Understanding learning through and for work: Contributions from Francophone perspectives

Abstract

This chapter identifies contributions of Francophone traditions and conceptions of learning through and for work, and the practices deployed to understand more fully these processes of learning. It identifies and elaborates from an Anglophone perspective four distinctive qualities of the contributions within this edited monograph. These are, firstly, that there is no single or unitary Francophone tradition or conception of learning through practice. This quality is highlighted through outlining something of the diversity of what constitutes Francophone perspectives and some accounting of the origin of these distinct conceptions. The case made is that although there are cultural and linguistic traditions across the Francophone world, there are also localised historical and cultural factors that promote difference and diversity within these accounts. Secondly, and regardless there is an emphasis across the contributions on physically, socially and personally situated activity which stands as being distinct within Francophone accounts. This situatedness goes beyond an objective analysis of work-in-action in specific physical and social contexts (actions of workers), to include the situated nature of how individuals come to engage with what is being manifested in that context (e.g. how and on what bases they act). Thirdly, there is a pattern of contributions considering the worker as the person not only as an active and critical meaning-maker, but also through their bodily engagement within and to account for the consequences of their work. Further, that these focusses on the personal stand as being the point of analysis in some of the contributions that make this emphasis quite distinct. Fourthly, the means for understanding and organising support for learning through work seem distinct. The two sets of qualities just above suggest that traditions of professional didactics and ergonomics, in particular emphasis the situation and body, and seem quite culturally-distinct. They seem more analogous to laboratory and encounter sessions from the Anglophone world than what would be used in that world to organise work-based learning experiences. It is these four conceptions that are discussed in terms of what they contribute to the field of work and learning.