Chair: Ludger Deitmer, University of Bremen

Non-standard Forms of 'Apprenticeship': Issues of Individual and Organisational Creativity

Symposium Overview

Traditionally, the concept of apprenticeship has been associated with skill formation within craft and industrial production. The dominant concern in these different contexts has usually fallen on the 'Institution of Apprenticeship' (Guile and Young 1998), that is, the constellation of both legal and contractural rules and relations governing the status of employment, associated workplace entitlements and a combination of formal and informal educational processes which socialise a workers into specific workplace and occupational cultures. A growing body of literature has emerged over the last few years which has broadened the concept of apprenticeship by conceptualising the process of learning in relation to the practices, tools and contexts which facilitate learning in a wide range of contexts (Fuller and Unwin 2003; 2004).

Despite the extremely interesting issues raised about the relationship between learning, tools and context arising from this work, this research has maintained the focus on the officially sanctioned forms of apprenticeship which are a part of national education and training systems. As a consequence, very little attention is given to those non-standard forms of apprenticeship or what we refer to as 'ways of being apprenticed' that support people to either become members of professional communities or to further develop their knowledge and skill within a professional community. Furthermore, in light of the argument that increasingly many sections of the economy are characterised by specialised knowledge workers who require new kinds of skill to work with both traditional and new technologies, the way that workers construct and share such knowledge is a vital issue for research and policy. Yet, very little is known about the ways in which individuals develop their creative capabilities in these non-traditional settings or about the ways in which organisations can foster such creativity.

In addition, the theoretical frameworks which researchers have used to study apprenticeship in conventional settings have tended to focus on embedded and "tacit" formats of knowledge and are less attentive to the commitment of expert groups to a domain of knowledge and to the expansion of object-centered environments in modern working life (Knorr Cetina, 1999). This symposium will examine a number of conceptual issues related to object-centred work and learning by using concepts such as "epistemic trajectories" in professional learning to draw attention to its object-related aspects rather than the social and life-related (Nespor, 1994).

The aim of this symposium is, therefore, to focus on non-standard forms of apprenticeship and to appraise critically the issues this raises for individual and organisational creativity.

Description:

Paper 1.

Apprenticeship to Software: Individual and organisational creativity in a financial workplace Professor Nicholas Boreham, University of Stirling, UK. This paper analyzes a non-standard apprenticeship system in a financial call centre. The work is organised round two pieces of new technology: an auto-dialler (which cold-calls clients and allocates them to human callers) and a data base which records the human caller's dialogue with each client. New employees learn the art of telephone negotiation through an 'apprenticeship' to these two pieces of software.

Paper 2.

Professional learning as epistemic trajectories. Explorations into the construction of new fields of expertise. Leif Christian Lahn, University of Oslo. The paper will review and critically examine the concept of "learning trajectory" in the literature on professional learning and communities of practice. These theoretical frameworks tend to focus on embedded and "tacit" formats of knowledge and are less attentive to the commitment of expert groups to a domain of knowledge and to the expansion of object-centered environments in modern working life (Knorr Cetina, 1999).

Paper 3.

Apprenticeship in creative industries: new strategies and pedagogies Dr Kaori Okumoto,Dr David Guile Institute of Education, University of London. This paper compares the Modern Apprenticeship (MA) with an apprenticeship scheme developed and run by a large-scale municipal theatre company, the REP Birmingham. The REP's Technical Apprenticeship aims to develop backstage technicians covering six occupational areas. It also aims to provide disadvantaged young people an opportunity to receive training to become industry-ready. The paper examines key features of the MA and the REP's Technical Apprenticeship, and discusses an emerging model of apprenticeship in creative industries.

Methodology or methods/research instruments or sources used:

Paper 1.

The role of the software to which the callers are 'apprenticed' is theorised from the perspective of the socio-cultural theory of tool construction and use. The software mediates the organisation's memory and newcomers learn through their experience of the software's social utilisation scheme.

Paper 2.

The discussion of conceptual issues will be supported by interview data and field observations of interactive designers and "boundary crossers" in traditional trades like engineers, nurses, teachers and accountants. By using the concept of "epistemic trajectories" in professional learning we emphasize its object-related aspects rather than the social and life-related (Nespor, 1994). A "decentered" understanding of the motivational bases for professional performance will be proposed.

Paper 3.

The comparative basis of the two schemes is theorised from the perspective of Activity and Actor Network Theory. The data has been collected through the research activities conducted for the EQUAL Last Mile project. The methods include semi- structured interviews and work site observations.

Conclusions or expected outcomes or findings:

Paper 1.

It broadens the concept of apprenticeship by basing it on interchanges between the apprentice and an artefact rather than between an apprentice and a human 'master'. Yet the artefact is essentially human as it is the record of innumerable human-to- human dialogues within this community.

Paper 2.

The framework provides a new way of guiding the development of research instruments that is sensitive to both time- space compression and distanciation of learning processes (documentary data, survey data, trajectory analysis and qualitative interviewing). The longitudinal research design will allow comparisons to be made between students in nursing, teaching, engineering, interactive design and accounting in their time of graduation and in their first years at work.

Paper 3.

The comparative focus will allow us to show the limitations of the UK's MA Programe and alos why had the diversity of needs in the creative industries is leading them to develop their own strategies and systems to facilitate new entry routes for young people. The REP's scheme is one example, which shows a flexible approach to apprenticeship.

References:

• Boreham, N., Samurcay, R. and Fischer, M. (eds) (2002) Work Process Knowledge. London: Routledge.
• Fuller, A. and Unwin. L. (2004) Learning as Apprenticeship in the Contemporary UK Workplace Journal of Education and Work, Vol 16 No 4 pp 407-426
• Guile and Young, M. (1999) Beyond the Institution of Apprenticeship. In Patrick Ainley and Helen Rainbird (eds.) (1999) Apprenticeship: towards a new paradigm of learning, London, Kogan Page.
• Knorr Cetina, K. (1999) Epistemic Cultures, Harvard: Harvard University Press
• Nesppr, J. (1994) Knowledge in Motion London: Falmer Press
• Patrick Ainley and Helen Rainbird (eds.) (1999) Apprenticeship: towards a new paradigm of learning, London, Kogan Page.
• Howard Gospel (1998) 'The revival of apprenticeship training in Britain?', British Journal of Industrial Relations, 36(3): 435- 457.

Apprenticeship to Software: Individual and Organisational Creativity in a Financial Workplace

Nicholas Boreham, University of Stirling

Professional Learning as Epistemic Trajectories. Explorations into the Construction of New Fields of Expertise

Leif Lahn, University of Oslo

Apprenticeship in Creative Industries: New Strategies and Pedagogies

David Guile & Kaori Okumoto, University of London