives of contemporary

British vocational education and training (VET) may be neglected in the obsession

with economic competitiveness. Since work-based learning (WBL) is now a central

element in all current VET policy initiatives, it is suggested that attention to the

systematic management and support of learning on WBL programmes can go some

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Vocational Reform in Britain

Esland (1990) observed that – although VET issues have remained high on the

political agenda since the 1970s oil crisis, economic recession and mass youth

unemployment – the British State’s response has typically been one of ‘crisis

management…giving rise to schemes and initiatives designed to limit the social

damage which followed de-industrialisation’(p.v). More recently, in introducing the

flagship University for Industry (now UfI Learndirect) blueprint, Hillman (1997)

remarked that:

Deficiencies in British education and training have been a cause for concern for policy-makers for 150 years. Partly in response to world- wide recognition of the importance of lifelong learning, there has been a flurry of reforms in the last ten years. The result has been an array of short-term and narrowly focused initiatives which have confused rather than clarified the situation for the learner (pp.29-30).

Amongst the ‘flurry of reforms’ were the many schemes associated with the ‘new

vocationalism’ (Hyland,1999) of the 1980s: the Technical and Vocational Education

Inititiative, Youth Training Schemes, National Vocational Qualifications, Training

Credits and Training and Enterprise Councils. Only time will tell whether the

post-1997 New Labour reforms in this sphere – UfI Learndirect, New Deal Welfare to

Work programmes, Learning and Skills Councils and the re-organisation of 14-19

learning programmes and qualifications – will help to solve the perennial problems of

British VET.

What can be said with some certainty is that the emphasis on upgrading and

enhancing vocational studies – whether at the 14-19 stage or in post-compulsory

education and training (PCET) in general – has never been so high on the political

agenda in Britain. In setting out the policy template and mission for PCET in the 21st

century, the then Secretary of State, David Blunkett, complained about the problem

of having ‘to contend with am elitist academic culture which has failed to value

technical study and attainment’(DfEE,2000a,para.36). More recently, the former

Secretary of State, Estelle Morris, declared that we:

should no longer tolerate a culture that devalues vocational learning and squanders the talent of too many young people. I want to see a vocational renaissance that captures the imagination of young people and challenges prejudice (DfES,2002,p.1)

Workplace learning – and especially conceptions of WBL typified by its natural home

and paradigm instance in the context of apprenticeship – is placed centre stage in

the current reform programme, and there is a clear statement that the ‘development

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apprenticeship system’ (DfEE,2001a,para.30). The newly reconstructed Modern

Apprenticeships (MAs) are accorded a pivotal role in the emerging ‘national skills

agenda’ in which ‘learning and skills are the bedrock of social justice and economic

prosperity’ (DfEE,2000b,para.60).

The Rise of Work-Based Learning

WBL has always been an essential feature of VET programmes though, arguably, it

has never been accorded the prominence it now has in both Europe and Australia

(Symes & McIntyre,2000). In Britain, high quality ‘work-based training is at the heart

of the Government’s 14-19 agenda’ (DfES,2001,p.2) and integral to all contemporary

VET policy developments. WBL – described by Boud & Symes (2000) as ‘an idea

whose time has come’ and an ‘acknowledgement that work…is imbued with learning

opportunities’(pp.14-15) – has emerged as one of the key features of VET reforms as

systems respond to the demands of global competition and the knowledge economy.

Its essential characteristics are derived from a number of sources connected with the

learning organisation, the integration of theory and practice in workplace knowledge

and skills, and the need to respond positively to the challenges of knowledge creation

in the light of the information technology revolution and global economic

developments.

As Marsick & Watkins (2002) put it, the ‘rapidly changing world in which we have

been living is giving birth to a host of new ways of understanding work, jobs,

organisations, technology and change’(p.34). The basic theoretical premiss is that

‘the workplace is a crucially important site for learning and for access to learning’

(Evans, Hodkinson & Unwin,2002,p.1). This is especially true for public service

professions such as nursing and teaching where continuing professional

development (CPD) is an integral feature of pre- and inservice learning programmes.

