Humans, nonhumans and the mediation of workplace learning in the senior school curriculum

Abstract

This paper brings together concepts drawn from Actor Network Theory and data generated in a research project that was conducted across the island of Ireland. Using surveys and interviews with school staff, that research explored the limits and possibilities for workplace learning as a valued component of the senior school curriculum. The current paper works with the data from the Republic of Ireland only and brings into focus the full range of actors – both human and nonhuman – that generate, or constrain, productive workplace learning opportunities for students. In the wake of the Great Recession, it is suggested that such opportunities have gained increased importance. The analysis suggests attention to the full range of actors highlights areas for intervention, and the possibilities for alliances that may be beneficial for students and their schools, for employers who provide workplace learning placements, and for vocational learning itself.

Keywords:

• Actor-network theory
• VET and the labour market
• vocational and educational guidance
• teacher development
• work experience

Notes

1. This paper is focused on the transition from second level school to employment. However, graduate employment opportunities were also severely affected during the recessionary context.

2. This is not to say that nothing is learnt by ‘simply being present’; as researchers we are well aware much can be learnt. However, if the learning in question is skill-development then participation in work is pivotal.

3. By way of example, during fieldwork when I would introduce the project focus of workplace learning, the common response from participants was ‘Oh, you mean Transition Year’.

4. A feature of Latour’s work is this process of listing: a ‘roster of beings’ (Harman 2009, 102). Harman explains this as a ‘stylistic antidote’ to remind the reader of the multitude of things, both human and nonhuman.

5. For Latour (2007, 9) ‘a name that is so awkward, so confusing, so meaningless that it deserves to be kept’.

6. I am indebted to an anonymous reviewer for this observation.

7. While it was beyond the scope of the research, further research to explore whether a relationship of trust interfered with the goals of coordinators would be illuminating.

8. In a UK review, Steedman and Stoney (2004) suggest concerns of educational disaffection in the early 1960s coincided with the extension of public examinations to the whole 14–16 group, effectively undermining anything other than ‘academic’ curriculum.