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Insights into Vocational Learning from an Applied Learning Perspective

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Abstract

A theoretical framework for understanding applied learning processes is now warranted given the frequency with which these processes are now being utilised. Drawing in part from the literature on applied education in schools as well as theories of vocational learning such a framework is offered here that seeks to explain these learning processes in terms of the interplay of multiple accounts of influences at micro, meso and macro levels. This framework integrates current and emerging theories around practical learning, and provides insights into vocational and workplace education processes. We clarify how features of our framework complement broader current debates and concepts in the literature on vocational and work-related learning, particularly focusing on influences for that learning at the micro level of individuals’ experiences and understandings entailed in embodied cognition, or knowing through practice. Moreover, the value of this framework is demonstrated through its application to two very different case studies of learning processes in workplace settings. In conclusion, some implications for further theoretical and practical work in this area are advanced.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education La Trobe University, P.O. Box 199, Bendigo, Victoria, 3552, Australia

    Bruce Pridham, Simon O’Mallon & Vaughan Prain

Authors
  1. Bruce Pridham
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  2. Simon O’Mallon
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  3. Vaughan Prain
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bruce Pridham.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Pre-service Teacher Interview Schedule

  1. 1.

    Why did you choose the Grad Dip Tech Ed at La Trobe Bendigo?

  2. 2.

    What was your Technology area of specialty?

  3. 3.

    What are your expectations of what learning opportunities the course will provide? To what extent have these expectations been met?

  4. 4.

    What will assist/has assisted your learning in the course? What might be/were constraints?

  5. 5.

    How do you think we might improve the content and teaching methods of the course?

  6. 6.

    Would you be prepared to come back at some stage to speak to existing students?

  7. 7.

    What further professional learning opportunities would be helpful?

Follow Up Interview Schedule

  1. 1.

    Can you describe what it was like to undertake this course with other people who had a trade background?

  2. 2.

    What were they issues that students focused on in discussion formally and informally throughout the course?

  3. 3.

    Can you describe or explain the value of the interactions between the group members?

  4. 4.

    How did working together as community in the Technology Education course prepare you for your new career?

  5. 5.

    How valuable were other students’ experiences in helping to prepare you for a teaching career?

  6. 6.

    What were the key elements of the course that helped prepare you for teaching?

  7. 7.

    Can you describe the difference between how you prepared for work in your trade and how you prepare for teaching?

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Pridham, B., O’Mallon, S. & Prain, V. Insights into Vocational Learning from an Applied Learning Perspective. Vocations and Learning 5, 77–97 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-011-9063-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-011-9063-8

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