The concept of work process knowledge developed out of European research into the competence requirements of modernized workplaces. Current EU policy sees modernization in terms of flexibilization, informatization and above all, the replacement of bureaucratic work systems following fixed procedures by innovative, knowledge-creating kinds of organization. The concept of work process knowledge captures crucial aspects of the knowledge needed in workplaces constituted in these ways -

1. Work process knowledge includes system-level understanding of the business process, production process and labour process in the organization as a whole, necessary for boundary-crossing.
2. Work process knowledge is used directly in the performance of work – it is ‘active’ as opposed to ‘inert’.
3. Work process knowledge is constructed by employees while they are engaged in work, particularly when they are solving problems.
4. In place of the binary opposition between ‘knowing how’ and ‘knowing that ’, work process knowledge is constructed by synthesizing these ways of knowing in a dialectical process of resolving contradictions in the workplace.

This symposium reports developments in the theory of work process knowledge, in the context of European research into vocational education and training, and against a background of the modernization of the European workplace. The symposium focuses on how the concept of work process knowledge is used for (1) analyzing complex work situations, (2) designing vocational curricula and (3) theorizing work-based learning. Cases are presented from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, UK and Spain. The symposium also compares and contrasts the theory of work process knowledge with contemporary theories of vocational competence and organizational behaviour. Following Wittgenstein's dictum that the meaning of a word is determined by its use, this symposium will critique, clarify and extend the meaning of ‘work process knowledge’ by exploring the variety of its uses in contemporary European VET research.

The symposium is organized into three parts.

Part I: Work process knowledge and organizational learning

Three papers from the Netherlands, France and Spain explore the role of work process knowledge in organizational learning, focusing on how work and learning are integrated across different levels of organizational activity – the individual, the team, the organization and the network of organizations. The studies reveal how work process knowledge is embedded within the organizational routines, critical incidents and communication networks which constitute work systems.

Part II: Work process knowledge and the design of vocational curricula

Three papers from the Netherlands, Germany and the UK report developments in the design of vocational curricula with an orientation towards the work process. The papers analyze the status of work process knowledge in the reformed Dutch and German vocational qualifications systems, and explore a variety of techniques for deriving vocational curricula from the analysis of work processes, with specific reference to the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. The presentations enable comparisons to be made between the status of work process knowledge at the national and course levels of the VET systems of these three countries.

Part III: Work process knowledge and theories of vocational competence

Three papers from Italy, Germany and the UK explore different ways of conceptualising ‘vocational competence’ in contemporary VET research, and analyze their similarities and differences to the concept of work process knowledge. The papers seek greater conceptual clarity in this complex field, discuss ways of facilitating the development of competence and work process knowledge and outline issues for further research. (550 words)