It is worth emphasising that the new developments in WBL imply that CPD should be

understood as a paradigm form of VET in which the workplace becomes a central

site for professional and developmental learning of all kinds (Avis, Bathmaker &

Parsons,2001). In this respect the current DfES drive to raise standards in learning

and teaching in further and higher education (DfES,2002c) can be seen as forging

explicit links between CPD, VET and WBL.

In the study of WBL by Seagraves et al (1996) distinctions were made between

learning for work (general VET), learning at work (in-house programmes, work

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skills to tasks and processes, forms of apprenticeship). As Brennan & Little (1996)

suggest, in ‘higher education terms, learning for work may well incorporate elements

of learning at work and learning through work’(p.5), all of which are included in

‘policies that have fostered more ‘realistic’ forms of university curricula designed to

meet the needs of the changing workforce’ and the ‘fulfilment of career aspiration’

(Boud & Symes,p.15) for HE students. In examining these perspectives, Barnett

(2002) reminds us that –although ‘work and learning are not synonymous’ – the ‘two

concepts overlap’ since:

Work can and should offer learning opportunities; much learning is demanding, calling on the learner to yield to certain standards, and contains the character of work…the challenge here is that of bringing about the greatest overlap between work and learning (p.19).

This optimistic vision needs to be qualified by the realities of the contemporary

workplace which – as research by the National Skills Taskforce (DfEE,2000b) and

the large-scale Learning Society Project (Coffield,2000) has indicated – typically

provide few opportunities for positive employee learning to take place. Although

many of the larger British firms do encourage and support learning of all kinds, it is

still the case that – as Ashton, Felstead & Green (2000) report – ‘something like

two-thirds of the work force do not work in such organisations’ (p.222). Similar findings in

relation to abysmally low levels of employment training apply particularly to small

businesses which account for 95% of British firms and around 35% of total

employment (Hyland & Matlay,1998). For these reasons, it is important for

educational institutions of all kinds to forge links with industry in the drive to extend

learning opportunities to trainees and employees, and WBL has a central role to play

in this process.

Social and Economic Capital

General empirical research on the ways in which people acquire knowledge, skills

and values in new settings – especially in workplaces in which learners are often

seeking admission to communities of practice and culture – have confirmed the

importance of social as opposed to individualised learning, even in the sphere of

information technology in which solitary learning seems to predominate (Guile &

Hayton,1999). The development of vocational knowledge and skill in particular

seems to require attention – not just to intellectual capacities and disciplines – but to

the ‘social and cultural context in which cognitive activity occurs’ (Billett,1996,p.150).

Drawing on the ‘activity theory’ of psychologists such as Vygotsky and Luria, a

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1980s, and the new perspectives have been utilised extensively in recent years as a

means of identifying meaningful learning in different social contexts.

Wenger (2002) reminds us that:

Since the beginning of history, human beings have formed communities that share cultural practices reflecting their collective learning: from a tribe round a cave fire, to a medieval guild…to a community of engineers… Participating in these ‘communities of practice’ is essential to our

learning (p.163).

What Lave & Wenger (2002) call ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ concerns the

ways in which newcomers – and, interestingly, workplace learning through forms of

apprenticeship is cited as a paradigm case here – come to acquire the knowledge,

culture and values which enables them to move from being outsiders to insiders. It is

argued that ‘newcomers participate in a community of practitioners as well as in

productive activity’, and that it is important to view ‘learning as part of a social

practice’ (pp.121-2). They go on to observe that:

Thesocial relations of apprentices within a community change their direct involvement in activities; in the process, the apprentices’ understanding and knowledgeable skills develop…newcomers’ legitimate peripherality provides them with more than an ‘observational’ lookout post: it crucially involves participation as a way of learning – of both absorbing and being absorbed – in the ‘culture of practice’ (ibid., p.113, original emphasis).

