Guidance, activities and participation: Towards a workplace pedagogy

Abstract

This paper proposes bases for conceptualising a workplace pedagogy. Its central elements include three levels of guided participation at work comprising: (i) everyday participation at work; (ii) guided learning for work; and (iii) guided learning for transfer. Together, these levels of guidance and the sequenced access to workplace activities represent the superstructure of this pedagogy. However, its foundations are located in the access to activities and guidance the workplace affords. The prospects for learning through guided participation are formed by the support and sponsorship afforded by the workplace, and how workers decide to engage with the workplace. Consequently, the bases of a workplace pedagogy cannot be restricted to the intentional and 'unintended experiences that learners are afforded through guided learning. It also needs to account for how workplaces invite access to activities and guidance, and also how individuals participate in activities and engage with the guidance that workplaces affords. Together, these bases for learning through work edge us closer to a comprehensive workplace pedagogy.