Professional learning and the materiality of social practice

Abstract

This article addresses professional learning as intrinsic to social practices. It takes its point of departure in a sociocultural notion of mediation and communication in human activity and addresses the constitutive nature of language and artefacts as material-semiotic tools in the social coordination of perspectives and action, meaning-making and gap-bridging in professional work. The empirical examples are taken from different settings; an IT helpdesk team working in a multinational production company; vocational guidance officers working in a public employment office and from nurses at a rehabilitation ward in a hospital. The theoretical perspective is used when discussing these cases so as to display the use of the core concepts and the dynamics of change which may be illuminated by the analytical approach. In the conclusion, specific aspects of the materiality of social practice relevant for the study of learning and knowing in professional work are made salient.

Keywords:

• sociocultural theory
• mediation
• human activity
• material-semiotic tools
• professional knowledge

Acknowledgements

This research has been conducted within LinCS Centre of excellence, financed by the Swedish Research Council. I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers as well as my colleagues in the Sociocultural & Dialogical Studies seminar for productive comments and suggestions.

Notes

^aApplicants in categories 11–13 are reported as ‘unemployed’, but if applicants remain in these categories longer than 6 months they are instead reported as ‘long-term unemployed’ in the statistics automatically produced in the computer system.