Constituting the workplace curriculum

Abstract

This paper advances some bases for a workplace curriculum. These are premised on conceptions of curriculum as intents directed to individuals’ progression towards full and effective workplace performance, yet whose enactment is shaped by workplace factors and is ultimately experienced by workers as learners. So whether the intentions will be realized is likely premised on the support (affordances) for their enactment by interests within the workplace. Workplace affordances, like those in educational institutions, emphasize the role that the norms and social practices that comprise workplaces play in regulating individuals’ engagement in and learning through work. The degree to which these affordances invite, structure, support, and guide participation, and are likely to engage workers in the kinds of thinking, acting, and learning required for effective workplace performance, is important for developing effective vocational practice. The conception of an ideal curriculum directed towards full participation is subject to the affordances of the interests of managers, co‐workers, and factors affecting production, as well as the intentionalities of worker‐learners themselves. These concepts may well provide ways of thinking about curriculum more broadly as participatory practices.

Keywords:

• education and work
• educational purposes
• experiential learning
• nonformal education
• work and education

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the editor of JCS for his interest, support, and guidance.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen Billett

His research interests centre on learning through and for work, which he investigates using sociocultural and related disciplinary perspectives.