Thus, it could be said that WBL – in addition to fostering the occupational knowledge

and skills which go to make up ‘economic’ capital – can, through workplace practice,

also facilitate the development of the valuable ‘social’ capital which is located in the

‘kinds of contexts and culture which promote communication and mutual learning as

part of the fabric of everyday life’ (Schuller & Field,1998,p.234). Moreover, since all

learning is ‘inescapably a social creation’ (Ranson,1998,p.20), it could be argued that

learning and the fostering of that social capital required for both working life and the

promotion of social cohesion and citizenship (QCA,2002) can be complementary and

mutually supportive activities.

Fostering Social Capital on WBL Programmes

The interdependence of economic and social capital can also be discerned in the

social practices of successful learning organisations in which group and teamwork

helps to produce a ‘synthesis of members; interests; (Zuboff,1988,p.394) and that

‘collective intelligence’ (Brown & Lauder,1995,p.28) essential for survival and

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requires grounding in the ‘social sources’ and ‘communities of practice’ in which it is

‘acquired and deployed’ (Billett,1996,p.151), WBL serves as an ideal vehicle for the

personal and social development of learners which helps to foster those broader

skills, values and attitudes required for employment (Industry in Education,1996).

In terms of broader ‘soft skills’ – particularly those which constitute the interpersonal

dimension of key skills such as ‘working with others’ which are also stressed in

almost all post-16 learning as well as the new citizenship programmes

(OCR/RSA,2001) – there is evidence that WBL processes are well designed to

facilitate the group and team working required in this area. The work of Engestrom

(1996), for example, describes how the social transformation of work by project

teams helped to produce new collective understandings of tasks and processes and,

hence, new knowledge. Similarly, work in Australia (Kilpatrick, Bell & Falk,1999) –

involving researchers from the University of Tasmania and networks of small farmers

– demonstrated the importance of collective learning in building social capital and

reinforcing greater understanding between small businesses and the communities

they serve. Winch (2002) sums up the principal ideas in this area in suggesting that

the;

economic aims of education have both an individual and a social aspect… Vocational education…has an important role, both in allowing individuals to realise their own ends in life and in allowing society to develop paid employment to both provide individual fulfilment and to ensure

competitiveness and prosperity (p.114).

Managing and Supporting WBL

In order to foster social as well as economic capital, the management and support of

learning programmes – from the new vocational programmes for 14-19 year olds, to

modern apprenticeships, graduate apprenticeships and Foundation Degrees – WBL

elements have to be systematically monitored and supported across formal and

informal sites of learning. A number of lessons for securing effective practice have

been learned from WBL programmes operating at compulsory and post-compulsory

levels (Brennan & Little,1996; Powell,2001) and the following seem to be the

principal areas for concern and consideration:

1) Co-ordination of Learning Across Sectors

Lessons can be drawn for this important aspect of learning support from previous

schemes prioritising WBL such as the New Deal for Young People (NDYP) and

Modern Apprenticeships (MAs). Unwin & Wellington’s (2001) research on MAs

demonstrated ‘quite vividly that systematic, well-planned mentoring are not occurring

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in a Training Standards Council report on the new apprenticeship programme noting

that ‘trainee support services, as a whole, were poorly co-ordinated’

Sherlock,1999,p.10). Research on the NDYP by Hyland & Musson (2001) identified

the crucial role played by personal advisers, particularly in dealing with the most

vulnerable learners such as those with few formal qualifications, learning difficulties

or lack of motivation. The message is clear: the planning, organisation and support

of vocational learning – especially in terms of ensuring coherence between on- and

off-the job activity – on programmes involving WBL is vital. Ideally, tutors, advisers

and co-ordinators should be familiar with work across formal and informal sectors,

perhaps linking with the new omnibus Connexions (DfEE,2001b) service which is

designed to harmonise the whole network of stakeholders in British post-compulsory

education and training.

2) Learning, Knowledge and Curriculum

In order to break down what Dewey (1966) called the false oppositions of ‘labour

and leisure, theory and practice, body and mind’(p.301) in vocational education, new

conceptions of knowledge are required which integrate on- and off-the job practice

and connect workplace and formal learning. As mentioned earlier, the general

characteristics of apprenticeship are important here, and continuities between formal

and informal learning settings need to be acknowledged and exploited so that – as

Guile & Young,2002) put it – the ‘concept of apprenticeship might serve as a basis

for an alternative learning paradigm for formal education and training’(p.159). Hager

(2000) makes similar proposals in arguing for a conception of workplace knowledge

which moves away from academic, disciplinary forms, towards a model of

‘work-based learning in terms of people learning to make judgements’ (p.60) in all spheres

of vocational activity. In addition to what Young (1998) has called curriculum

‘connectivity’ – forging links between all forms of learning and activity – WBL requires

a solid foundation of general education which consists in a ‘core of common,

fundamental learnings for working life’ (Skilbeck et al,1994,p.60) which is

characteristic of Continental European VET systems. It is now clear that

outcomes-based programmes and qualifications – though they may be appropriate for basic

VET – are not well suited to achieving the knowledge, attitudes and qualities

associated with citizenship and social capital notions (Young, 2002). In response to

the trends away from the more extreme competence-based strategies, new

programmes for 14-19 year olds and modern apprentices involve overarching

certificates and diplomas which incorporate wider interests, citizenship studies and

broad vocational qualifications alongside occupationally-specific training

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3) Achievement and Progression

In order to secure the continuity of learning and progression implied by lifelong

learning theory, pedagogic reforms will be required to further the organisational

changes brought about by the wholesale re-organisation of the post-school sector in

Britain under the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The proposals in the LSC

Corporate Plan for regional partnerships to deliver local ‘skills, participation and

learning’ (LSC,2001,pp.4-5) will mean nothing if the mechanisms for the

management and support of learners mentioned above are not firmly in place. To

connect WBL with the vocational ladder of opportunity which the DfES envisages as

linking 14-19 education and training with higher level and lifelong learning of all kinds,

the broad conception of ‘learning careers’ developed by Bloomer and Hodkinson

(1997,2002) can provide the necessary framework. A learner career refers to the

development of a student’s disposition towards learning over time, and this

‘studentship’ conception can serve to integrate:

both formal and informal learning from a wide range of learning situations and contexts. It offers insights into how learners continually select, adapt, create and utilize learning opportunities under hugely diverse conditions, in response to their needs as they experience them

(Bloomer & Hodkinson,2002, p.41).

Conclusion: Work, Community and Social Capital

Although the concept of social capital has both individualistic (personal development)

as well as collective (social cohesion) overtones, mainstream perspectives tend to

foreground forms of social capital:

constituted through the social relationships that people have with each other, through the collective knowledge of a group, and the moral, cognitive and social supervision that the group exercises over its members…Social capital in this sense has a strongly moral dimension…often described in terms of the norms of trust prevalent within a society (Winch,2000,p.5).

The ‘moral’ dimension that Winch refers to applies equally to working practices and

general social and civic life. As Putnam (1993) and Giddens (2000) have argued,

social capital is a stock which accumulates through use and, as such, requires

constant nourishment. WBL programmes may – if they attend to the lessons for best

practice noted above – help to provide such nourishment in addition to contributing to

the ‘vocational renaissance’ (DfES,2002,p.1) which is currently a key UK government

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As important as all this is the goal of creating a balance between social and

economic capital, thus ensuring that the individualism which has dominated learning

discourses in former years is supplemented by the collective values of learning

communities (Hyland,1998). Most significant of all – in the light of emerging

emphases on the social impact and wider benefits of lifelong learning – is the crucial

role that group and team learning plays in fostering that form of social capital which,

as Australian researchers in this field noted, consists in ‘shared language, shared

experiences, trust, self-development and fostering an identification with the

community’ (Kilpatrick, Bell & Falk,1999,p.143).

References

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